Status Report : Thinkfinity Training Initiative - January Workshops

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Report

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This report summarizes initial feedback of 2 study groups: a) a doctoral class in educational technology who looked at and evaluated the Thinkfinity site in January, 2008 and b) an undergraduate class who underwent the same process in March, 2008. Full text of this report is contained in the Abstract Section.

Abstract

Status: Thinkfinity Training Initiative June 9, 2008

January Workshops

The workshop consisted of fifteen faculty, seven staff, and three graduate assistant members of Pace, who initially looked at the Thinkfinity site in January, before the changes were made. Given the constraints of classes and timing, we taught one doctoral class, consisting of 17 students, in Educational Technology to use Thinkfinity in their classroom. A few weeks later, we asked for feedback from the students and asked how many had used the site in their teaching. Their response was not overly enthusiastic. They complained about the initial screen, which has obviously been changed since January and we did have them look at the changes. They also felt initially that many of the lessons were outdated, and at the later session, recognized the changes. The one change that they felt was still needed were lessons that promoted more differentiated instruction as well as lessons that incorporated more different types of technology.

A second Thinkfinity training session was held with an undergraduate class in March, and their opinions solicited. Their use of the site over the semester as a result of this training was very focused and tended to be using a specific lesson for a specific assignment. Interestingly, they did not see the use of the Thinkfinity as “using technology.”

Both the graduate and undergraduate groups felt that, while the training was useful, teachers would benefit from more time to integrate the Thinkfinity materials into their own curricula.

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