DigHum: Findings and Reflections

VI.  Findings and Reflection

So what’s it all about…As stated numerous times above (well technically now below), I created this assignment in an effort to engage students in learning more about the atomic bomb outside of the classroom.  Because of a field trip and the need to move on, I did not have enough class time to fully cover the atomic bomb like I would have wished, so my solution to this problem was to create an assignment on Edmodo using a glog to allow students to learn more about the pros and cons of the dropping of the atomic bomb.  Overall I really liked this assignment as an extension to what we learned in class; however, the students were not as motivated to do the assignment as I had hoped.  As I stated in the data post above, only thirty-five of the students completed the assignment, which was slightly less than four previous writing assignments.  The technology barrier that some students’ face in their home with no computer or Internet may have provided for this slight decrease in the amount of students’ completing the assignment.  The timing of the assignment also may play a role in this, because it was due the Thursday before spring break.

Although ten of my students did not complete the assignment, I believe that most of the students’ that did complete it benefitted from it.  By reading their essays, I could clearly tell the students’ had learned more about the atomic bomb than what was mentioned in class and for that reason I believe this assignment was valuable.  The glog not only provided details and images of the atomic bomb directly on it but it also provided numerous links in which the students could find more information.  A glog is visually appealing to all learners and has the potential to contain great information; therefore, this is a technology that I plan to use more in my teaching career.  The glog created an interactive medium for the students to discover more information about the atomic bomb instead of simply having to read it in handouts or the textbook.  I also believe Edmodo is a good resource to have in the classroom and added value to this assignment.  I had the opportunity to send feedback to six of my students before the deadline to advise them on what they could do to improve their essays.  Four of these students turned in responses that were not in essay format and did not follow the instructions; the students took my advice and revisited their responses before the deadline.

Overall I believe the technologies used for this project, Edmodo and Glogster, added value to this assignment.  Although it did not greatly increase student engagement like I had hoped, I do believe students accomplished the learning goals by completing this assignment.  The students clearly learned more about the dropping of the atomic bomb by analyzing the pros and cons of it and completing an essay on it.  The technologies used enhanced the assignment because it allowed the students to explore the atomic bomb visually through images and more in depth through linked websites.  Edmodo also allowed students to receive feedback on their work before the deadline.

DigHum: Data Gathered/Data Analysis

IV.  Data Gathered/ Data Analysis

As stated above I hoped the use of Edmodo and the Glog would engage more students in completing the atomic bomb assignment and provide a place for students to learn more about the atomic bomb outside of the classroom.  The data I used to determine if more students were motivated to complete the assignment because of the technology involved was looking at the amount of students in the class that turned in five separate writing assignments given over the semester.  The writing assignments were all different ranging from being turned in on Edmodo, an essay completed outside of class, and a short assignment completed in class.  Overall thirty-five out of the forty-five students turned in the atomic bomb assignment to Edmodo.  In a similar assignment turned in on Edmodo two months earlier on the Roaring 20s thirty-nine students turned it in.  Two other writing assignments completed outside of class but not on Edmodo were the Story of World War I and a Letter home from the Trenches.  For both of these assignments thirty-seven students turned them in.  For four separate Think & Writes (a one paragraph response to a quote or question) that were completed in class, all forty-five students turned them in.

I also looked at the students’ completed essay to determine if they had learned more about the atomic bomb through this assignment.  Of the thirty-five completed essays, four of the students changed their initial opinion about the dropping of the bomb after doing more research, which shows a growth in their understanding of the atomic bomb.  Twenty-six of the essays contained valid reasons defending their choice, and it clearly appeared the students had learned more about the atomic bomb through this assignment.  Here are a few examples of students’ essays Atomic Bomb 1, Atomic Bomb 2, and Atomic Bomb 3.

In assessing the students’ essays, I first looked to see if the students followed the correct format of the assignment making sure the response was in essay form and had at least three reasons defending their answer.  I then looked at the essay itself evaluating the introduction, conclusion, and most importantly whether or not the three reasons were detailed and valid in support of their answer.  Having three valid reasons was the bulk of the students’ grade, but I also checked for correct grammar throughout the essay looking for run-ons, fragments, incorrect comma usage, and capitalization errors.  Overall the students did well in all of these criteria with twenty-five of the students getting a B or above on the assignment and sixteen of that twenty-five received an A.  Overall I can see a major growth in the students’ writing and editing skills from the beginning of the semester.

DigHum: Assignment Overview

III. Description of Activity/Lesson/Task

For my digital humanities action research project I created an assignment using Edmodo, a social networking site for the classroom.  For the assignment the students were asked to explore a glog, including the websites linked in, about the atomic bomb, open and read a pros and cons document attached, and think about what they had learned in class to answer the following question:  Did the United States need to drop the atomic bomb on Japan in order to end World War II?.  The students needed to thoughtfully construct an essay including a discussion of at least three reasons for their response to justify their answer.  The students were given a week to complete this assignment and submit it electronically on Edmodo.  The students had already completed a similar assignment earlier this year in which they submitted an essay on Edmodo discussing the roar of the 1920s after exploring a glog.  The instructional goal of this assignment was for the students to learn more about the use of the atomic bomb and analyze the pros and cons to determine whether or not they thought the dropping of the atomic bombs was necessary to end World War II.

This assignment came at the end of our unit on World War II.  As a class we only had the opportunity to discuss the atomic bomb during one lesson .  In that lesson the students were introduced to the atomic bomb through video clips, excerpts from a textbook, and survivor accounts.  Because of the lack of class time available to extend our discussion of the atomic bomb, I chose to allow the students to continue their learning outside of class using Edmodo as their forum.  This problem of wanting my students to study the dropping of the atomic bomb more but not having enough class time to address this issue developed into the question for my action research project:  How can I create an activity to extend the students’ learning of the atomic bomb outside of the classroom?  My answer to this question became the Edmodo assignment that I detailed above.  I chose to use Edmodo for this assignment because I hoped the interactive Glog and the appeal of Edmodo would engage more students in completing this assignment.