Reflection on the Online Diuscussion
We finished reading Life of Pi and logged onto Google Docs. I had created a Spreadsheet with questions along the top and the students' names along the left side. I asked the students to answer all the questions, as well as comment on another student's response, 1 per column. We did this in class in lieu of a class discussion or fishbowl.I would like you, the students, to give me feedback:
Did you like this format and why?
Was it interesting to hear everyone's ideas? Why/why not?
Were there too many questions, too little, the right amount? Why?
Did you like that I could jump on the page to challenge your ideas? Why/why not?
Labels: Google Docs, Life of Pi, online discussion
posted by Davis at
9:11 AM
30 Comments:
I think the online diuscussion went very well. it was organised and we had time to think threw our thoughts. But i dont think it was helpful to the understanding of the end of the book. i like to hear other classmates responces because you have more time to reflect. with the online diuscussion you couldnt get to everyones thoughts, therefor missing out. I also thought there where to many questions to have a great reflection with lots of meaning. i felt like people just wanted to get all of them done and it left less time to actually diuscuss with other classmates. i did like how anyone could jump on your page at anytime, but then again we can also do that in a class diuscussion. AshleyH
12:03 PM
I liked the online fishbowl, but it was hard to read other's comments because there were so many questions that we had to answer. It was difficult to try to pause and look over other answers and then go back to our own work. I did want a little more time, and I think a lot of that was contributed to the fact that we had such a hard time getting onto the wiki blog in the first place. But when we got to where we needed to be, I liked the questions because they made me think about the book in different ways.
Kelly D.
11:15 AM
I definitly liked this format more than the usual fishbowl or discussion, but I did find the spreadsheet format to be a little annoying to work with. I personally felt that less questions to answer would have allowed for more commenting on other people and reading of other peoples thoughts. It could have been a lot more of a discussion if there were only 3 or 4 questions. I think less questions would have also allowed Mrs. Davis to challenge our thoughts more and make us think a little harder. Overall, I liked this activity.
11:17 AM
I liked the online discussion, it gave everyone a chance to participate and made it easier to respond to other student's comments. I agree with Kyle that maybe if there were a few less questions we could have had more of a discussion around those. I liked that we could comment directly to a certain persons comment and choose who we want to discuss with. It was also really cool that Mrs. Davis could specifically ask us questions relating directly to what we said. I really enjoyed this activity and i would not mind doing it again.
8:00 AM
I liked the format, it was a good way to express your opinions and have others react to what they thought about what you said. It was cool that everyone was able to see what you wrote, and that it was easy to comment on other peoples. I thought it was interesting to hear what others thought about what was happening in the book, some had very good insight. It would have been better if there were less questions, it would have allowed for more time to respond to what others were saying. I did like that you could comment on what I was saying, it was good to see what you thought about my responses.
Cole C.
8:41 AM
I actually was surprised that I did like this format, it was fun and everyone actually got to have some input so I was able to hear others opinions. I agreed with most people even though I got to see where some people thought otherwise, especially about Pi's two different stories and the interview.
I did think that for our time in class there may have been too many questions to answer especially when we had to comment on other peoples as well.
I did like that Mrs. Davis could jump in though, I thought that her insight was always helpful and interesting to hear about.
11:00 AM
I like the format because it was a new way of having a discussion. It wasn't the same old fishbowl or live blogging. I also liked that Mrs. Davis could challenge our ideas. I think it is always helpful to have other people who ask question that make you think. However, it is for this same reason why i didn't really like this set up. I felt like there were too many questions, and we had to focus on answering them. I would have preferred a more discussion based task, where we could have taken more time to interact, and share and challenge ideas.
12:12 PM
I really like the online fishbowl it gave everyone an opportunity to give feedback. It was interesting to view everyones thought and see their ideas and opinions about Life of Pi and the ending. I think there was just the right amount of questions because it gave us time to answer all the questions, and then respond to others responses. I also liked that you could jump on the page to challenge some of our ideas because it made it more detailed and interesting.
12:35 PM
I liked the discussion for some of the same reasons mentioned above. I liked trying something new and different and the online format gave everyone a chance to participate even if they don't like talking in front of class. It was definitely interesting to see everyone’s ideas but at the same time, we had to comment on so many questions that I didn't really have time to go back and look at the responses I didn't comment on. I liked that we could comment on others responses and that our comments would immediately appear and I think Mrs. Davis's additions were helpful in the discussion process.
There were a few negative aspects to this type of fishbowl. It wasn't as personal as a typical fishbowl and I feel like a lot of what I gain from a discussion is the way people discuss and the emotion they put into their responses. Online, there isn't really any emotion. It was also hard to navigate and scroll up and down from questions to my name. I'd often read the question and by the time I reached the page I was supposed to respond on, I'd have to scroll back up and re-read the question.
12:38 PM
I thought that the online fish bowl went pretty well! I enjoyed the format and how we all got to put in our input on things. I felt the number of questions was right where it needed to be and that we got to give each of our own opinions about a lot of different subjects in the book. I also liked the fact that we could comment on other peoples responses, it brought some of the traditional fishbowl ideas into a more technological learning style. Over all, I feel the online fishbowl was pretty effective.
But, on the other hand, there were some things that I felt were missing from the online that are present in a traditional fishbowl. The online one did not present any strong personalities on subjects, that a traditional one would. It was a little hard to follow at times because not everyone was talking about the same things, and it got sort of confusing. I am more out-going, so I feel a traditional fishbowl is more effective for me, but I don't think that that is true for everyone, especially if people aren't as vocal.
1:44 PM
I really liked this format because I think it was easier for people to lay out their ideas at their own pace and everyone had an opportunity to throw in their ideas, unlike a regular fishbowl. I think it was interesting to hear everyone's ideas and I liked how you could see everyone's response at once and you could compare what people said. The amount of questions was fine, we were able to answer them all and maybe even give feedback on other peoples responses withing the hour. I liked how people could just comment whenever on other people's responses, that made it interesting- and it was good becuase people could choose what they responded to and it wasn't as strict as a regular verbal fishbowl. Overall I really liked this format, even though it does kind of take away from the personal and emotional part of a fishbowl discussion.
2:53 PM
I thought that the online fishbowl went well. I liked the format too because the questions made me think of what I had to say before I had type it for everyone to see. Overall, it was so interesting to see everyone's ideas and thoughts about Life of Pi. Whenever someone commented on the other student's answer, they could ask questions then the other student would respond and they gave a little more detail about the question and they went on and on with their explanations which was great. Students got more indept and personally I was more involved than I would have if it was a traditionl fishbowl. I didn't really get too much questions, but I had a few that disagreed and agreed with me. They asked questions of why I had different answers and I was able to explain to them why I did. Not a lot of students respond to their fellow student's questions though. I agree with Jordan that many people were talking about different topics and not everyone was able to answer or comment on somebody else's. I like the question that you put on the page to challenge our ideas because it really made me think hard and to see if I understand the book.
3:41 PM
Personally, I did like the format of the online discussion that we had about "Life of Pi". I am a person that tends not to speak out about things during class duscussions, and not physically having to say things outloud to the class really gave me the opportunity to speak my thoughts. I think that it was interesting to hear everyone elses thoughts on the different subjects, for the same reason above. Most people don't say what they are really thinking in class discussions, so it was good to hear what everyone had to say. I think that there were too many questions, especially in each seperate column. It might have been a little less intimidating than if they had been spread out more. I did like how you could jump onto the pages and contradict our ideas, because it made it feel like much more a discussion rather than just answering questions on a book.
5:04 PM
Overall I enjoyed the online fishbowl. I thought is was the best way for everyone in the class to participate and say their individual point of views on the questions. One thing I didn't like was how there were so many questions. It was difficult to read almost everyones comments. But it was helpful for you to jump on the page and challenge us because it made us think outside the box. So in the end I believe it was successful.
6:34 PM
The online fishbowl was a success and I enjoyed this format. It was easy to have everyone get their ideas and thoughts in about the questions and I liked reading others' comments. There was the right amount of questions, defiantly not a too little amount. I didn't mind your thoughts about our comments, it lend to more discussion for others to comment about.
Although this was a good way to have everyone have their ideas put out there I didn't feel like it was really a discussion. I am more of a fan of traditional fishbowls so everyone is on the same path/page of the question we are talking about.
7:28 PM
I actually really liked the online fishbowl it was easier to get what you were thinking out faster without being interupted by other people in the class. i believe there was just a right amount of questions that were asked and everyone had good ideas because they really tied their thoughts back to the book. I did like that you could get on our page and ask us questions about why we thought a certain way so this was a success.
7:43 PM
I really liked the online fish bowl because it gave everybody the chance to say everything on their mind and be able to express everything that they wanted to say. I think that it was also easier to comment on others statments and describe to them what another person was thinking. I liked being able to ask questions to different people and being able to hear their feed back.
7:57 PM
Overall I liked the fish bowl being online. It was much more enjoyable than the traditional fish bowl sitting in a circle in a classroom. Everyone was able to express their own opinions without having to interrupt anyone else. I felt like there were too many questions and that we didn't have much time to go into detail because there were so many. I liked how you could jump on the page and challenge our ideas because it made us look at things from a different point of view which was really interesting.
8:00 PM
I think that a live blog would have been better because we could ask more questions or make it a fishbowl with laptops around the outside who are live blogging. I think that the google groups discussion would have been better as a homework assignment as to spend 10 minutes the next day commenting on other peoples responses.
8:13 PM
I enjoyed the more modern version of the fishbowl more because it forces you to engage in conversation and that you can refer back at any time to what somebody said about a certain topic.
8:37 PM
I really like how the fishbowl was done because we all got to have a say on things and also see what others had to say. I like that you could add onto ours and challenge our answers.
8:51 PM
I liked the format of the online fishbowl because I usually feel that it is hard to talk during a regular fishbowl. Usually when I jump in the circle the topic I had a comment on has already passed. I like how I could see other people opinions and I had time to reflect on the question. I thought the amount of questions was perfect but it was hard when there were a lot of questions built into one question. I liked that you could add on to our comments and challenge our answers because it made me think deeper about the question and my response. Overall, I think the online fishbowl went very well.
9:02 PM
Did you like this format and why?
I liked the format, because it allowed you not only to view right away in an organized manner rather than a blog where everyone's thoughts are stacked making it hard to reply.
Was it interesting to hear everyone's ideas? Why/why not?
I thought it was interesting because not only would you be able to comprehend the information everyone else put into the same question, but also allows you to reflect on your own answer and update or change it to reflect the information that you obtained from reading other people's responses.
Were there too many questions, too little, the right amount? Why?
I think there were too many questions for the time frame allotted, I think that within an hour having less questions, but requiring students to go back and comment on and challenge other student's responses would be more beneficial.
Did you like that I could jump on the page to challenge your ideas? Why/why not?
I think this was an excellent feature that would have been more effective if not only you (Mrs. Davis) intervened in everyone's ideas coming from one standpoint on a question, but had other students challenge each other, so one may gain information on the subject from multiple backgrounds and interpretations of the text.
9:35 PM
The online fishbowl was fun way to discuss the book. It was interesting seeing the live corrections, but we did not have enough time to answer all questions while commenting. It might work better if thier were fewer questions and we could focus on reading and commenting other posts.
9:44 PM
i enjoyed learning how to use the online fishbowl although i did have some problems with my account that i have yet to resolve. i liked being able to read what others had posted, but i don't think that there was enough time to really see what other students wrote. I don't like speaking up in class, so I enjoyed this alternative very much
10:37 PM
I enjoyed the fishbowl. It was easier to express how you thought, and not worry about getting interrupted, or having one person say more than another, and you not getting a turn. We all had equal opportunities.
11:04 PM
i really liked this format of discusion because you can see what people think and you also get to see what thte people who dont talk as much in class think. it seemed to be a good number of questions and it was good that the questions varied alot. i liked that you could jump on and comment because you put done some points i hadnt thought about. tyler k
7:53 AM
I liked it because when I wrote what I had to say I didn't have all the attention on me. It was easier to have in front of me what everyone else had to say so I could see others opinions and add to my own. I liked hearing everyone's ideas because some people wouldn't say what they did verbally and they had good things too say. I thought there were a good amount of questions. It wasn't too much but it got some main points of the book out and it was helpful to understand some themes in the book.
I liked when you jumped on the page and challenged ideas because I had a fairly immediate response to what I had to say and it made me go deeper into the novel which will help my essay and helped me understand the book even better. The whole thing helped me understand the book better and make more connections.
12:49 PM
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1:58 AM
An amazing topic you have discussed. I think the online discussion on any topic provides too much help to think. Like online assignment writing portals and discussion forums positively impacts on students writing skills.
3:44 AM
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