An invited-talk I presented at 6th Asian Association of Schools of Pharmacy Conference (AASP 2013) on 14 November 2013, at Kent Ridge Alumni House

1. Crea%ng
an
Engaging
Classroom
Environment
with
Apps
and
Google
Technologies
Andreas
Dewanto
Email:
phyda@nus.edu.sg
Faculty
of
Science,
Na1onal
University
of
Singapore
Block
S16
Level
3,
6
Science
Drive
2,
Singapore
117546
6th
Asian
Associa%on
of
Schools
of
Pharmacy
Conference
(AASP
2013)

2. %nyurl.com/lecture-­‐helpline

3. About
myself
• Graduated
in
2005
(B.Sc.
Honors)
and
2008
(M.Sc.)
• Instructor,
Physics
Dept
• Assist.
Director,
Special
Program
in
Science
• Resident
Fellow,
Temasek
Hall,
NUS

4. What
are
we
going
to
do
today?
• Who
do
we
face
in
class?
• Discussion:
What
is
considered
engaging
in
class?
• Various
Apps
• Google
Apps
• Hands-­‐on
prac%ce
on
Google
Apps
• Q&A
and
debriefing

5. The
genera%on
born
in
the
1980s
and
1990s,
comprising
primarily
the
children
of
the
baby
boomers
and
typically
perceived
as
increasingly
familiar
with
digital
and
electronic
technology
[Oxford
Online
Dic%onary].
They
are
also
coined
“digital
na%ve”
[Prensky,
2005]
Genera&on-­‐Y
21st
Century
Students

6. Retrieved
from
www.good.is/posts/atlanta-­‐teacher-­‐uses-­‐angry-­‐birds-­‐for-­‐physics-­‐lessons

7. Retrieved
from
www.reuters.com/ar%cle/2011/01/17/us-­‐singapore-­‐ipads-­‐idUSTRE70G0EK20110117

8. Group
Discussion
This
workshop
is
about
using
technology
to
create
an
engaging
classroom.
What
is
considered
as
an
engaging
classroom?

9. U%lity
&
Produc%vity
Apps
• Cloud
storage:
– Dropbox
(www.dropbox.com)
– Sugarsync
(www.sugarsync.com)
• Remote
connec%on:
– Splashtop
Remote
(www.splashtop,com)
– Team
Viewer
(www.teamviewer.com)
• Document
“on
the
go”:
– Evernote
(www.evernote.com)
– Notability
(www.gingerlabs.com/)

10. Applet
or
Flash-­‐based
Apps:
Tom
Greenbowe’s
Simula%on
(group.chem.iastate.edu/Greenbowe/sec%ons/projeciolder/simDownload/)

11. theChemCollec%ve
(www.chemcollec%ve.org)

12. PhET:
Physics
Educa%on
Technology
(phet.colorado.edu)

13. BioDigital
Human
(www.biodigitalhuman.com/home/)

14. WolframAlpha
(www.wolframalpha.com)
A
powerful
search
engine
cum
mathema%cal
solver,
powered
by
Mathema%caTM.
You
can
use
this
to
solve
equa%on,
plot
func%on,
or
simply
search
for
informa%on
(e.g.
chemical
bond).
It
even
knows
the
answer
to
“why
does
the
chicken
cross
the
road?”
J

15. Google
Apps
(run
on
Google
Engine)
• Google
Docs,
Google
Calendar,
Google
Earth
and
Picasa
• Use
in
collabora%ve
work
(for
group
work,
biodiversity
field-­‐trip,
etc)
• Free
(mostly)
and
convenient
(Google
maintains
the
server
for
you)

16. Create
a
free
Google
account
to
access
various
Google
Apps
Google
Docs
is
accessed
via
Google
Drive

17. Google
Documents:
Free
“Ms
Office”
in
the
Cloud
• Document
resembles
Ms
Word.
• Presenta%on
resembles
Ms
Powerpoint.
• Spreadsheet
resembles
Ms
Excel.
• Form
provides
the
user
interface
to
survey
the
students
and
record
the
data
in
Spreadsheet.

18. Lecture
Helpline
The
lecturer
sets
up
Google
Form
as
an
online
portal
for
students
to
leave
ques%ons
or
comments
during
lecture.
The
entry
to
the
Google
Form
is
recorded
automa%cally
into
Google
Spreadsheet,
where
the
lecturer
has
access
all
the
%me
during
lecture.

19. Pre-­‐tutorial
Survey
The
lecturer
sets
up
a
Google
Form
for
students
to
leave
comments/
feedback
on
the
tutorial
ques%ons.
The
lecturer
accesses
the
Spreadsheet
prior
to
the
tutorial
class
to
an%cipate
students’
difficul%es
with
the
tutorial
ques%ons.

20. In-­‐class
Assignment
with
Real-­‐%me
Feedback

21. Organizing
Consulta%on
Sessions
The
lecturer
sets
up
a
Spreadsheet
to
manage
students’
sign-­‐ups
for
consulta%ons.

22. Hands-­‐on
Ac%vi%es
What
we
are
going
to
do:
• Crea%ng
a
Google
Account
• Naviga%ng
through
various
Google
Apps
• Crea%ng
a
Google
Form
and
a
Google
Spreadsheet
for
a
class
survey
• Linking
Google
Spreadsheet
to
a
webpage
for
visualiza%on
Some
resources:
• Reading:
hop://%nyurl.com/google-­‐chart-­‐tools
• Material:
hop://%nyurl.com/some-­‐files