Wicked Problem Survey Responses

Recently I conducted a survey about my wicked problem, which is how to get students to feel more confident while communicating in a second language.  Overall, 9 people took the survey using a Google Form.  I based my results from the 9 people and broke it down using percentages and pie graphs that can be seen in the SlideShare below.   

Wicked Problem Survey Responses (2013) from lauramary98

The first question I asked was to discover the position people hold in their workplace. Of the 9 people that took the survey, 89% were teachers, 11% were technology integration specialist, 0% were administrators, and 0% were full-time graduate students.  Most people that took the survey were teachers and one was a technology integration specialist.  In the future, I would ask people to fill out what content area they teach.  It would be helpful to know if they use the following tools in their content area, so I could see how it relates to teaching in a world language classroom.

The second question I asked was to find out how many people use Skype in their workplace.  100% of the people that took the survey do not use Skype.  I found this surprising because I thought more people would use Skype.  I want to look into more information about Skype and its educational purposes.  Perhaps Skype is not a good source for better communication in a foreign language classroom because it is difficult to use or not very helpful.  Also, I may need to look into another idea (not Skype) to increase students' speaking and listening skills. 

The third question I asked was to discover how many people use VoiceThread in the workplace. 78% percent of the people that took the survey do not use it and 22% use it.  This is not as surprising to me because I think VoiceThread is mostly used in foreign language classrooms.  It's likely that people that took the survey are not foreign language teachers.  Also, after looking into VoiceThread, I discovered that is cost money to join.  This may be a reason why people don't use it in their workplace.  I am excited to see that some people are using VoiceThread.   It is encouraging to know that other educators and technology specialist are using it!  Based off of the results from questions 2 and 3, I will try to use VoiceThread first to increase the confidence of communication then look into using Skype.   

The fourth question I asked was to find out if people believe that Skype and VoiceThread can help enhance communication in a foreign language classroom.  Overall, 100% of people that took the survey believe that it would help!  It is very encouraging that people who use and don't use the tools believe that it will increase students' communication.  It shows that people who use it, find it to be a successful tool.  Also, it shows that people who don't use it believe that it has helpful features to improve the communication skills of learners.  I agree with the survey results and will try to use both of these tools to help solve my wicked problem.

The fifth question I asked was to list any effective technologies that you may know about that may help increase confident communication in a foreign language classroom.  This was my favorite question in the survey because everyone listed so many helpful ideas.  I am excited to use these tools in the future, especially if I am unable to use Skype or VoiceThread to solve my wicked problem.  People listed the following great ideas that may be helpful in increasing communication skills in a variety of content areas!

Audacity 

Audioboo (iPad)

CLEAR with MSU
Dragon Dictation

GarageBand
Google Apps
Google Chat/Hangout
Google Voice
iMovie (iPad)

Online textbook with recording materials

Rosetta Stone 

Overall, the survey results have given me encouragement to use Skype and VoiceThread to increase communication amongst many learners.  After trying out these tools, I will try to teach my colleagues how to use them to raise awareness about them in the workplace since many people do not currently use them.  Lastly, I will try using some of the tools that were given to me by other educators and technology integration specialists.  The tools I am most interested in (from others' responses) are CLEAR, Dragon Dictation, and Google Voice.  I hope that these survey result can provide some insight for you and give you some ideas as to how you can increase communication in your classroom.