Today was a fun Friday in Photoshop. I decided to do a cooperative learning activity--which I termed "Team Try"--since we just learned how to download brushes from websites yesterday and I wanted to get them to do a little exploring and review. So, I created a handout and they worked in pairs to complete it. Seriously, there was 100% student engagement for this. It went beautifully. If you teach Photoshop, you can check it out. It's nothing fancy (the end results is actually quite ugly) but it reviews concepts that we needed to cover.
My rule was that they had to take turns doing the handout. So, partner 1 reads the instruction (partner reading has to stand and cannot pull up a chair... because I guess I'm a control freak). Partner 2 sits and does the instruction. The first partner can assist (verbally, point, etc.) but cannot touch the mouse to help. Then, once that instruction is complete, they switch spots. So, there was lots of moving around.
I wasn't completely sure what I wanted to do with my "leftover" person (I had an odd number in both hours today). So, that person had to "volunteer as Tribute" (I'm so hip). The Tribute would also have a copy of the exercise and could communicate with me at any time. No one else could communicate with me or with other groups--only the Tribute. So, I did explain this and took volunteers both hours (and had no problems getting someone to volunteer...they got candy).
It honestly went better than planned. Students worked well together to accomplish a task and my roamer (the Tribute) who went around asking to help or provided feedback felt important. I made them all give him/her a hand at the end of the class period.
Did every group finish? No. Did I take a grade? No. Did people sit around and not work? Um... no! They were right in there trying to do the activity.
Don't be afraid to try this sort of thing in a technology class. It's so easy to just open the book and "do the stuff" in a computer class. I actually don't use real books in my computer classes (most of them) because I feel a system where I lead works better than a book. But, if you haven't tried something like this, I strongly encourage it for ANY computer class.
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