Spotlight on Emerging Technology: Online Learning in K-12 Schools

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7847831

EDUC 6714: Reflection

As a result of the course Reaching and Engaging All Students through Technology, I had the opportunity to network with many of my colleagues in a Differentiation Station social network, such as Facebook. We shared technology resources that will help me implement the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI) in a variety of ways. Due to a plethora of outstanding resources posted by my group members, I created a checklist to help me view these resources and comment on how I can use them in my classroom instruction. For example, two resources from my checklist will provide Pathways to Careers 8th grade students Web tools that will help them fulfill career research project requirements. For instance, at http://www.filamentality.com/wired/fil/index.html
students can learn how to construct a WebQuest centered on careers of their choice, and at http://people.uncw.edu/ertzbergerj/ppt_games.html
students can build a game based on career exploration. These exciting tools will allow me to differentiate instruction and implement UDL because they allow students to demonstrate what they know in an assortment of ways and inspire interest and enthusiasm for learning. According to Tomlinson (Laureate Education, 2009), when students are given choices, they are more motivated and engaged in the learning process.

Regarding the use of technology integration to customize instruction, I will continue to focus on classroom management as this is a work in progress. I learned through experience that when students use technology in the classroom, they need clear and concise routines, goals or objectives, and guidelines for accomplishing the goals that they can visualize at any time. In addition, when students use technology, such as a computer and the Internet to research for a wiki, they are more successful at achieving their goals when they reflect on their progress each day. It also helps when I provide students with consistent and immediate feedback. Furthermore, students who follow a GAME-plan when working in a computer lab seem to do well because it helps them stay on task. GAME-plan stands for Set Goals, Take Action, Monitor Your Learning, and Evaluate and Extend Your Learning (Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer, 2009).

References

http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA:Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Introduction to Differentiated Instruction[Motion Picture].Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Putting It All Together [Motion Picture]. Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009).What is Differentiated Instruction? [Motion Picture].Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: Author.

EDUC 6713: Final Reflection

Throughout this course, I learned that the GAME plan I developed and followed guided me towards establishing outstanding educational goals for my students and me. For example, I set out to learn more about current and emerging digital tools and took action by creating a checklist/”to do” list. Thanks to Walden, I experienced many of the digital tools earlier than planned, such as digital storytelling and social or educational networking. As a result of this experience and GAME plan, the educational technologist and I have already planned a digital storytelling unit for next school year. In addition, I worked with the administration so that our school is now connected to a social networking site that centers on problem-based learning. This will also take place next school year.

This spring, I had the opportunity to teach the GAME plan goal-setting methodology to a couple of my middle school classes (ESL and careers) and the students created their own GAME plans for a particular task. Overall, the students were receptive, motivated, and followed through. After this positive experience, I will continue to implement the GAME plan into my classes next year. Furthermore, I will continue to follow my GAME plan for learning more about current and emerging digital tools. I have many more tools to discover and check off of my list.

Finally, the immediate adjustment I will make to my instructional practice regarding technology integration in my content areas is to LOOK AT CONTENT FIRST then see what technology will support it! Grasping this idea has made technology integration less overwhelming and more exciting. I look forward to this being a number one priority in my teaching practice in order to facilitate students' creative thinking or overall self-directed learning.

Reference

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences with Technology, Part 1 [Motion Picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Author.

Week 7 Game-Plan Update

Digital storytelling is definitely on my checklist of “current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information,” and this week, I learned how to get this type of instruction started for next school year in all three of the classes that I teach (ESL, AVID, and careers). In addition, I talked to the educational technologist about my ideas, and he is happy to help. Also, I was able to get the other AVID teacher interested in his students collaborating with mine to create digital stories for elementary students. Over the past couple of years, my 8th grade AVID students wrote and illustrated hardcopy books to share with little ones, and this year's group of students was not very excited about the project. Perhaps next year's group will be enthusiastic about digital storytelling.

Finally, this week’s topic of digital storytelling reminded me to pay more attention to copyright laws. I learned from Dr. Arnie Abrams that it is fine to use other’s music, visuals, and video on projects that are posted to Intranet sites or private sites and say, “cease and desist.” Did I understand this correctly? Is the following letter via the link below one that someone could expect to receive if work is not cited?

http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/INTELLECTUALProperty/contract/cease.htm


References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Spotlight on Technology:Digital Storytelling, Part 1 [Motion Picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Spotlight on Technology: Digital Storytelling, Part 2 [Motion Picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Author.

Week 6 GAME-Plan Update

This week I have been focusing on my checklist of technology tools that I would like to learn more about in order to “model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information.” So far I have discovered that only a few of the social networking sites are NOT accessible from my school for students to use. For example, Ning, Twitter, and Voice Thread are not available due to them being blocked. However, there are many options that area available, such as Thinkquest, ePals, Moodle, and The Mixxer. In addition, I learned that the school principal can give our educational technologist the authority to unblock websites if the purpose is proven to be educational and safe. For instance, I was able to get my Walden blog unblocked at school, so now I have the opportunity to interact with it from work because it is based on professional development. Finally, I relearned that our school’s educational technologist has his own link to resources for teachers from our school’s Intranet Share Point site. He terms this link to technology resources “How to…” and these resources are tutorials he created about the different software available to faculty and students, such as Captivate, SMART Notebook, PhotoShop, Premiere, Dreamweaver, Excel, Inspiration, Zamzar, and Publisher. I definitely could learn more about a majority of them; especially, Captivate, Premiere, and Dreamweaver. After rediscovering these tutorials, I learned that Captivate is like Screentoaster where you can record a computer screen and talk at the same time while you navigate from this or that on the computer. Right now I am chanting… one at a time…one at a time….

My other NET-S T goal centers on assessment and I have a question about a particular assessment practice or strategy. I am wondering about peer assessment and what other teachers think about it. For the past year, I have been allowing my AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination) 8th graders to peer evaluate each other’s binder organization, and the evaluation process is guided by a particular student and teacher created checklist. This occurs every two weeks and after the evaluation, the students reflect on their progress. Recently, our school’s AVID program was evaluated, and I was told by the evaluator in front of my peers and administration that this is an extremely horrible practice!

Week 5 Game-Plan Update

Since initiating my Game-Plan to learn more about assessments in general, I have learned to be more of help to my school's Continuous School Improvement (CSI) Assessment Committee. I have always been on the committee; however, I was not contributing new ideas until recently and thanks to Walden resources. Last week my school had a half day for CSI training and the Assessment Committee was tasked with brainstorming another school-wide summative assessment to take the place of the pen and pencil problem-based exemplar. I suggested a multimedia project as seen on page 156-157 of our course text. This type of assessment would be more interesting and meaningful to our students because it not only aligns with content standards but technology standards, as well. So far, the educational technologist and CSI chair are onboard with this idea, and we will begin discussing and developing a plan for this type of assessment at the beginning of next school year.

My action plans for modeling and facilitating effective use of current and emerging digital tools are currently progessing at a slow pace due to the time of year. Last week, I was able to discuss with the eductional technologist a meeting time for the beginning of next school year to talk about best practices for implementing many of the technology tools I have on my checklist. He emailed information for me to learn about digital storytelling and MovieMaker . In addition, my Walden colleagues have given me encouragement and motivation to start implementing both programs. Finally, I look forward to the summer when I can relax and take more time to investigate the tech tools I want to learn and also create a list of questions for the educational technologist when we meet after the break.

Reference

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Week 4 GAME-Plan Update

This week’s resources provided me with a tremendous amount of information about assessment. Dr. Ross discussed three steps for determining effective assessment, and this clearly outlined information helped a great deal. I learned that teachers need to identify learning objectives, determine teaching methods and lastly, choose technology to support both of the above in order to effectively determine what students learn. As a result of this information, I was able to identify the kind of assessment that works best with my student objectives and classroom instruction. Based on the fact that I instruct students to create projects, problem solve, and share their information, I learned from Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) that performance-based and project-based assessment are a great way for my students to demonstrate mastery.

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Assessing Student Learning with Technology [Motion Picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Author.