EDUC-6715: New and Emerging Technologies

WEEK 4: Spotlight on Emerging Technology

Online Learning in K-12 Schools

Below is a link to my powerpoint presentation on Emerging Technology:

VoiceThread

EDUC-6714: Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology

Week 8 Reflection

Differentiated Instruction and Universal Design for Learning allow the teacher to address the individuals of the classroom rather than the class as a whole. Technology has made the implementation of these principles a tangible reality.

I found that my peers in the Differentiation Station social network had many valuable resources that I will be able to take and use in my classroom. I was so overwhelmed by the resources that are available from the http://cast.org/ website. I had never heard of this website prior to this course and I look forward to the possibilities that are available! I think that it is very important to take the time to search for resources that will help students achieve success. Technology provides so many options and provides so much scaffolding for students who desperately need it. I look forward to finding those tools that students will use in order to complete tasks that they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.

The biggest adjustment that I have made in my classroom is that I am trying to keep my goals simple in terms of DI and UDL. I am working to implement at least one lesson in each unit that incorporates these elements. I am also working to combat the “fair vs. equal” mentality that is present in my classroom. I have always struggled with how to deal with students who complain about the differences in assignments and expectations, but I am learning that I just need to do what is best for each student.

I have incorporated technology in my Social Studies and ELA classes in order to provide tools for students to complete their assignments. It is so exciting for me to see students excited and engaged with their learning! “The integration of a variety of technologies into the classroom can provide learners with unique opportunities to help meet their diverse needs.” (Bray, Brown & Green, 2004, pg. 76) As I become familiar with even more tools for DI and UDL, I look forward to more students finding success in the classroom. The skills and tools that technology provides will be useful for students as they continue their educational journeys.

References:

Bray, M., Brown, A., & Green, T. (2004). Technology and the Diverse Learner: A Guide to Classroom Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

EDUC-6713: Integrating Technology Across Content Areas

FINAL BLOG POST: Reflecting on my GAME plan

Throughout this course, I was challenged to work towards the two goals that I identified for my GAME plan. While I did not achieve my goals within the time frame of this course, I am hopeful that I will continue to work towards both goals as the school year continues. I think that the two areas that I chose to focus on were very relevant for my class and I do not want to forget about them as this course ends. I know that I would have really liked to work more towards developing the WebQuest, however, since that is for a future unit of study, I just could not devote the necessary time required at this time.

I really liked the simple layout of the steps associated with the GAME plan model and have passed it along to my administrator so that it can be incorporated into our staff's professional goal-setting. I think that the GAME plan makes goals appear more attainable and sets a standard of how to know when that goal has been met. I have incorporated the GAME plan model for my own professional development, and am excited to continue working towards my goals to better my own professional practice.

As a result of this course, I have been changing my current assignments to draw in more "real-world issues" that students can identify. I have enjoyed looking for resources that will engage my students and will connect them to the real world. I have been impacted to think about ways that I can make the content of my courses relevant to my students. I am working towards being more intentional in the resources that I choose to use in my class. I think that this change in my own attitude towards technology-infusion in the classroom has been a positive change for my instructional practice.

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards Based Approach. (Laurete Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cenage Learning

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

The process of developing a GAME plan is such an easy method for goal-setting. Since the start of this course, I have found the steps of this process to be helpful in my own teaching practice, not only in meeting the NETS-T, but also in developing my practice in other areas. After visiting the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) , and looking at the standards for students, I was not surprised to find that teachers are the facilitators for the students achieving their standards. Teachers need to be prepared to model and teach students the skills they need to achieve success with the NETS-S standards.

A similar resource to the NETS-S that I have to use as part of the Manitoba Curriculum for Literacy with Information Communication Technology. (Continuum can be found here.) There are many similarities between the standards found in both of these documents, and I really like the way the Manitoba LwICT Continuum lists the outcomes in "student-friendly" terms so that they can evaluate their own progress in these areas. For the various outcomes, it also gives examples of what that might look like and what technology they could use in order to meet that goal.

I think that I would like to incorporate the GAME plan into my class. Setting goals is an important element of grade eight and I would like to begin to get my students to evaluate their skill level, and I think that using goal-setting with their comfort level with technology.

References:

NETS-S: International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

LwICT Continuum: Manitoba Education

Revising My GAME Plan

Goals:

The two indicators that I would like to focus on are:

1. Teachers engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.

2. Teachers develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.

Action:

In order to achieve these goals I will:

1. Research resources that I can use from the "real-world" that will engage my students in understanding the concept of Water Systems in Grade 8 science.

2. Develop my own web quest-type authentic learning experience that will be used in a combined ELA/Social Studies project on Ancient Greece.

As this course has progressed, I have found myself frustrated with the amount of time needed to reach my goals in a way that meets my standards and the needs of my class. I want to develop lessons that are not only infused with technology, but also lessons that meet the students where they are. There is such a diverse group of students in my class, as in every class, and it can be difficult to find "real-world" issues that students can explore if they cannot comprehend the information they find.

Even though I faced this frustration in the completion of the "action" portion of my goals, I have still tried to incorporate these goals in smaller ways in my classroom. I am in the process of developing an assignment for ELA/SS to wrap up the study of Mesopotamia. They will have the opportunity to choose a project that is best suited to their strengths that will also make use of technology in a way that highlights what they have learned.

I found that I aimed too high with my action plan for reaching my goals. I have to remember to keep it simple and straightforward, and know that I cannot accomplish it all overnight. As I looked back in the course text, I was reminded that I need to continually revisit and question whether the plan is working. Are students successfully learning what they need to through my lessons and projects? If not, I need to revise.

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards Based Approach. (Laurete Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cenage Learning.

Evaluation My GAME Plan Progress

Throughout this course, and through each course before, I have been surprised by new resources and tools that are available to integrate into my current practice.

Recap of Goal Actions:

The action for my first goal was to find "real-world" resources that I could use in my study of "water systems" for Grade 8 science, in order to engage my students better.

The action required for my second goal was to create a WebQuest for the study of Ancient Rome or Greece.

I have already begun to implement some of the ideas that I've discovered in my classroom. My goal actions are still a "work-in-progress". I have learned that there are far more available resources that I thought before. This is a pretty incredible discovery for me, since I spend a lot of time looking for usable tools. The CAST website contains a wealth of information and resources for teachers to use in the classroom. I was amazed at the practical tools available.

Honestly, the biggest obstacle to me meeting these two goals is time. The curricular outcomes associated with each goal only come up later in the school year, so I haven't been as motivated to actually create the WebQuest yet. I am a little intimidated by the amount of time that it will take to create the site, and while I do look forward to it, I know that there is still a fair amount of research that I need to do in deciding which parts of existing WebQuests I would like to draw from. I am still working through ideas on how to assess the learning. I love the ideas shared by my colleagues through the comments. Thank you! I think that a booklet that accompanies the WebQuest might be a good place to start. That provides a tangible, and logical way for students to manage their learning.

I am trying to implement some of these same "real-world" issues of my second goal into more of my teaching. It is these connections that draw students in, and I want to make use of that as often as I can.

References:

http://www.cast.org/

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards Based Approach. (Laurete Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cenage Learning.

Update on My GAME Plan

So far, I have found a lot of information in order to reach my two goals. I would like to find more information on water systems yet. It is a big undertaking and it seems like I should revisit that goal. I don't think that it is realistic to think that I will find ALL the resources that I want to make this unit completely engaging. I think I need to start with a goal of incorporating technology and "real-world" issues into five lessons of the unit. It is re-assuring to know that there are so many great resources available on the Internet. However, at the same time, it is a daunting task to find the resources that I need to make this unit engaging for my students.

I have found many great resources for my WebQuest goal. I think that I have all the necessary information in order to create my own WebQuest and look forward to the task of creating it. As I think about the activities that I would like to include in this webQuest, I now need to figure out how I want to assess the work that my students do. This week's reading on forms of assessment reminds me that I need to include a variety of assessment types in order to best evaluate how my students learned the information. I will definitely include some forced-option, open-ended and project-based assessment. I just need to figure out how to best do this.

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards Based Approach. (Laurete Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cenage Learning.

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas: GAME Plan

Resources for my GAME plan:

In order to carry out my GAME plan, I will need to find resources that I can use in order to meet my goals.

The action for my first goal was to find "real-world" resources that I could use in my study of "water systems" for Grade 8 science, in order to engage my students better.

I have found one resource so far that I plan to use with my class as we discuss water pollution.

http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/disasters/bp is a great site that uses google maps and places the recent oil spill from the Gulf of Mexico where you live. This allows students to see how large of an area would be covered in oil. This site, in conjunction with sites such as CNN's blog that followed the oil spill (http://news.blogs.cnn.com/category/latest-news/gulf-coast-oil-spill/) would give students the information that they would need in order to take the knowledge acquired in our study of water pollution and analyze what has been going on in our world today.

This is only one lesson in a unit, and I would like to use "real-world" issues in order to engage my students throughout our study. I still need to locate resources that can be used to study river systems and watersheds, erosion, convection currents and water treatment.

The action required for my second goal was to create a WebQuest for the study of Ancient Rome or Greece. There are many resources that exist on these subjects, but I have not found one that I really like. As a result, my goal is to use the skills I already have to create a website that meets the criteria that I have for a WebQuest.

Some of the WebQuests that I have found already to draw inspiration from are:

Ancient Greece: http://www.rdsc.vic.edu.au/ag/ag2.htm

Ancient Greece: http://www.teachnet.ie/stpats2004/ancientgreece/introd.html

Ancient Greece: http://www2.franciscan.edu/webquests/ancientgreece/

Ancient Rome: http://www.librarybcds.com/6WQrome/6WQrome.html

Ancient Rome: http://chalk.richmond.edu/education/projects/webquests/rome/

Ancient Rome: http://questgarden.com/42/32/6/061118152036/

I think that creating a WebQuest that is tailored for my needs in my classroom is an effective method to "scaffold or support [my] students' use of the web." (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2010, pg. 55)

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas: GAME Plan

After visiting the International Society for Technology in Education, and the National Education Standards for Teachers, I found that I am already fairly confident in all of these areas. However, there is still room for improvement!

So, here is my GAME plan:

Goals:

The two indicators that I would like to focus on are:

1. Teachers engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.

2. Teachers develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.

Action:

In order to achieve these goals I will:

1. Research resources that I can use from the "real-world" that will engage my students in understanding the concept of Water Systems in Grade 8 science.

2. Develop my own web quest-type authentic learning experience that will be used in a combined ELA/Social Studies project on Ancient Greece.

Monitor:

I will monitor my progress by reminding myself of my goals and working on achieving them on a weekly basis.

Evaluate & Extend:

I will be able to evaluate my plan when I try incorporating my goals into my classroom. If the lessons work, I will have achieved the goals. However, if the lessons are not successful, I will have to re-evaluate my work towards the goals.

Reflective Essay: Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classrooom

As the course ends, it is interesting to look back on what I learned as a result. I found this course to be interesting and very practical for the upcoming school year. I liked the process of working through the unit plan and the process that needs to be used when researching information on the Internet.

The most striking revelation that I had about teaching new literacy skills to my students is that they need even more guidance when starting a research project. I have always had trouble when conducting inquiry projects because they just do not seem to find appropriate information. I realized that I need to be more purposeful in teaching my students skills for searching and decoding the information that they find.

The knowledge and experience that I gained through my course work will definitely have an impact on my teaching this year, and in years to come. I intend to follow the lessons that I put together for my lesson plan to ensure that, by the time my students leave my classroom, they are equipped with all the skills they need to conduct an inquiry project independently.

One professional development goal that I would like to pursue that will build on my learning in this course, and develop my own information literacy/technology skills is that I would like to develop information that I can pass on to my colleagues to teach their students the necessary skills. I will have to continue reading books like the texts of this course. I will have to figure out how I can share this information with my colleagues in a way that will be “user-friendly”, especially for those who are more technologically challenged. And I will have to continue to search the Internet for valuable resources that I can use towards this. I think that this goal is attainable, and as I work to further develop my own learning, that will reinforce it for me also.

Final Reflection

I really enjoyed the content of this course on learning theory and technology. While I found that there weren't many changes to my personal theory of learning, reflecting on the content of this course has given me a deeper insight to how I learn and how I teach.

I have already incorporated digital concept organizers in my class and would really like to try to use VoiceThread. I think that VoiceThread has a lot of potential for collaborative work and I would like to see how this could work in my classroom. Concept organizers are so important for how students construct their learning and I use these quite often.

I would like to find ways to incorporate technology better into the "teacher-directed" portions of my class in ways that would be engaging and interactive for students. I do many "student-directed" activities in my classroom and I would like to better integrate technology when I'm in front of the class as well.

I would also like to work at how I assess student learning when they are working collaboratively or individually with technology. Observations are very important to the learning process so that we can adjust our teaching to better meet the needs of our students.

VoiceThread

Click Here for my VoiceThread!

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Social learning theories state that people learn primarily through their interactions with others and their environment. Cooperative learning allows students to work together in order to achieve a deeper level of understanding.

There are many instructional resources available that assist in cooperative learning. It is almost overwhelming to look at the list of resources that are referenced in the course text, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. However, there are so many social networking options, webQuests, web-site creation, wikis, blogs, etc. that all have a role to play in cooperative learning. Each of these resources puts the learning in the hands of the students. Whether in groups within the traditional classroom, or paired with students in a classroom across the world, students can work together to learn in ways that would not otherwise be possible.

Note: Most of the great resources that are available for cooperative learning are blocked by our technology administrators, and it is a very slow process in trying to convince them of the value of many of these sites.

Constructivism in Practice

Once again, I have to say that I am really enjoying this course text. Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works has so many practical applications for the classroom. In my school, we have replaced year end exams in grade eight with year-end assessments. These inquiry-based projects allow students to take the opportunity to come up with their own inquiry question to pursue and then they research, collect data, and analyze their finding.

In the Chapter entitled "Generating and Testing Hypotheses", the authors address this same process. There are so many ideas for how to proceed with this in the classroom, and I think that many of the web resources and other computer resources listed and explained in the chapter assist students in pursuing this. As students work to test and prove their work, it is essential that they understand the questions that they are researching. If they attempt to complete a project without fulling understanding their hypothesis, their learning is flawed and incomplete. It is essential that students have an understanding, so that they understand what they have learned through the process.

Cognitivism in Practice

I am really enjoying the suggestions in this course's text Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works! I thought that the chapter on "Summarizing and Note Taking" especially timely since I'm looking for ways to teach my students how to take notes and summarize a text since that is a skill that is so vitally important to success in high school and university. I am looking forward to exploring the resources suggested at the end of the chapter and I hope that they will translate well into my classroom. I have used wikis as a means of presenting class notes and asked my students to each give other students feedback on how well they did at presenting the necessary information. I liked the interactivity of this exercise. I am also really enjoying the possibilities of the comments and tracking changes in Word. It is such a diverse resource!

The chapter on "Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers" was also very interesting, although not new to me. I have used various types of concept organizers in my class, depending on the topic and subject area. I find that they are a great way to get students to break down a chunk of information so that they can actually use it to complete an assignment. I have also been working with a former student of mine to improve his comprehension strategies. In this time, we have been exploring how using a graphic organizer can assist in how he can answer later comprehension strategies. And in our discussions together, he has told me that he found it much easier to answer the questions because he thought through the information first.

Virtual Field Trips are so interesting, and there are so many good resources available! I like that students can explore a concept on their own, asking for direction when necessary. Whether it is in the form of a virtual field trip, or note-taking, or concept organizers, students are given the opportunity to take in new knowledge and develop their own learning. I think that these technological tools can help the teacher move more freely into the role of facilitator.

Behaviourism in Practice

I am actually enjoying Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works! I really like the 'Effort Rubric' in the chapter on "Reinforcing Effort". This rubric allows students to gauge their own behaviour and I really like that. I think that giving students the opportunity to reflect on their own learning and effort can be very helpful in reminding students about how their own effort can help them achieve success. I have never thought to use spreadsheet software in order to allow students to gauge their own progress. It is an interesting notion, but our time in the computer lab is so limited as it is that I don't think that I will use this in my classroom. I have used survey monkey to poll my other university peers, but have not used it in my own classroom yet. I have done informal 'effort' surveys in my classroom before (without technology).

While I try not to assign much homework in my class, I did find the web suggestions in the "Homework and Practice" chapter very interesting and it almost makes me want to assign more homework just to try them!

I do think that showing students their progress and how that relates to the effort that they put in can be helpful in getting students to realize how they can have a role in the marks that they get.