Reflection: New and Emerging Technologies: EDUC 6715

Upon reflection of my assignment created in Weeks 6 and 7, I have come to understand how difficult it can be to find technology resources that relate to my content areas and are meaningful to the end goal I want my students to reach. I also realize the important that technology and digital gaming can have on student success. According to Gee, games give children the tools they need to explore complex systems and experiment with different possibilities and outcomes (Hoffman, 2009). Games are a great way to engage students and enable them to master concepts without memorizing information that is given to them and later disregarding it. My completed assignment demonstrates what I have learned in this course because I have created a lesson around a new technology in education and explained why students will be using it along with how it will benefit them. I have also explained how this technology tool will help further develop 21st century skills and engage students in an authentic learning environment. I have included an explanation for how I can become a change leader by promoting how this technology will help my students and ways that my school can change their policies in order to permit this technology transformation to occur.

There are many adjustments that I will make in my efforts to identify emerging technologies with the potential to transform teaching and learning. I would like to collaborate with my colleagues to create a learning community where we can research and locate various technologies that we feel would be beneficial to our students. By collecting this information, we can share our findings with the administration and explain that by using more technology we can steer away from traditional textbooks. Christensen and Horn (2008) state that computers offer a way to customize instruction and allow students to learn in the way they are best wired to process information, in the style that conforms to them, and at a pace that matches their own. Why would administrators and teachers not want to use technology to allow students to learn in a way that is best for them? Through this learning community, we can influence other colleagues and our administration towards the adoption of new and emerging technologies in our school. Once technologies have been adopted, we can “test” them on a trial basis with teachers who are interested in implementing technology in their classrooms. They can become the experts who help train the others in the school. Another adjustment that I will make to incorporate educational technology to support 21st century learners will be to use the learning community to help share success stories with others about how technology has helped children be learners that are more successful. Reeves (2009) shares that in order to translate the research about teacher leadership and modeling into action, we must first provide examples, not policy mandates. Our learning community can collaborate with each other to assemble a resource of technology-rich lessons that are accessible through our school’s server. This can help educate others on the lessons and can be a resource to refer to while they are becoming more comfortable with using technology in their own classrooms. It is important to provide support for colleagues and not diminish the efforts they are putting forth to integrate technology into their instruction. We must all work together to convey the importance of technology in the classrooms and share the benefits it will have on student understanding and successful mastery of concepts.

References:

Christensen, C., & Horn, M. (2008). How do we transform our schools? Education Next, 8(3), 12–19.

Hoffman, L. (2009). Learning through games. Communication of the ACM, 52(8), 21–22.

Reeves, D. (2009). Model teachers. Educational Leadership, 66(5), 85–86.

Reflection- Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology: EDUC 6714

Throughout this course, I have learned so much more about the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI). I have also realized the important role that technology has on supporting a classroom that uses UDL and DI. Smith (2009) explains that technology empowers the learning environment. After reading many articles by Dr. Tomlinson, I have come to the understanding that DI is not something that will take place over night, but it is something that I will need to continue to work on throughout my educational career. Before the start of this course, I knew about DI, but had not heard of UDL before. I now easily recognize the correlation between both UDL and DI and how they can benefit the needs of all students. Howard (2004) shares that UDL focuses educators on developing flexible curricula that provide students with multiple ways of accessing content, multiple means for expressing what they learn, and multiple pathways for engaging their interest and motivation. This change in the way of teaching will enable educators to focus on the needs of students and help them gain access to all material we cover in the classroom.

My colleagues in this course have shared many valuable resources that I will continue to use as I incorporate both UDL and DI in my classroom. Our social network site is a place I can easily access to find resources that will benefit me and resources that will benefit my students. I will also share many of the resources with my school colleagues so that they can benefit from the numerous ideas and activities that I have learned about throughout the duration of this course. I can use the student resources as remediation or enrichment during our reading groups. I can also plan whole-group activities where students can use the technology resources to learn more about topics we are covering.

My instructional practice with regard to the use of technology integration to customize instruction will change tremendously based on the knowledge I have gained during this course. I understand that it is important to start small, but that the benefits of technology use largely outweigh the risk of students not having equal access to classroom materials. Throne (2009) states that technology helps teachers to become more attuned with students’ varied learning styles and readiness levels. I think that technology use today will help reach more students and engage them in the learning process. I would like to spend some of my planning time to school to locate technology tools and resources that will benefit my students as we explore the various standards and make learning more exciting and interesting to them. I would also like to make sure that I could find at least one technology tool or resource that can help my students understand difficult topics and illustrate that information in a more interesting way. Technology can also help students develop the 21st century skills necessary for their everyday lives both in and out of school.

References:

Howard, K. L. (2004). Universal design for learning: Meeting the needs of all students. International Society for Technology in Education, 31(5), 26–29.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: Author.

Spotlight on Technology: Online Learning in K-12 Schools

Here is a link to my PowerPoint presentation on Online Learning in K-12 Schools:

http://www.slideshare.net/grade2teacher/spotlight-on-emerging-technology-4819463

Feel free to share any comments!

Reflection

Throughout this course, I have learned about the importance of making a GAME plan to set goals. The GAME plan also enables you to become a self-directed learner. When able to monitor the goal(s) being set and revise as needed, it allows you to be successful in meeting the goals that have been set. This type of plan has made it easy to examine and keep track of the work I was completing all through this course. I set goals that were valuable and ones that I felt confident I could achieve. The help and support of an online community has been very valuable.

I have also realized the importance of having students create GAME plans to ensure that they are self-directed learners. This process helps students learn to evaluate their actions (Laureate Education, 2009). As a teacher, I am ensuring that students are able to set goals for themselves and also monitor those goals to guarantee success. Students can set personal goals that will help them become successful self-directed learners. In the upcoming school year, I would like to work with my students to teach them how to create a GAME plan and then revisit their plan each nine weeks. We will work through this process together (both students and myself will set goals).

An adjustment that I will make to my instructional practice regarding technology integration as a result of my learning from this course is the option to use technology whenever possible when completing work in the classroom. I will start to integrate technology in science since I have created several lessons that incorporate technology through science instruction. I have learned how to create problem-based lessons, social networking lessons, and digital storytelling lessons. Each of these lessons integrate technology in a way that will make certain that all students are able to develop 21st century skills and become self-directed learners. They are not being told what they need to learn, but instead given the freedom to learn and explore the material in a way that is of interest to them and then share that knowledge with peers. The skills students are acquiring will be of great value to them throughout their lives.

Reference:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

The GAME plan process has been helpful by allowing me to set goals that I can work towards meeting. I have been able to monitor and revise these plans as needed throughout the entire process. I am still working towards meeting my goals, but can revise if I am not successful.

The GAME plan process can be used with my students by working together, I teach second graders, to choose one standard that we can all work together to help develop proficiency in technology. As a group, we would discuss each standard and its meaning. We will decide what standard to focus on implementing to increase our proficiency; many of the standards for students are related to the standards for teachers. I could also show students the standards for teachers and explain that we could choose a standard that we could both work to implement in the classroom.

Once a standard has been chosen, we will brainstorm ideas on how we can work to meet the goal of becoming proficient in that standard. I will also research ideas/resources that can be used to help students become proficient. At the end of each week, we can spend the last part of our day, 20-30 minutes, discussing how we have done to become proficient. We can also discuss strategies that can help us become better at what we are working to achieve. If we are not seeing any success, we can revise our plan and determine what might need to change.

For example, if we chose “Digital Citizenship” we would need to discuss ways to practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology. We can also discuss how we will collaborate together in a positive way (what projects can they work on). Students will also need to be able to show me that they are leaders in digital citizenship. This can be assessed through work students complete online. Each week we can discuss things we have done, in and out of school, that show we are being responsible with technology. I would also encourage students to keep a journal of things they do online, myself included that can be discussed in class to show how to be responsible and also not violate copyright laws. By working together, we can work to accomplish this goal and then work to become proficient in another standard.

Revising My GAME Plan

I feel that I am working towards meeting both goals that have put into action in my GAME plan. I have the resources in place to share with my administration and colleagues in order to implement new technology tools for the upcoming school year. I will be working on my class website over the summer and then survey parents at the start of next school year to see what information they would like to see on our class website. At this point, I do not believe that I need to revise anything with my current GAME plan. This may change once the new school year starts and modifications need to be made based on school funding. I do not see a need to revise my plan of the class website at this time.

I have learned the importance of setting goals and actually taking the time to monitor those goals throughout this entire process to make sure I am on the right track. The feedback and suggestions gathered from my colleagues is a valuable asset in helping achieve my goals. This GAME plan has also helped me to become more of a self-directed learning and will help me keep up with new and different forms of technology (Laureate Education, 2009). I am still working to complete the two goals I have set for myself and will be able to evaluate that achievement during the next school year. Based on the NETS-T, I would continue to work on the goal of “Promoting and Modeling Digital Citizenship and Responsibility (ISTE, 2008).” In my classroom, we use laptops on a regular basis and I would really like to model and support students to be responsible when using technology. I would also like to work on the goal of “Engaging in Professional Growth and Leadership (ISTE, 2008).” I would like to develop a learning community that work together to reflect on what we are teaching and try to incorporate new technology tools to improve the way we teach students. In order to improve my learning, I would like to search the Internet to see what information is out there on learning communities. I plan on starting small, in my school community, and then building on that community. To improve digital citizenship and responsibility, I would like to see what information I can find online that is kid-friendly and appropriate for second graders. When information is presented in a way that makes sense to them, it will hopefully be retained and used when they are using technology tools both in and out of the classroom.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), (2008). The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers. Retrieved June 8, 2010, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Evaluating My GAME Plan

The NETS-T standard of “Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences” has allowed me to really examine the various technology tools that are available to help create digital-age learning experiences. Many of the tools found are ones that are readily available and require minimal effort to implement. One specific tool that I am interested in implementing is The Graph Club (www.tomsnyder.com), which can be used to generate student-created surveys. I have spoken with our Math Specialist about this tool since their budget has additional money to purchase materials. I still need to determine what other tools require money in order to implement in our school. I can present the information about various technology tools to my principal to see what funds may be available. I have also learned that many of the tools, without subscriptions, are ones that can be easily tailored to meet the needs of students in order to enjoy digital-age learning experiences that will assist them in their everyday lives. If there is little money in the budget to purchase new tools that require subscriptions, I will have to wait until next year to see if funds will be available. Tools such as spreadsheets, digital cameras, presentation software, Google Docs, and concept-mapping software are tools that I can use now and create digital-age learning experiences for the students in my classroom.

The NETS-T standard of “Model Digital-Age Work and Learning” has encouraged me to find exciting ways to share student achievements with parents and community members. I also like the idea of students creating a digital portfolio where they can monitor their work and add their own comments. The only problem is finding the time and resources to upload student work in a timely manner. If I chose to create digital portfolios, this may be more time consuming that uploading documents before or after school to the class website. I am also working to create a survey that I can send home with current parents to gain feedback on what information that would like to see on a class website. This will provide me with a starting point on what to include on a website that I can start developing this summer. I still have to survey parents at the beginning of next school year and also find parent volunteers that would be able to assist students in uploading their work to the website. If parents are unable to help with this process, I will need to rely on the support of our grade level assistant. At this point, I would need to determine if it is something that parents were using at home because she would be pulled during a time when she assists me with reading groups. Throughout this process, I have realized the importance that parents have in making their students successful. Without parental involvement, this goal may not be possible.