Part One: Course Reflection
What have you learned? Other than for my own subjects (Social Studies and Language Arts for Middle School students), I had never really studied what tools and techniques work most effectively in another subject area. We have a strong Science teaching staff, who are also interesting in deepening the technology integration in their classrooms. So, I chose High School Biology as my focus. This was a good thing. I was able to dig in over the course of the semester and find a large number of high quality websites and iPad apps that I think will enhance student learning. My next major step is to sit down with one or more Biology teacher, show them the results of my coursework and then develop a plan for them to start integrating what appear to be very high-quality resources. If they want, I can assist them in searching on their own for resources, using some of what I found as a starting point.
How has theory guided development of the projects and assignments you created? Understanding theory definitely helped me as I developed projects for the course. Understanding what does, and does not work, regarding how learning materials need to be presented, the appropriate scaffolding of information, and even how the brain can process the material, was very helpful in developing my content. For instance, learning that a student's auditory and visual channels for learning are very small contributed significantly in how to develop multimedia resources for effective learning. Even though you, as the subject matter expert, may be tempted to include "everything and the kitchen sink" on a page, that has a deleterious effect on student learning: too much information (verbal, other audio, written word, images) on a page can stop the students' learning before it has even begun. People are just not mentally able to take in that much material at once. This idea (the Coherence Principle) was brought forth in my Edtech 513 Multimedia course, and it was good to see the same concepts bubble up in this course.
How did the coursework demonstrate mastery of the AECT standards? I feel confident that my course work does reflect mastery of the AECT standards. Please refer to the analysis of the course standards on my Edtech 541 Google Site.
How have you grown professionally? I have learned, or had reinforced, a considerable amount about how to better integrate technology into the High School Science classroom. As I noted above, I now have considerable ammunition to work with the science teachers at my school regarding how to more effectively integrate technology - in a practical way - into their coursework. Since my job is to support teachers in doing that, this is of supreme importance to me. Of course, it applies to the whole school, not only Science subjects. I have also (re)learned how to break projects out into bite sized pieces to successfully complete. The assignments every week provided me good practice for my organizational and project management skills.
How has your own teaching practice or thoughts about teaching been impacted by what you have learned or accomplished in this course? What will you do differently as an educator as a result of this course? More than anything, I think that I have honed my approach to working with teachers, based upon this course. I see how busy the teachers here are - with considerable academic and "other" deadlines to meet. For me, it's instrumental that I be able to support them by "cutting to the chase" and finding relevant tools, sound approaches, and reasonable "how to"' steps to effectively integrate tech more fully in their coursework. This goes well beyond just the how to's regarding the function of the tool or resource; the key component is the integration into their actual curriculum. Taking the Edtech 541 course has given me some tools and techniques to do just that.
As I noted above, it's always tempting to include everything in a multimedia presentation used for learning. This course reinforced what I already knew: less is more when presenting learners (teachers) with new information, and of course engaging the learner as much as possible (no passive "sit and git" in my training classes!) As staff developer, being mindful of what the student needs to successfully learn has to always be top of mind.
Part Two: Assess Your Performance
Upon reflection, I am very pleased with the body of work I have created for Edtech 541, Integrating Technology into the Classroom Curriculum. I have consistently provided information in clear and concise ways, and I think I added value to other students who chose to read my posts. I also feel that my responses to others were substantial and added to the ongoing conversation. I could have done better by posting earlier on occasion, so more people could have read and responded to my posts.
Content 70/70- I consistently made clear connections to current content, as well as real life situations with significant detail. In particular, the posts on Internet Safety, Mobile Wifi and Accessibility Options on iPad exemplified some of my best work.
Readings and Resources 18/20 - I did make references to outside readings and did use APA style references as appropriate in my posts.
Timeliness 15/20 - I did do all the postings required with quality, and most were done early enough for others to respond.
Responses to Other Students - 25/30 - I did respond to my peers with substantial posts that added to the conversation. I made only one substantial response to a peer in one or two weeks of the semester.
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