This course, Introduction to Online Learning, has taught me a great deal about developing and creating online or blended learning environments. I think one of the best resources from this course included the iNACOL rubrics for instructional design in online or blended learning environments. The iNACOL rubrics are clear guidelines to ensure effective instructional design. This helped me create my first unit plan and module for an online learning environment. I feel fortunate to have experienced this course because I was so unfamiliar with aspects of online learning, such as acceptable use polices and student privacy. I feel much more confident in my journey of technology coaching after having been exposed to the basic foundational strategies of developing online or blended learning environments.
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Technology Leadership has been a great course for me and has solidified my desire to move towards leadership. After conducting the SWOT Analysis for an assignment, my administrators invited me to participate in a SWOT Analysis for our school regarding a variety of topics. So, I would certainly consider this course relevant. My experience from this course will greatly impact my school improvement because my assignments (SWOT Analysis, Shared Vision Survey, and Action Plan) provided the evidence I needed to present to my administration in order to begin a Technology Committee. This committee will develop a school-wide Technology Plan, along with other initiatives. We will have our first meeting before the end of the school year, and we will begin with data from my Tech Planning Project. My hopes are for us to review the analysis and plan to modify as the committee sees fit, and use those to develop our Technology Plan for 2017 – 2018!
This course, Educational Research, has been my toughest course so far! Luckily, its professor was great at walking us through the content. I think this course was most difficult because it has been furthest from my comfort zone. I knew very little about quantitative and qualitative research, nor did I think I could successfully analyze it. However, Dr. Dias has been great with walking us through analysis of research. I thought the synchronous session with a practice run of our "Annotated Article" was highly beneficial because we were able to work through it together before attempting it on our own. In addition to the practice before our independent work, I like the way Dr. Dias split up our Capstone Proposal into sections. This made my proposal seem like a manageable "mountain" to climb. Her timely feedback was great because she provided specific details AND reasoning behind it. This helped me actually learn, rather than feeling like I was just "jumping through hoops".
The Capstone Proposal and the analysis on multiple research articles have built my confidence in this area. I am no expert, but I feel as though I can trust myself to analyze research for my school. This is a quality needed for anyone working with Instructional Technology. One of our standards requires us to analyze and evaluate tools, so my new understanding of how research is conducted and then presented will help me exhibit this within my field. This course, Professional Learning and Technology Innovation, has benefitted me as a “Teacher-Leader/ITEC Coach” in so many ways! I always felt like I was a “people-person”, but from reading Knight’s book, I have gained a lot more insight. I would like to think that I had a “Partnership Approach” before I even knew it had a name. Knight helped me put my “people-person” instincts into logical, intellectual research findings. The best example I can think of to describe this is Knight’s focus on Partnership Communication. Knight (2007) explained that coaches must know their teachers’ learning preferences, and a great tool to determine this is the MBTI self-reporting instrument. This added a real science to my “people” skills. I knew that certain people respond better to certain approaches (this applies to students, also), but I was excited to find an actual science that had it all figured out. This took some of the “trial-and-error” out of reaching my colleagues, which has made me grow as a coach.
Quite honestly, I saw this course as a relief because I just got tasked with leading technology professional development for our faculty. This course has given me guidance to meet the needs of our teachers. I felt as though I was doing a lot of “educated” guesswork before, but now I have a lot more confidence in my coaching abilities. As far as on-going development, I will (hopefully) have this same task of leading technology professional development next school year. I fully intend to keep the Partnership Approach and will most definitely refer back to Jim Knight! I’m already following him on Twitter =) Knight, J. (2007). Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press So far, this course, Internet Tools in the Classroom, has been one of my favorites! I feel as though I have gained so much from exploring a myriad of digital tools that I may not have explored without this course. I have learned to effectively research and evaluate tools to use with my fellow teachers and students. For example, I would have never used a Wiki Space to house all of my project components; I would have just had a mess of paperwork scattered throughout my classroom. Another tool that I may not have gotten effective use out of is Jing, or any other screencast tool. I have used screencasts for my teachers as tools for professional learning, but I had not used them for my students. Using screencasts with my students has been a great way to head towards self-paced and personalized learning.
In my opinion, the best outcome of this course has been my expansion of my Personal Learning Network (PLN). Dr. Frazier gave us a list of people to follow on Twitter, and that has made a world of difference for my PLN. I know it may sound silly, but I had no idea how powerful Twitter could be! Using Twitter as part of my PLN has catapulted me into an on-going Professional Development for which I can genuinely be excited. I have recently been inspired to start my own blog site, for which this class provides lots of inspiration. Overall, this course has refreshed my enthusiasm for technology integration into our classrooms!
Students will compete in an Organelle Campaign. Students will have to argue that without their organelle, the cell and its organism will collapse. Students are arguing this in hopes to win the title, “The Most Important Organelle in the Universe.” Students will first compete against others on our academic team before competing with others on other teams in a grade-level competition. Students will have the opportunity to choose how they will deliver their arguments: speech or poster and pamphlet. The speech will be recorded and edited on devices of their choice, and the posters/pamphlets will be either digital or paper. However, the delivery of the content to the students is all digital. Students will refer to a “To-Do List” Padlet for their step-by-step instructions, then refer to a class wiki page to access the Choice Board, Group Assignments, Rubrics, and Tech Help Tips.
The goal of this project is to have students realize that ALL organelles are important, as the cell cannot survive without any of the organelles because they all have a very specific purpose. To achieve this goal, students will use a variety of technology to communicate and express themselves using digital media of their choice.
Symbaloo is a user-friendly tool that allows users to organize links onto one page for quick access, according to Solomon and Schrum (2014) (p. 339). Mimi, the author of 11 Ways to Use Symbaloo in the Classroom, suggests that the best uses of Symbaloo include: embed to class website to house online resources, use for curriculum mapping, create a personalized learning environment for students, and create a video playlist.
I have recently created my very first webmix using Symbaloo! My goal with this webmix is two-fold: embed to my class website to house resources and create a standard-specific video playlist. Currently, I use the OneTab Chrome extension to share video playlists because it is so quick to create. While I can share are OneTab link, I cannot embed the list to my website. The embed feature gives Symbaloo a benefit not found in other tools in my toolbox. I was able to create sections within my webmix to organize by topic, in this case, Cell Theory, Plant vs. Animal Cells, and Cell Structures. This will allow my students the choice of determining which videos they need to watch, or they can find the videos assigned based on areas of weakness. I can envision Symbaloo being used to support students with disabilities in an indirect way. Teachers could share a webmix that includes resources for support. There are webmixes with this intent already in the Symbaloo Gallery. For example, SMCISD Special Education’s webmix includes resources for autism, emotional disorders, traumatic brain injury, etc. Teachers could have immediate access to a variety of resources in one page, either by creating a webmix or visiting a webmix from the gallery. The future of Web 2.0 tools in education has the potential to tailor the web experience to the individual user, according to Kris Powers, author of What is Web 3.0 and How Might it Affect Education?. As educators, this means that the shift towards personalized learning becomes achievable. Melissa Delaney, author of What Is Web 3.0, Really, and What Does It Mean for Education?, outlines from her interviews that Web 3.0 tools will naturally lend themselves to a flipped classroom setting. This means that teachers will need to be knowledgeable in these Web 3.0 tools in order to provide students with the best chance of success after graduation. In addition, this means that a teacher’s role may become more of a facilitator than a trainer or lecturer. Instead of the teacher having all of the knowledge to deliver to the students in a one-size-fits-all setting, students will be able to explore, share, and create the knowledge through technology. It is apparent that technology is ever-changing and is leading to a more tailored experience for its users, especially as people become more proficient in their use of technology. This can positively impact education if educators can embrace these changes and keep up with them, so they can ensure a successful future for their students after graduation. I am excited to see what these advances will be! Delaney, Melissa. "What Is Web 3.0, Really, and What Does It Mean for Education?." EdTech. 26 Oct. 2012. Web. 5 Nov. 2016. http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2012/10/what-web-30-really-and-what-does-it-mean-education Mimi. "11 Ways to use Symbaloo in the Classroom." The Edublogger. 9 Apr. 2014. Web. 5 Nov. 2016. https://www.theedublogger.com/2014/04/09/11-ways-to-use-symbaloo-in-the-classroom/ Powers, Kris. "What is Web 3.0 and How Might it Affect Education? | Ed4Online." Ed4online.com. n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2016. https://ed4online.com/blog/what-web-30-and-how-might-it-affect-education Teachers must be aware of the risks that come along with their students using technology, not just in the classroom, but also in their personal lives. The first step for promoting safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of technology is to be aware of the dangers: invasion of student privacy, cyberbullying, sexting, plagiarism, etc. Once teachers are aware of these risks, they are able to extend this knowledge to their students. Second, teachers should be promoting healthy dialogues with their students about safety within the realm of technology, according to Sarah Muthler, author of Teacher’s Guide: Cyberbullying, Sexting, and Student Privacy. Open dialogue within the classroom is great way for students to safely explore possible scenarios they may experience. Netsmartz.org has a plethora of resources organized by age group for educators to use for these discussions. These resources include: videos, activity cards, presentations with presenter guides, safety pledges, and handouts regarding safety using technology. Another great resource to guide educators in these open classroom discussions is Christopher Pappas’s How-To Guide. Pappas guides educators through top-rated technology safety resources by providing tips for use with each resource.
These teacher-led discussions should lead to a development of strategies in which students can keep themselves safe by practicing healthy and ethical uses of technology. To encourage student participation and engagement, Muthler recommends that teachers allow students to develop their classroom’s computer-use policy. Computer-use policies should outline appropriate uses of technology within the classroom. Students, especially older students, will be able to appropriately identify acceptable online behaviors. This should be easy for students to do after their discussions or exploration of online safety resources, such as the FBI Safe Online Surfing game. Teachers can guide students in creating their classroom’s computer-use policies and have each student sign it. In addition to open classroom discussions and student-authored computer-use policies, educators should get parents informed and involved to keep our students safe, according to Robert Lucas, author of How to Keep Students Safe Online. Providing parents with tips on managing their child’s technology use will help educators achieve their goal of promoting safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of technology. In conclusion, educators have a great responsibility to promote safe use of technology within their student and parent population. Some strategies for educators to achieve this goal are: have open dialogue regarding risks, have students author classroom computer-use policies, and inform students and parents of ways to stay safe. Lucas, Robert. "The Teacher’s Guide to Keeping Students Safe Online - eLearning Industry." eLearning Industry. 11 Sept. 2013. Web. 5 Nov. 2016. https://elearningindustry.com/the-teacher-guide-to-keeping-students-safe-online Muthler, S. (2016). Teacher’s Guide: Cyberbullying, Sexting, and Student Privacy . Edudemic.com. Retrieved 5 November 2016, from http://www.edudemic.com/the-teachers-guide-to-keeping-students-safe-online/ Pappas, C. "The 5 Best Internet Safety Resources for Teachers - eLearning Industry." eLearning Industry. 17 Feb. 2014. Web. 5 Nov. 2016. https://elearningindustry.com/the-5-best-internet-safety-resources-for-teachers
Three tools that I feel really make a difference and that I am excited to implement into my classroom are: Lino, Soundcloud, and iMovie: Trailer. First, Lino is a sticky note and photo sharing tool that is very similar to padlet.com. Students can add notes that contain text, photos, videos, or a combination to a website. Some useful features for educators is that teachers are able to set a due date and Lino can be accessed on any device with internet connection. Lino also has the capability of allowing users to sign-on with their Google accounts, decreasing the number of logins teachers have to remember. The uses of Lino are wide-ranging. Teachers can create the canvas and pose questions for students to post, encouraging participation by allowing students to read and be part of a larger group discussion. On the other hand, Solomon and Schrum suggest that students could create a Lino canvas (with their Google accounts) and share with the teacher or a small group of students to host a discussion (p. 275).
Second, Soundcloud is an audio and podcasting tool in which audio recordings can be made directly within the site in minutes. Solomon and Schrum suggest using Soundcloud as a podcasting tool in which students create or listen to podcasts (p. 309). However, in my own classroom, I envision using Soundcloud as more of a quick and easy way to make an audio recording that is easily shareable and saves to a cloud-based storage. I like the idea of using Soundcloud as a Choice Board option to show mastery of content. I like that students can login, and within a few clicks, have an audio recording they can share with me! This can support student preferences, as well as students with diverse learning needs. I can think of a couple of students in my classes now that could benefit from this. Several of my students with disabilities have trouble writing because of their motor skills that could get great use out of this tool. In addition, I have one gifted student who has broken his writing wrist. This can be a great tool to use until his wrist heals! Lastly, I have recently tried iMovie’s Trailer maker. I have used the movie maker in the past, but just discovered how easy the trailer maker is! I created a trailer on iMovie in less than ten minutes and it looked very professional. I can definitely see my students using this tool! Once the pictures and video clips are downloaded, it is just a matter of taste! iMovie puts everything together in a template that is customizable. Just like Soundcloud, I see this as a great tool to use as an option in a Choice Board to show mastery of content. This app is so easy to use, that the learning curve, even for my inexperienced students, would not be significant. A downside to this app is that it is designed for Apple products. Our school only provides Chromebooks to students, so this may have to be an “at-home” option. Below, I have added a Slides Presentation that contains more details with screen captures of the tools aforementioned. Use the arrows at the bottom to navigate through the presentation. Solomon, G. (2014). Web 2.0 How-To for Educators. (2nd ed.). I have been using screen casts for several months to supplement my classroom and my coaching teachers in using technology. Typically, I use QuickTime and iMovie on my personal computer, so they are my comfort zone. However, I came across a new screen recording tool: Jing. I like the idea of Jing because of the cloud storage. Storage is an ongoing issue in my life! Overall, my initial experience with Jing was good. I think this is a great tool for those quick and basic screen casts. You can create this and share your screen cast within several minutes AND have it stored in a cloud-based space! However, a downfall is that there is no editing (that I could find) of your screen cast. Thus, I would prefer to use QuickTime and iMovie for longer tutorials with multiple layers and use Jing and Screencast.com for those quicker, less complex casts. I really like to use screencasts for my technology training with teachers. I have created a website that hosts all of my tutorials to make it easier for teachers to find support. Recently, I have been supporting teachers in creating and maintaining their web pages and supporting materials for their web pages, so that has been the focus of the majority of my tutorials. In the classroom, though, I have used screen casts to supplement new assignments or new sites that students have not used before. Typically, I only use screen casts in a self-paced lesson. For these self-paced lessons, my screencasts guide students through new tools they may be using, giving them step-by-step directions. An idea that I have for students using screencasts is to record a presentation (Slides or PowerPoint). This would allow some of our shyer students to be more comfortable during their presentation. Another benefit is to have a copy of their presentation stored. Students and teachers could keep the recording for grading purposes or to use a teaching tool. Overall, there are multiple uses for screencasts in the student world, as well as the teacher world. Below, I have added a screencast that highlights an assessment tool that I use in my classroom regularly: Google Forms: Quiz Mode. |
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July 2017
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