Reflection Upon EDUC-67131

The process of creating a GAME plan really made me think about how I integrate technology into my classroom. It forced me to set goals for improving my own technology knowledge and skills along with goals for integrating technology. The Game plan is a process that accounts not only for goals but also what actions are to be taken to reach the goals, how one will monitor the action and achievement of the goals, and finally the evaluation of the goals being met or what new goals need to be set. I think the GAME plan can be used by both students and teachers throughout the education process. I believe students would benefit from having a GAME plan for each assignment or project they have. Students should have a GAME plan for how they are going to learn. This GAME plan should be continually evolving as the students continue to learn.

I think one of the most important things I learned from this course is the importance of authentic instruction. I believe that creating more problem based lessons in my classroom will allow for authentic instruction that calls for my students to have more self-directed learning, think creatively, and use meaningful technology to assist their learning (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2010).

An immediate adjustment that I plan to make to my instruction is the implementation of more problem based learning. Implementing problem based learning in my classroom will give my students opportunities throughout the lesson to use technology in the learning process. Students can use technology to research and collect data on the problem, communicate and collaborate with fellow students/professionals, and to create final products such as digital stories to demonstrate their knowledge. Technology will give my students a chance to be more creative. It will also give them a chance to learn in a manner that they are most comfortable and most willing to learn; this is the main idea behind Universal Design for Learning (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2010).

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom

      use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Monitoring my GAME Plan

I have begun to make some progress in my GAME plan towards strengthening my confidence and proficiency in standard one of NETS-T. I am currently, midway through a problem-based lesson where students are learning to find percentages and use them in real-world situations. I have integrated technology in the form of Microsoft Excel to assist students. Students are using the spreadsheet software to calculate sale prices and sales tax to complete holiday shopping list. Students will also continue to use the software to set up budgets. The software is saving students’ time while also forcing them to problem solve and set up formulas.

I have learned that my students are more engaged and have more opportunities to use technology when I present them with problem-based lessons. I do not believe that I need to modify the action part of my GAME plan at this time. I am in the need of finding more ideas and research problem-based lessons and authentic instruction. I have not had much luck finding other lessons to review for problem-based learning in my math class.

I have also been researching on different forms of technology to integrate in my classroom. I have done most of this research using www.atomiclearning.com . I am currently learning how to use Google Apps and Google Sites with my students. I want to be able to integrate more collaboration with my students via the internet.  Does anyone have any good ideas for resources on problem-based lessons or have suggestions for technology used in their classes? Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

To carry out my GAME plan I will need to continue to read more about authentic instruction and problem-based learning. I would like to conduct more research and find examples of authentic instruction used in math classes. Thus, collecting articles and books on the subject matter is a major resource need. I also need to find and learn how to use additional technology in my classroom. This technology needs to be relevant to the content being taught and have connections to real-world application. To help me discover and learn how to use new technology I am using atomic learning, www.atomiclearning.com .

 I have just begun to use atomic learning and I am realizing all of the benefits this site has to offer. I have also learned quite a bit on authentic instruction through the reading our course text, Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use. This past week I began to use some problem-based lessons and incorporated the use of Microsoft Excel into the lesson.

My Personal GAME Plan

My goal is to strengthen my confidence and proficiency in indicators a and b of standard one of the National Education Standards for Teachers. Standard one calls for teachers to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. Indicator a requires teachers to promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. Indicator b suggest that teachers should engage students in real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.

            My action to help me accomplish my goals is to use authentic instruction in my classroom. I will use more project-based and problem-based learning with my students that incorporate different forms of technology. I will make sure that the projects the students create are based around both content and real-world issues.

            I plan to monitor my progress by evaluating my students and the success of their learning through the authentic instruction. I will also monitor my students’ use of technology along with my own modeling of technology in the classroom.

            I think a good way for me to evaluate my own learning through this process would be through journaling. I am going to keep a journal to reflect on each lesson and determine what aspects of the lesson went well and how may be able to improve the lesson next time I present it. I believe I can extend my learning to help me reach my goals by continuing to participate in professional development on different types of technology and authentic instruction

Reflection upon EDUC 6711

                This course has caused me

                This course has however, given me many technology resources to use in the classroom that allow for students to have memorable hands-on experiences. I have learned of many technology tools that align with my learning theory and also with effective instructional strategies. I have also learned the importance of ensuring that technology used in the classroom is used as learning tools, thus making sure that the classroom remains student-centered (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).  Keeping the students at the center of the lesson will help keep them actively engaged and focused on the content.

                One adjustment that I plan to make to my instruction due to this course is my use of the interactive whiteboard in the classroom. In the past I have used an interactive whiteboard very frequently in my classroom to help with instruction. This type of use is keeping myself at the center of the lesson and is a lecture style of instruction. This type of use does not coincide with my personal learning theory and does not allow the students to be actively engaged (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). Future use of the interactive whiteboard in the classroom will be by the students. Allowing the students to use the technology will make the students the center of the lesson and keep them actively engaged (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).

                Two technology tools that I would like to use in my classroom are VoiceThread and Microsoft Excel. I would like to use VoiceThread in my classroom to help my students with their homework and problem solving skills. Programs such as VoiceThread allow me to post problems on the internet for students to work collaboratively on outside of the classroom, thus promoting cooperative learning. It also allows me to give quick feedback to questions students may be having about their assignments. Microsoft Excel will allow my students to create formulas and calculate quickly. I like this more than the use of a simple calculator because students must demonstrate a knowledge of a formula and how it works in order to use Excel. Excel will also allow students to quickly and easily create graphs. The ability to create and interpret graphs are major math skills that my students need to possess. Graphs may also serve as nonlinguistic representations for the students to use to help in their learning.

                The greatest thing this course has done for myself is that it has allowed me to match instructional strategies with appropriate technology tools. I have in the past used homework as a main instructional strategy for my math class. This course has helped me adapt my method of using homework. I now have a better understanding that students need early feedback during homework completion, feedback should come in different forms, and students should chart their speed and accuracy for completion of work (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Technology tools such as Excel and VoiceThread help to accomplish these things.

                Two long – term goal changes I would like to make to my instructional practice regarding technology integration are first to integrate technology on a more frequent basis and second is to make sure the technology tools I use in my classroom are student-centered and used as learning tools. To achieve the first goal I am going to make sure I integrate at least one technology tool for every lesson. In order to achieve my second goal I will need to choose technology tools that keep my students actively engaged (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). These two goals will have to go hand in hand. By integrating more technology I will need to pay close attention that I am not just using technology to use it. I will need to be careful in my choices of technology tools and ensure that the tools chosen are aiding the students learning and allowing them to construct their own knowledge.

                This course has allowed me to find some of the technology pitfalls that I was beginning to fall into and the changes I needed to avoid them. I am now able to make the valuable connections between how my students learn, what instructional strategies will help them, and the technology tools that will make implementing these strategies more effective.

References:

H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction

                that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program thirteen. Technology: Instructional tool vs. learning tool [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Lever-Duffy, J., & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical foundations (Laureate Education, Inc.,

                custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

to reevaluate my theory on how students learn and my integration of technology in my classroom. My personal learning theory at the beginning of this course was that students learn best by building knowledge through memorable hands-on experiences. It was my belief that each individual student brings their own cognitive ability to a learning experience and then constructs their own knowledge based on that learning experience. My theory was closest to a cognitive-constructivist view such as that of Robert Gagne’s (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008). Presently, at the conclusion of this course, I would not make any modifications to my personal learning theory. I still believe strongly that students learn best when they build their own knowledge through memorable hands-on experiences.

Social Learning

Social learning is the process of students being actively engaged during learning while conversing with others (Laureate Education, Inc. 2010). Technology can greatly assist in this process. Multimedia can be used by groups of students working collaboratively to create videos, slideshows, or other projects (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Software such as PowerPoint or Windows Moviemaker can assist the students in the creation of these projects.

There are numerous web resources that allow students to continually converse and work together both in and outside of the classroom. Resources such as blogs, wikis, and google docs give students opportunities to work together while using the same online materials and being able to communicate with each other, all while not having to be in the same location (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). The web also gives students a chance to communicate with people other than just their teacher of fellow students. Students can use resources such as skype to video chat with professionals or experts for a given area (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).

The above forms of technology along with many others , correlate directly with the social learning theory by allowing the students to be actively engaged while conversing with others. Students are using the technology and other people to help in the constructing of their knowledge (Laureate Education, Inc. 2010).

Resources:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program eight. Social learning theories [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Pitler H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that                                                   works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.                              

The following is the URL for a voicethread I created:

http://voicethread.com/share/2092067/

 

Constructivism in Practice

This week’s instructional strategy, Generating and Testing Hypotheses, requires students to create their own ideas and to be actively engaged. These are the foundations of the constructivist/constructionist learning theories (Orey, 2001). The text, “Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works”, lists six different tasks to aid students with generating and testing hypotheses: systems analysis, problem solving, historical investigation, invention, experimental inquiry, and decision making. Below are examples of how some of these tasks correlate with the principles of constructivist/constructionist learning theories.

System analysis calls for students to make a prediction after carefully examining a system. The prediction should be for change in the system when one or more things are distorted within or removed from the system (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). This type of task correlates with the constructivist approach of problem-based learning. Students need to actively look for and resolve problems that may arise in the system they are examining. Likewise, the second task of problem solving also has a direct correlation with problem-based learning.  What we as teachers need to make sure of when creating either of these two task for our students is to ensure that they have real-world implications or realistic dilemmas (Orey, 2001).

The third task, historical investigation, requires students to formulate their own hypotheses on historical events (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). This goes along with the constructionist approach as students can create a project to represent their hypotheses. Students could create a video, slide show, animated reenactment, or a performance.

Invention is another task that correlates closely with problem-based learning. Invention has students look for a need and then create a solution for that particular need (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). This idea can also extend into project-based learning if the students are to create an authentic artifact as part of the solution to the discovered need (Orey, 2001).

It is easy to see how all of these tasks call for the students to create their own ideas or projects rather than the teacher forming the ideas or concepts for them.  These tasks allow the teacher to simply be a facilitator and the students to be active in the learning process.

References:

H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that

      works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. 

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from  

      http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page