It is
hard to believe that this class is already coming to an end. I can confidently
say that I feel more knowledgeable about using technology in the classroom than
I did before this class. I have been able to use different resources and assignments
to help understand how to use technology in my classroom.
Textbook: I found the textbook, Transforming Learning with New Technologies, to be very helpful
with this course. Each chapter taught an important concept for teachers to use
while incorporating technology into the curriculum. The digital badge
assignments allowed us to choose 3 important points from each chapter and
elaborate on the key concepts. This was beneficial because it allowed us to
really focus on the main messages from each chapter and document them for later
use. The chapters were easy to read with bolded/colored labels. Each chapter
also included colorful pictures, tables, graphs, and vocabulary terms.
Discussions: The discussion posts were created to allow each
student to personally reflect and research about a certain topic. I liked
comparing other students’ discussion posts with my own. It was interesting to
read their thoughts and to share different ideas on a certain topic. For
example, the last discussion post we had required that we discuss accommodation
strategies for our students. I liked looking at other people’s ideas and their
reasons for choosing their strategies. This assignment followed the learning
outcome: students will evaluate and critique legal and ethical issues for using
technology in the K-12 classroom. By commenting to other students posts, we
were able to evaluate what was said about the topic and add to the other
students reasoning.
Activities/Assignments: The
first assignment that we had was the website evaluation and critique. I thought
this was a great website because we discussed how to determine whether or not a
website was valid and appropriate. This followed the following learning
outcome: the students will evaluate and critique various software and hardware
tools to determine utility in a K-12 setting. The instructional strategy wiki
assignment was a group assignment. This assignment allowed each group member to
cover an instructional strategy by Marzano. It was a great assignment because
we were learning and collaborating ideas at the same time. It was my first time
using a Wiki and I really enjoyed the outcome of my group’s project. This
assignment followed the following learning objective: the students will create
a portfolio with samples reflecting ways technology can support classroom
management, administration, and teaching in a K-12 classroom. All of the
strategies that were used in the Wiki assignment covered this learning outcome.
The webquest assignment is a great tool to allow students to work on a lesson
plan using the internet technology to do so. Webquests are great teaching tools
because there is so much that you can add to each page. There is also a teacher
version of the webquest. The Lesson plan assignment was another group project
that allowed 3 members to collaborate and create a multiple-day lesson plan. I
was able to work with two other members who enjoyed social studies as much as I
did. The following learning outcome was reached: students will analyze and
evaluate a selection of technological tools for assisting English language
learners and linking technology to strategies for teaching these students. We
were able to come up with strategies for helping students that were English
language learners. Overall, all of these assignments helped to encourage the
use of technology in our future classrooms.
Resources/Websites: Each module shared helpful links to websites,
videos, images, and other websites to help assist our understanding of each section.
The tutorial videos for how to create our own blogger and how to use rubistar
were the most helpful. I have never used any of these programs and now feel
more confident after taking this class.
One of my favorite resources that I used was in Module 2 about using Rubistar. Here is a tutorial on how to create your own Rubric.
There
is not much that I would change for this course. I feel like I did a pretty
good job considering that this is my first pre-requisite teaching course and my
first technology based class. I have learned information that will help with my
other pre-requisite classes and when I start a teaching program. I plan to
definitely use technology in my future classroom.
Resources
Maloy, R., O’Loughlin, R.,
Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
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