Integrating Technology across the Content Areas Reflection

            I have much cause to celebrate as another Walden University course draws to a close. Looking back I have learned a lot studying how to integrate technology across the content area. As I look back, one major area of focus was in the use of the GAME plan to assist with becoming a self-directed learner. The use of the GAME plan allowed me to set goals, plan actions to help realize these goals and monitor my actions to determine how I am progressing towards achieving my goals. Self-evaluating my plan of actions helped me to determine what was working and what was and make any necessary changes (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009). From experiencing the benefit of using the GAME plan, though it can be a tedious process, I have begun to teach these principles to my students to enable them to become life-long self-directed learners, which is the ultimate goal of any educator.

            Technology is a wonderful tool that allows teachers to bring authentic learning experiences in the classroom that one would not normally be able to do. As I embrace the use of various technology to assist me to enhance the learning experience of my students, I am now on my way to achieving the stated goals I set at the beginning of this course. Taking the time to plan these learning activities that incorporate technology has not only increase students’ engagement in the classroom but has allow me to differentiate instructions to benefit all learners in the learning environment. By now means am I a master at the use of these technologies for the classroom but it is an ongoing process that I will continue to work on as technology continue to evolve and different students enter my classroom each year. While the move in educational institution is for teachers to adopt more technology in the classroom, I must be careful not to merely incorporate technology in my classroom just to say that I have a technology rich learning environment (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009) but must endeavor to make the use of technology meaningful in the classroom. Therefore, I have begun to make baby steps in this area. Digital storytelling is one digital tool that I have begun to use in my business studies lesson. Digital storytelling is versatile as it can be used across the content area and allows students to use their “communication, interpersonal, problem-solving, creative thinking, analytical and research skills (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). These are areas in which I want my business students to develop.

            The use of problem-based learning has lots of benefit for the learner, it allow the learner to research, organize, synthesize and evaluate information for their own learning. This strategy allows the learner to take responsibility for their own learning, enabling them to become life-long learners while developing their problem-solving skills (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009).  

I would also adjust my GAME plan to include the use of social network in the classroom which will allow a wider diversity, thus exposing my students to global learning and provide them with differentiated instructions (Laureate Education, Inc., (2009).

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaning classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Spotlight on technology: Digital storytelling, part 1. Baltimore, MD: Dr. Arnie Abrams.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Spotlight on technology: Digital storytelling, part 2. Baltimore, MD: Dr. Arnie Abrams.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Spotlight on technology: Social networking and online collaboration, part 1. Baltimore, MD: Vicki Davis

Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress

This week’s blog post looks at monitoring my GAME plan which includes designing learning activities/experiences that not only incorporate digital tools but enable my students to become active and self-directed learners and the use of more virtual environments in the delivery of my lessons as part of students’ collaboration and engagement in the learning environment (Green, 2013). As I take the necessary actions to achieve my goals I must monitor my GAME plan to see whether the strategies I have employed are helping me to accomplish these goals. Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer (2009) stated that as the self-directed learner monitors goals progression, they will need to reflect on how effective the implemented strategies are working and whether modification is needed.

            Along with working with the Information Technology teacher with planning learning activities that incorporate digital tools I have located resources that will assist me as well. These resources include webinars on Chrome As … Leveraging Chromebooks and Chrome Browser to Support Student Learning and One Lesson – All Learners, Differentiating with Technology (EdTechTeacher Inc., 2012). After unsuccessfully searching for virtual field trips that is in line with my content area, I have now decided that I need to modify my action plan to research information on how to create my own virtual field trips to be used in my specialist area.

            As I work with blogs and voicethread within my classroom, I realized that the level of enthusiasm I had was not expressed by all my students and in light of this I need to be more patience with the group as they explore and adjust to using these digital tools. I know that with given time my students will come to appreciate the use of these digital tools and thus, I must exercise patience and tweak my plan as necessary.

 

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

EdTechTeacher Inc. (2012). Spring 2013 webinars. Retrieved from http://edtechteacher.org/index.php/teaching-technology/webinars

Green, L. (2013, March 13). Personal GAME plan. [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://bracteacher.blogspot.com/2013/03/personal-game-plan.html

Carrying Out the GAME Plan

Last week I posted two goals derived from the National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T) to help with the integration of technology in my classroom. The goals were to strengthen my confidence and proficiency in designing learning activities/experiences that incorporate digital tools as well as enabling my students to be active self-directed learners. The other goal set was to use virtual environments in the delivery of lessons as part of students’ collaboration and engagement.

This week I am looking at ways I can carry out these goals using the GAME plan strategy. To begin the process of carrying out my GAME plan I must ensure that all the digital tools I identify to use in my classroom are accessible on the school’s network (not blocked by the filtering system) by students. In checking out the various digital tools - blogs, wiki, voicethread etc. - I found that voicethread was not accessible to my students. To this end I contacted the school’s network administrator who made the request to the offsite filtering service and got the voicethread website accessible to all students. As a result of this my students not only have access but also have voicethread accounts. I have begun to collaborate with the information technology specialist on campus to co-plan technology rich activities that can be used in my business studies lessons. Along with this I have also join the edmodo.com community in the hope of collaborating with other educators to gain insight into digital tools including virtual environment that I can incorporate in my classroom along with the online research being conducted.

Due to the situation of these islands it is difficult for me to engage in professional growth in the form of workshops as I would desire and as a result would have to defer the attendance of such workshops until the summer break when I get the opportunity to go off island.

Reference

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for  teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.

Personal GAME Plan

Technology continue to play an integral role in our society today and as an educator I must endeavor to keep up-to-date with the changes and advancement of technology in order to prepare learners who can function and operate in the 21st century work environment. To be able to accomplish this I must as a digital immigrant (Prensky, 2001) integrate technology into my content area to produce self-directed learners. Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer (2009) identified that the setting of Goals, taking Action to realize the goals, Monitoring progress and Evaluating outcome (GAME) will bring about self-directed learning.

After examining the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and in particular the National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T) to assess the use of technology in my lessons, one area in which I want to strengthen my confidence and proficiency is in the design of learning activities/experiences that not only incorporate digital tools but enable my students to become active and self-directed learners. Another goal that I will set will be in the use of more virtual environments in the delivery of my lessons as part of students’ collaboration and engagement in the learning environment.

To be able to achieve the first goal I would begin with introducing my students to more authentic activities/experiences that incorporate digital tool and expose my students to other technology tools in the lesson so that they can have a wide variety to select from in order to demonstrating their learning. I also believe that the GAME plan is an ideal strategy that I can teach my students to use to become self-directed learners (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009).  As my school is located in a small community it is sometimes difficult to provide students with the real life experience necessary to cover the content due to budgetary limitation, the use of virtual environment will provide this exposure and experience without the cost. The most appropriate action to achieve this would be to carry out online research and create a bank of virtual environments that are appropriate for my content area that I can pull from as the need arise. I can also collaborate with colleagues (near and far) on virtual environments that can be used within my lessons.

To monitor the progression of getting my students to become self-directed learners, I will introduce and model the use of the GAME plan to guide my students in their learning activities. I will also solicit the help of my students with the use of the variety of digital media to be used in the classroom. Informing my colleagues of my virtual environment compilation and requesting their input in terms of monitoring and being accountable will help. Along with this I will become part of a learning community where collaboration can be done on virtual environments.

            In evaluating the success of my goals, I will use survey to obtain feedback from my students on the application of the GAME plan, the use of virtual environments and the use of the variety of technology within the lesson. Students’ records will also be look on to see if there is any significant change in their performance at the end of the period. Feedback from my colleagues will be sought as the virtual environments learnt through research would have been shared in the learning community.

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5).

Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology Reflection

            During the first week of Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology course I presented my personal theory of learning as a combination of behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism and aspects of the communications theory (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008). As I sit here reflecting on all that was covered during the seven weeks of study, I still believe that my personal thoughts on theory of learning remind the same as it is inclusive of a variety of learning styles. Using this combination of theory of learning allow me to meet the diversity within my classroom ensuring that all learners are taken into consideration. This course has help to enhance my choice of instructional strategies along with educational technologies that will engage learners within the learning environment.

            In making immediate adjustments to my instructional practice would be in the utilization of incorporating more technology in my classroom. Two technologies that I will begin to use in my classroom is weblog and voicethread. I believe the use of these technologies will help to enhance my students’ learning by helping students to improve in their ability to express themselves and to improve their discussion ability. Improvement in these areas will also help to improve students’ self-confidence thus improving their learning and achievement within the classroom. The use of concept map is something I also want to utilize more of in my classroom to help students to build off their prior knowledge and motivate them to gain control over their learning.

            To ensure my professional growth I have set two long-term goals to change and enhance my instructional practice regarding technology integration in my classroom. One such goal that I have set is to incorporate more technology into my lessons. I have already begun applying strategies to achieve this goal. Since learning about web 2.0 technologies from my Walden course, I have begun to implement blogging and podcasting in my classroom and will soon implement the use of voicethread and concept map among others. Another goal that I have set is to ensure that I am using the available technologies more as a learning tool than an instructional tool in my classroom. Dr. Orey stated that what the teacher does with the technology to impart or present instruction to the students are instructional usage, while allowing students to have access to technology to be actively engaged in their learning is using the technology as a learning tool (Laureate, 2011). Armed with this information, I will begin to strive to create a learning environment that put the technology in the hands of the learners, making them active learners in my classroom.

           

References

Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Technology: instructional tool vs. learning tool. [Video Webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_1374104_1%26url%3D

CONNECTIVISM AND SOCIAL LEARNING IN PRACTICE

           Cooperative learning is one form of social learning that is being used in the teaching environment in the 21-st century. Teaching students to learn via social media will help prepare them for the fast-paced virtual workplace they will be required to function in (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007). Humans are social beings and as a result I believe that students strive better when they are required to work together to create an artifact or make connections with their prior knowledge. Working together in this way is part of the social learning theory discuss in this week’s video resource Social Learning Theories (Laureate, 2011).

            The use of technology in social learning can allow educators to provide a safe environment for students to learn the skills required for the 21-st century work environment. Outside of the classroom, most students are already using social media to create communities from which learning take place with other students as well as experts in their field. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski (2007) stated that the use of technology along with cooperative learning tools – multimedia, web resources, and communication software) provide our students with anytime, anywhere service which facilitate lifelong learning (Pitler, et al, 2007).

            This week I created my first VoiceThread. I focus on an issue teachers at my educational institution face on a daily basis and that is getting students to do and turn in homework. Here is the link to my voicethread page http://voicethread.com/share/3487221/.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Social learning theories. [Video webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_1374104_1%26url%3D.

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

Constructivism in Practice

With the emphasis on creating a student-centered learning environment in today’s classroom, the use of constructivist/constructionist learning theories have a pivotal role in achieving this goal. In an effort to provide students with real-world experiences and to solve realistic dilemmas educators provide learners with problem-based learning (Glazer, 2001) and an opportunity to actively engage them in creating or designing artifacts (Han & Bhattacharya, 2001; Laureate, 2011) to enhance their learning.

            With the available educational technologies, providing students with these learning experiences is increased making the learning experience richer and more meaningful to students. In this week’s learning resources we explored the teaching strategy Generating and Testing Hypothesis. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski (2007) states that this teaching strategy can be used in all content areas and not just applicable for science.

            The use of generating and testing hypotheses correlates with the principles of constructivist/constructionist learning theories as they “engage students in complex mental processes, applying content knowledge and enhance understanding of the content” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007). In the course text, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski (2007) suggested that these educational technologies can enhance the practice of generating and testing hypotheses – spreadsheet software as an interactive tool, data collection tools which acts as a cycle of inquiry, and finally web resources (gaming software/simulation) which provide simulated scenarios and interactive experiences that allow students to be engaged in project-based, problem-based, or inquiry-based learning in the classroom.

            These educational technologies definitely correlate with the instructional strategy – generating and testing hypotheses – and the constructivist/constructionist learning theories.

References

Glazer, E. (2001). Problem Based Instruction. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved September 26, 2012, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Han, S., and Bhattacharya, K. (2001). Constructionism, Learning by Design, and Project Based Learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved September 26, 2012, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011).  Constructionist and constructivist learning theories. [Video webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_1374104_1%26url%3D

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