Towards Self-Directed Learning and Creative Problem Solving: a Reflection on Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas

 

"I never teach My Pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn." - Albert Einstein

 

 

Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas seemed, at the beginning of this course, a simple black and white issue. I felt that I was already accomplishing this in, at very least, small ways throughout the year. As I continued throughout this course, I found that there are many simple and engaging ways that I can integrate technology further across the content areas. Most importantly, I found that the key to successfully implementing technology into my classroom was to combine the use of technology with developing self-directed learners through authentic learning experiences. "Authentic instruction provides for, and builds on, learner autonomy." (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p.29) Authentic instruction experiences, self-directed learning and the infusion of technology into those learning activities and experiences will help to provide the right conditions, that Einstein spoke of in the above quote, for my students to learn and be able to use that learning not only in my own classroom, but in subsequent later classrooms, as well as any chosen career path. Technology enhances my ability to encourage creativity, innovation, problem solving, and self-directed learning (Cennamo et. al., 2009). In an era of urgency to improve student achievement, technology will certainly need to be intentionally and effectively integrated into these authentic learning experiences, to help ensure the success of our students.

 

Developing my Goals, Action, Monitoring, and Evaluation plan (Cennamo et. al., 2009) was an exciting experience for me. I found through my self-reflection and evaluation that I am at least beginning to meet many of the ISBE NETS-T (ISBE, 2009) standards in my classroom instruction. I am certainly meeting some of the standards better than others. I did find that there were specifically two standards that I need to begin addressing in my classroom instruction on a more regular basis. Simply put, I need to provide my students more real-world authentic problem solving opportunities and I need to make connections with and provide important information to community members, colleagues, and students through digital tools and available technology. The journey of developing the actions that I need to take to meet the goals of my GAME plan, monitoring and adjusting those plans, and then thinking of how to evaluate the effectiveness of my plan, has been an exciting, while simultaneously discouraging experience. I found that my goals are quite appropriate, and will increase student success in my classroom. What I found is the amount of research and additional work that it may take to acquire the technology that I need to meet these goals in my classroom. Technology, in many schools and districts, has or is beginning to go the way of music and art education; the funding is not placed in these programs, and technology, when available, does not allow for effective use of that technology for all of my students. Subsequently, throughout this course, I needed to modify the actions I was planning on taking , in order to acquire the needed technology through grant opportunities, or locating enough building equipment to meet the learning experience expectations of the particular lesson and unit. In my current position, this will require me to acquire grant monies in order to secure the vital equipment that will allow my students to engage in the technology rich authentic learning experiences that are so crucial to developing creative, innovative, self-directed learners. My future instruction will need to be altered in such a way that I can use the state standards, in conjunction with the NETS-T and NETS-S standards, to develop essential learning objectives. Once I have done this, I can then construct an authentic learning experience for my students to participate in. Then, and only then, I can begin to choose the appropriate technology that will be most effective in the lesson, rather than attempting to develop a lesson around the technology. As an added bonus to developing my personal GAME Plan for integrating technology into my classroom instruction, I also found this model for planning and lesson execution to be quite suitable for students to begin using, in order to reach their full achievement potential, rather than an arbitrary letter grade or test score. I truly believe that teaching my students to use this plan, while modeling its use, with impact their ability to achieve, understand and learn more throughout the year, thus making them more prepared to move on from my classroom.

On a final note, I feel that I have learned much more about different technology tools that, in the appropriate lesson, can offer my students the ability to be creative, solve problems, collaborate with others, learn reading and writing skills, and connect to content topics. I am intrigued by the use of digital storytelling, and I am convinced of the power that interactive and collaborative blogging and wiki creating can develop in my students. I certainly look forward to applying this learning and excitement to my lesson development and classroom activities when classes resume!

 

Resources:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.

Involving Students in GAMEs

Using the GAME plan, as presented by Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009), has been a great strategy for me to use as I attempt to improve the instructional practices that I want in my classroom. One of the thoughts I had early on in this process of using the GAME plan, was that the organization process could be quite useful for students. As my experience and understanding have grown regarding GAME plans, I can see that this process can be used by students, both long term, and short term, to help augment academic success.

 

I can see myself using this process with my students on at least one of several different levels. I believe this would a terrific tool to use with students in developing academic or learning goals for each term. Obviously, we want students to be successful in all academic areas. However, it might be more manageable for struggling students to focus on one academic area to improve at a time. Students would identify their goals, based on district and state standards. Then develop a very specific action plan to meet that goal. I would ask students to monitor the GAME plan through data collection and reflection about every two weeks. This could be done either in a journal or on the classroom blog. Students would then be able to evaluate how successful they had been in meeting their goal.

 

Additionally, I see the GAME plan as a great way to focus students at the beginning of a unit or project, so that students hold themselves accountable for their own success. Students could set goals for the unit or project, based on learning goals and rubric requirements of the unit and project together. This, again, would require students to reflect on their own progress toward their goal. It would help students meet the NETS-S technology standards, because students would be setting goals that parallel the use of technology in the classroom. In projects or units, students could set goals focused not only on content understanding, but also on the collaboration they will be having with peers, as well the use of varied technology tools, including podcasting, digital storytelling, and the use of the blog to present or discuss the topic.

 

Most importantly, I would use each of these smaller GAME plans to help my student reach their term or quarter GAME plan outline. Ultimately, using a GAME plan with students would be a great benefit to the organization, planning, and justification for every academic choice they make in their learning. I could even see a mini GAME plan put to use for students who struggle from week to week, or even from day to day in the classroom. Students could set a daily academic goal, and understand what his or her action is to meet the academic goal of the day (or week)

 

Using the GAME plan has certainly helped me to organize my lessons, thoughts, and professional needs.

 

Julie

 

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

Slow Progress

This week's progress toward my GAME Plan has been extremely slow. I am still waiting for a response from the district technology guru about how to make my students active subscribers to our classroom blog. The district doesn't want to issue the students email accounts, but without email, I can't make it possible for students to comment and post actively on the blog. So, I'm waiting for a response from him to let me know how I can get the kids to be part of our blog.

I definitely feel as if the technology piece has been my greatest challenge. Other than trying to remain flexible and split my students up between the classroom computers, the laptop computers, and the library computers, I am at a loss at how I could otherwise complete both goals.

I am still working on getting grant money to help acquire all of the needed technology to complete both goals most appropriately. Partially because of that, I am not ready to change my own goals. I need more time to gather the resources I need to do a large presentation so that my students can collaborate and problem solve effectively. Without the integrated equipment, I will struggle to reach the community connection with a real-world problem

In creating better parent communication, I have felt as if I am at a complete standstill. Many of my parents do not have working telephone numbers. Some that do have said they refuse to answer the phone before 2pm. I truly feel that creating a quick, easy, and accessible online parent page would be the easiest, fastest way for me to communicate with parents on a more frequent basis. For those who do not have internet access, I could simply print the weekly page out for them. Beyond this, I am at a loss. I would love to hear any suggestions for improving this! Perhaps that should be my next goal: to work with colleagues and teachers from other buildings to hear about what different teachers do for parent communications. It would enable me to find a plan, or create a plan with new ideas, that would work for me, and my student's parents.

 

Suggestions to get around my greatest stumbling block in my game plan are most welcome!

GAME Plan Progress

The progress towards my goals, of implementing real world problems through the use of technology, and improving communications with parents and the community through the use of technology, have been quite eye opening. In the past week, I have been able to begin the set up of my classroom blog. I was also able to speak with the district technology director about the lack of usable and updated equipment available in my building. Unfortunately, like many districts across the country, my district is facing a budget crisis of epic proportion, which has led to significant budget cuts in the technology budget this year, with deeper cuts anticipated for next year. I will need to alter my action plan for implementing my ideas in my classroom, because I will need to utilize only the outdated and faulty equipment that is available. This will directly affect my instructional practice, since I will have to rotate the use of the classroom computers to accommodate all of my students as they participate in the blog. Additionally, it will also alter the type of multi-media projects that I can allow my students to complete as they make connections with the community concerning the impact and problems associated with the local neighborhood gangs. I may be able to work on a whole group project that uses my one updated computer, so that the students can still create a podcast or movie documenting the information and problem solutions they have gathered from the research. This will drastically change the look of the collaborative groups within my classroom. Instead of each small group or pair choosing a real world problem to solve, the entire class will need to work together to devise and create the questions together. The sub questions that will be involved in this problem-based learning activity will then become the choice for students as they choose what part to take in our project. This is a change from my original plan and vision, but completing the Problem-based learning unit as a whole class project that is broken down into smaller pieces will still allow me to provide my students with a complex and authentic learning experience; one that will provide opportunities for students to construct knowledge, complete organized inquiry, and have an impact far beyond our classroom (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).

While the news regarding the availability of any technology equipment was discouraging, it allowed me to focus my attention to meeting 21^st century skills, regardless of the technology. When I was forced to see how I could accomplish this without the most basic of technologies, I began to realize that this goal is not as much about the type of technology equipment used, but rather about integrating some technology into the search for a solution to a problem that will affect my students and the community well beyond the walls of my classroom.

While I have altered my action plan to meet this goal, I have also begun to look too the future. I have been seeking out grants that could provide my building and my classroom with their technology necessary and most useful to facilitate my GAME Plan. Through suggestions from Deana, I have begun a partnership with a 5/6 teacher and a local community center mentor. Our plan is to write a grant to be submitted to ING for a Problem-Based Learning project to focus on resolving the problem of gangs in the local neighborhood. The area that I teach in is highly impacted by gang membership and activities, and many students from 3^rd through 6^th grade have close connections to gang members, or already have strong opinions about gangs. Unfortunately, it is an integral part of the community, my students' lives, and their experiences. I was also led to a grant opportunity through Lowe's that could also offer some support in acquiring the needed technology. I have moved on this opportunity quickly, and I am in the final stages of completing the grant application.

The achievement of my second goal has been much easier. With the creation of our classroom blog, I am close to being able to provide parents with a page where homework, activity, and classroom information can be readily posted. This will allow my parents to interact, provide support to our efforts in the classroom, or to ask questions about our activities and our learning. The challenge I am facing is the number of parents who do not have access to the internet at home, and will not be able to participate in the blog from home. Because of the high number of homes that do not have computers or internet access, I have altered part of my action plan to include the creation of a bi-weekly newsletter with the most important classroom information. Using Microsoft Word to create a classroom newsletter will still allow me to utilize technology to communicate more effectively with parents and with the community. By completing both, or simply posting the newsletter on the class blog, I will be able to communicate in multiple ways with the majority of my parents, and many more community members. One question that remains for me, in meeting this goal, is how I can accommodate the parents of my ELL students. These students speak several different native languages, and all of them are in very different stages of learning and understanding English. How can I get my newsletter translated so that these parents also have the opportunity to hear about our classroom learning and activities?

As always, any suggestions or insights would be greatly appreciated regarding the changes I need to make to my GAME Plan, or how to solve some of the challenges I face to complete my goals.

 

Resource:

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

Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress

My current GAME Plan, which, according to Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009), stands for Goals, Action, Monitor, and Evaluate, in order to meet the ISTE NETS-Teacher standards of ensuring that "Students engage in exploring real world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources," and that I "Communicate relevant information and ideas to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and resources" (ISTE, 2009), is as follows:

G – Include one authentic and community centralized problem solving project in my classroom per year. Projects, discussions, and analysis will be posted on a classroom blog; create a page within the class blog that provides information to parents about curriculum, homework, and upcoming events and celebrations.

A – Work with my technology director to set up a classroom blog and email accounts that students can use to be contributors to the blog; Utilize online websites for students to research possible solutions to their community based problem; Use multimedia presentations on the blog to present possible solutions and community member interviews.

M – Analyze and assess levels of local community involvement between myself, my students, and the neighborhood community; monitoring blog comments and questions, and getting feedback from parents, who are active contributors and members of our class blog, about the information posted regarding homework, important information, and student celebrations.

E – Using student artifacts and discussions as well as community and public feedback to evaluate the success of the community problem-based learning project, via the class blog; using blog feedback from parents to adjust parent information content.

As I am monitoring my GAME plan, I find that there is a great deal that is dependent upon technology. I have begun what I can see will be an arduous process to gain the necessary technology needed to seamlessly integrate technology into problem-based learning and improving communications with parents. The district, and specifically the building I teach in, is facing a budget crisis. Technology equipment has not been consistently addressed in my building, and the student population is one of a very low household income. I have contacted the district technology director about my GAME Plan, and have asked for his help and support in the creation of a classroom blog that my students can be active contributors to. In order for this to take place, the district will have to create email addresses for each student in my classroom. This is a request that is taken on a case by case basis, based on the learning that is intended. I have not yet heard if my request will be granted. If my students cannot be active participants in the blog, I will certainly have to adjust and modify my GAME Plan. In my quest to locate the technology needed for this type of technology integration, I have found that I do have several of the important resources available to me. I have a district issued laptop that I can use to monitor the blog, and post information easily. During the school day, I can also allow students to use this computer to complete research, blog work, or multimedia projects through Power Point, Keynote, iPhoto, or Audacity. I also have two internet connected computers in my classroom that students can use to complete online research, as well as word processing or blog responses. These classroom computers are working well, but are well outdated, and do not have many multimedia capabilities. I have also asked the district technology director for assistance in locating grant monies, through the district or outside sources, to acquire a set of classroom laptops, an LCD projector, a digital camera, and a Flip video camera. The greatest worry I have is about acquiring the classroom computers. This is the greatest expense for the technology I am seeking. If this is not plausible, then I can adjust my GAME Plan so that I have one to two rotating multimedia computers available for student project creation. The blog work can be completed with the current computer technology in the classroom, and in the building. At this particular point, I don't feel that my GAME Plan need to be modified as of yet, since I still do not have enough information regarding my questions of equipment availability. I am prepared, however, to modify the plan so that I can still implement these changes in my classroom and communications with parents.

The questions that I am beginning to have are related to my student technology use, and the availability of the technology outside of the school environment. How skilled are my students at utilizing web browsers, blog software, word processing and presentation software, or multimedia software? How much access to the internet do my students have available to them at home? If they do not have access at home, would parents be willing to take students to the public library to complete work at home? If work cannot be completed at home, then how do I provide access to the project work and blog work during the school day, without disrupting the learning that needs to take place during the rest of the day? How do I ensure during the day that my students who receive extra services and are pulled from my classroom get the same opportunity to participate in the project? If I find that many of my students do not have access to internet access at home, then is communicating with parents through a classroom blog appropriate and efficient? How could I modify my goals and action to improve my skills at communicating with parents through the use of technology, if a blog does not make sense for my parents?

As always, any suggestions you might have would be greatly appreciated.

Resources:

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

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/85494010@N00/47434836

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

Brainstorming and creating an outline for Goals, Action, Monitoring, and Evaluation (GAME) as Presented by Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) is a big first step in integrating technology effectively in a classroom content lesson. Without an understanding of the resources and information needed to implement and carry out this plan, the plan itself cannot be put into action, and students will not benefit from its use.

In examining my GAME Plan (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009), I can see that there is certainly some crucial information that I need to know about my students. In order to meet both of my goals, I will need to know how much experience and skill my students have using specific technologies. How often do they use a computer? Can they type accurately and efficiently? How familiar are they with the use of a digital camera? Have they ever used a video camera? What type of experience do they have using presentation or podcasting software? Have they ever participated in a blog or a wiki? Do they even know what a blog or a wiki is? Have students been taught how to develop and form questions to real world problems? I will also need to know my districts policy and process for creating a classroom blog and wiki that my students can actively participate in. Additionally, I will need to know what technology is available for my students to use, and how I can acquire that technology in my classroom. Will I need to check it out? If so, how long can it stay in my classroom?

One I have gathered the information that I need in order to carry out my GAME Plan (Cennamo, et. al, 2009), I will then need to locate and acquire the technology resources that will help me to implement this plan. I will need consistent and reliable computer access for my students. I will also need a digital camera and/or video camera to help students complete the project task. Technology resource support, to support me through the steps of creating a student and parent friendly blog and wiki, that protects students while allowing them and their parents to access the site and utilize it to its greatest capacity, will be a crucial need in my quest to carry out my GAME Plan (Cennamo, et. al, 2009). I need community experts and organizations to come into my classroom, or collaborate with students through the internet, to discuss the city that we live in, its importance, history, and landmarks. I will also need collegial support in my effort to implement technology in this unit. I will need the support, cooperation, and collaboration of a partner teacher, living in Colorado. I will need parents to allow students to participate actively in this project, by helping students access the internet from home or from the local library. Most importantly, I will need to have videos and segments available for my students to view, for information and unit introduction.

Since writing my GAME Plan (Cennamo, et. al, 2009), I have been able to begin assessing my students' abilities to use technology. I have been able to ascertain that many of my students have previously participated in a classroom blog, and many are familiar with typing into a word processing document on the computer. Many students have not utilized digital video cameras or podcasting software, and many students are not familiar with presentation software, such as Power Point. I have been able to know, however, that students are accustomed to having an expert in a particular field join them in the classroom; to provide feedback and help them understand about their community and landmarks.

With the resources I can acquire, and the information I need, I feel confident that I will be able to begin carrying out my GAME Plan (Cennamo, et. al, 2009). This plan will positively affect the teaching that takes place in my classroom, and, ultimately, the learning of my students.

Resources:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/20674378@N00/528723863

GAME Plans for NETS-T Performance Indicators

Integrating technology effectively in the classroom requires knowledge, confidence, a belief in the important impact technology can have on student learning, and a supportive collegial community (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). These requirements are central to the ISTE NETS-T standards and Performance Indicators for Teachers (ISTE, 2009). One of the most difficult elements of these is confidence. As I have journeyed through the process of implementing technology into my classroom, I have become confident in several of the NETS-T standards. There are some, however, that I would like to become more proficient at and more confident in. To achieve that mark, I can utilize the steps indicated by Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) in a GAME plan. GAME plans, according to Cennamo, et. al. (2009), allow for teachers and students to engage in organized self-directed learning. GAME Plans, which stand for Goals, Action, Monitoring, and Evaluation (Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer, 2009), will enable me to customize how I approach my own learning, so that I can develop the skills necessarily to more effectively implement technology into my classroom.

One performance indicator that I would like to improve my confidence and proficiency in is NETS-T standard 1, performance indicator b. This particular indicator, which reads, "Students engage in exploring real world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources" (ISTE, 2009). To meet this performance indicator, I have set the goal to include one authentic and community centralized problem solving project in my classroom per year, the results of which will be posted to a class blog. To achieve this goal, I will brainstorm with the students about problems they encounter in the neighborhood every day. We will then spend time interviewing community members for thoughts on the topic. Ultimately, students will develop ideas and possible solutions to these problems within the community. The students will use the internet to access information about the problem, and students will create multi-media presentations. To monitor my progress toward this goal, I will assess my ability and frequency of creating connections within the local community of my school, and the initiation of problem based learning in real world situation. Student learning will be evaluated and extended through peer and public review of information posted to the blog site by the students.

Another performance indicator that I would like to feel more comfortable with is, "Communicate relevant information and ideas to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and resources" (ISTE, 2009). My goal is to create a page within my class blog that provides information to parents about curriculum, homework, and upcoming events and celebrations. The blog format would allow me to interact with parents easily through the site itself. To do this, I will need to work with district technology personnel to set up the blog. Once it is set up for student use, I will assign students the task of presenting the parent page to their parents. Then, I will have students encourage parents to follow or subscribe to the blog. They can even participate in the blog as a contributor. Monitoring the parent use and feedback of the blog page will help me to understand why types of information my parents are interested in hearing on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. This will help me evaluate the content of the page, and my approach to parents through the digital medium, and whether or not this approach works for a majority of my parents, since many do not have home internet access.

Focusing on gaining confidence and proficiency in these performance indicators is a beginning step to more fully implement technology and 21^st century skills into my classroom. Those skills can only help to enhance the learning of my students, and empower them to learn more as self-directed learners.

Resources:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences With Technology, Part 1 [Motion picture]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28387282@N08/3866773151

Reflection

Throughout this course, I have had several revelations regarding the importance of 21^st century skills. The first of many was the stark difference between traditional literacies, and new literacy skills. These new literacy skills require students to develop higher level thinking, questioning, and evaluation skills. They incorporate not only reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills, but also information skills, technical and media skills, and cooperative group skills. These new literacies foster encourage students to recognize what information is known and what is unknown, fostering a need and ability to seek out missing information, which is an important skill that traditional literacy skills do not address (Jukes & Macdonald, 2007).

My greatest revelation throughout this course, however, has been the importance of guiding students in the creation of meaningful, viable, and researchable questions, during the inquiry process. Giving students a question to answer is not enough to satisfy and teach students new literacy skills. The questions students develop have to be questions that students don't already know the answer to, questions that are researchable, defensible, and whose finding can be presented to others. These have to be questions that stimulate further questioning and continued learning, even after students have completed the inquiry process and their final projects (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007; Thornburg, 2004). This process of developing these types of questions has to be explicitly taught, modeled and practiced by students prior to initiating the research and inquiry process. Without the ability to ask deeper, more meaningful questions, students will not grow, learn, and develop through the inquiry process.

The full understanding of the steps and skills needed for students to complete an inquiry project in my classroom will have a tremendous impact upon my teaching in the future. I now know that prior to beginning an inquiry project, I must plan enough time within the unit to teach students to develop essential questions, search the internet effectively, evaluate sources efficiently, synthesize the information they gather, and finally create an artifact utilizing a multimedia or technology tool, while simultaneously focusing on the content information and standards. This will require me to plan for these units much more diligently, so as to have the resources and time available to effectively teach the concepts alongside the content learning that the inquiry project will provide students.

As I move forward in my teaching, I have one professional development goal that will greatly impact my teaching, my technology skills, and the learning of my students. I would like to develop a collaborative with another classroom of students. This will not only give my students an opportunity to see how students elsewhere in the country think and view certain topics, but it will also give them an audience for projects and partners with whom to collaborate and learn. It would teach students the true Web 2.0 skills they will need for the future: participation, collaboration, and distribution (Knobel & Wilber, 2009). To accomplish this, I will need to work with a classroom teacher in another part of the country. Since I recently moved from Colorado to Illinois, I am still very connected to many of my colleagues in Colorado, most of whom are also striving to create a 21^st century classroom with collaborative and technology infused experiences for their students. I will need to find a colleague who would be interested in forming this collaboration, and maintaining it throughout the year. I would also need to create a classroom blog and wiki, through which my students and the collaborating class can communicate and respond to each other's common topics. The development of both of those sites will require me to work with district personnel to create email addresses for my students, so that they may be able to utilize these tools. It will also require me to make computer technology readily available to my students, on a daily basis. Most likely, I will need to seek out a grant to secure enough computer technology, 15 machines or more, to allow students active participation in the blog and wiki, as we collaborate with another class on learning projects. Once the technology has been secured and the partnership has been formed, I will need to diligently plan for ample time throughout the day to communicate with the collaborating class about the learning we are all doing. I will need to stay in close contact with the collaborating teacher, in order to organize time schedules and plan collaborative projects between the classes.

While this goal of forming a collaborative distance relationship with another classroom could be time consuming and difficult to arrange, with regards to technology, it will be well worth the effort. I believe it will provide my students with a multitude of collaborative, social and technological experiences that will have a great impact on student learning and success.

Resources:

Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.

Knobel, M., & Wilber, D. (2009, March). Let's talk 2.0. Educational Leadership, 66(6), 20–24.

Jukes, I. (2007). 21^st century fluency skills: Attributes of a 21^st century learner. Located at http://www.committedsardine.com/handouts/twca.pdf.

Thornburg, D. (2004). Inquiry: The art of helping students ask good questions. (Executive Briefing No. 402). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/inquiry.pdf

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12622247@N02/2370861203

Website Evaluation

For this week's application, I evaluated a website for validity and accuracy, using suggestions from Eagleton & Dobler (2007). The website I evaluated was http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

I utilized Jing, which allowed me to do a screencast of the entire evaluation process, while simultaneously recording my voice. Click on the link below to view my screencast of this evaluation!

http://screencast.com/t/rSXPSdVl7p

 

Resource: Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.

Reflection

This class has certainly challenged me to think about my teaching in a completely different light. When I began this course, I honestly would not have been able to accurately characterize my own personal theory of learning. I was familiar with many of the instructional strategies that we explored throughout this course, but I was not well versed in the learning theories that support the instructional theories that I am much more familiar with. As I've explored many of the different learning theories, from behaviorism to experiential learning, and from constructionism to project based learning and connectivism, I have been able to develop a greater understanding of what my own personal theory of learning is. My original personal theory of learning was focused mainly around students constructing artifacts to demonstrate their learning; essentially project based learning (Orey, 2001). Through becoming more familiar with the different theories of learning, I can much more accurately pinpoint and describe my own personal theory of learning. I still believe in the importance of students creating artifacts and projects to demonstrate learning, but I also find that I believe very strongly in the social constructivist theory and connectivism. I believe that students develop their learning and understanding through a lens that is constructed of their own experiences and beliefs. That learning and understanding is further developed and deepened when brought together with the experiences and beliefs of classroom peers, and put into the context and culture of the classroom and its students (Orey, 2001). I have also come to recognize that it is imperative for there to be connections made by the learner, if learning is to actually take place. Students need to create networks within their brains of recalling and connecting information and materials, through personal experiences, and connections with others who have had experiences with the needed information (Orey, 2001).

With those modifications and clarifications in mind for my own personal theory of learning, I think it will be imperative that I not only provide project based learning experiences for my students to develop understanding, but I must also be intentional on creating cooperative groups for students construct meaning together in a social manner that deepens and adds to student learning. I also need to be more intentional about connecting the material to student lives or material previously learned. Those cooperative groupings and connections will be crucial to making the changes in my classroom to reflect my personal theory of learning.

The technology integration into my classroom has been going quite well over the last year. I do, however, want to adjust the use of technology so that I can more fully utilize the technology for the short times that it is available to me. The greatest thing that I can do is to plan the projects and units more in advance, so that I can prepare the students for using new technology, such as Comic Life or Garage Band, by introducing the technology itself, and allowing students to experiment with the programs – prior to attempting to complete a project. This addition of intentional technology instruction will help students be able to troubleshoot and problem-solve technology issues during the project, allowing them to remain focused on the content and learning of the project information.

I currently use concept mapping tools and word processors to help students organize information, take notes, and summarize their learning. I also use the interactive white board to help students make visual and textual connections to material. I have used podcasting and slide show creation in my classroom with my students. I would, however, like to couple all of those technologies with the use of virtual field trips to help my students interact with the learning material and work within a group to help construct their own meaning and understanding of the material itself. This goal will require me to create and plan for my classroom in a long term manner. The best way that I can implement this instructional practice change will be to choose perhaps one topic per term and think about how the implementation of technology could greatly impact that unit or topic. By choosing one topic per term, I will be able to thoroughly plan a unit or lesson. Once the unit or lesson is planned, I can save those plans for the next year. Planning for lessons in this manner will allow me to build a portfolio of sorts to continue integrating technology into differing areas of the curriculum. As I continue to learn of and use new technologies, that learning can be injected into the lessons I design. I think this technology will not only emotionally engage students, but it will encourage and foster discussion among students within the learning group, creating new connections and deeper learning for all of the students in the group (Orey, 2001).

I am currently using a classroom blog with my students, but I would very much like to use it much more consistently and comprehensively. Currently, students present completed work on blog pages, and then, whenever possible, the rest of the class can view that work, asking questions or making comments about the work. I would really like to have students continue to present work in this fashion, but I would like to create a more consistent opportunity for students to respond and reflect upon the work that others have done. To do this, I need to be able to offer students time and ability to not only complete the projects to post on the blog, but time and ability to view and reflect upon the blog work of their peers. In order to do this, I will need to have three to five computers perpetually available to my students, so that they can post or respond to work on our blog site. As I am entering a new school district in the fall, I am not aware of what technology will be available to me within my classroom. If I have the computer technology available to me, I will simply set up a student rotation for both blog work creation as well as reflection. There will have to be set times during the class day that students can utilize the computers for these purposes. If the computer technology is not available to me, I will simply have to work with district personnel to acquire the technology, if possible, or seek outside grant monies to do so. I think that using a classroom blog in this way would help to further deepen the connections that students make with learning material. I also think that by widening the audience for their work, students will experience differing viewpoints on the same material, helping them to create new meanings and understandings (Orey, 2001).

This class has provided me with a clarity and understanding of what I believe fosters the best learning. It has also shown me what I need to do instructionally, in order to best support the learning that my students do in the classroom, while at the same time integrating technology in the most useful ways possible.

Reference:

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/19213110@N00/3548570278

What About the Neediest Ones?

Please click on the post title to enjoy the Voice Thread I created about why some schools have more technology resources than others!

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Social learning theories suggest that optimum learning takes place when social interaction among students occurs (Orey, 2001). Cooperative learning strategies are an excellent way to integrate social learning into the classroom. Cooperative learning provides students with an opportunity to share their understanding with a group. It also gives students an opportunity to learn from the perspectives, experiences, and understandings of the other students in the group. Cooperative learning promotes "positive interdependence" (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007) among students, accountability among students, communication skills, decision making skills, conflict management skills, and content synthesis and reflection, through social communication and activity completion (Pitler, et.al, 2007).

When using cooperative groups, teachers need to be sure that the groups are flexible in nature and that cooperative learning opportunities are used when the activity or learning can be positively impacted by students working closely together (Pitler, et.al, 2007). It is important that groups are formed with intentionality and purpose, whether it is based on ability, interest, or skill sets (Pitler, et.al, 2007).

Technology tools offer a unique opportunity and ability for students to work cooperatively in a problem-based or project based learning situation. Word processors and concept maps help cooperative groups plan the project, take notes on information learned, and summarize the relevant information quickly. Collaborative tools, such as Voice Thread, ePals, blogs, and wikis allow students to work collaboratively on a project when they are away from school. These tools provide a place for students and groups to present their understandings, questions, and connections to the learning material, and receive feedback and suggestions from their peers, thus altering and deepening the understanding that the student or group has. They also allow for collaboration to occur between students across the country and across the world.

What makes these tools so have such a high impact is their relevance to social learning strategies. These tools allow students to share their gained information, and gain and understand new information together as a group. When students work together cooperatively, optimum learning takes place through the discussion and acceptance or rejection of material from the group as whole (Orey, 2001). The group, being made up of students from a particular community bases its overall understanding and integration of the material on past experiences and social meaning and understanding of the concepts presented (Orey, 2001). The group ultimately works together to form a unified position of understanding about the material, thus creating a common learning threat for all students in that group.

For cooperative learning to work, students have to actively participate in the group and bring their own understandings, experiences, and thoughts to the group to share them. It is an excellent strategy that can be easily infused with technology, while simultaneously deepening and broadening the meaning and understanding of content for our students.

Resources:

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/.

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

Constructivism in Practice

Constructivist/constructionist learning theories center themselves around the ideas that students are constructing their own learning and understanding through the creation of some type of artifact that can be viewed by others and discussed or reflected upon (Orey, 2001).

Project-based learning tools like Internet search engines, concept maps, word processors, spreadsheets, blogs, wikis, podcasting programs, and graphics programs make implementing the project-based learning strategy simple and efficient. In the first stage of project-based learning, these tools allow students to locate and organize information, and collaborate with peers through the organization and production process. Through the second phase, these tools also allow students to cooperatively create a multitude of projects and present them to their class or peers. The third and final phase of project based learning can utilize these technologies to help students reflect upon and follow up on the projects, editing them and revising the project, based on peer and self-reflection (Orey, 2001).

Project-based learning is a methodology that I am certainly much more familiar with, having used it often in my classroom. However, while contemplating Problem-based learning and thinking about it in conjunction with generating and testing hypotheses, I can see a much broader use for spreadsheets in practical applications. Problem-based learning requires students to think about and solve real life problems. This strategy could be highly effective since “learning is most meaningful and is enhanced when students face a situation in which the concept is immediately applied (Orey, 2001).” While I whole-heartedly agree with this statement, I initially had great difficulty combining this strategy with generating and testing hypotheses. I simply could not see a suitable use for my third grade students. Then, as I began thinking of how spreadsheets allow students to build tables and use formulas to manipulate and change data, I began to see how using this tool could build upon many of our classroom math lessons involving patterns. It could also be used to chart and manipulate possible data in a scientific hypothesis (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007). Most importantly with this particular strategy, using a real world application or problem would have the greatest impact on my students. For example, students could use spreadsheets to chart the number of bricks needed to complete a patio that has a certain number of bricks in each square foot.

Both of these strategies encourage and require students to build some sort of artifact and construct their own understanding of the content they are learning. Because these strategies are interactive with technology and other students, they help students to create multiple connections to the material they are learning, which makes it much more lasting and meaningful to students.

Resources:

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/.

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

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36764355@N00/324152992

Technology Tools and Cognitive Learning Theory

Technology augments and enhances classroom learning and instruction in many ways. This week, in our discussion and reading, connected to cognitive learning theories and cues, questions, advance organizers, note taking and summarizing, we saw many examples of ways that technology can be integrated into classroom instruction and learning. These examples also clearly show how well they fit into the cognitive learning theory.

Using technology to cue and question student learning is a great way to introduce new content in the classroom. Word processing and spreadsheet programs allow teachers and students to create a working list of prior knowledge and understanding, as well as create a set of questions to be answered within the unit. This technology based KWL chart, if used directly by the students through their own use of the program, or with an interactive whiteboard, allows students to interact with the previously developed schema and the questions to be answered during the unit (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). In just formulating the questions, students are utilizing a higher cognitive skill and essentially planning strategies to find the answers to particular questions (Orey, 2001). PowerPoint programs and programs like Inspiration and Kidspiration allow teachers to provide students with visual cues, and advance organizers about the topic at hand. Important questions to be answered through the learning, and important vocabulary are just a couple of ways to help provide students with advance organizers to begin a unit or lesson (Pitler, et.al, 2007). The visual ability of word processors, spread sheets, concept mapping tools, and multimedia tools allow student to begin organizing their thoughts and making connections with what they already know, before they begin learning the new content of the lesson. Word processors, spread sheets, and mapping tools give students an opportunity to begin creating some way of mentally organizing the material they are about to acquire, as well as helping to provide visual cues, like graphics and pictures, that help students make more complex brain connections. Multimedia programs, such as PowerPoint, podcasts, and video clips also help students prepare and begin organizing their thoughts on the upcoming topic (Pitler, et. al. 2007 and Orey, 2001).

In many of the same ways, these tools also play an important part of the instructional strategies of summarizing and note taking. Word processors and spreadsheets can be manipulated by students as they use the note taking strategy, as can concept mapping tools. The important thing to mention about these technology tools is that they allow students to organize the information as it makes the most sense to them. Students can utilize charts and outline features, text highlighting and text change features, clip art and concept webs to help them review and organize what information is important throughout their learning, helping them to develop deep cognitive thinking skills throughout the learning of new material (Orey, 2001, and Pitler, et. al, 2007). With summarizing, students can readily utilize podcasts, blogs, wikis, and videos from online sites. Blogs and wikis become especially effective in helping students organize their thinking for summarizing. They also allow for increased interactions between students. Students can present a summary through a blog or wiki, and classmates can comment or ask questions to isolate important information from the summarizer (Pitler, et. al, 2007). Additionally, these technologies work well when combined with reciprocal teaching, where students lead an online discussion and summary, through pointed questions to highlight important information, about the topic shared by the entire class (Pitler, et. al, 2007).

Virtual field trips allow students to experience their learning. This experience provides students with visual cues and connections, possible auditory cues and connections, and helps students develop cognitive thinking skills in matching the information they see in the virtual field trip with the previously learned information. When students experience a virtual field trip, they need to think about what information is important, plan what area to look at next, and experiment with the site to find it. They also observe the visual information and cues of the field trip, reflect on how that information matches up with their plan for finding or comparing information, and then review all of the information they have acquired, both visually and textually (Orey, 2001).With these visual and textual cues and experiences of the virtual field trip, students are further able to identify and organize important information, while simultaneously making deep connections to the material and the experience of the virtual field trip.

Technology can be a powerful tool to enhance and augment cognitive learning practices. The important part for teachers to be cognizant of is how any specific tool will be used, and if a different tool will better meet the needs of the lesson or the students. Beyond that, using these technology tools can only help to deepen the understanding and recall of information by our students.

Resources:

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

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

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13053707@N00/102413554