Teaching with Technology Week 3

      This weeks online readings focused on learning about UDL (Universal Design for Learning).  When the term UDL was first introduced I had no idea what UDL stood for, what it meant or most importantly how it would help me teach with technology.  I read the first article "Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age" and received some information about UDL but I still didn't really understand why this was a subject that I needed to know in regards to teaching students with technology.  Why devote one fifth of a class to UDL?  Why three articles instead of just one?  Well once I begin reading the third article, I begin to really understand how UDL (Universal Design for Learning) can really help in the classroom and why it should be included.  Computers are a big part of technology and often is the most utilized tool for teaching with technology; we often forget that everyone cannot always access this technology or may have to access it in a different way. 
      In an effort to provide meaningful experiences and engage a diverse group of learning the UDL tool can be used to customize lessons for all diverse learner.  In today's classrooms we have students with a variety of knowledge, student with learning disabilities and physical disabilities.  These students can learn the same thing but we may not be able to teach in the same exact way.  When dealing with Universal Design for Learning it focuses on the brain process (Recognition, Strategic and Affective).  Everyone learns differently and the UDL helps to customize the process of learning for everyone.  Blind student, Deaf student, and students with other disabilities are still able to use the computer and other technology resources sometimes just in a different way. 
      This weeks book reading focused more on the different ways technology can be used in the classroom to enhance learning.  The chapters talked about how Web 2.0 tools  (Wikis, Podcast and Flickr) can be integrated into subjects such as Math, English, Science and even Social Studies.  Although these chapter did not per se focus on UDL I can definitely see how these tool could be used to customize instruction and learning of a diverse group.  Blogs would be a great tool for a student with a speech impairment to participate in discussions or using a podcast or clip-art to teach a students with auditory issues.  This weeks reading and video were filled with a wealth of information that I will utilize in the future.

Teaching with Technology Week 2

  This week assignment we were to brainstorm about how to teach technology to a group of diverse students as a group.  I believe we did develop some ideas about how to accomplish this task.
     This weeks readings involved a lot of research about how technology affects student achievement and benefits students in the lower social economical classes.  Technology can help student become engaged in learning and can offer a lot of experiences and knowledge that a student may have otherwise not had the opportunity to experience.   I learned how student in lower social economical areas have a significant achievement growth with the use of computers.  I never really thought about students that are in higher social economical areas looking at technology as a norm versus other groups in lower social economical area valuing the technology because it is not apart of their everyday life.  I believe that technology will continue to help student of all social economical level and abilities grow.  I think it is important to let student have access to technology in the classroom.  The readings this week really confirmed my knowledge that technology is an asset in the classroom.

Teaching with Technology Week 1

WEEK 1
     The third course in my program focuses on Teaching with Technology.  I really expected to get a few hand on activities completed using the technology I learned about in my first course.  In this course we are going to work in groups to create ways to effectively teach with technology with a scenario provided by the instructors.
     In the first week we had a lot of interesting articles to read and I must say that they were all beneficial. The quote I found significant is "Technology can help to create an active environment in which students not only solve problems, but also find their own problems." This quote was found in "How People Learn, Brain, Mind, Experiences, and School" page 207. The reason I thought this was a powerful statement is because often people look at technology as 'just another gadget' or just a place to find answers quickly. Technology has so many different uses and problem solving is one of them. If a child is actively engaged in learning and can use technology to help find some of their answers; that can spark an interest to want to find out about other things. The more knowledge a students gains, the more likely they are to explore things that are not familiar to them thus creating questions. This helps the student gain more knowledge and leads to lifelong learning.
       The articles for this weeks reading have taught me that you do not need to be an expert in order to teach technology but you will want to know what you are looking for.  Research shows that  using technology in teaching can help children grow.  I look forward to learning more about how technology can be used in classroom to positively teach students.

Research Methods

     This course really went by fairly quick.  When enrolling for the course I really did not know what EDLD 5301 Research Methods would really go over.  My thoughts were what would we research?  How would this course tie into my degree?  Is this course dedicated to one way to research or mainly just one research topic?  The first week answered all of those questions for me. The course is to learn about action research! 

     I found the books “Leading with Passion and Knowledge” and Examining what we do to improve our schools” very helpful.  I found that “Leading with Passion and Knowledge” gave detailed information on what Action Research is all about and why Principal and teachers would conduct action research.  The analogy about time to exercise and time to inquire (Dana, 15) I found amusing because I can relate to it 100 percent. The sample questions included in the text on page 65-66 really helped me develop questions of what I wanted my own action research to be about.  “Examining what we do to improve our school” helped me understand the process of developing and completing the action research plan.  This book is the perfect guide for action research. 

     The topic of time is what caught my interest. Time is always an issue. One of the things that I thought about the most was how will principals find the time to do action research with all of the unexpected issues that arise. "Lack of time will always be an issue" (Dana, 16) so if you plan on the inquiry into your schedule it will help the overall growth of the school.  I still would have liked more time to develop an action research topic because time was a factor due to the schedule for my mentor and my schedule. 

     I have stated to research about other action research about effective use of technology in the classroom and there really isn’t much data out there.  I have found that there are many articles on how to integrate technology and what kind of technology is normally used in the classroom but not about proficiency level of teachers and integration of technology.  I am excited about what the outcomes will be.  I do have some time to improve because the school I am at the research will be completed later in the year due to testing schedules.  I found the discussion board and blog comments helpful because it gave me feed back on the topic I choose. 

Action Research Topic

      Ok, we finally decided on a topic.  How does the proficiency level of the teacher affect the authentic use of technology in the classroom.  This research plan will answer will involve several components.  Does the proficiency level of the teacher affect the way he/she uses technology in the classroom?  Is technology (including technology labs) used for authentic technology use?  How are teachers implementing technology in the classroom? How can technology be used to maximize student learning?  I know that this is alot of questions to answer but the subject really will help develop a better use of technology in the classroom. 
     With the amount of technology around us it is suprisingly that the technology TEKs are not as detailed as they project the need will be in 2025.  Over a decade from now the students of today will have graduated and be in there higher level education or careers and it is important that just as we (digital immigrants) stay up with technology that the digital native must as well because it is ever changing. 

Action Research

So this week we were asked to develop some topics for actions research.  Since my focus is technology,  I decided to based them off of none other than ....TECHNOLOGY!

The three topics I have developed for action research are: 

·         Is the use of technology effectively used in the classroom?

·         Is online professional development a useful tool for getting information and training teachers? Are teachers really learning?

·         What are the comfort level of teachers to teachers to use technology in teaching reading effectively?

The subject topics are still up for review by the site supervisor but after reading more about action research this week, I feel that these are definitely topic that can be beneficial to the school.  The main topic I wanted to focus on is technology.  Technology can be involved in a lot of different aspects of the school environment.  Since my main focus is technology, it was decided to use this as an action research focus.

Without discussing the topic with my site supervisor I feel confident that these will be perfect topic to develop from.  

Education Technology Concepts

I was very excited to start the Educational Technology Program but I was really unsure what to expect. The first class, Concepts of Educational Technology, I really only expected to talk and learn about some of the ways that teachers can use technology in the classroom. When I say some of the ways, I expected to do a lot of reading and learning of the terminology of the technology world. My perceptions of what I was going to learn were a bit different from what I expected, which was great but I though I would maybe get a little more of the technical side. I learned technology terminology but more from an educators point of view. The articles that I read really helped me look at educational technology in a new way. Up into this point I was all about finding ways to incorporate technology in a lesson. The class had a hand on approach to introduce technology in the classroom and I felt that this provided a better outlook on how I can use the tools in the classroom better than reading activities in a book. The coursework activities far exceeded what I expected to learn at the beginning of this program.

The material I learned in class helped me put into perspective what I should be asking my students to do. I know that I can improve in all areas but I feel with time I will improve. I have gained enough knowledge to feel comfortable allowing my students to explore blogs and wiki in a classroom setting. I am not currently in a classroom setting but I feel that I am prepared to integrate technology within the classroom where the student will definably benefit and learn. I will be researching some websites to find blogs and social networking that will allow monitoring of post. I know that there is so much out there that my future student and I can benefit from and taking this technology class has really open up my eyes to the possibilities of an engaging technology infused classroom.

          I really look back and wonder how I was able to complete some of my assignments. I have not gotten my wiki to look like I would like but I am working on improving the appearance. Time is definitely the main factor for my lack of fully creating and structuring my wiki and blog. I know that although my wiki and blog name was a little generic time absolutely paid a factor in creating them. I really hate that I could devote the time I would like to improving and really just focusing on developing my work. Time is not lost! Although I did get everything like I would have liked, I am going to continue on and improve as I go along. The hands on activity in completing the task were well worth the time. This is only the first class and I have so much more to learn I am sure that the end result will be more than I have imagined.

      I was successful in carrying out all but two of my assignments. Now that I look back theses assignments did not include a lot of information but I have been so overwhelmed with other issues that they took away from the time that I needed to complete the assignments. I will still complete the assignments but I had to prioritize what was more important at the time and my family matters more. I really want to complete the program in a timely manner but having to attend to family is my priority at this time. Upon starting the program I was ready for a lot of assignments but I was not prepared for an internship. I really wish I had found out more before starting. I know at this time since I am not in a school and often work long hour that competing an internship at a campus or other site is not an option. I would like to network with some of the schools near my home but again timing is a factor.

            All in all I will say that the course was a success for me. I learned how to use tool through Google. I learned how I can set up my own blog and I also learned how to create a wiki. The wiki tool was something that I was introduced to about two years ago but I was never able to figure out how to actually complete one myself. The course also helps me to classify why students today seem so different from when I was a student. The digital natives have a total different way of learning that I plan on infusing myself into the culture so that I can ensure that my students are learning lessons for lifelong learning. I know that my technology skills are not at the top of the scale but I am capable of teaching, monitoring and accessing student using technology. At times it was stressful trying to work and complete assignments but I so happy that I have started the process that I can wait till June 2013 when I can look forward to helping others utilize educational technology.