Final Blog Reflection

Part One: Reflect on the entire course.

What you have learned?

I feel this course has exposed me to exactly what I hoped for with the M.E.T. program. Not only did this course challenge my thinking, but it opened my eyes to various technological tools that I had never heard of. Moreover, I was pushed to develop content for various subject matters and exposed to ways in which technology can be embraced through diverse platforms. 

2. How theory guided development of the projects and assignments you created?

I tend to follow the model of “I do, we do, you do” when giving instruction. As a result, much of the content produced on my project site seeks to give students an example, opportunity for practice, and then the independence to apply their understanding of the material on their own. I am heavily influenced by the connectivist theory which seeks to create opportunities for students to apply knowledge to real world situations using the World Wide Web as the initiator of connectivity.

3. How the course work demonstrates mastery of the AECT standards? (Note: If you are not in the M.E.T. program, you can omit this.)

Through the creation of various lessons and learning activities that utilized several technology resources I was able to meet the AECT standards listed below. In evaluating distinct technology resources, I often sought to look for those that would aide in creating meaningful learning experiences for students. Moreover, I sought to determine the relative advantages of each source along with the realistic application of using the source in the classroom. It was also important that I consider my audience and assure that the tools being used were appropriate for my 9th grade honors English students. The relative advantage chart along with the assistive technologies presentation demonstration my understanding of how particular resources might be used to enhance student learning.

4. How you have grown professionally?

I entered this course not fully completely sure of what to expect and have been extremely pleased by the challenge this course has presented. One of the ways to which I have seen this course grow me professionally is by allowing me to develop curriculum and lessons that can be applied to various academic terrains. For example, creating the different content lessons pushed me to think outside the box. In the process I quickly found that I struggle in overthinking the development of lessons. Sometimes simple is better. I often get overwhelmed by the possibilities technology rich lessons have to offer and can end up missing the main points of a lesson as a result. Identifying this struggle was a great thing for me in this course. 

5. How your own teaching practice or thoughts about teaching have been impacted by what you have learned or accomplished in this course?  

I often designed lessons with my students in mind. I wanted to be sure to create meaningful lessons that I can use in my own classroom. I think this helped guide the direction of my lessons as I was able to design content that is applicable and appropriate. However, at times I allowed this to hold me back as I became more concerned about the realism of a lesson in my classroom than creating something that had potential. For example, my school site doesn’t have a 1:1 device to student ratio. Most of my lessons seek to keep that in mind, yet I wonder if things might look different if I made more assumptions and allowed myself more creativity. 

6. What will you do differently as an educator as a result of this course?

I think I will seek to be more diverse in the resources I use in my classroom. I tend to stick with the same mediums when teaching out of comfort. Instead, I plan to push myself out of my comfort zone and find new and innovative ways to teach. If I am constantly kept on my toes, I know I will be keeping my students on their toes as well. 

PART TWO

With regards to my engagement with blog responses I feel I was an active member that contributed to the learning environment of the class. It seems the best way to self-evaluate my participation in the blog environment is to reflect based on the criteria laid out in the rubric and below: 

Content- I believe all of my posts reflect a thoughtfulness and sincerity in seeking to make connections between the content of the course and the classroom. I fought to draw from my personal experiences in the class and connect those to theories or practices being touched on in the course content. It is hard to testify to the amount of time spent working on course content when we never meet face to face, but I can honestly say I spent a good chunk of time each week working on my blog postings. A perfectionist at heart, I would write and then revise several times to assure my work was quality for my classmates. I really wanted to challenge others’ thought processes and add to healthy academic conversation. 

Timeliness- I made sure that all of my blog postings were completed by the weekend to assure time for responses. At the beginning of the semester my posts came at the beginning of each week. My last few posts came later in the week because I struggled to work through the content a bit (a healthy thing in my opinion), but still allowed plenty of time for peer review. 

Readings and Resources- I believe I met the requirements for this section in that all my postings contained proper APA citations and a works cited. Moreover, while I often included information from the assigned course readings I really fought to do research of my own and include material from outside the course that contributed to our understanding. Assuming we all read the required readings, I felt my job was to add to the discussion by hopefully presenting information that my classmates weren’t necessarily familiar with yet. In doing so I was able to stimulate to the quality of conversation presented. 

Responses to Other Students- Each week I thoughtfully responded to at least two of my classmates’ blogs. Not once did I fail to not respond to at least two classmates I sought to challenge my classmates thinking by asking meaningful questions that hopefully provoked their thinking. At times it was difficult to come up with questions because the quality of my peers’ posts didn’t lend themselves to be questioned, but only affirmed. Moreover, when others commented on my blog I did my best to respond to their meaningful questions as well. However, the last few weeks I didn’t respond to all of my classmates comments because their comments were only affirming my post and not questioning. I acknowledged that I read their post by selecting the 1+ to let them know that I heard what they said. 

Based on my reflection above I believe I should earn 95/100 points with the below breakdown of point distribution. 

Content- 70 points

Timeliness- 20 points

Reading and Resources- 20 points

Responses to Other Students- 25 points

Adaptive/Assistive Technologies

For most of my schoolwork and curriculum development I use my MacBook Pro. This operates with the OS X Yosemite operating system. The apple site describes the assistive technologies of this operating system, but here are a few that stand out:

1. Safari Reader- This feature helps students that are overwhelmed by visual distractions such as advertisements, navigation bars, etc. It also helps students with vision impairments as the Text to Speech and VoiceOver features work in Safari Reader as well. 

2. Text to Speech- With this feature students can listen to the text on the screen and follow along by reading. Students can choose a voice and adjust to over 20 different languages. This would help students with physical or visual disabilities. 

3. Dictation helps students that struggle with reading, especially those with dyslexia. With this feature students can write an email or search the web using their voice. This feature converts their voice to text. This feature will help students with visual, physical, and auditory disabilities. 

4. FaceTime- This feature helps students that need guidance with social interaction and communication. FaceTime allows students to see one another and practice conversation. 

One hiccup in the movement toward assistive/adaptive technologies is schools, universities, and libraries is the tight budget that hinders their decision makers from buying technologies that only help a few students. The “Section 504 regulation requires a school district to provide a ‘free appropriate public education’ (FAPE) to each qualified person with a disability who is in the school district’s jurisdiction, regardless of the nature or severity of the person’s disability” ( “Free Appropriate Public Education under Section 504”). As a result, I believe the question boils down to how school districts are choosing to create their budgets. The justification for purchasing assistive technology clearly lies in the definition of FAPE. All students deserve the best educational possible. Therefore, my justification to those in opposition would be that assistive technology isn’t just for students with disabilities but for ALL students. I believe every student should have access to assistive technologies as they learning style of each individual student is unique. I may be a straight A student but need to work hard in school because my genetic make-up doesn’t declare me gifted, yet I don’t have a disability standing in my way. The average student benefits from these technologies, thus the investment isn’t just for the disabled but for all students. 

Resources

Apple - Education - Special Education - OS X. (n.d.). Retrieved April 19, 2015, from https://www.apple.com/education/special-education/osx/

Free Appropriate Public Education under Section 504. (2010, August 1). Retrieved April 19, 2015, from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/edlite-FAPE504.html

Obstacles and Suggested Solutions for Integrating Technology Into the Content Area

While I thoroughly enjoy technology integration and believe it to be a vital part of the learning experience in the classroom, several issues exist when it comes to its’ use in the classroom. I have recently taken a new position at my school as a Teacher on Special Assignment (TSA). In this position I will be acting as a technology coordinator on campus. This means anything from troubleshooting a printer not working to developing curriculum that embraces technology. The initial struggle a school of our size faces (3,000 students) is not having a one to one ratio of student to digital device. While the library is available before school, at lunch, and after school, students still find it difficult to complete assignments that require technology if they don’t have a digital device. Thus, as a whole our school can’t fully embrace or enforce certain technology expectations if equal access isn’t guaranteed.

A 2012 article titled “Six Lingering Technologies to Using Technologies in School” published by MindShift, an online medium that seeks to offer information for teachers, educators, and policy makers, discusses six lingering obstacles to technology integration. Three of the obstacles I find still exist today and include:

• The increased need for “blending of formal and informal learning” (MindShift). With the popularity of the “flipped classroom” students are being exposed to both traditional learning activities and more modern activities that embrace technology. This concept has only taken off in the last few years, but is still far from being the mainstream strategy for teaching (at least in my community).  
• “The demand for personalized learning is not adequately supported by current technology or practices” (MindShift)- As a country we still aren’t in a position where every student is being give access to learning in regards to digital literacy. Depending on the learning and home environment, not all students have the necessary skills to embrace learning at an individual learning pace.
• “Learning that incorporates real life experiences is not occurring enough and is undervalued when it does take place” (MindShift)- Teachers tend to think that if they put some form of technology in front of students it will automatically make the content they are teaching engaging and interesting; however, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Technology is use becomes an obstacle in teaching when teachers aren’t knowledgeable of how to appropriately use technology to create meaningful learning experiences and create real world application.

These are just some of the obstacles that I believe still exist when it comes to technology integration.

Relative Advantages of Technology for Student Engagement

Drew Hedricks wrote an article in the Huffington Post a few years back that has challenged me while simultaneously affirmed my pursuit of learning more about educational technology. Hedricks wrote of President Barak Obama’s desire to create universal preschool to aide in the pursuit of good educational for all children. Despite plan after plan that seeks to better the educational system, things only seem to become more of a struggle for schools on a day to day basis. Hedricks even acknowledges the often overlooked and misunderstood job of the teacher in KNOWING his or her students. In order to effectively teach content, educators must go beyond the walls of information and know the learning styles and abilities of all students. As a 9th grade teacher with 175 honors students, just exactly HOW am I supposed to meet the needs of all students?

The answer is simple. The first step involves embracing technology. Technology, when used correctly, allows for different levels of “specialized learning” (Hedricks, 2013). With the various apps, software, and educational programs available lessons can be developed to meet the needs of students. As Hedricks stated, technology creates a “unique education” for each student (2013). If the technology comes as the levels needed for each student the student interest will be kept. Moreover, technology requires hands-on interaction where students must control the tool to achieve the goal. Technology allows students to move at their own pace and simultaneously work collaboratively with others. 

In addition, Marketing Coordinator Ashley Wainwright of Securedge Netowkrs, a Wifi service provider, offers 5 reasons why technology is so engaging for students. These five reasons, I believe, serve as the backbone for the importance of technology integration. Reasons technology creates an interest for students include:

Technology requires active participation.

Pictures are worth a thousand words. Most students are visual or kinesthetic learners and thus seeing somethings far more beneficial then listening

It speaks to their language. Students have technology, yet they simply haven’t been educated on how to use it in an academic manner. 

Offers real-life experience. As technology evolves it is becoming more and more mainstream. Therefore, having technology in the classroom is a motivator for learning in knowing that it will be used in the future. 

In depth knowledge. So many different outlets and sources of information means that technology offers endless opportunities (Wainwright). 

I believe technology plays an integral role in my classroom. However, I also see it as my responsibility to cultivate appropriate technology.

Hendricks, Drew. "A Look at Recent Findings on Technology in the Classroom." The Huffington 

Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 Mar. 2013. Web. 01 Apr. 2015. 

Wainwright, Ashley. "5 Reasons Technology in the Classroom Engages Students." 5 Reasons 

Technology in the Classroom Engages Students. Securedge Networks, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2015.