EDLD+5364+Course+Embedded+Reflection

Teaching with Technology EDLD 5364 has been the most difficult course I have taken up to this point in my degree program. I came to this course without any experience in public school teaching. When our team chose our Action Plan for a Second Grade teacher who has a class of 30 diverse students, I was overwhelmed by my ignorance on the subject. Over the last five weeks I have read books and articles, watched videos and collaborated with my team. I found with each lesson, the rubric gave me a place to begin my assignment one step at a time. I immediately began to understand why it is necessary for lesson plans to be thoughtfully created in detail to assure that there are appropriate learning opportunities for diverse learners, and that the lessons are enhanced with technology. “Applied effectively, technology implementation not only increases student learning, understanding, and achievement but also augments motivation to learn, encourages collaborative learning and supports the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007, p.3). Because my background has been as a home school mother of seven, I could easily appreciate the ISTE/ NCATE standard that emphasizes technology to support learner-centered strategies ( Technology Facilitator Standard –TF- III B.1 ). With seven children at home, and all of them in at a different place educationally, I learned how to empower my children to be the drivers of their education, and I became the mentor/facilitator. This philosophy has served my children well throughout their adult lives as they have become life-long learners. There is no doubt in my mind that when classrooms become learner-centered, “They (teachers) become facilitators, mentors and educational producers, and students (become) active and engaged in producing their own learning” (Burns, 2002, p. 296). In previous courses, I learned about many Web 2.0 tools available on-line that can provide an avenue for students to become engaged in producing their own learning. In this course I was able to take some of those skills, including wikis, and Google documents, and use them in collaboration with my team to produce our Action Plan as a solution to our scenario.
 * Self Assessment**

One of the main objectives of this Teaching with Technology course is to promote the use of collaboration among the teachers and students. I have worked collaboratively in several other courses in this program, and each time I see more value in collaborative effort. Many times during this course my team has brainstormed, thrown out ideas, questioned, chatted, and made suggestions about our project. As we worked we would continue to refine our ideas as everyone reflected on how we should continue. Our team chose Angela Mahl as our team leader. She is a natural leader. To accelerate our progress, the team empowered Angela to make many administrative decisions for the team and to help us stay on track. Each week the team would read the assignment, the rubric, the overview and watch the videos. We would then post suggestions how to proceed with the lesson on our Google document. This on-line discussion provided the feedback we needed as we worked on our weekly assignments. “Technology is especially effective when it comes to providing this immediate feedback” (( Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007, p.42), and having the technology to collaborate in real time greatly expedited our work. It has been a wonderful experience to work with a team that is so motivated for excellence. In the past, I have been an independent worker that believed the best way to learn was to study material and memorize facts. I have discovered that I learn more and become more engaged in learning when I can actively participate in a project and/or activity. “The new way is collaborative, with information shared, discussed, refined with others, and understood deeply (Solomon & Schrum, 2007, p.21). This team project and group collaboration has encouraged me to not only always do the best myself, but to always collaborate with others when possible.
 * Learn as a Learner **

I am a lifelong learner. The verdict is already in on me. I home schooled my children for twenty-five years and then went back to school to earn my Bachelor’s degree. Now, as my tenth grandchild is born today, I am working on a master’s degree. One of the reasons I am a lifelong learner is because I love to learn. The more I learn, the more I want to learn. I have never looked at education as having an ending. Having said that, I have to admit I have not always been an effective learner. I would learn the information for the short term, but I would lose the knowledge in the long term. Now, I understand one of the reasons I did not retain more knowledge is because I was not always actively engaged in the material. I could memorize what I needed for the test, but there was no ongoing assessment to evaluate what I knew and what I needed to know. Students need the opportunity to “focus on the process of learning rather than the end products” (Solomon & Schrum, 2007, p.175). “It makes much more sense to have ongoing assessment” (Solomon & Schrum, 2007, p.168), to make sure the student is continually learning throughout the course and to correct any misconceptions early. This program and my team have been game-changers for me. I will no longer look at learning as a one-dimensional activity but as a multi-faceted opportunity that should be approached from various sources. This realization has already effected how I approach learning. Last Sunday in church we had a word study put in a Power Point presentation. I sat through the entire service thinking how I could improve his presentation with Web 2.0 tools. I wanted to add some videos from YouTube, create a wiki full of illustrations on how that word has been used historically, make a RSS feed to link all the articles and blogs that have been created on the subject for further reading. I would also create a blog with notes and references so people could continue their own independent study and post comments, and create a video-slide show in Animoto with each Bible verse that contains the word recorded to play while the verse is displayed.. I would then put the whole thing in LiveBinder. As I continue to learn, I am sure I will learn new skills and techniques that will be very exciting. One skill I would like to improve and utilize is my video skills. Video encompasses the senses more than any other tool I have used. It is important not to over use the video because it may become boring, but the use of short, video clips can be very powerful. I plan to spend a significant amount of time in the future investigating how to produce and utilize educational video clips so I can in turn mentor my students to produce and create works of their own.
 * Lifelong Learning Skills **

Burns, M., (2002). From compliance to commitment: Technology as a catalyst for communities of learning. //Phi Delta Kappan//, 84(4), p. 295-303. Pitler,H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum development. Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). //Web 2.0: New tools, New schools.// Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education. Technology Facilitation Standards: TF- III B.1. Retrieved from []shx