Reflection: 6715 New and Emerging Technologies

As my current Walden ITC course reaches an end, I have started to think about some the ways that I can begin to implement many of the strategies and techniques that we have been exploring throughout this course. With today’s population of students so immersed with technology, it is imperative for the educators to begin to both adapt and evolve the way they are both teaching and connecting with their students. Nick DeKanter reinforced the importance of integrating digital-based games into the classroom. DeKanter explained how, “…content-rich strategy games built on a highly flexible simulation engine is the perfect hub to the spokes of educational duality” (DeKanter, 2005, p. 29).

One of the goals that I would like to strive for is to continue to research some of the digital games available for teachers. Digital games provide students with an engaging and motivating way to both learn and practice a variety of skills. Leah Hoffman explained how, “Electronic games can inspire players to explore new ideas and concepts” (Hoffman, 2009, p. 21). Although electronic games appear to have a significant impact upon how students are learning, it is important to note that they are simply a teaching tool to help support teachers. Karen Billings shared how, “The effective deployment of any instructional resource requires the support of teachers” (Billings, 2009, p. 26). The techniques and tools that I learned about throughout this course have provided me with many resources and ideas on how to best educate students in today’s society. In order to help my students both learn and retain the types of skills they will need, I definitely plan to incorporate digital-based gaming into my instruction.

Kevin Richstad

References:

Billings, K. (2009). Lessons from the trenches. School Library Journal, 55(10), 26–27.Retrieved from the Education Research Complete database.

DeKanter, N. (2005). Gaming redefines interactivity for learning. TechTrends, 49(3), 26–32. Retrieved from the Education Research Complete.

Hoffman, L. (2009). Learning through games. Communication of the ACM, 52(8), 21–22. Retrieved from the Academic Search Premier database.

Online Learning in K-12 Schools

Throughout this week's learning resources in my current Walden ITC course, we have been exploring some of the ways that online learning can help support today's students. The attached PowerPoint presentation provides an overview of how a course management system such as Moodle can be used to set up an online classroom.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/29347162

Reflection: Final Blog Post - 6714

Throughout my past Walden University course, we have been exploring many of the techniques and strategies that can be used to reach and engage all learners through the support of technology. The main focus of the class revolved around how critical it is for today’s educators to differentiate instruction. One of the techniques that I have already started using is flexible grouping. According to Smith & Throne (2007), flexible groups are important because they mimic some of the social and work relationships that students will someday have to negotiate, and allow them to practice future job-related skills (p. 113). My students are organized into heterogeneous groups. This provides them with several opportunities throughout the day to support each other’s needs and share their diverse learning abilities.

Another resource that I would like to include is GoogleDocs. GoogleDocs provides students with the capability to collaborate both within the classroom and from their own personal computers outside of the classroom hours. I would also like to begin posting a discussion thread to our class website so students can discuss topics outside of the classroom walls. This will provide some of the more introvert type of students with an opportunity to clearly/confidently express their thoughts. Wikis and Webquests are some additional tools that will help to give my students the types of 21st century skills and differentiated instruction they need to be successful.

A final teaching method that I have taken away from this course is applying many of the universal design for learning (UDL) techniques we explored. The CAST website has several great teaching resources that I definitely plan to implement into my own classroom. Overall, the learning experience I have had in this course has helped me to gain a much stronger understanding of how to effectively differentiate instruction to help create stronger connections for my students.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology. Baltimore: Author.

Smith, G., & Throne, S. (2007). Differentiating Instruction with Technology in K-5 Classrooms. Belmont, CA: International Society for Technology in Education.
Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.

Reflection: Final Blog Post - 6713

As I reach the end of my current Walden University ITC course, I have started to reflect upon some of the learning and resources we explored throughout this course. My initial assignment was to develop a personal GAME plan of how to strengthen both my confidence and proficiency with the National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). According to Dr. Cennamo, in order to be effective at achieving a desired learning goal, self-directed learners must first establish a GAME plan. A GAME plan consists of the following areas: G.oals, A.ctions, M.onitoring your actions, and finally E.valuating how effective your actions have been towards meeting your goals (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). At the beginning of the course, I chose two areas of the NETS-T that I wanted to develop and integrate in my own classroom. The two areas I focused on was stronger communication through the use of a class website and demonstrating leadership by developing the technology skills of others.

The use of a GAME plan has really helped me to clearly establish a better vision of where I want to take my students. The GAME plan model has also helped me to create a more defined pacing chart as to when I want to reach a particular standard or goal. Now that I have had some experience with using the GAME plan, my goal is to teach my students how they can create a GAME plan to help them reach the grade level expectations with both the content standards and technology standards. With technology becoming a central aspect of both learning and teaching, I believe it is important for my students to clearly understand what each of the grade level technology standards are. My next goal is to post each of the technology standards on my class website and to also create a bulletin board with the standards for students to refer to. If students understand what they are learning and why it is important for them to learn it, they are more likely to retain the skills needed to be successful life-long learners.

Kevin Richstad

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2007). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: a standards based approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning

Laureate Education, (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

As my current Walden Master’s ITC course reaches the final week, I have had an opportunity to reflect upon the GAME plan I originally created at the beginning of this course. According to Dr. Katherine Cennamo, in order to be effective at achieving a desired learning goal, self-directed learners must first establish a GAME plan. A GAME plan consists of the following areas: G.oals, A.ctions, M.onitoring your actions, and finally E.valuating how effective your actions have been towards meeting your goals (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). I have been reflecting upon my own personal GAME plan throughout the past several weeks. As I reach the end of this course, I have started to think about how I can apply some of the knowledge and skills I have acquired about creating a GAME plan with my own students.

After briefly reviewing many of the technology standards for the elementary level, I plan to have my students use the GAME plan strategy to help them keep track of their progress towards meeting several different technology goals. As explained Dr. Arnie Abrams from my course DVD, students can often become competitive and get caught up with all of the extra features and fonts available on many software/online programs. One way I plan to integrate the GAME plan with my fourth graders is to have them each create a GAME plan prior to exploring with a new piece of technology. For example, I am planning on teaching the students how to use a program called Inspiration to help them organize their ideas for a writing assignment. I am anticipating many students may get caught up with the various features and shapes available for creating a story map/writing web. The GAME plan will hopefully provide my students with a timeline to help them maintain an appropriate pace for completing their technology projects.

Kevin Richstad

References:

ISTE: http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007.htm

Laureate Education, (Executive Producer), 2009. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author

Revising My GAME Plan

Throughout my current Walden University Master’s course, I have been learning about many of the various ways in which today’s educators can integrate technology throughout the different content areas. At the beginning of the course, each student in our class developed a GAME plan. A GAME plan consists of the following areas: G.oals, A.ctions, M.onitoring your actions, and finally E.valuating how effective your actions have been towards meeting your goals (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). For my GAME plan, I have focused on two main goals. The first goal I have worked towards is establishing a class website to enhance my communication between school/home. The second goal I have been working on is helping to teach the other staff members at my school how to effectively integrate technology. I am specifically working with a product called the eBeam and would like my colleagues to learn from my experience throughout the pilot program of the eBeam.

This entire experience has helped me to better understand how critical it is for educators to truly set goals to work towards. One aspect of the GAME plan that I am planning on using in my instructional practice is to continue to set at least two goals to work towards throughout each new school year.

As I work on my GAME plan, there are still some goals that I am currently working towards. One of the goals I would like to meet is to effectively integrate a class weblog. In order to meet this goal I have been working with the IT department in my school district and requesting access to particular blogging sites. Currently, our school district has blocked many of the educational-based blogging websites from gaining access.

Another area of this class that I have gained a stronger understanding for are the NETS-T. The main strand of the NETS-T that I plan to focus on is: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm. I am would like to continue to implement many of the different Web 2.0 resources and tools that we have been learning about throughout this Master’s program.

References:

Laureate Education, (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas.
Baltimore, MD: Author

Evaluating My GAME Plan Progress

I have continued to work on my GAME plan. According to Dr. Katherine Cennamo, in order to be effective at achieving a desired learning goal, self-directed learners must first establish a GAME plan. A GAME plan consists of the following areas: G.oals, A.ctions, M.onitoring your actions, and finally E.valuating how effective your actions have been towards meeting your goals (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). We are currently in the fourth week of working on our GAME plans and have reached the Evaluation stage.

The actions I have taken up to this point have definitely helped me to maintain my original goals. The first goal I set was to create a class website to help increase and maintain a steady communication system between our class, my students and their families. The second goal I set was to take a leadership role by piloting a product called eBeam. I have been able to get my website started, but have had difficulty finding the time to update my website on a regular basis. My original intention was to have the entire website completed and up and running by the middle of November. I am a little behind, but plan to use some of my extra time during the winter break to finish the website.

The idea of the eBeam is great, but unfortunately I have continued to have several issues with the connectivity. My students have been able to use the tool to record their problem solving strategies during our morning math, but it has not been a consistent tool and not always reliable. I have contacted the official eBeam company representative for our school district with some of my specific concerns. I am still awaiting a reply to see if there is anything I need to do to establish a stronger connection and touch with the included stylus pen.

The insight that my GAME plan issues have provided me with is the ability to maintain patience in front of my students when technical issues arise. As a student in an Integration of Technology program, I want my students to be intrigued by the new types of technology available for their learning purposes. Even if the eBeam is not always consistent, the students are still very eager to use the product when it is properly working.

Some of the questions I am hoping to address throughout this course relate to the Problem-Based Learning unit we will be creating throughout the next few weeks. According to Dr. Peggy Ertmer, the advantage of using a PBL approach is that, “students learn content as they learn higher-order thinking skills” (Laureate Education, 2009). I would like to apply this teaching method to the goals I have set for my GAME plan. I would like to look further into how I can integrate my GAME plan with the PBL unit I will be putting together. As Dr. Ertmer explained, technology is used throughout the learning process (Laureate Education, 2009).

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2007). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: a standards based approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning

Laureate Education, (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author