I'm so excited about this program -- I think that just from what we've done this semester, some aspects of my teaching came together, especially with best practices for maintaining a sense of participatory culture in e-learning. To show the key concepts learned, we needed to create a notecard confessions video. My work shows how important it is for online and blended instructors to set up expectations where students feel they are part of a community of learners, not just idle note-takers, essay writers, or test widgets.
The learning experiences in this class make me take a second (third and fourth!) look at the types of technological lesson plans I write for my classes. I think I've been much more mindful of my students' needs for feedback especially --for example, when they write an essay or story, they do so in Google Docs so I can make comments as they write. It's been amazing to see how just this addition of specific and one-to-one feedback makes a difference in the quality of their work. Additionally, I have started incorporating a "show me" component to our lessons. Whatever the kids are doing, I ask that they use a digital tool to create a representation of their thinking and share it with a classmate as well as with me. This has enhanced our community feel and my students' comfort level in asking others to help with their work.
In my district, the leadership has decided that there is no reason for a 1:1 model of technology integration (I know. It kills me, too!). However, there are offerings of online courses in the high schools from the local community college, NCVPS, and our district e-learning instructors. Unfortunately, due to lack of home equipment, only those who already have the means can take advantage of these courses. This says much about the digital divide that's not being addressed by some very important people; therefore, I believe it is my responsibility to be a good steward of this program, showing how technology can be used to increase a student's critical thinking, creativity, and engagement in a class. It's not a good feeling when I see how important technology is to our students while I can only have one foot in the technology door!
I look forward to building my toolbox and enhancing my face-to-face classes with the technology I have on hand. My students feel much more comfortable using their cell phones as opposed to a computer, yet even there, the hardware divide is like bridge to nowhere -- I can't count on everyone to have the right tools.
It's a work in progress! ;-)
When I first came into this class, I was very worried about the types of technology I was going to use in my lesson plans throughout the content. I've started to come to the conclusion that using technology throughout the class is not as complex as it seems, but even using an instructional video or ipads for students counts towards technology integration. I like how you pointed out about cell phones, because I want to find a way to incorporate students using their cell phones for learning without it being a distraction.
ReplyDeleteTechnology integration in the classroom is something that we all have to work on continuously as technology is changing. I loved your example of using google docs when student's write essays. Typing a paper is more common now that we use computers for most everything. Being able to open a students paper online and use the same program to critique and give feedback is very beneficial to both sides the teacher and student. You can highlight, correct to show the student exactly where and what needs to be fixed. Instead of having to hassle with reading hand writing on a written paper. By learning to use the tools on google docs it gives you easy documentation as well as the student so they can easily go back and fix things. I think this is a great example that I have personally experienced and benefited from.
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