Week 8 Reflection

EDUC 6715 - New and Emerging Technologies
As I began the first week of this course all I could think about was the fact there were only eight weeks left in this Master’s Program, which I have been taking since September 2008! Putting this aside, even though it was easier said than done, I began to focus on the array of new-fangled emerging technology and tools going to be discussed in this course.

Week 1 introduced the topic of technologies that have or will become obsolete as we progress into the 21st century. Quickly, I learned the fact that Education everywhere must take time to examine emergent technologies and anticipate the changes that will be taking place in our schools (Thornburg, 2009) became unmistakable.

Over the past twenty years I have seen primitive technology such the big 8 ½ inch floppy discs emerge into a small gum-stick size flash drive most everyone carries in their possession, falling into one of the three conditions Soloway (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009) considers for an emerging technology: (1) Cost: an emerged technology is going to be cheap – an objective measure, (2) Reviews: reading about what function is available, word of mouth (current events), and (3) Personal: has it become essential to one’s life, such as a flash drive you carry in your pocket.

Week 2 provided a way to anticipate emerging technologies with the help of a tetrad developed by Marshall McLuhan (Thornburg, 2008), to demonstrate how making predictions about future developments and related changes in technology can occur and render a technology obsolete in the classroom as time progresses. The “four laws of media” (Thornburg, 2008) are as follows:

· Extension/Enhancement: What does this technology do that is new?

· Closure/Obsolescence: What does this technology replace?

· Retrieval/Rekindle: What does this technology bring to mind (or retrieve) from the past?

· Reversal: What might replace this technology in the future, or what might it cause to occur?

Week 3 allowed me to identify and decide my own category from the leadership styles listed by Fullan (2002):

· Coercive – “Do what I tell you”

· Authoritative – “Come with me”

· Affiliative – “People come first”

· Democratic – “What do you think”

· Pacesetting – “Do as I do now”

· Coaching – “Try this

Further investigation confirmed leadership itself can depend on the willingness of those who are to be lead and can contort into many different forms, including people and perspectives. However, in education it most often includes students, parents, co-workers, and community members who are watching you to see what style of leadership you will demonstrate.

Week 4 allowed participation in using a web-based Course Management System (CMS)—also referred to as a Learning Management System (LMS)—such as Moodle or Rcampus with insight for how teachers might create and implement learning modules with students, requiring me to complete a digital presentation. Proving that “Educators at all levels must prepare students to achieve success in a world that uses technology for much more than entertainment and casual communication” (Gillard, S. & Bailey, D., 2007).

Week 5 gave evidence to promote the potential of multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) and how so many teachers today are digital immigrants that are not comfortable enough to use technology for more than just basic word processing programs, fundamental Internet researches, plain PowerPoint presentations or simple storage of files from networks. In addition, each cohort provided an abundance of URL resources for this emerging technology.

The MUVEs I learned about provided ways to transform learning in areas of computing, communications, biomedicine, blogs, and videos for new technologies giving access to prepare students to achieve success with this type of emerging technology. I also had fun going through a medical simulation using avatars to conduct patient/client care in a clinical setting. This is the type of new technology I believe my students would enjoy and I plan to incorporate MUVEs into my curriculum as soon as I can since it is becoming a learning tool estimated to be used by “ 20 million children by 2011, up from the up from the 8.2 million who are already participating in them today” (Yoder, 2009).

Week 6 was all about gaming and engaging students with technology for providing tools they can use in and out of the classroom to “create a more student-centered environment” (Foti, 2007). As I already knew, gaming is a way to accomplish this task and use technology for educational purposes, giving students immediate feedback as they have “interactive relationships between players and the world” (Gee, 2005).

Gaming can definitely be a way to provide communication and interaction, bringing better instructional material for both students and teachers into the classroom. For that reason, if gaming is a technology which provides a way for students to enjoy learning, then it is important I try to “ incorporate good learning principles, principles supported by current research in cognitive science” (Gee, 2005) in the form of good gaming for students into my curriculum if possible.

Week 7 gave me an awesome resource, The Horizon Report (Johnson, Levine, Smith, & Smythe , 2009) by the New Media Consortium that provides current information for watching emerging technologies as we keep moving into the 21st century. It is a resource that I will absolutely continue to visit for potential adoption of technology.

Week 8 is an opportunity to reflect on everything I have experienced these past weeks in EDUC 6715. First I would very much like to thank Professor Rachel Borledon for making this such an awesome experience for me! If you haven’t been told lately…you are the best! That being said, I will make this short and say that I have already begun the process of applying for a grant from a local foundation within my county to help with technology related needs in my classroom.

If I receive the grant it will heavily influence my ability to advocate as a leader for technology in my school and campaign for many of the new technologies I have learned about throughout this Master’s Program.

In closing, my whole teaching pedagogy has changed and I have confirmed that through technology an “educational transformation to align the ‘how’ and ‘what’ of learning… synchronizing more closely the ways students live and interact outside the classroom” (Christen, 2009) can be achieved. It is also vital I focus on implementation of technology-based support with dedication of time to teaching, learning, meeting professional goals, and becoming a stronger, more competent voice for 21 century success in the classroom.

References:

Christen, A. (2009, January 1). Transforming the Classroom for Collaborative Learning in the 21st Century. Techniques: Connecting Education and Careers, 84(1), 28-31. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ829507) Retrieved April 12, 2010, from ERIC database.

Foti, S. (2007). Did we leave the future behind? Phi Delta Kappan, 88(9), 647–649. Retrieved from the Education Research Complete database.

Fullan, M. (2002). The change leader. Educational Leadership, 59(8) ,16–20. Retrieved from the Education Research Complete database using the article's title.


Gee, J. P. (2005). Good video games and good learning. Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 85(2), 33-37. Retrieved from the Education Research Complete database using the article's title.

Gillard, S., & Bailey, D. (2007). Technology in the classroom: Overcoming obstacles, reaping rewards. The International Journal of Learning, 14(1), 87–93. Retrieved from the Education Research Complete database.

Johnson, L., Levine, A., Smith, R., & Smythe, T. (2009). The 2009 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Emerging vs. Emerged Technologies [Podcast]. New and Emerging Technologies. Baltimore: Dr. Elliot Soloway.

Thornburg, D. D. (2008). Emerging technologies and McLuhan's Laws of Media. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration. Reproduced with permission of Education Next in the format electronic usage via Copyright Clearance Center.

Thornburg, D. D. (2009). Current trends in educational technology. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Yoder, M. (2009). Walk, fly, or teleport to learning. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(2), 16-20. Retrieved from the Education Research Complete database.

Emerging Technology: Course Management System For Online Learning in K-12

This week's learning resources has introduced an online learning management system to help provide teachers and students with a way to further connect with technology and success in education.

I have chosen to do my presentation in a Voice Thread format, giving you the option to provide me with feedback either verbally or written, using technology to help address change and provide a new way of thinking. 

http://voicethread.com/share/1024684/

EDUC 6714: Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology

Week 8 - Final Reflection
This course has given me a complete and new pathway for using technology within my curriculum content. The past eight weeks have definitely confirmed for me that implementing and using technology within an assessment can be a tremendous benefit to a formative or summative evaluation of student learning. As Tomlinson (2008) states, we need to “ study students to see what forms of assessment work for them and be sure to never settle for a single assessment as an adequate representation of what a student knows” (p., 10).

The information studied about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI) models will allow me to make my lessons more personalized to meet the diverse achievement levels and individual learning styles of all students, resulting in a more differentiated classroom with more individual choices for my students.

One immediate change that I will implement in my classroom is using student interest surveys like those discussed by Dr’s. Grace Smith and Stephanie Throne (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009a) from our resources. I will also assess by survey, information regarding student backgrounds to identify some learning guidelines, which will help them be successful high school students in my classroom.

Overall, I have learned that searching for and gathering resources to incorporate differentiated instruction with technology as a learning tool will engage students in what they are learning and promote understanding (Smith and Throne, 2007). In addition, I need to network with my administration, fellow staff members, parents, students and community members to promote communication that leads to a foundation for student success.

Participating in the social network provided me with valuable resources and different perspectives from my fellow cohorts. As my group collaborated and compared information through the social network, I gained insight, resources and most importantly immediate feedback with suggestions for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI) strategies, which I could use in my classroom.

Bray, Brown & Green (2004) affirm that DI “provides learners with more options for learning while ensuring that the classroom workload remains manageable” (Bray, Brown & Green, 2004) for both students and teachers. Using a social network to gather ideas and resources is an alternative that will help me with time management, I will spend far less time researching and more time using the strategic resources, methods and technologies for “providing every student with the opportunity to learn” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009b).

Applying the information from this course will help me to facilitate how students “draw upon past knowledge or experience and transfer it beyond the context in which it was learned to construct new knowledge” (Jukes, 2007), taking my classroom from teacher-directed to student-guided learning styles, required for success in the 21st Century.
References:

Jukes, I. (2007). 21st century fluency skills: Attributes of a 21st century learner. Retrieved from http://www.committedsardine.com/handouts/twca.pdf.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009a). Program three. Knowing your students [Motion picture]. Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: Smith, G and Throne, S.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009b). Program five. Universal design for learning [Motion picture]. Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: McLaughlin, M. and Rose, D.
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.
Tomlinson, C. (2008). Learning to love assessment. Educational Leadership, 65(4), 8–13. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.