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.