WPP - FINAL PRESENTATION!

WPP Final Script

Slide two: In my classroom, I have had an independent reading time the last 25-30 minutes of each day. For this time, I expected my students would select a book on their own and would sit quietly and read. To my surprise,I found them choosing books that were not at their reading level and many students were being distracted from reading in one way or another. I finally came to the conclusion that this was not an effective use of time and needed to find a way for students to be engaged in reading.

Slide three: The solution I came up with was to introduce my students to Raz-kids. Raz-kids is a program created by the learninga-z brand. It is an online leveled reader program that focuses on individuals and their differentiated reading levels. I am able to put them at a level based on their reading test scores. So, my first problem of having too difficult or too easy of books is already addressed. Another great feature it the raz-rocket you see in the picture on the right. This is a motivation tool that gives points to students for books that they read, listen to, and pass the quiz on. At each reading level, their are multiple (about 10-15) books that all require the student to listen to, read, and then take a comprehension quiz on.  When students complete all of these requirements, they are able to move up to the next reading level, which is slightly more difficult. Students are able to purchase items to decorate their raz-rocket, which they are very excited to do.

Slide four: My students will replace independent reading time with time on raz-kids for 25-30 minutes each day. To have a successful project, I will observe student attitude towards reading, their level of motivation, and their overall reading levels. An article on Edutopia, The effects of Independent Reading Achievement describes the importance for students to spend time reading saying that students need practice reading to become better readers. My goal is to get students engagement time in reading to increase.

Slide five: Raz-kids differentiates instruction to meet the individual needs of each student. My goal is to get appropriate reading level books in the hands (or eyes) of my students. Using technology, I am able to do this through the Raz-kids program. Teaching strategies that are being used include listening, self-reading, guided comprehension quizzes, and motivation techniques with the raz-rocket.
Technology helps make the solution possible by providing a large number of books at each level accessible with the touch of a few buttons on the computer. There are 27 different reading levels all with 10-15 books each, plus poetry, song books, and nursery rhymes. That's a lot more books than I have on my bookshelf!
As Matthew Kohler has said, "At the heart of PCK is the manner in which subject matter is transformed for teaching. This occurs when the teacher interprets the subject matter, finding different ways to represent it and make it accessible to learners." My students are being exposed to reading in multiple ways through my class. Adding Raz-kids is adding an additional way in which students are exposed to books and reading.

Slide six: I was surprised at how fast my students picked up on the program, how kid friendly it is to use, and easy it is to manage or monitor as the teacher. A few bumps in the road were getting students logged in and running in a timely manner, having enough headphones to use, and getting microphones set up so students could record their readings for the teacher to listen to. I was very delighted to see students excited to read! They were even asking to do raz-kids at other parts of the day as well. We have actually been spending a few extra minutes - going into recess time - because the students are so engaged, it is hard to pull them away from reading!

Slide seven: My project was implemented as I had planned, although there were a few bumps in the road I mentioned above that still need to be smoothed out. Evidence of success includes my students excitement and engagement I have observed over the past few weeks. This tells me that we have succeeded in getting students appropriate levelled text and more engagement time in reading. If I were to discuss any lessons I learned, the only thing I would mention is to test the technology and ensures it works beforehand. For example, get microphones, headphones, and a way to get students logged in quickly set up before starting. I am going to continue this project through the end of the year or when I observe that the students are not engaged in reading. I am going to switch it up a little bit and not require the students to do raz-kids everyday. We will rotate independent reading and doing raz-kids so that kids have variety in their reading. This will hopefully keep excitement and engagement levels high. Moving forward, if I were to approach another project, the only thing I would do differently is trying to be prepared for bumps in the road and have a plan of what I can do when they do happen before they happen. If that is even a possible thing to do.

Slide eight: Overall, I recommend using Raz-kids to support reading in any elementary classroom. The program supports differentiation and fits well into a multi-age classroom with varied abilities. Not only are students needs being met, but the program offers a way for teacher to monitor the students progress while providing a motivation tool to keep students wanting to do more. In my experience as a teacher, whenever technology is used, students are more engaged. This is a great way to use technology in a way that both supports student learning and emphasizes literacy.


Please view the two videos below to view my presentation:

Professional Learning Plan

Wow! Another MAET course is complete as CEP 812 wraps up this week. Here is a reflection from this course, along with an animoto video representing a visual of the different resources I have explored in this course. (or CEP 811 and 812)

• What were some of the online resources that you found that were really helpful? If so what were they and how were they helpful?

         One of the most helpful resources that I found throughout the educational certification courses is twitter. I am amazed at the connection I am able to have with other educators. It amazes me how quickly educators are willing to connect with others and be there to offer advice, link to articles, give suggestions, etc. This is a tool that I am taking with me and will use daily to improve my own learning as well as my teaching.

• Did you find any other online communities that could provide resourceful information? If so what were they and how were they helpful?

         MACUL and Linked are other online community that is a great resource going forward. MACUL is helpful because it has an online discussion that is categorized. I am able to offer my own tips, but more importantly I am able to read technology tips from other educators to get ideas for my own classroom.

• What strategies were helpful for trying to learn a new technology?

         A few strategies that I found helpful when trying to learn new technologies was working in groups and given many options on which technologies fit our own needs. When exploring new technologies, we were given many different ways to learn and explore them which was important to me. 

• How does working with others (verses working alone) support you in your own learning?

         I had a great experience working in groups throughout this course. Working in group supported my own learning because we were able to take a huge project and break it down into chunks making it more manageable. When working alone, I tend to push the deadlines and wait until the last minute, but when working in groups, I tend to be a little more on top of the assignments because others are counting on me. 

• How will you use this experience to support your own lifelong learning of technology?

          This course has provided me with a lot of opportunity to continue lifelong learning. The certification courses in general have provided me with many resources to stay current on educational technology issues. A few of these include twitter, macul, linked, facebook, diigo, weebly, GOOGLE DOCS! and other apps, animation tools, and screencast tools. Throughout many of these tools, I will be able to stay in contact with other educators to see what is happening. I am also continuing my educational technology classes since being accepted into the MAET program this past summer. I have 6 additional classes to earn my Master's in Educational Technology. My original goal when beginning this program a few months ago was to become an educational technology leader within my school and to make my lessons more engaging using technology. I am making progress with both of these goals, but am excited to continue my learning because I think that as educators, we are never done learning ourselves. In the beginning of CEP 810, I created a personal learning network. In reflecting upon that network now, I am astonished at how much it has grown in only 5 short months. 

An animoto I created to act as a visual of tools and projects I have had the opportunity to learn more about throughout my experiences in the educational technology certificate program. 

Group Leadership Project

To view my group's project on how to use weebly visit our website: www.msuteachingweebly.weebly.com

1. What tool did your group use to deliver the PD tutorial?  Why?

          My group decided to use weebly as a host site (since it was what we were teaching) and deliver our tutorials using jing. Each of the group members were given specific parts of weebly to instruct and we were all able to create our own jings and combine them on the webpage for multiple specific tutorials. We wanted to incorporate weebly into our final project since it was what we were teaching, but we also all wanted to create our own videos to present the information. Jing was a perfect fit for us to utilize our voice and capture our screen to demonstrate how to use the features 

1. What did you learn during the development process of the final product?

         During the development process of the final project, I learned that technology can be tricky sometimes. It took me multiple attempts to create my own jing, even with a script. Of course, my constant cough I have been battling didn't help with that. I also learned that it is not always easy to embed videos! I needed quite a big of assistance to get my jing video embedded with the correct sizes into my portion of the weebly site. Through a little support from my team, I was able to get it posted. I also learned that our group had met a few times in the beginning and created a great plan in which everyone was on the same page. 

1. What would you do differently if you had to develop a similar product again?

        If I had to develop a similar project again, there is not much I would do differently. We tried to incorporate multiple technologies into one and I think we have done that effectively. Our group communicated well with each other using a variety of technologies as well (email, google hangout, google docs, chat in google docs). I think one thing I would consider doing differently is finding a technology that is more difficult. We chose weebly which we all had some experience with. Although I think I was able to learn more about the tools and features in weebly, I think that there were probably better choices of projects out there that we could have explored.

Part D - Findings and Implications

• Formative: Did the project get implemented as planned?

Yes, my project was implemented as planned. My students spent the last 25-30 minutes on Raz-kids instead of independent reading. Although we had a few hiccups, we are working through those to make sure the students are engaged in reading leveled texts for a substantial amount of time daily. The hiccups included having enough headphones that work, getting microphones so that students can record their reading, and finding a solution to loging in quicker. 

• Summative: Evidence of success in addressing the problem of practice

The problem in my classroom is that students were not engaging in a correctly levelled text during independent reading time and students were also spending more time finding a book and a place to sit, that they were not engaging in reading for the 25-30 minutes of classtime that I was giving them. In my observations, students are excited to read in Raz-kids. I was able to input their level for books based on previous reading assessments done at the beginning of the year. I am better able to monitor what the students are reading or listening to through the teacher features in Raz-kids. So far, my students are spending a lot more time engaged in reading than before I began this project. Not only are they engaged, but I know that they are reading books that are appropriate for their reading level. The students are enthusiastic about reading - which is something I have not seen from this group before. They are even asking to do Raz-kids at other parts of the day on top of the time they are given. 

How would you approach another project of this type differently given what you’ve learned here?

When approaching another project of the type again, I would try to find a way to gage the success of my students better. It was such a short time frame that it would be difficult to measure based on their reading levels, but I could have possibly counted minutes of quality reading time prior to and after implementing the Raz-kids program. So, if I did a similar project, I hope that I would be able to have some concrete data from my project that would support what I did. (This would be good for grant purposes!)

• What are the lessons learned that others might benefit from knowing about?

The lessons I learned from this project is to think ahead of problems that may come up. For example, I did not think that headphones wouldn't work or that we would have difficulties getting logged into the program in the computer lab. I ended up having to manually help each student get logged in. I could have prevented many problems if I had thought about them before hand. 

• In what ways will you endeavor to do the same project again, and what will you change or not do?

I will go through this process again. I managed to take an ineffective time in my classroom and make it a productive time using technology. I am sure that there are other parts of my day that could be addressed using technology to allow my students to be engaged in learning. The process of finding a problem, developing a solution, and assessing the solution to determine the effectiveness is a process that should be used all the time, especially in schools.My goal is to be an effective teacher and repeating this process will benefit my students. I am going to continue this project with my students using Raz-kids in place of independent reading, however I do think it is important that my students read regular books as well, so we will use a combination. I will hopefully find a happy medium so that my students have a good variety of reading daily. 

Mobile Learning Lab

The mobile learning lab had a lot of tools that didn't quite fit into my classroom. I have 3rd and 4th grade students in a small charter school, and as far as I am aware, none of my students have cell phones. We do have a few IPAD's in our school and my students use frequently, so I decided to focus this lab on IPAD's in my classroom. In the past, I have always used the apps that were already on the IPAD's. However, thanks to this website, https://teacher.ocps.net/groups/ipodsintheclassroom/, I found many IPAD's that fit my curriculum than the apps we already had loaded.

An example of an app I have downloaded to fit my curriculum, GeoMasters USA, https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/geomaster-us-states/id335552646?mt=8#, fits my curriculum very well and will be used regularly in my classroom!

I was interested to hear that there are cell phone companies that donate old cell phones to schools. I was not able to look into this yet, but I think this would be a good solution to having a younger class who doesn't have personal cell phones yet.

I also joined a classroom2.0 network and specifically the mobile phones in education group. I didn't know this group existed until today, amand rather excited to see what all this site has to offer.

"Michigan"

WPP PART C - Implementation

Link to Podcast discussing the implementation of Raz-kids in my classroom: http://msu.edu/~teusche2/Razkids.mp3

PART B - Storyboard and Script

Here is a link to my group's storyboard and script for teaching weebly: https://www.dropbox.com/s/i9duidxvguoj8o3/storyboard.doc

My part of the final project is doing the slides on page 5 of the document. It includes teaching the design, editors, and social media buttons. I also have been setting up the website preparing for to put our jings on it. I created a google form to act as feedback regarding our website.

Each member of the group is using jing to teach their part of weebly. We met as a group to discuss who was doing what part, then we met as a group again to review out storyboards and scripts. You can view our ongoing brainstorming document that shows who is doing what at the following link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16bYIg1W8nlp3uGfBTL6Xkt56Fk-CVfdmpDWJQ7grqAc/edit

Here is part of that document that says who will be teaching what parts of weebly:
1. Karla:adding blog and new pages
2. Trista: Set up Weebly site for group use, design, editors, social media links
3. Jennifer: Basic inserting text, pictures, embedding custom HTML (wordles, glogster)
4. Johanna: Multimedia feature
5. Xiaochen:content and how to publish it and settings, how to register

Going forward, each group member has their storyboard complete for their portions. We will use jing to upload short videos to teach weebly on our weebly site. We will all take part in altering the website as needed and uploading our own videos. If anybody runs into any problems, we will contact each other to find a solution.

I am looking forward to seeing our final weebly site! Our group has worked very hard and good together, so I have high expectations for our final project.

PART B - Application of TPACK

What is the TP knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how does the technology you have chosen support the teaching strategies and methods you have chosen?)

Raz-kids differentiates instruction to meet the individual needs of each student. My goal is to get appropriate reading level books in the hands (or eyes) of my students. Using technology, I am able to do this through the Raz-kids program. The teaching strategies I have chosen is that students listen to books, practice reading them, take comprehension quizzes, and record their own voice while reading. Raz-kids supports all of these, while motivate the students to continue on by offering raz rockets points for the students to purchase items in the store for their own rockets.

What is the TC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically does this technology make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about representation.)

Raz-kids makes the content of my problem more accessible by providing a “one shop stop” to meet all of the teaching strategies I mentioned above. The problems we had in the classroom ranged from not having books at the needed reading levels, students not knowing which books were appropriate for them, the temptation to talk to their friends, and simply were not motivated to read. Once enrolled in Raz-kids, the students are placed at a reading level by the teacher and offered many books at that reading level that need to be listened to, read silently, read aloud, and quizzed on  before they can move onto the next reading level. Students are encouraged through the raz-rocket to get as much done as possible. My goal is that students read to become better readers, as research as proven that the best way to become better readers is to practice. Raz-kids offers a great technological alternative to silent reading time.

 

What is the PC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically do your pedagogical choices make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible?)

Matthew Koehler wrote, “At the heart of PCK is the manner in which subject matter is transformed for teaching. This occurs when the teacher interprets the subject matter, finding different ways to represent it and make it accessible to learners.” Which is found on the www.tpck.org website.

In this case, reading is the subject matter. I’ve already discussed that to become better at something, it takes practice. Adding in this information, practicing reading in different ways and making it accessible to learners should make them better readers. My students have had books in the classroom, we visit the library regularly, I read aloud to them; in other words they have experience with physical books in multiple ways. I am adding a new way for reading to be represented to them and making it accessible through technology in a program called Raz-kids which is a product of learning A-Z of Cambium Learning (http://www.learninga-z.com/).  Students will have plenty of opportunity through Raz-kids to read a large number of books that are appropriate to their reading level and are designed to increase their reading ability, and using a positive motivation technique (raz-rocket) perfect for the elementary age group.

I look forward to the impact Raz-kids will have in my classroom. Stay tuned for details!

PART A - Description of need or opportunity

Well, in education changes happen regularly depending on the needs of the students. In my case, the need I discussed originally for PART A of my Wicked Problem Project has been addressed by the school. Good thing, but I need to regroup and start over with a new wicked problem.

So, here it is!

The educational need in my classroom is a way to monitor student progress in reading, access to the correct level reading texts, and a way for students to record their own reading with as little transition as possible. I give my students 30 minutes of independent reading time. I have noticed in this time that students have difficulty picking out books, rarely finish a complete book, grab books that are too difficult for themselves, spend too much time finding a book, and of course the temptation to sit next to or talk to their buddies is always there. This has become an unproductive chunk of time that has strayed away from my original intent. My goal is to find a technological program that allows me to monitor students progress, choose a reading level for them to start at based of the DRA or NWEA scores, and also allows an opportunity for them to record their reading for my running record review.

I plan to address this issue with technology by enrolling my students in a program called raz-kids. (www.raz-kids.com) Students will be given their own individual login which is already set up at their designated reading level. Students will be given a tutorial of how to use raz-kids and the expectations for this program. We will be replacing out 30 minutes daily of independent reading time with 30 minutes of Raz-kids time in either the computer lab or on the netbook computers in the classroom. I will be able to track the students progress, see anytime they do something (listen, read, or record a story), view their quiz scores, complete a running record on their recordings, view minutes logged on, and I can always manually move them up or down on the reading levels based on observations or other assessments I make. Otherwise, the students will move up to the next reading level when they have completed all of the parts of the reading level they begin on.

The cost for the program is $90 for a one year subscription. I receive a $100 allowance each semester from our parent organization that I am using to fund this program. My hopes are that it successfully engages the students for a chunk of time daily and that the students reading levels will increase at a steady rate.

The scope of the project: Students will use Raz-kids daily from 2:35-3:00, replacing the independent reading time. The students will be either in the computer lab or using netbook computers in the classroom. There is an app available, which means the programs can be downloaded onto the schools iPad's as well.

Research indicates that students need practice reading in order to become better readers. My goal is that students will spend more time engaged in reading using Raz-kids as opposed to their countless minutes selected a book to read, changing books, finding a spot to sit, etc. http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/literacy/in_read1.html

Indicators of a successful project:
My observable data will be a short term indicator of success. Are the students more engaged with the Raz-kids reading then they were independent reading?

A longer term indicator of success is the student's actual reading scores. Students are tested on the reading levels using the DRA at the beginning and end of the year. Students are also tested using the NWEA test at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. Are the students showing an upward trend in the reading levels?

Another indicator is my own observation of students individually. Listening to them read and listening to their recorded books. I will make observations of whether this program is benefitting them or not.

Wish me luck as I begin this new technological project of meeting the diverse reading needs of my students using Raz-kids.

MACUL Tips and Tricks Post

The following is a recent post I made on the EDUTECH discussion forum on MACUL Space. Visit here to see more technology tips and tricks posted by MSU EDUTECH students. http://maculspace.ning.com/group/msuedutech/forum/topics/sharing-tips-and-tricks-of?commentId=612492%3AComment%3A122805&groupId=612492%3AGroup%3A20244

PART A - Brainstorm Session

The following is a youtube link to a recent group conference using Google Hangout with my group in CEP 812.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og6wMmiwjv8&feature=youtu.be

1. What web conferencing tool did your group use? Google Hangout
2. What were the advantages to using the web conferencing tool to discuss this project? There were many advantages to using this web conferencing tool. The first is that we already began using a google doc for our sharing of ideas. We all already had gmail accounts so being invited to use google hangout by one of our members was a simple process. Another benefit was that we all were able to visually see each other, whoever would be talking would become the bigger image on everyone's screen. Google hangout, and all google applications are free which is a huge advantage.
3. What were the disadvantages to using the web conferencing tool to discuss this project? I honestly can't think of many disadvantages of using a web conferencing tool. We weren't able to record it easily. One of our group members recorded using another program, and uploaded to youtube in order to share with the rest of the group. I believe this process could be a little simpler if wanted to record through google hangout itself. Because google hangout is free, it may not have some of the features that some of the other conferencing tools have. But in my experience so far I am unaware of what these features could even be. I was extremely satisfied using Google Hangout. 

Trista Teuscher

Web-Conferencing

Recently, my group in CEP 812 of MSU's MAET program conducted a meeting using Google Hangout. This is the first meeting in which we are discussing an upcoming group project.

Link to video conference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og6wMmiwjv8&feature=youtu.be

The conference went really well. It did take a while for a few of our group members to get logged into the conference. It was the first time using google hangout for many of our group members and they weren't really sure where to accept the request at. Once we all were logged it, it seemed to work really smoothly. I really liked the ability to mute my end so that background noise wasn't heard while I wasn't talking, (I have a 3 year old). We were also able to work on our shared google document that had the details of our project while we were talking in google hangout.

I can't think of many things we could do differently next time using google hangout. Although, I did not explore some of the options during our conference because I didn't want to mess anything up. I was interested in the screen sharing, uploading to youtube, and the chat function. We were all able to talk to each other so the chat feature didn't really apply to the purpose we were using it for. So possibly if a teacher was instruction, students could ask questions using chat and the teacher could respond when able to.


All in all, it was a great experience using Google Hangout and fit perfectly into our group's project since we were already using other Google applications for our project. Google is a miracle worker for online students!

PART A - DESCRIPTION OF NEED OR OPPORTUNITY

In my classroom, I have 8 students in a combined 3rd and 4th grade classroom. Sounds wonderful, right? Well, well two of the students are severely autistic (one has a full-time aide) and a few others have IEP's, and some others qualify for Title 1 services... there is never a dull moment!

A need that I have in my diverse classroom is being able to have an activity for my one autistic student to work on while I am working with the rest of the students. My class is set up so that I work with a group at a time. My autistic student will work with me in a group but when he is not with me, he is not able to do much. This is usually when he will act out, get angry, become bored and want to go home, etc. My specific need is that I use technology, the IPAD, for this student to keep him focused on something when I am not able to work directly with him.

According to Rhonda McEwen, a Canadian Professor, in this CBS interview http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7385702n, she is asked the question if these tools are actually teaching. Rhonda replies that their is not a significant amount of data available yet because the IPAD's are fairly new and that the rate of change in autistic learning is fairly slow. She is an advocate that the IPAD's are helping students communicate and that they are autistic students are able to stay engaged through the touching, sliding, listening, etc. that the IPAD offers.

 Although there may not be a lot of scientifc data to support the IPAD's yet, there are a number of testimonials on autismspeaks.org, http://www.autismspeaks.org/family-services//technology/ipad-testimonials/1. Through reading these testimonials by autistic students and/or their families, students are engaged in IPADs, they are learning, and they are enjoying it. The opportunities are endless and new apps are available continuously for just a small price.

 What is my plan for this project?
Educational Need: To engaged my autistic student in a way that he is still learning and exploring during a time when I am not able to directly work with him.

The plan: The student will have approximately 30-40 minutes daily to explore the IPAD using approved apps while the teacher is reading a teacher read aloud book to the students. The school has 3 IPADs available, one being available at this time everyday for my student. The goal of this plan is that the student will be engaged and not having so much down time that has in the past become a problem for this student.

I actually began this process this past week after beginning to research ideas for this project. It has already become something that this student looks forward to after lunch and he has shown excitement rather than begging to go home, call mom, use the bathroom numerous times, make himself sick, etc.

 Indicators of a successful project: I am hoping that this tool is not simply used as a babysitter while I work with other students. I am hoping to use apps that encourage learning and exploration. This student it in 4th grade with a low reading level. My main goal is to use this as a tool for engagement rather than the student trying to get out of class. Secondly, I hope this student will use approved language arts apps that will help with his reading ability. However, this may be a hard goal to measure because of other factors. (We can test his reading ability but cannot be certain was is all contributing to his gains in reading levels) For this particular student, being engaged is most of the battle.

 Stay tuned for updates on how this project goes!

Trista Teuscher

A funny story using technology in the Classroom

Funny Technology story in the classroom by Trista Teuscher on GoAnimate

Animation Software - Powered by GoAnimate.

My Favorite Technology Audio Clip

Link to Podcast describing my favorite technology in the classroom:

http://msu.edu/~teusche2/favoritetechnology.mp3

Michigan State University
CEP 812 Introduction via Voki

CEP 811 Reflection

Another class comes to an end...

As I reach the end of yet another MSU Educational Technology course, I reflect on what has just happened this past 8 weeks through these few questions:

What are some things that you have learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology?
    I am beginning my first teaching job this upcoming school year and as I prepare for my classroom, I am pleasantly surprised at how much I am integrating technology into my lesson plans. I have a smartboard in my room, and access to a computer lab or laptops anytime. I have been planning ways to use this technology to make my lessons more engaging through technology. For example, in CEP 811, I learned about webquest and how to create them using UDL strategies. Since I will be teaching in a multi-age classroom, this will be a strategy that I will use quite often.

How did integrating web-based technologies help you think about and evaluate uses of technology?
     In CEP 811 I remember a quote very clearly although I am not sure who said it, "Just because a teacher is using technology, doesn't mean more learning is effective," (or something along those lines). I like this because it makes me realizing that using the technology is not enough, but using the technology to make my teaching better, more engaging and effective is my goal. To reach this goal, following the NET-S framework and UDL is a first start to making effective use of whatever technology I have the opportunity to use.

How have you met your own personal goals for learning about technology integration?
     My personal goals for integrated technology in my classroom is to feel comfortable using technology, becoming familiar with resources to be creative in integrating technology, and to continue my growth in my personal networking. Well, in CEP 811 I have grown as an educator by utilizing websites such as MERLOT, Dropbox, blogger, created a STAIR, created a lesson plan using a webquest, and had an opportunity to network with many other educators passionate about technology as well. Although I am new to the education world, I feel I am entering my first teaching job with a network already in place. This makes me feel comfortable and excited to get started in my first year where I can get creative using technology right away and feel like a technology leader in my first year.

Do you have any new goals? What are your plans for reaching your new goals and your long-term goals after this course is over?
     One new goal is to learn a little more about the FTP process. I seemed to have avoided this by using Dropbox.com to store my work. I am able to make my way around the internet and create projects and such, but I feel I should spend some time learning about how computer work, the storage process, networking them together, etc. I am not sure if any of MAET courses will have any of this information, but if not, I hope to work closely with the technology director at my school to learn about these things on my own. I also hope to continue using MERLOT and dropbox. I have bseen trying to find a way to use dropbox as a class so that my students can save their work since we cannot save to the laptops in our room. My goal is to figure this out how to do this before school starts in a few weeks.

8 weeks come and go fairly quickly, especially in the summer months. I have taken this time to reflect to realize what has actually happened! I look forward to continuing on in the MAET program and can't imagine what else is out there that I don't know about already.

My Thought on Online Learning

My thoughts on Online Learning

Can online learning work? Yes!
Does it always work? No!

I have had quite a few different experiences with online learning and can honestly say that it can work, but doesn't always. I recently heard that online learning only works for 10% of the population. I have a hard time believing this. As a college student, I did okay in some of my online classes and I did very well in others. I did well after I finally decided that I was going to become a teacher and had a plan. I did not do so well my first few years of college when I wasn't sure what I was going to do with my life. I took online classes so that I didn't have to spend all day in class. The online classes I took towards the end of my undergrad college days, I chose to take because I was a single working mom trying to finish my degree. I was motivated! So, my own experiences in online learning tell me that with purpose, online learning can work.

As an instructor running an "online credit recovery lab" I witnessed a lot of good and bad things. The first, there is no one size fits all online program. I believe that instructor feedback is necessary for students to really learn. Some of the online programs don't provide much feedback or direction by a real instructor. It is simply a program with multiple choice answers that assumes that if you guess right, then you understand and are ready to move on. I was not a big fan of the programs used in my lab, but I do believe there are better programs out there that could be used to make this better. I do believe there is a need for online learning and it does benefit some. There are many students that would drop out of high school for a variety of different reasons. If we could gain some of these students back by offering an online alternative, isn't that better than nothing? My philosophy is that I want all students to receive an education and reach at least, the high school graduation mark. If online learning can help some students do that, I think it is worth it. Whether it be because of illness, social issues, physical reasons, location reasons, behavior problems, etc. any learning is better than no learning, regardless of where it is done.

Even though I have had bad experiences both as a student and running the online lab, I do not let this cloud the good that it has done in my own life. First, it has allowed me to graduate with my teaching certificate while being a working single mother. I am now starting my first teaching job in a few weeks in a small Charter school close to my current home. I am thankful for the opportunity to have online learning as an option to me for getting this far in my own education and continueing by pursuing a Master's degree in Educational Technology through MSU in an all online format. For me, the convenience of being able to do this online is HUGE! Secondly, I have watched students who graduated from high school after receiving credit in the online lab that I ran. These students would have had an extremely hard time graduating on-time if this option was not available to them. It made a huge difference in the future for these students. This was an experience that I will not forget.