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.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
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.
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.
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