Spotlight on Emerging Technology: Online Learning in K-12 Schools

Online Learning

Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology Reflection

In this course, Reaching and Engaging All Learners through Technology, what I have learned will contribute to my effectiveness at developing instruction that integrates technology to support student learning. I, now, understand that it is my responsibility to provide technology-supported learning opportunities for my students (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008).

The differentiation station was the most useful part of this course for me. It gave me many ideas, strategies and tools to use in the classroom. I will use the technology that I learned about and shared in our differentiation station to provide my students with instruction that meets diverse learning needs. Dr. David Rose states, “There isn’t one regular student. They all have different ways they recognize information, organize their own expression of the information and ways in which they are engaged.” Adding technology would be one more way to help implement the principles of Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction.

I have learned several ways to look at differentiating instruction for students with and without technology. Unfortunately, I will not make any immediate adjustments to my instructional practice regarding the use of technology integration. I have explored strategies for using technology to get to know students’ readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles. I have also examined ways to use technology to provide students’ with a range of options for learning, engaging with, and applying your content. However, I do not have the resources in my classroom to apply my new knowledge. I will store my ideas and hope to use them in the future!


Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. B. (2008). Teaching and learning with technology (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Reaching and engaging
all learners through technology. Baltimore: Author.

EDUC-6713I-2 Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas

This course has taught me how to effectively and appropriately integrate technology in the content (grade) area that I teach. As I have stated numerous times before, technology is not available in our school district. Therefore, I haven’t had much experience teaching with technology. The GAME plan and lesson plans that I created in this course helped me gain the knowledge and experience that I need to integrate different types of technology into units and lessons. According to Dr. Hartman (2009), “Our past was rooted in book culture. The future will be rooted in online and digital media”. Even though our school district doesn’t keep up, it is important that I do continue to learn!

I developed and followed a GAME plan throughout this course. The process was very helpful and a unique way for me to meet the goals that I established for learning about technology and technology resources. However, I don’t think that I will be using the GAME plan process with my Kindergarten students. It is not age appropriate and would not be helpful for them. I will help and teach my students how to develop proficiency in the technology standards and indicators outlined in the NETS-S. I think creating their own GAME plan is a wonderful idea for older students and one that I will be sharing with the teachers in my elementary!

Even though our school is not set up with a lot of technology, I will be able to make some immediate adjustments to my instructional practices regarding technology integration. I do have two working computers. I enjoyed learning about digital story telling during this course. I plan to immediately incorporate digital story telling to my units! Digital story telling is sharing stories through words, pictures, music, narration, and/or video (Abrams, 2009). Although, it may take a little more effort than just writing a story out on paper, the end product would be amazing! I can’t begin to imagine how proud students must feel after creating their digital story. Abrams (2009) discusses the importance of using technology to complete your goals.

The insights that I have gained in this course will contribute to my effectiveness at integrating technology to support and facilitate students’ learning in the content (grade) area. I am excited to use some of these strategies that I have explored and I will store the other ways that I can enrich student learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom. Baltimore, MD.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

EDUC-6712I-2 Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom

Before taking this course, I thought that I knew how to research information. However, the most striking revelation I had about teaching new literacy skills to my students is I realized that I knew very little about researching a topic and absolutely nothing about validating Websites. When researching, I would type in a key word and then look at all the links that “popped up”. It was time consuming and exhausting. I knew that not everything on the Internet was fact, but if it looked and sounded valid, I believed it to be true. The knowledge and skills I have acquired from this course will enable me, as well as my students, to validate sites and gather much more reliable information.

I have gained knowledge and experience from this course that will influence my teaching practices going forward. I have learned that web literacy skills are necessary and I must teach them to my students. Eagleton and Dobler (2007) state that “at a minimum, students need to be able to identify an information need, figure out which resources to use to address that need, evaluate the information they find, read and synthesize information from multiple sources, and transform all those stray pieces of information into something original.”

I have also learned how easy it is to incorporate different types of technology into my classroom. I stated numerous times, in my posts, that the technology is not available at my school. However, I now know how to incorporate it, when it becomes available. According to Dr. Hartman (2009), “Our past was rooted in book culture. The future will be rooted in online and digital media”. Creating my Farm Inquiry Unit Plan helped me gain knowledge and experience with integrating different forms of technology to units and lessons.

My professional development goal that I would like to pursue that builds upon my learning in this course and develops my own information literacy or technology skills is to teach my students 21st century technology skills so they can be successful the rest of their school career and in life after school. I will do this by using the technology that I have as much as possible so they can become proficient in research processes and presentation modes.


Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom. Baltimore, MD.

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

I created a GAME plan to help myself create and meet goals for the NETS-T standards. I would love to be creating these goals for now – but they are for the future. It is discouraging to know that I have worked so hard developing and evaluating my person GAME plan and I can’t implement or monitor it. However, it is exciting to know that I will be ahead of the game, when we finally have the technology resources in our school.

The GAME plan process was very helpful and a unique way for me to create and meet the goals that I established for learning about technology and technology resources. However, I don’t think that I will be using the GAME plan process with my Kindergarten students. It is not age appropriate and would not be helpful for them. I will help and teach my students how to develop proficiency in the technology standards and indicators outlined in the NETS-S. I think creating their own GAME plan is a wonderful idea for older students and one that I will be sharing with the teachers in my elementary!

Revising Your GAME Plan

I, personally, feel like I have not made significant gains in my GAME plan. I think knowing that even though I have a GAME plan – also knowing that it will be a long time before I can fully implement it – is very discouraging. However, I will do my best.

I have already began to Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. I have joined different technology blogs that are giving me great ideas. I will be observing a teacher at a surrounding school in September, to see how she incorporates technology into her classroom. I am now a member of our technology team! That means I will be involved in searching for ways to incorporate technology. I will also help search for the funding to get technology into our school.

I began working on my PBL lessons last week. I feel that they are helping me learn how to Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. However, I do worry that the lessons I have created can not be pulled off in a Kindergarten classroom. They could never be pulled off in my classroom. Unfortunately, two computers is not enough technology to incorporate my PBL lessons!

Again, I am doing my best to stay optimistic about my GAME plan! I continue to strengthen my strategies for integrating technology into my classroom! Wish me luck!!

Moving Forward with My Game Plan

It is difficult for me to currently move forward with my game plan. I am not able to implement or evaluate my game plan, because school has not started yet. However, I have learned a few things that I can apply in my instructional practice.

Just a reminder of the goals that I established for learning about technology and technology resources:
- Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
Customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources
- Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
Exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others.

I am now subscribed to different technology blogs. I have found many ideas that I hope to implement in my classroom. These blogs have really helped me to understand that using digital tools in kindergarten needs to be simple. Simply having a student take a picture is incorporating these tools. I think that I was making it much to hard, trying to figure out how my students were going to create a power point presentation!

I have also begun creating my PBL lesson plan!

Monitoring Your GAME Plan Progress

It is very difficult to develop, implement, monitor or evaluate a GAME plan in the middle of the summer. Unfortunately, I currently do not have a classroom full of students and am not able to get feedback. I’m not sure if I need to modify my action plan and new questions have not arisen yet. However, I am still taking the steps towards meeting the goals that I established for learning about technology and technology resources.

I have already contacted a few teachers from surrounding schools. If approved by my principal, I will be set up a date to go and observe how these teachers use digital tools in their classrooms. Although, these tools are not available in our district, I still need to become proficient and learn new ways to customize and personalize using digital tools.

I also got a great idea from a classmate. I have started searching for technology discussion boards. I am able to take part in active boards to get ideas about what technologies other teachers are using in their classrooms.
Again, it is very difficult to have a lot of progress in my plan. It is summer break. However, I do have progress in finding the information and resources that I need!

Carrying Out Your GAME Plan

I was given the opportunity to review my game plan and explore the strategies that I will need for seamlessly integrating technology. We are currently on summer break and I have not been able to take many steps so far. However, I do have a school meeting this week and plan to inform the principal that I would like to join our technology team! I have also started to think about how I can carry out my game plan and pull all of my ideas together!

I will need a lot of resources to carry out my plan. Unfortunately, most of the resources that I need are not available. Digital Recording equipment, computers, a computer hooked up to a TV, and a classroom blog are all resources that I do have available and will need to carry out my plan.

I need additional information about how to incorporate new technology into my classroom. I plan on using the internet, other teachers and my Walden classes to get these ideas. I believe that observation of other teachers who seamlessly integrate technology will be the best way to obtain new information. I hope that when school begins, in August, I will begin to strengthen my confidence and proficiency in technology!

Megan

Developing A GAME Plan

Honestly, I am not very familiar with the National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T). I only review them, when required by my classes. I get very discouraged when viewing them, because I know that they are not implemented in my classroom or our school. It seems that we are starting to take the steps towards using updated technology, but are still very far behind using; overhead projectors, chalk boards, and dated computers that are often not working.

After viewing the NETS-T, there are two indicators that I would like to share my GAME plan for strengthening:
- Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
Customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources

- Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
Exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others.

I believe that I began my teaching career able to customize and personalize learning activities using digital tools. However, I fear that I am no longer proficient in this area. Technology and the digital tools used in classrooms have changed significantly. I will have to observe how teachers, at other surrounding schools, use technology in their classrooms to achieve my goal of becoming proficient once more. I also believe that this course and other Walden courses are helping me to learn how to incorporate digital tools. Once technology is finally updated and infused at our school, I can start practicing this indicator and become proficient. Until then, I will continue to learn the new ways to customize and personalize using digital tools!

I can’t begin to explain the “want” that I have for technology at our school. However, I lack leadership, participation and ideas for infusion. I blame it on being a new teacher and just trying to survive my first few years. I, now, understand that if I want change I am going to have to become proficient in this NETS-T indicator. I think that this school year is a great time to start! I will participate in our technology team, share my vision of technology infusion with our administration and help develop technology skills of other teachers. I understand that this won’t immediately change our situation but will hopefully push our school closer to the 21st century.

Reflection: Final Blog Posting

I have had several courses over the years that discuss Learning Theories. Each time I take a course and have to evaluate or think about my personal theory of learning, it changes. This course was no different. However, I think this change will reflect the rest of my teaching career more accurately. I began this course aligning myself with the Constructivist perspective. I am continually encouraging my students to discover knowledge and continually build. However, I have ended this course realizing that I cannot commit myself to one particular theory or model. My learning theory is to choose some parts of each theory.

I wish I could make immediate adjustments to my instructional practice regarding technology. I have learned about many new technology tools that I would like to use with my students. Virtual field trips, concept mapping and communication software are just a few tools I would like to begin incorporating into my classroom. This course has given me wonderful ideas, which I hope to use in the future. Unfortunately, the technology is not available for me to make changes. It also seems that it is not in our near future to have smart boards or computers in our classrooms. I am hopeful that I will be teaching a 21st century classroom one day!

Voice Thread

http://voicethread.com/share/1043725/

Enjoy!

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Cooperative learning focuses on having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance their learning (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Technology can play a big role in cooperative learning. It gives students the ability to form groups and allows them to communicate at anytime from anywhere. My classes at Walden are a prime example of cooperative learning! Multimedia, Web resources and communication software can all facilitate cooperative learning. Communication software; blogs, wikis, instant messaging and Skype, is more appropriate for first grade students.

The collaboration tools that I have explored and cooperative learning are very similar. They both correlate with the principles of social learning theories. Social learning theory focuses on students actively engaged in constructing artifacts and conversing with others (Orey, 2009). Students can use collaboration tools/connectivism in Social learning. Connectivism will help students to be actively engaged and converse with others. As Siemens (2009) states, “networks are rich, there has been a significant explosion on how we connect with other people”. Our students have so many different types of technology that they can use to connect with other students for social learning or networking. It makes learning possible all of the time!

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009).

Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Constructivism in Practice

When students generate and test hypotheses, they are engaging in complex mental process, applying content knowledge like faces and vocabulary, and enhancing their overall understanding of the content (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). This correlates very well with the principles of constructivist/constructionist. A theory of learning that states people learn best when they build an external artifact or something they can share with others. They require students to be active and engaged.

Spreadsheet Software, Data Collection Tools and Web Resources are all types of technology that can play a role in generating and testing hypotheses. Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski (2007) state, “when teachers vary the processes in their classrooms, they are following the classroom recommendation that their students be engaged in different types of hypothesis generation. These tools are a type of constructionism as the students use these tools to create artifacts in order to resolve disequilibration (Orey, 2009).

Spreadsheets and Data collection tools are types of technology that are to advance for my first grade students. However, they can use web resources with teacher assistance. Simulation software also can provide incredibly engaging learning environments, resulting in increased motivation and retention in learning (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).

In conclusion, I think that generating and testing hypotheses with technology is to advanced for my students. Constructionism is present in my classroom, but not in this way. Projects, websites, drawings, group work is my way of getting my students engaged!

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Cognitivism in Practice

Cognitivists focus on learning as a mental operation that takes place when information enters through the senses, undergoes mental manipulation, is stored and is finally used (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 2008). As a teacher, it is my responsibility to enter that information through the senses so that it reaches the long term memory and can be recalled at a later time. Although, I understand that some information will be memorized for the test and put into short term memory. My goal is to help students store the information in their long term memory, so it isn’t forgotten later in life.

One way that I can do this is by using cues, questions and advance organizers. According to Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski (2007), these instructional strategies focus on enhancing students’ ability to retrieve, use, and organize information on one topic. I often use cues and questions during my reading recovery lessons to help my students retrieve information. “ get your mouth ready”, “ what could you try”, “ does that make sense” are all cues/questions that are used in my lessons. Advance Organizers can be used with some of my upper grade level groups. Advance Organizers are structures that teachers provide to students before a learning activity (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Our first grade classrooms were learning about penguins this winter. An Advance Organizer, such as Inspiration, before learning about them would have helped the students make sense of the content.

Another way to achieve my goal is by summarizing and note taking. This instructional strategy focuses on enhancing students’ abilities to synthesize information and distill it into a concise new form. Note taking is not necessary and seems difficult for first grade students. However, I have asked my students to take “first grade” notes in the past. However, their notes consist of three words – or sentences towards the end of the year. Using Inspiration would encourage the students to take more or better notes. My students always enjoy any chance they have at using technology.

The instructional strategies, using technology, which I learned about this week, will definitely correlate with the principles of cognitive learning theory. As Ore (2009) states, “Images are very powerful tools to use in the classroom”.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom
instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Behaviorism in Practice

Technology makes it easier for students and teacher to track the effects and facilitates more immediate feedback (Hubble, Kuhn, Malenoski, & Pitler, 2007). I create my own spreadsheets for my Reading Recovery students. They are called progress monitoring forms. This is a way for me and my principal to track our struggling (tier 3) students. These spreadsheets can be based on reading levels or fluency levels for the first grade. However, the students are not allowed to see them (unfortunately). Our school prefers to keep students’ reading levels a “secret” from parents and students. I do not completely agree with this and it is not behaviorism. According to Leffer-Duffy & McDonald (2008), “those who see learning from a behaviorist perspective, view all behavior as a response to external stimuli”. The external stimuli in this situation would be the progress monitoring forms or the effort/achievement sheets. This would give students’ the opportunity to see their progress and create goals with me.

My students take home a reading bag each night, as homework. They are to read a familiar book to their parents and the parents sign a sheet. Having students practice a skill or concept enhances their ability to reach the expected level of proficiency (Hubble, Kuhn, Malenoski, & Pitler, 2007). I send home familiar books because I know that the students know how to read the books well. My goal is to have students read these books to their parents and gain confidence. The positive comments they receive from their parents and the rewards they receive for completing their homework are both types of behaviorism. I know that technology would help to better facilitate homework and practice (Drill and Practice). However, only 15% of my students have a computer in their home.

Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.


Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.