CEP 811 Reflection

As another class draws to a close, it is again time to reflect.  CEP 811 has provided a great opportunity for learning.  I was able to gain confidence in my technology skills through the course content and setting.  I am content in my growth this semester, and feel the only thing that limited my growth was the fact that my family was battling sickness for most of the month of April (which took away from my study time).  I am grateful for this assignment, as it forces me to reflect upon my personal learning goals while challenging me to continue setting goals for future growth.

Two of the most important things I have learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology are creating barrier-free learning opportunities (through the utilization of UDL Principles) and examples of effective face-to-face strategies to utilize in my classroom.  The UDL Principles are a very helpful tool to measure my lessons against.  This is especially important for me because I tend to have a form of "tunnel vision" sometimes, and struggle to balance integrating innovative technology while including successful teaching strategies (as was apparent as I struggled to complete my StAIR project).  Sometimes I get so focused on providing my students with new and interesting technology that I forget to focus also on solid pedagogy.  Examples of effective face-to-face strategies also provide me with ways to keep my lessons balanced and interesting.

Throughout this course, the integration of web-based technologies helped me think about and evaluate the uses of technology.  I was able to fully immerse myself in the role of the student, which provided me with a useful perspective while working online.  This experience will help me create more effective lessons in the future, both in a traditional classroom and also possibly in an online course format.

During CEP 810, I was required to create a Personal Technology Plan.  My goals for the months of March and April were to create a webpage, explore the possibilities for using classroom response systems, learn to use an online survey generator, and learn to use an online rubric generator.  Serendipity prevailed, and these goals aligned with CEP 811's coursework.

My Personal Technology Plan outlines specific goals for the next several months.  I plan to continue to work on these goals, and when they are completed I will focus on my RSS Feeds in more detail.  For May and June, I will be exploring online content area tools, online digital differentiation tools, online digital citizenship resources, and online storytelling tools.

I am grateful for the opportunity to complete CEP 811.  It has been an interesting and useful course.  I am looking forward to continue on my MSU EduTech journey in the fall.

Online Learning

The Michigan Merit Curriculum Online Experience Guideline Companion Document contains practical examples of how to meet Michigan's Online Experience Curriculum Requirements.  Examples are clearly outlined, and include concise commentary and links to online resources.  I enjoyed reading this document, and was relieved to see that I already had working knowledge of the activities listed.

This semester, I have focused my learning examples on the second grade.  As I reviewed the experiences in the Michigan Merit Curriculum's companion document, Online Field Trips stood out as one of the easiest activities to implement in my classroom.  With more district budget cuts looming on the horizon, it makes sense to find less expensive ways to implement a variety of learning experiences.   It is easier (in terms of paperwork) and less time-consuming to take an online field trip.  Also, I would be able to choose the precise venue I would like, at a time and date of my choice, without compromising due to budget, weather, travel distance, and availability of busing.

Participating in online field trips can help provide authentic learning experiences similar to real-life field trips.  Online field trips would add interest to many social studies and science units.  Pedagogically speaking, they would be well suited to deductive instructional strategies.  Collaborative grouping would also be a good way to participate in an online field trip.

Two of the activities that I feel would be challenging to implement at the lower elementary level would be Online Resource Validation and the Electronic Portfolio - for different reasons.  Online Resource Validation is an important activity, but better suited for an older child in terms of the critical thinking skills needed.  Although a simplistic version of the activity may be useful as an introductory lesson, most second graders would have difficulty completing a more complex version of the task.

I think the Electronic Portfolio is a wonderful idea, but I am having a hard time visualizing how this would be organized for easy access by both parents and teachers.  There are inherent difficulties with keeping files like this organized and useful, especially over a span of many years.  Negatives aside, wouldn't it be wonderful to have a thirteen-year (or even a four-year) online record of student work?  I would like to learn more about this, especially how school districts are using this idea as a meaningful learning tool.

I appreciate the Michigan Department of Education's efforts to create clear, well-organized, and useable documents.  It makes curriculum planning so much easier when documents with useful examples are made accessible online.  I hope that they continue their efforts to provide such examples, and also to foster collaboration as we continue to make necessary curriculum changes in the next few years.

Wikis!

This post is an explanation of the work I have completed for CEP 811's Wikis Lab.


Wikipedia Activity
My first task was to update something from my school's Wikipedia entry.  Since I am not currently working, I chose to focus on the school district that my children attend.  Whitehall District School's Wikipedia entry still contained the board member list from 2008-2009.  Here is a screenshot of my work:

My second task was to create my own Wiki.  I ended up creating two of these.  First, I created a StairSpace Wiki.  This is a spot to organize various StAIR projects.  It can be found at http://stairspace.pbworks.com/w/page/52604923/FrontPage.

Since our family has been participating in some spirited discussion about this summer's vacation prospects, I thought that a Vacation Planning Wiki would help organize our ideas.  I shared our vacation planner with my husband, and plan to show it to my children within the next week.  This is a screenshot of the Front Page.  My Wiki can be found at http://chenfamilyvacationplanner.pbworks.com/w/page/52595140/FrontPage.

Applying Universal Design for Learning Principles

The Center for Applied Special Technology, or CAST, is an educational research and development organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals.  CAST's Universal Design for Learning Principals help educators create more inclusive lesson plans.  It is very easy to unintentionally create barriers for student learning in your classroom, but organized reflection using UDL principles is a great way to identify ways to improve teaching and learning.

Below is the Educator Checklist of UDL Guidelines that I completed using my "Creating Story Problems" lesson plan.  The checklist highlights several ways that the lesson plan falls short, especially in the areas of goal-setting, student self-regulation, personal reflection on reaching goals, student choices for the presentation of their work,  and teacher modeling of transfer of knowledge.  I have provided links to both my original and improved lesson plans.

Link to my original "Creating Story Problems" lesson plan

Link to my improved "Creating Story Problems" lesson plan

MERLOT Learning Material Evaluation: Wordle

A sample Wordle word cloud based on the instructions for this assignment

This is an evaluation of the MERLOT Learning Material "Interesting Ways to Use Wordle in the Classroom" by Tom Barrett and submitted by Dorothy Fuller.  The GoogleDocs presentation provides examples of how to use Wordle in a variety of subjects and grade levels.  Educators are encouraged to submit ideas, which are reviewed and added to the document.

Wordle is an excellent example of a simple, flexible teaching tool that generates unique and dynamic word clouds.  Although it was difficult to choose, my favorite ideas from the presentation are Wordle Word Walls (slide #34), Using Wordle for Character Descriptions (slide #23), and Guess the Fairytale (slide #6).  Wordle is a quick and easy way to add relevant, dynamic graphics to a variety of applications.

 

Quality of Content

Wordle is a tool that can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom.  My four-star rating is based on the fact that is it merely a tool, and is subject to an individual's use of the tool and how the individual connects the tool to learning within the classroom.

I also rate the GoogleDocs presentation at four stars.  Fifty-two interesting ways to use Wordle in the classroom are presented, and most of the examples are of high quality and appear to be connected to educationally significant concepts.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching-Learning Tool

Wordle can be used in a variety of stages in the learning process/cycle.  A Wordle could be used as an introduction to the explanation portion of the learning process.  It could be also be used as a graphic organizer in the demonstration or practice stage, as either a teacher-created or student-created activity.

The presentation is focused on providing many ideas to incorporate Wordle in the classroom, and does not focus on one learning objective.  Students are able to use Wordle as a tool to generate word clouds, but the significance of Wordle output varies.  The target learners can range from early childhood to adult, and from technology-hesitant to technology-capable learners.  The media-rich presentation of material allows Wordle to enhance instruction, both for faculty and students, and the simplicity of the web-based software allows it to be readily integrated into a variety of curriculum and pedagogy.  Although reaching teaching-learning goals are dependent on user capabilities, the GoogleDocs presentation provides a variety of examples for use.  The document's slides contain teaching-learning goals that are easy to identify, and are a wonderful starting point to create customized learning assignments for one's own classroom use.

Ease of Use

The layout of the computer interface is extremely easy to use, and is consistent and visually distinct.  Wordle is a two-step process, so it is unlikely that the user will get trapped or lost in the material.  The website has a clearly written troubleshooting guide that is easy to navigate.  Wordle is not flexible in its use; it only generates word clouds.  Most children would have no problem generating their own word clouds with little or no instruction, and Wordle's output is attractive and interesting.  The clouds are easy to manipulate, and the limited options for colors and fonts are presented in a familiar format which allows students to customize their work without becoming overwhelmed.

Personal Learning Reflection

As my CEP 810 coursework draws to a close, it is time to reflect upon the learning that has occurred in the past eight weeks.  My goals at the beginning of class were to explore technology-based tools for differentiated instruction and to gain a better understanding of current "hot topics" in the realm of educational reform.  I feel that I have met my second goal reasonably well (using my RSS Feeds page and Twitter), but my first goal has evolved somewhat during the learning process.

I was given the opportunity to explore several technology-based tools for creating more meaningful instruction during the course.  These tools included Adobe Presenter, various blog platforms (Blogger and WordPress), and forums that facilitate discussion of teacher-supplied tips (MACUL Space and Twitter).  All of these tools are also important components of any technology-enhanced classroom, not just for differentiated instruction.  Since technology is changing so rapidly, I now realize the importance of having skills that allow me to grow in my knowledge of technology rather than just a few specific tools to enhance my teaching.

One of my assignments that exemplifies good teaching with technology is my Fourth Grade Public Issue Solution Campaign, the lesson I contributed in ANGEL to address one of the NETS-S standards.  This lesson meets Common Core Curriculum Standards in Social Studies and NETS-S standards in a project-based lesson with real community service outcomes.  Although some of my fellow classmates were skeptical of fourth grade students being successful with a project of this magnitude, I believe project-based learning can provide the motivation for students to excel in ways that may surprise adults.

From my experiences in an online class during CEP 810, I have a greater understanding of my students' perspectives in completing online course work.  A reliable and up-to-date Learning Management System that is mobile-compatible is the foundation of successful online learning.  It is important for the course content to be a balance of many easy-to-complete tasks, ample opportunity to participate in content discussion with classmates, and a few larger capstone projects (for example, one group project and two independent projects for a semester-long course).  Finally, encouraging instructor feedback and clear rubrics for projects help to create a supportive learning environment.

I have developed two new goals for my continued growth in the area of technology.  My first goal is to explore the use of handheld devices in a classroom setting to enhance learning.  My second goal is to follow the goals and timeline outlined in my Personal Technology Plan in order to intentionally gather a broad knowledge in areas of technology in which I am less than proficient.  It is my hope that these two goals will help me develop successful skills to create a technology-imbedded classroom.

Creative Commons

Would you ever consider taking a published book, reproducing it entirely with your name listed as the author, and then try to have it published?  While most people would consider this theft, the same standard is not generally regarded when applied to Internet content or data files.  Fair use policy, when applied to the Internet, seems to have taken on a broad, and often unclear, presence in classrooms today.

In order to avoid the gray areas of fair use policy, one alternative is apparent:  Creative Commons.  Publishing your work under a Creative Commons license allows you to clearly state the parameters that others may legally use your work.  A perfect choice for teachers, Creative Commons content allows you to safely (and legally) imbed content (including videos, images, and worksheets) in your teaching without the worry of copyright infringement.

An example of such use is my Research Project lesson for this week.

Graphic Organisers, a photo by hastingspeel on Flickr.

This week's Research Project focus is to organize data using a graphic organizer.  In addition to giving examples of various graphic organizers (see above photo, which also includes a teachable moment regarding spell-checking), I will fill out a chart to provide an example of the organizational process.  My sample topic is "All About Bugs."

Butterfly1, a photo by tobyandetta on Flickr.