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