EDLD+5364+Teaching+with+Technology

__ ﻿﻿ Week 1 Reflection __ From the videos, I learned the following: Constructivism: Reminds me of the traditional paradigm of teaching-learning, but the problem is that if there is a misconception from the beginning in a key concept, all of the information is going to be attached to the construction of a bigger fallacy. Constructivism can be a powerful teaching tool if used accurately, teachers must be prepared and have an open mind to help students grow and improve constantly. Connectivism: Based on a network of knowledge, a group or environment sharing and expanding knowledge to gain more knowledge collectively. Based in two components the internal neural network and the connection between learning individuals. Knowledge becomes a byproduct of network interaction. Maintaining a groupal network helps individuals keep current in the everchanging world. Cyborg: I found this video fascinating! I was unaware of such research and I think it is a great opportunity for people to create scientific research to extent human capabilities with the use of the technology. At this point, I don’t have enough information to determine or assess wether this model would have real possibilities to become the future in education, but wasn’t the computer a doubtful resource when it first was invented? Even in present times, there are teachers all over the country not giving computers a chance! Schacter, J. and C. Fagnano. “Does Computer Technology Improve Student Learning and Achieve­ment? How, When, and Under What Conditions?” Journal of Educational Computing Research 20, no. 4 (1999): 329–43. || __ Week 2 Reflection __ From the videos, I learned that teaching needs to evolve to better serve the wide variety of students attending the classrooms. Currrently, teachers need to “re-think critical elements in education, like goals, and materials and methods, and assessments” (Lesson Builder.cast.org, n.d). I also learned that information needs to be presented in a wide variety of ways to reach every type of intelligence and assessments must also be presented in different forms so students can better demonstrate what they know using their abilities.
 * This week’s readings showed how important technology is in 21st century classrooms. Many studies are being done using technology as an educational tool to increase collaborative learning and increasing problem-solving skills. Research shows that technology implementation increases student learning, understanding, and achievement, when applied effectively by teachers (Schacter & Fagnano, 1999). I learned that using technology to teach is not new, but the amount of applications being developed is overwhelmingly big, many of them supported by extensive research and I realized that we, as educators, have to direct students to the use of the most appropriate applications to ensure their success in their interactions with the technology at hand and to increase their likelihood of adequately practicing and increasing their problem-solving skills with the use of the 21st century tools.
 * This week, from the readings I learned about technology resources and the importance and relevance they can have to teach diverse learners. As I was reflecting I was thinking about my own classroom, but I realized that I the challenges I face are not occurring in a single instance, most classrooms across America are struggling to keep students motivated and learning. I discovered predictions about the role of teachers in the future, and I learned that we will be facilitators, coaches and mentors, and that technology will play a key role in the formation of students in the 21st century.

Lessonbuilder.cast.org. (nd). Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved on March 2, 20011, from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?scr=videos. || __ Week 3 Reflection __ From the videos, I learned that the digital generation is already here. We all have students like Luis or Cameron, students who are technology savvy and who are willing to shine using it. Just like Luis, we have students who are very dedicated and always wanting to learn something extra, do something extra and be better, and then share their knowledge with the world. Luis’ example of how he ended up in Chile sharing a great project made me realize how important it is to prepare our students for greater achievements. Phrases like “My iPod is like, my life”, and “It’s about engagement, self-directed learning, creativity, and empowerment”(Edutopia.org, nd), reflect how students are expecting interesting, dynamic lessons that awakens their curiosity and attracts their interest.
 * As I continue to explore the reading materials, I realize how important it is to crate well rounded lessons, trying to target each and every student in the classroom. This week, I learned about UDL more in depth and how to individualize teaching methods to address the three recognition networks. I learned how important it is for students to be provided with the same information in multiple formats, and to take advantage of technology in the classroom. “The best representations are multiple. And so our search should be for the family of representations that can convey core ideas in a multiplicity of ways at once accurate and complementary" (Howard Gardner, 1999).

Edutopia.org (nd). Welcome to the Digital Generation. Retrieved on March 11, 2001, from http://www.edutopia.org/digita-generation-project-overview-video Gardner, Howard. (1999). Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century. New York: Basic Books, p. 202. || __ Week 3 UDL Lesson Builder Reflection __ Creating a UDL lesson was new to me and I was very pleased with the format they provide, since it lays out the plan for you and that you just have to fill the fields in the plan, keeping in mind the students you are serving and their specific needs. I actually used the UDL Lesson Builder in the site and as I was working I discovered that there was an option for each field that gave you an idea as to how to create appropriate lesson components. Using these kinds of templates is very helpful for teachers trying to create great lessons for diverse classrooms; I will continue to use the template for my classroom lesson plans and share with my co-workers to promote awareness on teaching diverse classrooms and multiple intelligences. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">[] || __ Week 3 Book Builder Reflection __ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">I was amazed with the CAST book builder since I started using it! It was a very user friendly application and made uploading pictures and adding text really easy. I found the coaches very interesting, since they provide support and help throughout the book if you so choose. Having multiple language supported coaches gives English Language Learners a remarkable opportunity at successfully interacting with the materials you create through a utility like this. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">As soon as I finished my book, I started looking for opportunities to use it in my classroom. I have decided to have students work in teams to create a book about adaptations. I completely trust the site to be user friendly enough for students to manage to create something amazing, but I will be providing support as necessary to ensure success in the task. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">When I was ready to add audio, I realized that it only accepts MP3 format, and I realized it was going to be hard to do for students, since most sound recorders utilize WAV format and students could have a hard time converting files from WAV to MP3 and understanding the process if the right software is not provided, and in my school we are not allowed to install software of any kind. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">[] || __ Week 4 Reflection __ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> From the videos, I learned that working in teams and having students work together to accomplish objectives and goals towards meaningful projects are key in building future college students and professionals in the 21st century. I think that working in groups, students have an opportunity to set standards as proposed by Seymour Papert, “the standards I would like to see is thinking differently, is the individual having the right to pursue individual interests, and this is where you will get deep and wonderful growth of individuals” (Edutopia.org, 2001).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">UDL Lesson Builder Reflection by Agustin Quezada 3/11/2011
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Book Builder Reflection by Agustin Quezada 3/11/2011
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">This week I learned about cooperation and collaboration through the readings. I learn that “Technology can play a unique and vital role in cooperative learning by facilitating group collaboration, providing structure for group tasks, and allowing members of groups to communicate even if they are not working face to face” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007, 140). I reflected that thanks to technology we can communicate, investigate, learn, share, and many things more and all that make the use of technology a must when collaborating with others.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Edutopia.org (2001). Project learning: An overview. Retrieved on Mar. 16, 2011 from @http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-overview-video ||

__ Week 5 Reflection __
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Through this week’s readings, I learned so much. I found out about strategies we can use to mitivate students to be better learners. Something useful I found is that “Technology makes it easier for students and teachers to track the effects of effort and facilitates more immediate feedback” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007, 156) and I will start using these technology in my classroom as an effort to better prepare my students.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">From the videos, I found interesting that “In a time when civics literacy matters, where global awareness and technology literacy is critical to ensuring our children are prepared for the 21st century work environment, we need to innovate our learning methods” (Youtube.com, nd) but then I realized that, as teachers, we are now lifelong learners, so we are automatically 21st century learners. Hence, we also need to be prepared for the current work environment and get acquainted with the use of technology, both in our personal and our professional lives.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., and Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Youtube.com (nd). Vision for Technology in K-12 Education. Retrieved on March 21, 2011 from [] ||

__ Final Reflection __ __ ﻿ __ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> When we first started collaborating inside the Google Doc, experiencing all the versatility Google provides, it was amazing to interact through the chat on the side while all three of us worked on the document at the same time. We found a small problem because we all were writing using black font, but rapidly decided on colors for each of the teammates, to clearly show the contributions each of us had provided. During the first two weeks we also created the frame for the website we needed to plan and solve the scenario. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> For the third week we had to create a lesson plan using the Universal Design Learning model. This is the first time for me to use it and I really liked the format and I am currently using it in some of the science lessons I am teaching in my classroom. Using this plan reminded me that “It is essential that teachers design a quality lesson plan first and then select the most appropriate technologies to support that lesson” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007, 217). The idea of targeting each and every student through multiple strategies and ways of presenting the information is very useful, and at the same time, providing multiple assessment opportunities helps students demonstrate according to their intelligence. I also learned that as teachers we must adapt to the population we serve and target every single student so they can learn. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> For the fourth week we had to demonstrate activities we used in the lesson we created and we decided to create a mock webpage with the resources our students would have readily available for them whenever they needed them with the click of a button. For this week I also created a Jeopardy game that I am now using in my classroom as review and my students really like interacting with it. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> My favorite activity was creating the e-book. I found it very interesting and user-friendly that my students are currently using e-books for an adaptation lesson we were doing in the classroom. They will present their e-books to their parents and the administrators in my school tomorrow. I noticed that just like me, the students were really into creating their own electronic resource that can be published and shared with the world. I can hardly wait to see the reaction of these low socioeconomic level students’ parents when they see what their kids can create using their own hands and a little technology. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Finally, I expect to share the strategies I learned with my co-workers because it is important for me that they get more opportunities to use all the technology available for them in their classrooms, since some of them are not using it. I think my co-workers must realize that “global awareness and technology literacy are critical to ensuring our children are prepared for the 21st century work environment” (Youtube.com, nd). On another note, I will continue to research how to directly record in MP3 format using freeware, because it was difficult for my students to go through the recording, converting, and uploading process while working on the books they created.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">After completing this course, I felt I learned many strategies that I will incorporate into in my practice. I think that the way this course was implemented gave us a real opportunity of exploring in depth each of the components presented. Solving the scenario offered many challenges, but I can affirm that real learning took place. When we first started our collaboration teams, I felt anxiety because I only one teammate, and it was hard to recruit another one. When we got the third teammate recruited, we rapidly established a structure and I ended up being the team leader. I immediately established standard meeting times and dates, so we could analyze and assign activities for each of the weeks’ assignments. I realized that by having us working in groups, we had an opportunity to set standards for ourselves just like the ones proposed by Seymour Papert, when he stated “the standards I would like to see is thinking differently, is the individual having the right to pursue individual interests, and this is where you will get deep and wonderful growth of individuals” (Edutopia.org, 2001), we really had a chance of growing and incorporating our individuality into the collaborative work.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">References:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Edutopia.org (2001). Project learning: An overview. Retrieved on March 16, 2011 from @http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-overview-video

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., and Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Youtube.com (nd). Vision for Technology in K-12 Education. Retrieved on March 21, 2011 from [] ||