This page is where I will reflect on my skills, abilities, and experiences in making informed decisions regarding teaching and learning, particularly teaching and learning with technology. I will be providing artifacts that demonstrate my ability to research and identify best practices in making informed decisions about teaching, learning, and technology.
Below are my original thoughts and reflections about Educational Technology from before the course began:
When I THINK about educational technology I think of all of the endless opportunities that are available for teachers and students. Educational technology gives students the ability to engage in their learning instead of the typical "sit and get" model that has been implemented since long ago. Teachers truly researching and using tech tools that are meaningful, engaging, and well designed for students gives teaching a whole new definition. No longer is a teacher stuck at the front of the classroom, but instead they can transform the learning for all of their students in a way that allows each of their students to progress through the concepts in a way that allows them to go farther than just remembering. Educational technology allows students to engage all the way from the lowest "Understand/Remember" level of thinking up to the "Synthesize/Evaluate/Create" level of thinking. What I think I know about educational technology is always changing as I continue to learn and grow.
What PUZZLES me is how to help teach others that there is a fine line between using Educational Technology as a tool that engages students, but also holds them accountable for meaningful learning and simply using an educational tool to adapt daily assignments for the sake of using technology. So many teachers that I work with feel that they are using technology in an enhancing way when in reality they are only uploading a worksheet with the intention of having it provide automatic feedback and "easy" grading.
One way I could EXPLORE my puzzle might be to send out a survey to other teachers to get a gauge on their perspectives and their "whys" for using educational technology.
During week 2 we were asked to read and evaluate several articles that were provided to us in order to reflect and make changes to our original thoughts on Educational Technology. After analyzing, evaluating, researching and reflecting on my original statements I thoughtfully provided the reflection below to answer the discussion post.
1. Did any of these readings provide answers to the questions or puzzles that you posted in your introduction? Why or why not?
When I first started reading the 23-page AECT article I was a little concerned with my ability to connect and read the entire thing without starting to lose focus. I had never heard of AECT before and I thought this was going to be a very dry read that I would struggle to enjoy. However, I quickly began to realize how everything I had mentioned in the PUZZLE piece of my introductory post was integrated into the key topics of the project. I read page by page and the farther I went the more phrases it contained that were on target for the thoughts I had originally conveyed. Although my puzzle was not necessarily given a solution it did directly correlate and confirm what I believe and think about the topic of Educational Technology. At one point in the AECT article it states, "[educational organizations] have shifted toward deep rather than shallow learning, the learning environments have become more immersive and more authentic. In these environments, the key role of technology is not so much to present information in drill-and-practice format (to control learning) but to provide the problem space and the tools to explore it (to support learning)". My puzzle discussed the problem of teachers claiming to use technology in engaging and integrated ways, but the reality is that they are simply just digitizing their normal worksheets and calling it "better learning".
2. Did anything that you read prompt new questions or puzzle you more? If so, what are those questions?
As someone who feels strongly about maximizing the effectiveness of the technology used in my classroom and reading both in the AECT article and in the Wikipedia Article direct reflections of making sure that the technology is still meeting the needs of all levels of learning and not just sticking to the "retention and memorization" models of learning I have a question that remains a thorn in my side. How do we ensure that all educators understand the importance of using the technology as a tool that goes beyond what the kids could do on paper? I want to find the best strategies to reiterate that just because a device is used does not mean that the learning is more effective than it would be without the technology.
Justification of Artifact 1: In "Artifact 1" I provided my initial definition and thinking of Educational Technology from the beginning of the course. In week two we had several readings that were provided to us to help shape and grow our definitions of what Educational Technology entails. In "Artifact 1" I determined that by including my before and after in regards to my personal definition of Educational Technology that I can demonstrate how I used informational readings and research to make revisions to my original definition.
Reflection of Artifact 1: How has my personal definition of Educational Technology changed after finishing ETEC 524?
While I would not necessarily say that my definition of Educational Technology has changed; I can confidently say that my definition has expanded and will continue to grow as I add more research into my tool belt. In my initial definition of Educational Technology I discussed the importance of integrating higher levels of learning through Bloom's. After completing ETEC 524, I have determined that Educational Technology is way more than just meeting the HOT skills of Bloom's. I have learned from Mishra & Koehler about the TPACK model and have had multiple encounters throughout this course giving me experience with the SAMR model. If I were asked to look back and revise my initial definition of Educational Technology, I would have to explain that the definition is not one that can be easily summed up in a brief sentence. This term is one that has many different facets and has ties in every direction. One thing that I know to be true after this class is that Educational Technology is most valuable when used at the modification/redefinition levels, and it is critical that teachers purposely reflect on the Content, Pedagogy, and Technology as an intersecting tool of lesson design.
Reflection of Artifact 2: I originally was not even sure if I was going to do this assignment. I had scored a 100% on every assignment throughout the course of ETEC 524 with the exception of one 90% (which was not graded at the time of questioning whether or not to do the "Extra Credit" assignment). I am one that given the opportunity to excel or do better than what was originally possible will always strive to be better. I originally had reached out to my professor just to find out some additional clarifying factors, and what specifically the extra credit could be applied to (especially if I still had the hypothetical 100 that I did at the time of the question). Her response made me realize I was looking at this assignment in the wrong way. Instead of being something else to add to the to-do list of my busy week, I should have been looking at it with the insight that she provided. She stated, "there are other benefits to adding another post to your blog, particularly that you'll have more fully developed artifact for your eportfolio. But the decision to complete it is totally up to you. :-)". (M. Dondlinger, 2021). I agree, this wasn't just a singular blog post that was going to get graded a day or so before the course ended... This was an opportunity to add an additional layer of knowledge and exploration into the technology tools and lesson redesign that I needed to grow and improve. I took this blog post about content tools and made it real. I tried to focus on tools that I could implement in the upcoming school year that would allow my classroom to run more efficiently or to have use of sites that allow students to dive deeper into simulations. Not only did I design the lesson framework for my third tech tool that I explored (Gizmos), but I created the actual product that will (with a little more additional fancy features and formatting) be ready for my students to work through as we reach the body systems unit. The lessons are linked in the blog, but will also be available for ease of viewing within the design and technology page.
Justification of Artifact 2: How does my Content Objects blog meet the criteria for being labeled as an informed-decision making artifact?
In this blog, I explored different content objects. Tools that I could use within my classroom that will allow me to make informed decisions in relation of teaching and learning and technology. I ended up researching and exploring a multitude of content objects or simply platforms that could be used to share content with students in a variety of ways. I ended up featuring three different types of sites. The first site Legends of Learning is a game based site that teacher's can use to assign playlists for students to demonstrate mastery, or lack there of, across the different standards within a unit. A similar tool, Plickers, was my second platform to explore. While this mainly puts the technology in the teacher's hands the end result is the same between Legends of Learning and Plickers. At the end of each due date for a playlist given through LoL or throughout the formative assessments given through Plickers, the teacher can pull the report and use the data to make an informed decision regarding which standards are needing to be retaught as an entire class or which standards the class as a whole was strong at, but 1 or 2 students are needing additional help. By being able to pull detailed reports tutoring can become individualized to best meet the needs of struggling students, as well as determine where my own faults may lie when teaching a particular standard. Due to how 2 out of the 3 tools that I chose to explore dealt with data and using the data to make informed decisions I decided that this particular blog post belonged here on this page instead of on the design and technology page like the rest of my blog posts.
Reflection: In Artifact 3 linked above, I focused on my current campus. I was new to Leo Adams Middle School last year, and while I do love my campus with Covid procedures in place I often just felt like a number. While I absolutely loved and adored my remote and in-person students I always felt like one more teacher lost amongst all of the other staff and students. An invisible face in the crowd. Working on this analysis of my "community" I felt the need to dig deep and really get an understanding of the community that I am serving. I used this project as a way to really understand on a widescale why Adams MS is the way that it is, and to help myself feel even more connected to the Middle School that I live down the road to and work at.
Justification of Artifact 3: In LIS524, I completed a community analysis. In this analysis (linked above), I used a variety of data points to determine key features about the population of students and the community that Leo Adams Middle School serves. I documented data on special populations and the ethnic breakdown of the campus. I researched our rate of economically disadvantaged students. I included valuable insight of the community's stability based on the large number of growth and numbers shifting due to being over capacity. By using all of these data points, and analyzing the community I would be able to ensure that my library is better suited to meet the needs of all patrons. In a library, a community analysis is one of the first steps of informed decision-making that a librarian can complete to make sure that he/she has a full understanding of the needs of the library and what goals need to be set in an effort to make improvements to the collection.
Reflection of Artifact 3: If I had to describe how I felt about this assignment looking back, I would call it a passion project. I really feel as if I went above and beyond on this assignment. As a science teacher I know and understand the value of having strong data. I went to Vista Ridge Middle School, a 6-8 campus (similar to my home campus). I was very familiar with this campus and the staff due to working here previously. I was given access to the Destiny account as a guest with special permissions. I had so much fun making and generating different reports. Wanting to really get a feel for the process I decided to do a random sample of the entire fictional section by genre instead of just picking on sublocation to focus on. I calculated the average age and was blown away by how even though I performed a random sample my data MATCHED what was given by her digital dashboard through TitleWave. Having my data and research validated fueled the fire even more to continue and see just what exactly I could find out about the collection. I repeated the process with non-fiction, but this time I threw in circulation reports, focusing on the titles that were older in age and had 0 circulations. I found so many outliers of dates and determined there were several non-fiction texts that were not playing a key role in the library as they were probably originally intended. I passed all of my findings on to the librarian of the campus and we determined that the reports and research I had conducted would be an valuable asset to her as she makes decisions about weeding this year.
Justification of Artifact 4: In LIS524, we were instructed to complete an evaluation of a collection (linked above). When thinking about the definition of informed decision-making only one word comes to mind for me. That word is data... Oftentimes as a teacher we are asked to evaluate our students looking at the average of their unit, district, and stated examination scores. At this point our personal opinion of that student no longer is a factor. How hardworking a student is cannot be calculated into an average of test scores. While I know that my students are more than just a number, when trying to determine an underlying problem or assess how bad the learning gaps are only the data can help make an informed decision. The same concept applies to a library collection. By using data, numerical averages, through many different sample and collection evaluation methods a librarian can make the most informed decisions about his/her collection in regards to average age, circulation data, and even the percentage of literature that falls within SEL or Diverse categories.
For OLT 595 I was tasked with evaluating data from a study completed by the Provost's office over the Staff Bereavement and Leave Policy. I looked at qualitative and quantitative data, found patterns, established frequencies and means association with the staff responses to the CSQ's, and provided a suggested course of action to improve the policy based on research. Please view the slides to the left to see my data analysis, charts, tables, and graphs associated with the research.
In my ETEC Capstone course we researched all available documents and evaluations at the campus and district level relating to technology. We were then required to establish a need for technology support within our campus/district within the field of Technology. Using this need for an evaluation we created goals, indicators, benchmarks, and measures to help improve our current district technology plan. I decided that Canvas was going to be my focus for this project. Canvas is a new LMS to our district and many teachers are struggling to see the benefit of using Canvas over Google Classroom primarily due to the ease of use. The purpose of my evaluation is to determine what is needed to support teachers in the classroom to improve confidence in using Canvas as their primary LMS.