Summary of Action Plan*

Our focus is to go into a 9th through 12th grade classroom and begin to assist the teacher in using her current technology and get an assessment of what changes need to be made to help the instructor provide a better learning experience for the students.  Based on the knowledge we have, we will provide a multi-step approach to introduce new tools that can assist the teacher in providing the learning objects to all students in the class.

Part I - Introducing Teacher Resources

The teacher will initially be invited to tour classrooms where other teachers are using technology to improve students learning.  This will be a way for the teacher to open communication with other instructors and allow her to begin to brainstorm on ideas she may want to implement first.  In addition the teacher will be provided with multiple in-service training sessions to introduce new technologies that can be used in the classroom. The teacher will also have a mentor as well that can provide assistance in putting new technology methods into place.  Some of the training sessions will include the CAST bookbuilder program, wiki applications, blogs, web sites, text to speech, voice recognition, and podcasts.

Part II - Introducing Students to New Technologies

The students will learn to navigate different types of technology, such as online resources, wikis, and blogs to enrich activities culminating in group presentations about an assigned topic that will be addressed in part III of the action plan.  By introducing students to many of these tools before integrating them into an assignment, both the students and the teacher can see how different tools work and how they will be able to assist them in their lessons.  This gives an opportunity for the teacher to observe which students are interested in what tools, thus allowing a better focus in channeling students to a tool that can help them best.  Example lessons will be given with detailed representing how the technology was used to assist students learn the content.

Part III - Implementation of New Teaching Methods with a group presentation assignment

Students will be given a project with a rubric, that can be tailored to individual students, in which they will work in both individual and group settings to complete. During the learning process students will share ideas both online with collaboration tools and in person in a peer to peer setting to develop their assignment.  Students will be encouraged to add appropriate multimedia content to their project or produce their project in one of a variety of multimedia forms.  Advanced students will be paired with special needs students in order to provide learning opportunities for each member of the group with each member of the group focusing on their own special talents they bring to the group.  The assignment will conclude with a presentation of group projects.

Special tools such as Text to Speech and Voice Recognition will be added to the available technology so that students that are hearing impaired or blind can still work side by side with regular students.

*action plan group notes at the bottom

EDLD 5364 Group Project

Members of the Team

Tina Cone - trvcone@gmail.com or trcone@my.lamar.edu

Alexis Hill adhill@garlandisd.net or alexisdhill@sbcglobal.net or alexisdhill@gmail.com

Michael C. Warren - mwarren@mwarren.com or mcwarren@my.lamar.edu

Susan Haught susan.haught@lamar.edu or susanhaught@yahoo.com

David Silar - spitxsurfer@gmail.com or dsilar@my.lamar.edu 

Team Captain: Michael Warren

Scenario

The school principal directed you, a lead technology school-based technology expert, to work jointly with a classroom teacher to create learning experiences that not only meet students’ individual differences, but also address 21st Century learning trends. Specifically, the principal asked for you to design, implement, and assess a technology integration/intervention program for a group of 30 students with unique needs.

Teacher Background

The classroom teacher possesses basic computer skills, but has minimal understanding of how to teach with technology to benefit student learning.

Students’ Background

Of the 30 students, there are 10 identified as gifted and talented. The gifted and talented students are accustomed to working individually online. Two students have disabilities dramatically affecting learning. One student is blind and another is hearing impaired. The remaining 18 students reflect ability levels ranging from the lowest level to high achieving.

Task

As the school-based technology expert, you have been given an opportunity to model how technology can positively impact student achievement for diverse learners. Work with your learning team to create a solution for the scenario listed above. Use the following guiding questions as a resource to begin your planning and discussions within the shared Google doc your team created in Week 1.

Guiding Questions

What process will you use as a learning team to solve the scenario-based problem?

Collaboration on Google Docs. using acquired knowledge from videos, readings, discussions, and lectures from week 1 and 2 (EDLD 5364).

Who should be a part of the learning team composition?

Team members listed above.

Who will be the team leader to get the project started and keep the team on track?

Michael Warren

What skills will your learning team need to possess to successfully solve this problem?

Tina - We will need to be organized, delegate duties to members of the team, and implement a successful plan that is in the best interest of all parties involved.

David? - Course content knowledge, educational experience, online collaboration

Susan-We will need to communicate regularly and set goals of what we want to accomplish.

Alexis -  We will need to communicate with each member to make sure that everyone is in agreement with our plan.  We will need to use prior knowledge and new information gained from this course in order to accomplish our goal.

Which team member has experience with special needs students?

I (David?) have experience with special needs students to the point of integration in my regular ed. classroom. I am familiar with modifications involved in learning and special needs students. I have attended several ARDs and other related meetings. I have successfully completed the Lamar courses (School Law) that have contained an abundant amount on info. on special needs students.

Tina - I have about the same level of experience as David with special needs students - I have attended ARDs, have accommodated for special needs students in my class.  I teach senior high technology applications courses and tend to not have any profoundly special needs students in my class.

Susan- I work with college level students, as as academic advisor, and some of the students are students with disabilities. I am not certified for special education though. I am certified elementary,grades 1-8.

Alexis -  I have had as much experience with special education students as Tina and David.  As a team leader at my school, I do a lot of the modification on tests and quizzes for the different levels of special needs.  I also attend ARDs for annual, move-ins, and behavior intervention plans.

What will be the roles of each team member in the development, implementation, and assessment of the program? All team members

Tina - technology research in finding videos to assist with training the instructor and providing effective resources for students.  Assisting my other team members with resources I may have access to.

Mike - I can provide technical assistance regarding implementation of hardware and software ideas.

Alexis - I can help design the implementation plan once we put all of our ideas together along with help with any research that needs to be done.

Who will be responsible for ensuring the technology-based learning activities are research-based?

Tina - this is not my specialty.  I will help whomever wants to take on this role.

What grade level and content area (s) will you address? 

David? - I teach middle school, but can work with any grade level.

Tina - I am a senior high technology application teacher.  I currently teach 11th and 12th graders Desktop Publishing, Multimedia and BCIS.  I am certified in Technology Applications and General Business.

Mike - I am 9-12 technology applications (Web, Video, Multimedia, Animation)

Susan- I currently work with college students of many ages, but I will work with whatever grade that the group wants to work with.

Alexis - I have taught 7th grade math and I am currently teaching predominately 9th and 10th grade math.  I think that we should focus on high school 11th and 12th graders.

What will the learning activities look like?

Tina - Group collaboration of an online activity

Mike - A web site or web based activity could be developed. I have developed some simple activities that are similar to the old "choose your own adventure books".

Alexis - I like Tina's idea of a online collaboration.  We could use an activity similar to Mike's for the assignment.

How will you model examples for the teacher?

Tina - Scenario based modeling 

Susan-We could do PowerPoint or video too.(?)

How will you assess the effectiveness of the learning activities?

Teacher surveys

Tina - I also think that a rubric would be an effective assessment tool.

Susan-Yes, I definitely think that we should incorporate a rubric. We have those in all of our classes here.

Alexis - I like the idea of a rubric.  We could use one of the websites provided in the textbook to create one.

What technology tools will be included in the Google wiki/website format your team will use for the final delivery of your scenario solution?

Will it include video, documents, and other technology project samples?

Tina - I think we need a document in the form of a lesson plan for the teacher listing the order of activities with descriptions.  Everything seems to point to a video output or we can compile a list of videos for them to use.  We could also create a PowerPoint to assist the teacher in explaining the project.

Susan-Tina, good idea. I like the lesson plan. I think we should include the Technology TEKS too.

Alexis - I like the lesson plan idea as well.  If we use the group collaboration, I think that we should some how create a wiki page or blog for the collaboration to take place.

Who will publish your work and to which free sites such as TeacherTube, Google Videos, Flickr, or others will be linked back to the Google team wiki/website?

Tina - I think we should use TeacherTube and we can determine who wants to post to it

Susan- I have not used that before, but I am all for it!

Alexis - I have not used that before either, but I have not used a lot of these resources that are required.  Please use whatever everyone feels comfortable and I will tag along.  I am enjoying learning about all these different sites!

Required Components

 - Develop a plan of action

 - Provide examples of student-centered learning activities with technology to meet the diversity of the students

 - Include 21st Century learning trends

 - Create sample technology projects

 - Select the mediums your team will use to share your final group project with the world within the Google wiki/website

 - Publish your scenario-based solution to the Google wiki/website and share with the world

Week 2 - Brain Storm Session

Michael C. Warren - I think one of the key things to implement would be a television in the room. I would also say that computers be available, and training will be required.  Group activities are critical as it will offer students from various levels to learn from each other.

Tina Cone - I think a group collaboration project would be good pairing the gifted and talented students with the students with special needs.  I would think groups of 3 would be best, one gt, one spec, and one on level.  I agree that training for the teacher in the form of modeling is best for implementing it effectively.  Students could do a webquest, post to a discussion board and report their findings in an online wiki.

David Silar - Group collaboration sounds like the plan, I agree. I think we should create a several day student project that contains the following components; professional development, rubric, templates, survey, lesson plan, roles of student participants, software, hardware, publishing, and more...

From the text Using Technology

-The nine categories of instructional strategies that affect student achievement.

-Four Planning Questions.

- Pairing Technology and effective Instructional Strategies (5 genres)

- 7 Categories of Technology

All of this is combined is a matrix that could help guide the plan.

Also the rest of the text contains examples that are helpful and should be further explored (I plan on reading the entire text in the next few days). 

Susan-I really like the group collaboration project. We could even assign different tasks or goals for each group to achieve and then they could present the information to the other students. That way they are peer tutoring inside the group and then from group to group. 

Alexis - I like that idea as well, Susan.  I definitely like group collaboration.  Each student needs to have their own separate job to do (research, design, presentation, etc.) and they should be required to report back to each other everyday about what they have found and what still needs to be done.  The teacher could make them put this information on a blog/wiki page everyday so that the teacher has a way of keeping track of their everyday activities.

At the beginning of the project, we need to make sure that students will be provided with a rubric, roles of each student, and a KWHL chart so that they can fill out what they know and what they hope to find throughout the project.  As for the teacher, we can provide training through video or PowerPoint, and make sure that the teacher has all of the software and hardware that is required for the project.

Action Plan Questions

What will students learn?

Susan-The students will learn to navigate different types of technology, such as online resources, wikis, and blogs to enrich activities culminating in group presentations about an assigned topic.

Alexis - Students will learn throughout the lesson how to properly use these online resources properly with a guided lesson over cyber ethics and a review over their school's Acceptable Use Policy.

Tina - Students will learn to collaborate with their peers and evaluate each others work objectively.

What strategies will provide evidence of learning?

Mike - Rubrics, Presentation of material learned, sharing ideas via a wiki or blog

Susan-Students will share information with each other via peer tutoring and public speaking during presentation of group projects.

Alexis - Teachers will use rubrics along with a group presentation (PowerPoint, video, song, visual representation).

Tina - Evidence of learning will be shown with the execution of the project criteria as evaluated by the rubric's criteria.

Which strategies will help students acquire and integrate learning?

Mike - Students can use Online Books, Globes, Audio Lessons regarding topic,

Susan-Students will incorporate online research with group collaboration. Students will know what sites are necessary and appropriate to utilize.

Alexis - Students will research online and use their wikis or blogs to post their notes on the information found.  These notes will help the students summary their new findings and organize their thoughts.

Tina - Online resources will be used including Web 2.0 tools such as wikis, blogs, videos and online encyclopedias.  Effective internet search strategies may also be helpful in assisting students with finding appropriate information.

Which strategies will help students practice, review, and apply learning?

Mike - Students will have an opportunity to see other students work as well as work with other students, allowing each other to help learn and review. 

David - The students will work in a group collaborative to produce a project for presentation. 

Susan- The students will work as a team on tasks and integrate the Web 2.0 tools needed to enrich their projects. The students will have to experiment and target what sites pertain to the assigned topic.

Alexis- Once students have chosen appropriate web sites, they will then identify similarities and differences of these websites to chose what information they will use.

Tina - Practice will come in working collaborative with their learning team, review will come with peer evaluations, and application will come in implementing the project requirements.

What Technology Standards will be used?

Alexis - Students will use communication and collaboration as a way to interact and publish with peers and other multiple audiences using a variety of formats.  They will also contribute to group projects to produce original work or solve problems.  They will also use research and information fluency, critical thinking, and will get continual review over digital citizenship.

Tina - Well said Alexis, I cannot think of a better way to state this!

Action Plan Rubric

 David

• Evidence each team member has contributed to the solution plan created in a shared Google doc.

• Team Google doc link sent to the academic coach

• Action plan should include evidence of the following components:

Design of the integration/intervention program:

What grade level and content area(s) will you address to meet the unique needs of 30 students?

• •  Grades 9-12  

• Grades9-12 (Mike)

• Susan 9-12

• Alexis 9-12

• Tina 9-12

Implementation of the integration/intervention program:

What will the learning activities/units look like?

• • David - Project based learning

  • Susan- group projects

  • Word processing applications 

  • Susan-Students will input data on Microsoft Word and also plan their tasks on an Outlook calendar

  • Data collection tools

  • Web resources

• Mike - Web Based lesson. Students will utilize a web page for instruction. It can include interactive maps, audio, video and links to resources.

  • Multimedia 

  • Susan-Students will make videos and podcasts

  • Communication software

  • Susan-Students will communicate through a wiki and from facebook posts(?)

• Alexis -  Students can post daily blogs/wikis about their assignments as an outline on how their project will be formatted.

• PowerPoint, movie maker for presentations

• Tina - webquest, posting to wikis or blogs, presenting the final product using a software of the groups choice either Word, PowerPoint, Publisher or a Video.

How will you model examples for the teacher?

• • David - Professional development sessions.

• Mike - Teaching teachers how to develop sites with various tools, as well as multimedia tools

• Susan- Invite the teacher to observe other teachers using technology in lessons in the same subject area.

  • Completed Project examples

• Alexis - Develop a PowerPoint for the teachers to follow as they are practicing the lessons.  We could also use Print Screen function on the computer in order for teacher to see exactly what should be on their computers step-by-step.

• Tina - A guided activity using the Internet with an Introduction of a video or powerpoint to introduce the concept. 

What 21st Century trends will you include in the program?

• • Susan-social networking-wikis  

  • Using collaboration and communication tools

  • Alexis - Web 2.0 tools, graphic organizers that the students can fill in while they are collecting information through the Internet.

• Tina - Web 2.0 Tools including youtube videos for instructions or introduction, wikis for collaborative posting, and google could be used for presenting their information.

Building Virtual Environments

How will you meet individual differences?

• •   David -Teachers can tailor the curriculum to each, which enables them to accommodate a diverse group ranging from gifted students to those with special needs.

• Mike - Advanced students can focus on more detail and advanced presentation methods. In addition they will be assigned to help tutor or assist other students with their project as part of their assignment.

• Susan-Students will be given the opportunity to work on tasks in the group which they will excel in. The students with special needs will be given a task to complete within the team. Each team will designate their own leader, who will not necessarily be the most advanced student.

  • Assessments can be customized to evaluate individual learning needs.

  • Susan-The assessments will consist of group rubric and observation of group organization and skills in teamwork.

• Alexis - The students who do not have computers and/or internet access at home will have computer time available during class time or will be assigned tutorial times for them.  The group members will help these individuals as well by allowing them to do some of the work that does not require all computer usage.  These students could still help with the brainstorming, designing, and the presentation itself.

• Tina - Allow the collaborative teams to assign tasks for each member that will work on their strengths.

Specifically, address the following: Gifted and talented, online users, disabled, blind, hearing impaired, and  multiple achievement levels.

• • Susan-The blind student will be given audio of all information researched and use of brail keyboards. The hearing impaired student will be given closed caption text for audio and video and will also be offered an ASL interpreter for other groups presentations, if needed. Other students with disabilities will have use of note takers, voice recorders and extended time, if needed. 

  • David - The UDL book builder can address many of these issues as a project. 

  • Hearing impaired and / blind issues with the reader play option

  • Mike - Audio versions of the text can also be created for download for students to need to be able to take the audio with them. 

  • Number of coaches and content can varied for multiple achievement levels.

  • The student response area can be used for GT students.

• Alexis- The book builder will definitely help with the blind and hearing disabled with the graphics/closed caption and ability to have the book read to you.  The gift and talented could re-create the book with some additional information.  Online users could view this book at anytime and could also use the student response section as a way to express what they learned from it.  Multiple achievement level students could have a variety of duties to do on the web-based program depending on their comfort levels.

• Tina - Modifications can be made to assist the students with challenges, the challenges that these students face can be overcome by the GT and students with multiple achievement levels.  If the project includes an audio component, the blind student can excel in this area, the hearing impaired student can work with the written portion while the GT students can take a leadership role and help the students with multiple achievement levels find tasks so the collaborative group works effeciently together.  It will be important for the teacher to be the mediator to make sure appropriate tasks are assigned to all students.

Assessment of the integration/intervention program: How will you assess the effectiveness of the learning activities?

• Mike - I believe that the project can be assessed by a survey, a test, and a presentation. Allowing multiple options for students to express what they have learned.

  • Susan-Besides the finished projects and facts incorporated in them, it will be a process of learning as a team.

• Alexis - I think that the daily (or weekly) follow-ups are also an important part of the activities and assessment.  This could be done using the wikis/blogs or podcast if the students choose to use video.  The presentation will reflect how much they effort they put into the daily activities.

• Tina - I also like the idea of doing a student survey to see how the group worked together and what resources worked best to complete the goal, a rubric to make sure the project criteria was met, and peer evaluations.  A group collaboration grade can also be given based on how well each member performed their task this can be assessed with a survey, questionaire or rubric that I think the students should develop.

How will you know when the teacher has an understanding of how to teach with technology to benefit student learning?

• Mike - by offering the teacher multiple training sessions (a minimum of three should be required) we can start to see how well the teacher is learning how to use the tools provided to her.

  • Susan- The teacher will need to have some in-service trainings on how to navigate the technology and will be offered an online coach to help with any questions or problems. The teacher will have the opportunity to watch a few videos of other teachers and will have a chance to meet other teachers, from the district, for team teaching brainstorming sessions and practice. Each grade level should have a certified Education Technology teacher to help her/his team with any tech integration issues, in the future.

• Alexis - The teacher will need to complete training sessions via PowerPoint or video.  They will also need to have a strong support team at their school just in case they need any additional guidance.

• Tina - the teacher will need a professional development session modeling the techniques for guiding the students through the project process.  A survey could be given to the teacher to see what her current knowledge is and determine what skills she will need to aquire to successfully mediate the project.