Summary and Reflections

The Benefits of the Project

Each day in my job I am aware of the distance between my ideals and the reality of the larger education system in which I must work.  I have ambitious goals.  I am inspired to help every student reach his or her potential and I see how technology is making that more possible than ever.  But like the vast majority of educators, I find myself in a system constrained by budgets, tradition and politics.  We are moving in the right direction in my district, no doubt.  We have caring teachers and administrators who are open to change, but most signs of progress that I can point to are still small steps in the big picture.

I can say without doubt, though, that this project helped me span the distance between my goals and the daily reality more than anything else I have done in my current position.  As indicated in the study, there wasn’t much hard evidence to say the technology itself made the difference in attitude, motivation or learning.  However, based on what we achieved in three short weeks, I now have a restored hope that I am on the right track.

I know now that students are willing to explore online resources and learn on their own.  I have seen how much they appreciate when their teachers are trying something new, even if the transition is a little rough.  As for my own learning, I have experienced how much the process of creating lessons for self-paced, independent learners requires rigorous planning and how it has improved my communication and teaching skills. 

Also, I am very pleased that what we did was positively received by the teacher and the students.  I am grateful for the opportunity to work with educators like Mrs. June who know we can also do better and who are not afraid to try something very different to see how it works.  If it’s not evident from other materials here, we had to observe and adjust a lot during this unit.  We found ourselves learning quickly, though, and besides what I brought for technology resources, it helped greatly to combine our years of prior experience from the math classroom.  We learned from each other and I have no doubt that Mrs. June and I are better teachers having worked through this project.

The Math Clips

Instructional videos like the Math Clips that I created were the best discovery of this project for me personally.  Student comments that I heard throughout the unit also supported the fact that such a delivery method for lessons is an excellent benefit of technology.  I have no doubt that videos such as these, though mine had much room for improvement, will continue to revolutionize the way school looks.  With resources like the Khan Academy and WatchKnow, we hear more and more how teachers are “reversing instruction” by assigning the videos so students get the lecture there.  Then they use the class time for what would normally have been homework. 

Rather than eliminating the need for teachers, these videos eliminate what I see now as the dehumanizing element of lecture--trying to reach all students with the exact same pace, examples and methods.  With that restriction out of the way, teachers are now able to do what only they can--reach out in a personal way to the students who most need help at the moment.

After seeing how the students would use the clips as little or as much as needed, it was obvious to see how they benefited from them.  As a teacher, they also helped me immensely as I created them.  The analysis and practice required to present material well in this format were invaluable.  If presenting the lesson in the past, I would have been likely to look at the examples I would be using, then I would simply rely on my usual presentation skills assuming that would be sufficient.  All my experience proves that such an approach did not meet the needs of the students at the high and low ends of achievement, yet I felt that was the best we had.  Now I have great appreciation for what we can achieve with simple software for capturing the tutorials and laptops for students.

The Real Challenge

So, this course has encouraged me.  If I had my doubts about what technology can offer, this project restored my faith.  But with all I learned, I also became aware of my greatest weakness.  In fact, from my initial efforts to find assistance in this area, I don’t think it’s just me.  In most articles I have read about the current state of education, it is either the question that emerges without answer from the discussion or it is the one that is ignored.  At a time where countless learning opportunities are only a few clicks away, the most pressing question seems to be why learn? 

To put it another way, how do we make students want to learn the things that they will need in order to be successful adults?

This struck me first from a comment made by Dr. Jeff Kupperman in the online forum for this course when we were discussing a presentation by Sal Khan about his Khan Academy.  Speaking to the effectiveness of Khan's video lessons, Jeff stated, “The thing is, it all depends on the learner already being self-motivated and good at self-regulation.  If the learners are at that point, these are great -- if not, though, how do you get them there?”

Then in light of what I was learning from my project at the time, I realized that with so many opportunities for learning available through technology, even a mediocre teacher (in terms of communication skills or knowledge of content) can be much more effective if he or she puts these tools to use.  There are loads of resources available to fill in the gaps, present material other ways or allow the learner to rewind and repeat the lesson as much as necessary.

But how do we motivate those students who do not want to learn?  In working through this project, I did have a few students that were resistant to learning.  Technology itself didn’t draw them in.  The content was boring to them.  Real life data didn’t help and my efforts to entice them with the promise of future employment fell flat.  With over 15 years in the field, it is hard to admit how quickly my resources are exhausted when trying to overcome this challenge.

So I am confident that tools are available that can effectively reach our motivated learners, but this project has revealed that my own next step is not in learning more technology tools.  There will always time for that.  Instead, I have a renewed interest in the greater challenge of successfully motivating every student.  To become better at that will be far more rewarding.