Key Concept 16

16.1 Candidates will be able to create a literature review of a specific topic related to educational technology.

In ED776, Christine Donnelly, David FitzSimons, and I created a literature review on the topic of the relevance of homework and teachers' perceptions of homework. Through this study, we hoped to discover if homework still had a place in schools. If it did, we wondered how educational technology could assist it. If it did not, we were curious as to whether educational technology offered improved methods of assessing students beyond traditional methods. We found a plethora of research and used it to lay out a complete review of experts' assessments on the topic. We enjoyed this review so much that in ET662, we brought Edward Schultheis on board and created a webinar based on our research called Hacking Homework, which took our literature review and made it more practically applicable for our colleagues in the cohort.

16.2 Candidates will be able to apply the results of research about educational technology to practice and correctly cite sources in APA style.

As mentioned in the above objective, the main method of applying the research from our review was to create a webinar through which our cohort could examine the options available to homework. This was an incredible experience, and one that allowed us to share our knowledge with our collegues in a live environment. I have included the video of the Zoom session below, if you would like to review it further.

While we used APA in most of our longer writings in this program, one paper where I was pushed to use APA in multiple ways, citing multiple types of resources, was my review of the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry. I researched this school for Part I of our Project LXQ experience in ET660, and in addition to articles, I found videos and even a live interview as necessary for discovering all the information I needed in order to ascertain how PSII could help guide our fledgling school. The complete report can be read below. The main area of interest for me at PSII is their student-driven curriculum, which allows learners to create their own journeys and paths to knowledge. This student-centered innovation became one of the guiding princples of the FOCUS Academy, which was the school that grew from our Project LQ activities.