This assignment is a way for you to share information about your current role and teaching/learning context, your professional learning goals, and the District's vision for educational technology. You will be exploring the ISTE Standards for (1a) "set professional learning goals, and; (2a) supporting the District Ed Tech vision.
You will also begin thinking about your perceptions and uses of educational technology. We ask you to consider a lesson, issue, or topic that is currently a challenge within your school or work environment and to propose a solution to that problem that incorporates educational technology in some manner.
Introductions
Your teaching situation can play a large role in your options for Ed Tech in the classroom. Describe briefly your teaching assignment, years/subjects teaching, and the challenges and successes you have experienced in Ed Tech.
Professional Learning Goals
No matter if you are a new teacher or a seasoned veteran, your professional learning goals must be on file with your school district. However, in hindsight, many of us have failed to include Ed Tech as part of those goals. With the recent pandemic, we have learned how important it is to improve teaching and learning through the use of technology. Your professional learning goals move beyond getting a certification or earning a badge. Your goals should move you towards embedded activities that promote digital age teaching and learning. Consider how Ed Tech will play a role in your professional goals going forward, and share how you might update your goals, action steps, methods for monitoring progress, and the steps for evaluation to include Ed Tech.
Now more than ever, the District's vision for Ed Tech is in the spotlight. Districts with a solid technology plan may have been better able to handle the online learning challenges during COVID19. For this section, review your District's Technology Plan, Continuity of Learning Plans and/or Remote Learning Plans and think about the vision for Educational Technology in the District. Share out how can you support the District Ed Tech vision, challenges or successes you have seen or experienced, and suggestions for improvement.
How does your teaching assignment, professional learning goals, and the District Ed Tech vision impact your instructional practice?
This is the problem that you will want to define. The context for the scenario you identify should be focused in an area that you are intimately familiar. Ideally, this scenario will reflect your current professional discipline, or professional discipline that you feel the most comfortable applying solutions too. (If you are not currently employed in an educational context, then you are welcome to describe a context in which you would want to teach/train based on your own learning experiences or based on a hypothetical context.)
Please provide additional context on:
The age (or grade level) of the learners with whom you work
The topic/content that this will focus on (1st grade reading, new corporate regulations, etc.)
The background knowledge of the learners
For example, if you are an elementary teacher, you may find that your students are struggling to multiply with two numbers or, if you are a staff developer in a business setting, your employees need help to learn soft skills of interpersonal communication. Or during the challenges of COVID19, you may have seen challenges to connectivity or devices. These scenarios -- and dozens of others -- are ones that educators face every day, and there are thousands of apps, websites, and devices that have the potential to help. Thus, you have been asked to design a solution to address this issue, in an instructional manner, though your solution will need to be supported by educational technology in some way.
Define how you might offer a solution to the issue. How will you use a particular educational technology to address this challenge you -- and your learners -- are facing? Please explain:
Instructional design principles using technology. This description will describe how you plan to use technology to create innovative digital learning environments that engage and support learning appropriate to the grade level (or age of learner) and content.
Authentic learning applications. This description will describe how you plan to apply different technologies to engage learners in a task that has real-world applicability.
Assessment of technology in learning. This description will present how you plan to assess the effectiveness of the chosen technology on implied student learning.
This assignment will be assessed as a pass/fail grade worth 75 points, assuming that you demonstrate proficiency with your writing and make an earnest intellectual effort. It is designed as a formative assessment so your instructor can begin to understand your knowledge of and comfort level with educational technology. To that end, there are no “right” or “wrong” answers, and this will be a way for you to share your current thinking about educational technology as we begin to explore many of the topics that will emerge in EDU 590. (Note: Points may be deducted for missing elements or formatting errors but you may resubmit. )
This is a formal academic essay of at least 500 words minimum, 750 words maximum.
Information presented should be organized in a logical manner displaying clarity in thought and progression.
Main points are well developed with high quality, supporting evidence that demonstrates critical thinking.
Appropriate sentence structure and paragraph structures are used and the document is void of grammatical errors.
The essay requires a little initial research on your educational technology topic and should include at least two valid outside references. You can use our Ed Tech Library Guide or any other resource you deem appropriate. Sources can include books, blog posts, websites, podcasts, webinars, or other items that connect to the topic and tools you are exploring.
To the best of your ability, utilize APA formatting and style guidelines to format your document and cite your two sources. You are welcome to use a bibliography generator like Zbib. You do not need to include an abstract or any images, tables, or charts, yet please do list your references at the end.
Your essay will consist of 3 sections, following a problem/solution format.
Section 1: Introduction and Professional Learning Goals (150-200 words)
Section 2: Connections to the District Ed Tech Vision (150-200 words)
Section 3: Problem of Practice and Proposed Solutions (300-400 words)
REQUIRED: minimum of 2 research based citations in APA format.
We ask that you make an earnest intellectual effort, and your instructor will provide you will feedback on your ideas, helping you to think ahead about what you will be learning in EDU 590.
At the end of the class, we will ask you to revisit what you have initially written here, in light of what you have learned in EDU 590.