Informed Decision-Making

The "Backwards Design" model comes to mind when I considered the ways I began to plan out my school year, and when I think of informed decision-making within my own classroom bubble. Outside of the educational career space, decision-making is a part of everyday problem-solving, and being informed is a crucial research step in any major or minor decision. Just as I spent time researching for a place to live after college, or what type of puppy my husband and I should look for, I know that informed decision-making is a skill that comes naturally to me when making major life decisions. As I reflect on the decisions being made within my own classroom, I can see that there is never a "perfect" route, but rather MANY routes to the same end goal, and sometimes it takes time and failure to discern which path is best. I think I can struggle with this, as I like to get things "right" the first time, but the flexibility of the educator role has taught me to slow down and really weigh my decisions, especially with ever-changing technology. Rather than using technology for the sake of using it in an informational world, I have grown in my ability to research and consider the affordances that technology might bring into any learning environment, not just the classroom.

The artifacts below showcase the projects that I believe best exemplify my decision-making throughout my graduate studies and within my own workplace environment. Many of the projects were applied to my current classroom, and show instances where the impact and effectiveness of the technology were weighed heavily and with discernment.

AP Research Grant Proposal & Multimedia Presentation

In my ETEC 579 course, "Implementation of Technology", we developed a grant proposal in order to go through the process of simultaneously weighing the needs of our consumers and the affordances the technology will bring. Rather than just choosing a "cool and innovative" piece of technology, we needed to consider the needs of what our chosen piece of technology would be able to meet, and what type of solution (or goal) we were trying to reach.

I have included the three steps to the development my grant proposal for my own AP Research course below. The first, The Purpose Statement, was developed through peer feedback, which showcases the collaborative efforts taken to narrow down and address the issues that I was beginning to consider in the design of my course. Though there were many issues I could have chosen to address, I felt like the specific need for a research computer lab was the top priority for my students to engage in higher-level research, therefore showcasing my decision-making in my AP Research course design.

Development of Purpose Statement:

Initial Draft:

• "The AP Research program at Frisco High School desires to improve student collaboration and research skills by providing a research computer lab with iPads for filming and documenting data, as well as PC desktops that allow student access to academic databases and journals because individual classrooms are currently unable to support the course's research needs that College Board requires of AP Capstone students."

Through peer feedback, I discovered that I hadn't quite identified what I wanted my outcome to be. Why does AP Research even need this technology? Can my classroom still succeed without it? I also had not addressed the problem that I was attempting to solve through this grant. With just those two questions lingering in my mind, I was able to consider a better angle for my grant proposal and continue to specify the need and solution to my AP Research problem using specific evidence from the College Board requirements..

Final Draft:

• The AP Research program at Frisco High School desires to improve student research skills, such as source collaboration and database utilization, by providing a research computer lab with PC desktops that allow student access to academic databases and peer-reviewed journals because individual classrooms are currently unable to provide students the opportunity to "conduct independent research", "apply context and perspective", and "analyze credible sources and evidence" as stated by College Board's course requirements for AP Research students (College Board).

Official Grant Proposal

Multimedia Presentation Explaining Grant Proposal

Since the grant proposal needed to be short, the multimedia presentation below dives into the background of the issue I was attempting to problem-solve and also expands on the benefits to having a research lab for my courses.

Blogging

Not only does my blog that I created in an earlier course (Intro to Ed Tech) introduced me to the art of blogging and its reflection benefits, but gave me the opportunity in a later course, Web 2.0 Technologies, to evaluate, explore, and make decisions regarding the multiple educational technologies that I was being exposed to during the course of my graduate studies. Using the TPACK Model, I was asked to evaluate and consider if the technology I was exploring for that week of the course had any benefit to my own classroom and/or to my professional life outside of the classroom. I'm grateful for the reflection opportunities and I feel as though my blog really shows the deep thought and problem-solving that allowed me to continue to evaluate and make decisions regarding the most effective technologies that can help me reach my learning goals, whether it is determining the most effective Learning Management System, or the best platform to deliver course content for a particular subject.

Emerging Technologies - Hardware & Software Discussion

In this particular evaluation of technologies within my "Applying Instructional Media & Technology" course, we were asked to evaluate three different technologies and how it could be used in an instructional setting. This could be a new or used technology that we had already come into contact with during our time as a teacher. We were asked to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of the technology, and it was beneficial to discover what other classmates had considered in order to see if their technology experience would be helpful in my own courses. I felt like the evaluation I did below of StoryboardThat, Adobe Spark, & Google Expeditions shows my ability evaluate emerging technology and the applications' abilities to meet the needs of my own classroom, and hopefully the needs of my peers' students around the United States.

Book Review for Synergy and Synthesis for Teaching in the 21^st Century by Dr. Joan Della Valle and Sherrye Dotson

In my "Inquiry & Tech Based Instructional Methods" course, I was asked to investigate a model of problem-based learning, and this course really transformed my thinking behind my own instruction. The following book explored the 21 Core model, and I looked at it using the Six Thinking Hats which allowed me to explore problem-based learning and technology from multiple perspectives. This increased my ability to make wiser decisions when it comes to my unit planning and the implementation of effective technological applications. The first button below takes the reader to the initial reflection on the book, and then the final review using the "Six Thinking Hats" model is below. My decision making and reflection growth becomes more extensive and inquisitive from the initial review to the final one.

"Six Thinking Hats" Method for Book Review