GAME Plan for Technology Integration Success

Often times many of the techniques and strategies we facilitate to our students are relevant in our own lives as teachers. From the way we learn, to plan, to implement and evaluate ourselves. Dr. Ertmer states that we as teachers need 3, better yet, 4 major components to successfully integrate technology in our classrooms:
· Knowledge and content pedagogy
· Confidence
· Belief in the value of technology integration
· Supportive Culture
Based on those points when creating my GAME (Goal, Action, Monitor, Extend/Evaluate) plan for technology integration I have chosen 2 National Education Technology Standards (NETS) for teachers that I feel are the most important goals for my GAME plan. The two standards that I will focus on as my main goals are to Facilitate and Inspire Students Learning and Creativity (standard 1) and to Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership (standard 5). While all the NETS-T are valid and vital, I feel that these two are a great outline or umbrella to which the remaining standards will follow.

Engaging in professional growth and leadership is imperative to a great teacher no matter the content at hand. Pursuing a master’s degree in technology education has been a great step and initial goal in continuing my professional growth, but the process cannot end there. Technology and education are ever evolving processes that mean you are never finished learning. We would not expect our students to finish learning after the 9th grade, just as a great teacher is never the same teacher two years in a row. That professional growth and leadership will help me change the culture and perspective on technology integration to help create a supportive culture and give me the tools and knowledge I need to facilitate and inspire students learning and creativity. My actions to attain these goals are to seek out new learning opportunities, follow current trends and research in educational technology, and use the incoming content pedagogy to facilitate meaningful and authentic learning experiences for my students. Monitoring my progress during my GAME plan will come from many of the similar reflections that hold value in my students. Keeping a reflection blog, updating my portfolio with new information, keeping track of mistakes and successes, and progressing my confidence levels are all steps I will take to monitor my progression. Evaluating my progress in my GAME plan will come from reflections on my student’s engagement and success in authentic learning. The main motive of my GAME plan is to better myself for the benefit of better my student’s learning experiences. Extending and pushing myself to continue and further this journey will evolve into inspiring my students to carry on these ideas even after they leave the walls of my classroom. I believe that technology integration holds high value and benefits for my students, research and professional development offer me content pedagogy and confidence in teaching, and these skills combined will give me leadership in creating a supportive professional culture. This GAME plan will create a foundation for successful technology integration and professional growth that will hopefully inspire my student’s creativity and progress on their own lifelong learning journey.

ReferencesCennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). 6713:Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas [DVD]. Enhancing content area learning experiences with technology: Part 2. Baltimore, MD: Vicki Davis.

New and Emmerging Technology Reflection

Regardless of your detention of what an emerging technology is, it is important to keep a focused eye on current emerging technologies with regard to education. These technologies can provide cutting edge curriculum changes to benefit a wide variety of students. Throughout this course I have honed my detention of what new technologies are and what they mean to myself and my students; as well as how to be a leader of change. I have found immense value in current research and studies pertaining to the benefit of 21st century learning.
Technologies such as MUVEs and online learning modules hold great opportunities for all students in so many different ways. They offer a glimpse into a 21st century working word, communication skills as well as an authentic personalized learning experience. I focused my grant proposal around a lesson that introduced my students to the concept of online learning modules. With this module my students will have flexibility to customize their experience by choosing their research focus, communications and time in the virtual class. I feel that this unit will spark and interest in my students to explore other emerging technologies as well as entice them into other 21st century learning experiences.
My students will also benefit from my accelerated interest in keeping current on new trends in educational technology and my belief to lead change by modeling examples. I believe that by displaying in my own classroom the benefits of these technologies, other teachers will follow. Putting in the time and effort to search and apply for grants to help funding for these curriculum technologies will also set an example to fellow teachers to not only look at the challenges but to keep hindsight on the benefits to their students. Overall I leave this course feeling recharged and excited. Continuing my personal professional development will be a major component of the skills I value from this course. Technology is changing by the minute and I intend on keeping up the pace to facilitate the most authentic learning experiences for my students.

Online Course Management Systems

Prfessional development presentation.

Reaching and Engaging all Learners through Universal Desing of Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI)

Throughout this course I have been able to take an in depth look into Universal Design of Learning and Differntiated Instruction. Through these researches, peer discussions and applications I have not only been able to understand the principles and concepts of UDL and DI but I am now able to take a proactive approach to engaging all learners in my lessons and units.

Using social networking sites to create a Differentiation Station has given me a place to compile resources as well as collaborate with those of my peers. With these technology applications based on the principles of UDL and DI I feel very confident in my efforts to make learning unique based on individual learning profiles, styles and preferences. I have found new ways of using old reliable resources as well as new ones to expand my lessons and give students multiple means of instruction, presentation and motivation.

I have already gotten postivie feedback from my research with the implementation of Lesson Checker and Lesson Builder from the CAST website. With the application of the Lesson checker to reinvent an old unit based on the Tic-Tac-Toe Mulitiple Intelligence board for DI, I have seen my students take a personal interest and ownership over the learning in the “What’s Mood got to do with it? “ lesson. In this lesson my students were able to use a wide variety of technologies including Odosketch, Classchatter, Read Write Think, Microsoft Publisher, Survey Monkey and Audacity to exlore and demonstrate a common goal. With this lesson students are encourages to find a learning style that suits them best and explore other options while communicating with their peers.

I feel the biggest concept one could take from Universal Design of Learning and Differentiated Instruction Application is that it does not translate into more work for teachers it translates into better more effective teaching strategies for the benefit of each individual learner. I look forward to my continued implementation of UDL and DI and reaching and engaging all learners.

References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009b). Program Twenty. Reflection [Motion Picture]. Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: Author.

WALDEN6714 Google Groups . (2010, September 18).Google Groups . Retrieved October 29, 2010, from http://groups.google.com/group/walden-6714

Voicethread Presentation on Universal Design of Learning

http://voicethread.com/?#u733321.b1377036.i7299508

Check out my UDL/DI Voicethread.

Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology

When thinking back to my personal learning theory I created 7 weeks ago, I feel I have a strong sense of what I believe works for my students and my environment. The biggest adjustment I have made from my new knowledge from the course Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology is the difference between constructivism and constructionism. The “N” and the “V” seemed to be the same thing to me. Now I know that I focus way more on the “N” rather than the “V”. The process of constructionism, creating and artifact to represent knowledge and application of content and social learning theories are a vital part of my teaching.

I love gaining knowledge about new learning technology tools for my students to use. Voice threads will fit into my classroom so well. I am already in the process of having students upload and discuss the meanings and implications of artworks and styles on culture with students from around the world using epals.com. Voice thread is also a great way to get parents involved from the comfort of their own home. Virtual Field Trips (VFT) are a tech tools that I have already implemented and will delve further into with my students. VFTs offer the opportunity to go places and see things that money and time would otherwise not allow. Concept mapping is something new for me to include into my teaching in the sense of both a learning and teaching technology tool. It provides a great way for me to display goals and objectives while allowing my students the opportunity to organize and reflect on their thoughts on those learning targets and goals.

It is important as a life-long learner to take new knowledge and set goals for my instruction. My first goal is to try and manage class time better so that my students can have the hands-on time to explore and apply these technology tools into their learning. Time is my worst enemy as a teacher! Another goal of mine is to keep the difference between instructional technology and learning technology in the front of my mind. As teachers we often shy away from putting technology into the hands of the students. We worry that we may not have all the answers to their questions. I have learned that that is the beauty of learning technology, problem solving and exploration provide such a great base for learning. I often see teachers using a PowerPoint to share notes with students and they check off their 21st century technology integration CSO’s. While instructional technology tools are wonderful for teachers to use; that is not putting the 21st century tools into the hands of our students. Learning technology tools should be a vital part of all curriculums! I have already implemented lesson and unit plans that put the students in charge of their technology. I will use some trial and error to find ways to manage the time we have together to make these lessons possible.

Professional Learning Community Voice Thread

http://voicethread.com/#q.b884732.i4716567

Above is the link to my voicethread that I created for a grad class. I was asked to think of a problem I faced in my career, and that is what I came up with. Voicethread is AWESOME! I can see it as a great tool for my students to post and critique artwork. I am already working on getting other teachers to do the same so my students could give and get feedback about thier art from students at other schools. I may even use some online collaboration resoursed from my course text to see if we can find a place that is willing to share from other parts of the world. So cool, I am really excited about using this tool.