Monitoring My GAME Plan (app 4)

The progress in meeting the goals of my GAME plan is going very well. I have done research on both my goals, and have actually been able to implement one of them already. I have found a wealth of information online, as well as from the course text. At this point I would say that I am making sufficient progress towards my goals, and that I am more than half way there. The strategies that I selected for myself are working, however, I am finding that it is taking a good amount of time to do the research and legwork to put my goals into action. I have listed my goals below along with answers to some self-monitoring questions.


Goal 1: Learn more about Voicethread, a Web 2.0 application that can be used as a collaborative and reflection tool by students, to document and reflect upon what they have learned


In my quest to master this application, I scoured the website www.voicthread.com and found excellent tutorials that walked me through how to create and set up Voicethreads. I did have to sign up for an educator account, as the free version only allowed a maximum of three Voicethreads. I also printed the step by step instructions that this website offered that showed me exactly what to do to set up a secure classroom group. This is pretty much all I needed, in order to get my class started in making Voicethreads, besides entering student names and creating passwords.


I do not need to modify my action plan in regard to goal 1, because I have already completed an activity which required my students to create a power point and then upload it to Voicethread. The assignment was a success because in the end, all students had a tread uploaded to the site ready to be shared. I was not sure how far I would get with this activity, being the first time I was using the application with my students, and how well the students would perform.  The threads were great, but they definately need more practive leaving audio commenting.

What I have learned so far is that it takes a lot of time to introduce any new technology into the classroom. I have also learned that this particular technology is not as user friendly as it is portrayed to be, but it is an additional tool that can be used to foster "active authentic learning" (Cennamo, et. al., 2009, p31) in the classroom

One new question in regards to this goal would be whether or not there are any other applications similar to Voicethread out there that would allow editing after upload, and that might be better than Voicethread. Is there anyone out there that has used Voicethread and know of other application that are similar, that can be used in the classroom?


Goal 2: Research how wiki’s are being used as a learning and collaborative tool in the classroom


I am still working on this goal, but I do have some experience in creating and using a wiki from prior classes in this degree program. What I need is to determine which wiki hosting site is best to use for a classroom and is also free to use. I know about wikispaces which I have already used, but there are others such as Zoho wiki and Google wiki that I would like to check out.  If anyone reading this blog has used Zoho or Google wiki before, please leave me a comment sharing your experience.

I do not feel as though I need to modify my GAME plan for this goal at this time, but I do need to schedule some time on my calendar, so that I can focus on doing more research for this goal, and to look for another teacher who would be interested in using a wiki to collaborate between our classes.  I have made contact with a teacher from another district, but have not heard back from her as of yet.  I will keep trying.


What I have learned so far is that a wiki is very similar to a website and makes a great collaboration tool. It also provides students with real time access to classroom information, as well as "allowing them to coordinate group work much easier than on paper, or email." (Cennamo, et. al., 2009, p58) I have also learned that not one of my colleagues has a wiki, or even knows how to create one.  Looks like I may have to set the bar  and show them the way.


Questions that arise for me about this goal, is whether or not students will find using a wiki a useful tool, and if it will be engaging enough for them. Another concern for me is that according to Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer, when using a wiki, it is often times very hard to figure out which student posted what to the wiki, this could be a big issue for me. I would have to create some sort of guideline for students to follow, such as assigning each student a letter or number, or avatar, and making sure they include this information on every post, in order to grade accurately and know who is responsible for posting what. If anyone can help with suggestions on how to keep track of student postings to wikis, or if you have a great idea in using a wiki itself in a classroom setting, please leave a comment below, as I am open to any advice.


References:


Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Carrying out the GAME plan (app 3)

The learning approach that I plan to take in order to master my GAME plan is to do research using technology, tap into colleague experience and knowledge, compare various Web 2.0 applications that create the same outcomes, and do some experimenting with these new Web 2.0 tools to learn “first hand” how efficient and user friendly they are.

In my initial GAME plan post, I stated that my first goal would be to learn how to use a Web 2.0 tool called Voicethread as a collaborative and reflection tool in the classroom. As a Universal Design (Cennamo, et. al., 2009, p116) technology tool, a Voicethread can be used to present student artifacts when students have a hard time standing up in front of the class, or students can use the audio feature to record themselves if they have difficulty writing.

The Resources that I will need to carry out my plan are as follows:

• Visiting Voicethread.com and reading the information I find there about the application, as well as watching “how to” video tutorials.
• Browsing pre-existing Voicethreads to get ideas on how them.
• Research reviews about Voicethread on educator networking sites.
• Ask colleagues if they have used, or are using Voicethread in their classrooms, and have them help me to get started using the application.


Additional information that I will need are:
• Whether or not students have signed media permission forms to be able to post work out on the web.
• Find out if there is a school subscription for this application already.


Steps that I have been able to take so far include the following:
• I have used the internet to research and read about Voicethread.
• I have watched video tutorials from the Voicethread.com website.
• I have signed up for a year long educator account subscription.
• I have set up class groups and student accounts.
• Read reviews about Voicethread on professional networking sites.

The learning strategy for the second half of my GAME plan is to get experience using a wiki as a classroom tool. With this tool, a teacher would be able to offer more choices (UDL: Universal Design) to students in the type of method they could choose from to demonstrate and support their learning such as solving a problem as a group, journaling, viewing tutorials, creating tutorials, and collaborating. (Cennamo, et. al., 2009, p58)

The resources I will need to carry out this part of the plan are:

• Finding out who in my school district is using a wiki, and ask to meet with them to gather knowledge and suggestions.
• Use the internet to locate pre-existing classroom wiki’s and study how they are set up and how they are used.
• Compare and contrast the various web hosting wiki sites to see if one might be better than another.

Additional information I will need is:

• To make sure that all students have a media permission form prior to using a class wiki.
• Locating a classroom teacher willing to partner up so our classes could collaborate realtime.

Steps I have been able to take so far include:

• Browsing the internet for classroom wiki’s to see how they are being used in classrooms all over the world.
• I have also located a teacher from a local district school, and sent out an invitation to create a joint wiki between our two schools as a trial. As of this post, I have not heard back from the teacher yet.


References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

Using the GAME Plan

Students are surrounded with technology everyday outside the classroom.  For education to be successful, and learning to take place, we have to meet students where they are the most engaged, and that is with technology.  Bringing technology into the classroom gives students the confidence they need to take on the new challenge of learning the content knowledge.  As they come into the classroom already knowing how to use a variety of tools, and feeling comfortable using them.

I am a technology teacher, and as such, I can say that I know a bit about technology.  However, there is always room for improvement, and to help me determine where those areas are, I visited the ISTE website and investigated the NETS-T standards and performance indicators posted there. I found two performance indicators in which I can use the GAME plan (Cennamo, et.al., 2009, p5) to improve my technology skills in the classroom.  The two performance indicators are: NETS-T #1c and #1d (2010).

1. Facilitate and Inspire student Learning and Creativity

c. Promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.
d. Model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face to face and virtual environments.


GAME plan for indicator #1c. – Promote student reflection.

Goal: Learn more about Voicethread, a Web 2.0 application that can be used as a collaborative and reflection tool by students, to document and reflect upon what they have learned.

Action: (1) Go to Voicethread.com and read about the application. (2) Watch video tutorials provided by the site to learn how to create and use Voicethreads in a safe and effective way. (3) Sign up for a free account and practice creating a Voicethread prior to using in the classroom. (4) Browse existing Voicethreads to get ideas on how to use this application in class.

Monitor: (1) Did I do enough research about Voicethread to consider it a useful tool in class? (2) Did I learn how to create a Voicethread properly? (3) Is Voicethread user friendly and easy to use?

Evaluate: (1) Was I successful in creating a Voicethread? (2) Practice using Voicethread with a small class to debug the lesson and work out unforeseen flaws.



GAME plan for indicator #1d. – Collaborating in a virtual environment.

Goal: Research how wiki’s are being used as a learning and collaborative tool in the classroom.

Action: (1) Use the internet to research how other educators are utilizing wikis in the classroom. (2) Ask colleagues for suggestions and example lesson plans. (3) Look for a teacher from another school district that would be interested in partnering up to create a collaborative wiki between our classrooms.

Monitor: (1) Will using a wiki engage students? (2) Was I successful in finding a way to use a wiki creatively in class? (3) Was I successful in finding a partner school?

Evaluate: (1) After using a wiki with one class as a practice test, how successful was it? (2) What worked well using the wiki and what didn’t?

The GAME plan helps to keep you focused when researching and implementing a resource.  Exploring technology and perfecting how to use it well enough to be used in a classroom takes alot of dedicaton, self-directed learning, motiviation, perseverance and time.  I am open to using any method or tool that will enable my success in this arena.

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.



International Society for Technology in Education (2010), The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for Teachers, Retrieved September 2010, From: http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Reflection 6712 Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom

Alan November states that “educators can harness the power of the Internet to get their message out and to empower students to become more actively involved in managing their own learning.” (November, 2008, p3) However, like anything else, students must learn how to use this “powerful technology” (November, 2008, p2) correctly. Educators should not take for granted that students already know how to search, decode and read on-line content for comprehension. For example, one way to prepare students for web literacy is to teach and model an internet inquiry strategy called Quest. Quest stands for Questioning, Understanding, Evaluating, Synthesizing and Transforming. (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007, p.51)


The most striking revelation I experienced during this course is that information is already out there (on the internet) waiting to be accessed, and it is our job as educators to teach students how to sift through the good, the bad and the ugly. In other words, in the past we could count on the fact that the information was correct and accurate when using our class text books because the editors and publishers had already done the evaluating and validating of the information contained in the text ahead of time for us. Today, anybody can publish anything to the internet, and it is important to teach students how to evaluate and synthesize this data before they use it for personal and educational use. “All students need a specific skill set in order to interact with the abundant amount of information available at their fingertips.” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009) According to Dr. Douglas Hartman, literacy is evolving,” our past was rooted in book culture, but our future will be rooted in on-line and digital media.” (Laureate Education Inc., 2009)

Going forward, the knowledge and experience I learned by creating a unit plan that included 21st century literacy strategies such as questioning, synthesizing and communicating, will help me enhance current lessons and develop future lessons that will be much more streamlined and all inclusive. My lesson plans will be written with activities in place to focus the students at the start of a lesson, take them through searching for information more efficiently, walk them through synthesizing and analyzing the data, and then sharing the knowledge through communication. This is a workflow that can be used as a guide no matter what the lesson is about.

One development goal that I would like to pursue as a result of this class is to begin an online collaborative partnership, using a wiki, with students and teachers from another school district. I think that students would enjoy working together, and this type of learning environment will help to prepare students sharpen their collaborative skills and get them used to sharing information in readiness for a global collaborative workforce. In order to prepare for this project I will need to locate a school that is willing to partner up with me, and that has the necessary equipment such as internet access, parental permission, and netiquette safety guidelines in place. However, before going live, I would probably complete a mini assignment with just my class as practice, so students can get familiar with the wiki application, and give me an opportunity to look for loopholes or areas that need addressing before the actual school to school collaboration project begins.


References:

Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Program 2. New Literacies. [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author.

November, A., (2008) Web Literacy for Educators. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

Reflection - Final Blog Post for Walden Class 6711

At the beginning of this class, I wrote a personal learning theory which supported Garner’s multiple intelligence model, in that every individual has their own area of strength when it comes to how they learn. Some are visual learners, some are auditory learners, and still others are kinesthic learners. (Lever-Duffy & Macdonald, 2008, p.24) I still believe that to be successful at teaching, an instructor needs to change their delivery style in order to reach all the multiple intelligences in the classroom. However, after reading about several different learning styles in this course, I now believe the ideal method of teaching would be to have a teaching style that is multi-faceted so as to target all learning styles, but at the same time engaging so that students buy into the lesson and become actively immersed in the learning. Dr. Orey stated in one of our DVD video’s that “people learn best when they build stuff, such as an external artifact or something they can share with others.” (Laureate Education, Inc. 2009a) Dr. Orey called this theory of “building stuff” the constructionist learning theory. (Laureate Education, Inc. 2009a) Therefore, when asked how I could modify my instructional style to make it even more effective, I would have to say that one way would be to change my personal learning theory to integrate a requirement for my students to construct artifacts that reflect their learning when appropriate.

One immediate adjustment I would like to make to my instructional practice is to use Web 2.0 technology as learning tools for students. Dr. Orey describes learning tools as digital technology such as Microsoft applications, Web 2.0, and multi-media, which students can use to enhance and support their learning. The goal is to create a learner centered environment (students are using the technology to learner) rather than a teacher centered environment (the focus is on the teacher and not on the students. One example of this is a teacher that only lectures). Two Web 2.0 tools that I would like to begin using with my students are concept mapping and voicethreads. (Pitler et. al., 2007) Concept mapping promotes long term memory by enabling students to use graphic images to represent content. Paivio calls this “dual coding” and it means delivering the same information in more than one format. According to Paivio, people can remember images better than text. (Laureate Education, Inc. 2009b) Concept maps can be used to learn vocabulary, or determine the organization of a website, similar to a storyboard. The second instructional tool Voicethreads is a tool that can reinforce and review prior learning while building something to share with others. It is a great collaboration tool as well as an alternate way to “dual code” by using graphics and text to establish long term memory retention, leading to real learning rather than memorization.

Two long term goals that I would like to make to my instructional practice regarding technology is to involve students in demonstrations rather than just having a show and tell led by me. I am in the process of ordering a student response system which will allow for continuous interactivity during classroom lecture, review and demonstrations. I am excited to have this equipment and looking forward to using it to engage my students even more. The second long term goal is to develop lessons that utilize dual coding. I would like to add “extension” sections to my lesson plans to have alternate ways of teaching the same lesson using methods other than just text. For example, having students find graphics that will reflect technology vocabulary that they are learning for a particular week, or have them select 8 out of 15 technology terms and have them write sentences reflects that true meaning of the term, and adding a graphic image by each sentence to support it visually.



Sources:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009a). Cognitive Learning Theories. [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009b). Instructional Tools vs. Learning Tools. [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author.

Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Voicethread

As part of my assigment this week, I was required to create a voicethread based on a need, problem or situation that I am faced with as a teacher.  My voice thread is about the problem of inappropriate and excessive use of cell phone and ipod use during class time.  I am also asking anyone to help in coming up with a way to involve students in the solution of how to cut down or eliminate this problem altogether.
click the link to view and listen to my voicethread....
http://voicethread.com/share/1032469/

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

In our resources this week, Dr. Michael Orey describes "Social Learning or cooperative learning; as the act of being actively engaged in constructing artifacts, as well as conversations in order to enhance understanding and learning from others." (Laureate Inc., 2009) Beaumie Kim writes that "knowledge is derived from interactions between people and their environments." (Orey, 2001) Connectivist George Siemens states that social learning is using technology to collaborate and share knowledge between groups of people. (Laureate Inc., 2009b) The idea of social learning is the opportunity to interact with the people around you and learn from their experiences and points of view. We are all unique, learn differently and all have different perceptions to share. "Two people looking at something together never actually see the same thing in the same way." (Orey, 2001) This is where the learning comes into play.

Pitler et al. state in their book Using Technology with Classroom instruction that Works, that because we are living in a time when society is forced to keep pace with technology, students need "to be prepared for the fast-paced, virtual workplace that they will inherit, students need to be able to learn and produce cooperatively." (Pitler et. al., 2007, p139) There are a number of technology tools mentioned in chapter 7 to support social and cooperative learning. Creating videos using multimedia, employing multiuser games, completing web based inquiries, and applications such as Keypals for communications, all can be used to promote social learning by allowing students to collaborate and create with each other.

Dr. Orey talks about how important social learning is because students reach a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which he describes as "what the child is able to learn at a given time." (Laureate Inc., 2009a) He also says that by encouraging social learning, a child gets MKD and can then continue to learn. MKD is the acronym for "more knowledgeable others" which means "a child is unable to learn at this time without help from someone else." (Laureate Inc., 2009a) ZPD and MKD are good reasons to support social learning.

Social Learning is a way for students to learn from other people's perspectives, "bounce ideas off each other, confirm and validate their thoughts, a way to give each other encouragement, and achieve confidence from knowing that they may have the same trouble learning a particular thing as the next student, or that they have come up with the same answer as a result." (Laureate, Inc. 2009a)

I believe that to be able to succeed in society today; you need to be a well rounded individual, having the ability to produce in multiple ways, using both the virtual world and the non-virtual world, in essence being resourceful in the use of both technology and human talent.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009a). Connectivism as Learning Theory. [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009b). Social Learning Theories. [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author.

Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Section: Social Constructivism, Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.