What have I learned?
There are three ideas that stick out to me when I reflect on my experiences with this class this semester. First, there are other ways to set up a classroom that would be fresh, innovative and conducive to learning besides the traditional desk and chair configuration. Second, a school’s AUP and/or the administration can be a huge obstacle in implementing social networking in education. Sometimes fear or misunderstanding inhibit 21st century learning from occurring. Third, I have been able to implement some tools in new ways that were already available to me but were being underused. I was very generic and unoriginal in my implementation. This course has helped me think about basic tools in new ways and come up with fresh ideas to utilize these tools differently in the classroom. How does the course work demonstrate mastery of the AECT standards? Standard 1: Content Knowledge Candidates demonstrate the knowledge necessary to create, use, assess, and manage theoretical and practical applications of educational technologies and processes. This standard is, in my opinion, the most connected to this course out of all the standards. Not only did we study theoretical applications, but much of our coursework involved creating materials to be used in our own classroom, or shared with other teachers. Our final project is a website containing lesson plans, projects and research for a specific grade level content area. We indeed applied our theories as we created and assessed educational technologies. Standard 2: Content Pedagogy Candidates develop as reflective practitioners and are able to demonstrate effective implementation of educational technologies and processes based on contemporary content and pedagogy. Creating the content to be used with students is just the beginning. This course also gave us the opportunity to implement technology. Because the projects were focused on a specific content area within a chosen grade level, cohesive, coherent lessons were created, allowing pedagogical practice to take place. I found great satisfaction implementing the projects I developed in this course with students in my own computer lab. This course was designed to allow for practical application of educational technologies. Standard 3: Learning Environments Candidates facilitate learning by creating, using, evaluating, and managing effective learning environments. Standard 4: Professional Knowledge and Skills Candidates design, develop, implement, and evaluate technology-rich learning environments within a supportive community of practice. Standard 5: Research Candidates explore, evaluate, synthesize, and apply methods of inquiry to enhance learning and improve performance. I feel like we were given the opportunity to apply this standard at various points throughout our study as we read chapters in the textbook, online articles, videos and digital resources. The standard of research was especially applicable during our Assistive Technologies assignment. Many resources were available as we explored the technology available to help those in many categories including: physically or mentally impaired, at-risk, or gifted and talented. This project required us to discover and experiment with the assistive technologies available to our students who need them. How I have grown professionally. How my own teaching practice or thoughts about teaching have been impacted by what I have learned or accomplished in this course. What will I do differently as an educator as a result of this course? The exciting thing is, I have already changed my instruction based on the content of this course. As a result of the projects assigned to us, I have used social media and collaborative spreadsheets with my 4th grade students to gather information about the counties of Idaho. My 6th grade students began blogging as well as creating Interactive Presentations for the 2nd graders at our school (which were a huge hit among 6th graders, 2nd grade teachers and 2nd grade students!) My ideas have been expanded to include everything from classroom design, to taking down the walled garden to implementing fresh tech ideas in my computer lab. Because of my participation in this course, I will continue to use technology in new and exciting ways with my students.
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In a resource provided by our instructor this week, I heard a very simple definition of assistive technology, “It helps you do something that you couldn’t do without it” (2013.) I didn’t know how true this was until after completing this assignment. I have spent a few hours this week exploring the accessibility features on my computer. The operating system I use and am evaluating is macOS Sierra, version 10.12.4. I was surprised to find so many amazing assistive technologies built into this computer. Initially, I figured you would have to purchase some of them separately or at least download them, but there are a wide variety of tools already built into this particular operating system. The assistive technologies are grouped by impairment. The first section I reviewed contained the vision impairment tools, and they include: VoiceOver, VoiceOver Gestures, Audio Descriptions and Siri. VoiceOver reads all of the text on the page. VoiceOver Gestures allows you to use the trackpad to read the text on the pages. Audio Descriptions allow you to watch movies with detailed descriptions of every scene on your Mac (only certain movies have this feature available.) Siri, which is a voice activated assistant that performs a number of tasks including sending text messages, finding files, searching the web and creating reminders, is now available in macOS. The next group of tools up for review were the hearing accessibility tools and they include: Facetime, iMessage and Closed Captions. Facetime is a video conferencing app that allows people with a hearing impairment to communicate using sign language. iMessage lets you write instead of talk to communicate, again assisting someone who has limited or no hearing. These two tools are also used by people without impairments, but they make it possible for people who can’t hear to communicate with others. Videos with closed captions are available for purchase on iTunes store and podcasts can be found at iTunes U. Finally, I reviewed the physical and motor skills assistive technologies. Wow, exploring the accessibility features in this section was the most eye opening for me. I saw more clearly the ways assistive technologies make it possible for some people to do what would otherwise be impossible. I explored the following features: Switch Control, Dwell Control and Dictation Commands. Switch control and dwell control are fascinating features to me. Switch control allows someone with a physical impairment to control the mouse with the click of a “switch,” or a predetermined key. Dwell control is a new feature to macOS and allows people with head or eye-tracking hardware to move the cursor. Dictation commands let you talk where you would type. This tool allows you to write a report, search the internet or reply to an email using just your voice. Experimenting with these tools was very eye-opening to me. I have had very limited experience with using assistive technologies, but this week I have learned that there are many tools available to assist people with disabilities. I have come to understand that assistive technology truly “refers to devices that are used by people with disabilities to perform functions that might otherwise be difficult or impossible for them to do” (2016.) References Assistive Technology. (2016, August 31). Retrieved April 10, 2017, from http://aem.cast.org/navigating/assistive-technology.html#.WO5HX1Pyui4 Assistive Technology: Resource Roundup. (2013, December 09). Retrieved April 10, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/article/assistive-technology-resources When teaching with technology, an obstacle for many teachers is time. Time is a scarcity for teachers anyway, but with the added time required to learn and implement new technology, teachers suddenly have even less time. Now, add the burden of constantly learning new tech tools because some of the topics covered in social studies, such as economics and politics, are constantly changing and teaching with technology becomes even more of an obstacle. Finding quality resources relating to specific social studies topics is another obstacle. “Despite their obvious value and and relevance to future citizens, social studies themes and topics are not usually among those included in statewide assessments.” (Roblyer, 2016) Because assessment drives instruction, money is usually spent on other subjects, leaving social studies instructors to find free or inexpensive materials. I had personal experience with this during our course of study this semester. It was difficult to find apps, websites, and software that relate to the specific topics of study I was seeking to create lessons for, such as, Symbols of the State of Idaho, Native Americans, and Citizenship. The solutions I see to both of these obstacles are two fold. First, immerse yourself, as much as possible, into an online social studies culture. Teachers could follow blogs and subscribe to RSS feeds in order to stay as up to date as possible on the development of social studies technology. Making connections with several teachers who use technology in their social studies classroom and sharing ideas with each other would also be an effective way to combat the constantly changing, limited technology resources in social studies. Second, apply for grants to purchase your own social studies resources. Money is often available to those willing to work hard enough to find and then secure it. With some proactivity, the obstacles of teaching social studies with technology can be overcome. References Roblyer, M.D. (2016). Integrating Educational Technology Into Teaching [eText]. Retrieved from www.pearsonhighered.com/etextbooks. Clock image source: pixabay.com Map image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Old-world-map.jpg
Relative advantage is “a term coined by Everett Rogers to refer to the perception by potential adopters of how much better an innovative method or resource is than the old one” (2016.) Reading chapter 12 of Roblyer’s book Integrating Educational Technology Into Teaching has given me a clear and solid understanding of the relative advantage of using technology to teach social studies. In this blog post, I will present evidence that the use of technology can make social studies topics more relevant and authentic. Little time will be spent discussing how technology makes social studies more engaging, because technology is a tool that creates excitement among students on any topic of study!
Because Social Studies is such a broad topic, it can be difficult to summarize or specify the overall goal of studying this subject, but Roblyer gives a concise explanation of it’s purpose. “Social Studies instruction is designed to help us discover and better understand our world and it’s people…” He goes on to state that, “...technology-based strategies have become integral to this instruction” (2016.) There are specific ways that technology can be used to make learning in the social studies classroom more relevant. One advantage of using digital resources in the social studies classroom is how rapidly the digital information changes. Accessing digital resources allows us to stay up-to-date. This is especially significant because various topics within social studies, such as politics, economics and current events, change constantly (2016.) Another form of technology that makes social studies more relevant is simulation. Most social studies topics are complex, and simulations make these concepts more clear and meaningful (2016.) Finally, the use of Information Visualization Strategies allow students to represent data in an easy to understand form. Using graphs, spreadsheets, and timelines make information easier for students to analyze and represent. These are just a few ways technology can make learning more relevant. Technology can also be used to make learning authentic. Learning can come to life as students take virtual field trips to visit places they would otherwise only be able to read or hear about. Adventure learning can bring places and stories to life as students experience these places in person or remotely. Digital storytelling allows students to personalize and internalize learning. Technology tools should never be chosen to simply replace one type of learning in the classroom but should be carefully and mindfully selected. When selected wisely, technology can enhance learning greatly, as seen in the previous examples. The opportunities for motivating students, enhancing the relevancy of learning and making student experiences authentic are endless. Enriching the learning experience in the social studies classroom using technology is an exciting opportunity! Resources Roblyer, M.D. (2016). Integrating Educational Technology Into Teaching [eText]. Retrieved from www.pearsonhighered.com/etextbooks. |
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April 2017
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