EDLD+5364--Teaching+with+Technology

//**EDLD 5364 Course-Embedded Assignment**// This course offered a rich collection of information and resources that helped me gain more knowledge about teaching and learning, and creating media to support learning. The information on PBLs, constructivism learning theory, connectivism learning theory, and the UDL framework corroborated many of the things I already know on those topics. I have had extensive training in the Schlechty WOW framework. The PBLs I design with teachers on my campus are based on the Schlechty design qualities. I found those qualities very similar to the UDL framework for design, but, they are just organized differently. Schlechty’s framework is based upon 10 design qualities (Schlechty, 2002), whereas the UDL framework is designed around three major principles. However, as I read the UDL ebook, I could identify elements that I recognized as Schlechty design qualities within the UDL principles.
 * __Self –Assessment__**

Which came first, I do not know, and to me it does not matter. What is important is that good design is good design, and these two schools of thought have come to the same conclusions. Furthermore, reading the brain research about the three learning networks and how that translates into practice, helped me connect the Schlechty design qualities to the corresponding learning networks. That was new to me and useful. In addition, it occurred to me, after reflecting on the three principals of the UDL framework, that perhaps this model of design might be easier for some teachers to understand. In other words, I can differentiate the design models for teachers who have not felt comfortable designing with the Schlechty model, perhaps finding it too unwieldy because there are so many qualities of design. Narrowing it down to three chunks might evoke a better response, even though I know, they include pretty much the same 10 principles, just in a new way. That would address UDL principle 1 that says we should present information in multiple ways (Rose, 2002).

Using what I know from Schlechty and what I learned from UDL helped me design my Proper Nouns Everywhere ebook, the learning activities and professional development on our team site, and my lesson on proper nouns. The UDL checklist helped me to be sure I included the necessary components. The combination of the two design models has given me a better understanding of both, and I will introduce UDL to reluctant teachers who think that Schlechty is just for PBLs. It might be sort of a Schlechty “lite” in terms of organization, but just as effective.

I approached this course as the PBL it was. For me, the collaboration was key. I worked with my teammates to devise a plan of action and assign responsibilities, and worked on my own on the segments for which I was responsible. At several points throughout the week, we would review the website and our googledoc, and check in with each other via text messaging, e-mail, or the googledoc to assess progress and needs. We reviewed each other’s work and provided feedback to improve our product. In addition, we communicated words of encouragement and appreciation to each other, which helped build camaraderie. To locate, gather, and retrieve the pieces necessary to fulfill my responsibilities, I read the assigned readings and viewed the assigned videos, but, moreover, I searched the internet for additional information, and consulted experts in the field of Special Education to help me gain more insight. I would follow links mentioned in the readings or the videos, or other videos suggested on Youtube after I viewed the required ones. I often spent hours researching further, and one of my colleagues where I work received many, many links in e-mails telling her she just had to read this or look at that. It was as if the course opened the door a crack and I pushed it open to walk through. I believe that is what a well-designed PBL should do, is it not?
 * __Learn as a Learner__**

I read __Strengths Based Leadership__ by Tom Rath and Barrie Conchie, and I took their Strengths Finder survey to identify my top five strengths (2009). They are Achiever, Learner, Connectedness, Restorative and Positivity, in that order. Those qualities were not surprising to me. I have been accused of several of those qualities before. What //was// surprising was that those qualities are recognized as //strengths//! Finally, what I am best at has been ascribed some researched-based value! That aside, I believe achiever and learner, my top two strengths, make me an excellent student and an awesome team member. I put forth a committed effort to learn (learner) so I can get the job done with a high level of quality (achiever). When I finish a project, whether it is a website to aid a teacher or a decorated wedding cake, I look back at my work with a critical eye to see what else I can do to improve it. I will tinker and tweak things until I am satisfied with the quality of performance. I believe that is where team members’ feedback and critiques can be of greatest help. I value formative feedback the most because I can do something with it. That is how I approached my work on this project and I offered feedback to my teammates as well so that we could succeed together.

I work well with others. It has always been one of my strengths. I also acknowledge that I have a difficult time keeping up when there are many deadlines. Working in a group, such as I have over the last several months, has kept me on track because I have a strong sense of obligation to the team. If left on my own with only myself to account, I might miss a deadline or two. Regardless of whether I am in a group or not, I always put forth my best effort. However, when I am accountable to a group, I work harder to keep up so as not to disrupt the timeline or disappoint the team. Therefore, I believe I need to be sure to form collaborative ties of some kind as I work on big projects to help me stay on track. That had not occurred to me before, but I think I will try to use that as a strategy to stay on track whenever I can from now on.

I learned that I work well in a team. I do not have to be the leader to function fully on the team. I just need to have at least one teammate to help me stay focused and on track. I learned that, of my three learning networks, my affective network needs to be addressed more directly (Rose, 2002). Once I see or attribute significance to a goal, I am more likely to pursue it with commitment. If I do not know why I need to do something or do not make any sort of personal connection with the task, I tend to forget about it. My affective network keeps my motivation in check. This is a significant discovery for me because I did not realize that my ability to commit to a task or project could be so significantly impacted by this. I found that I need background information and information about what will happen after the project is complete to help me see how my efforts fit into the entire picture.
 * __Lifelong Learning Skills__**

Interactions with colleagues can be a tricky thing to navigate. I discovered that last year when I was promoted to the position of Design Coach and worked with grade level teams on my campus. In my new role, I was able to gain a different perspective from what I had before. I learned that getting diverse personalities that did not ask to be on the same team to collaborate is a tall, tall order, and that some do not know what collaboration looks like in practice. That said, one would expect professionals to be, well, professional. However, primarily, they tend to be human, just like students are human. So, I learned that if we are to help students learn how to work in collaborative teams to innovatively solve problems, we need to help teachers learn how to collaborate as well. We need to design a PBL for our staff with the objective to learn how to collaborate. The context for the collaboration can be a topic of educational importance that will be impactful on student achievement, making it an authentic and useful endeavor.

Because I do love to learn and I can wander far and wide on the internet, I would like to know more about the following: How do we transition/transform into a 21st century learning community without having to re-staff the entire campus? How do you motivate teachers to update their teaching practices and bring them into the 21st century? How do we retrain parents to de-emphasize grades, and, instead, ask to see how much real progress has been made? How do we change or remove those institutionalized systems that now only serve as foils to 21st century learning (grades, class rankings, high stakes testing, etc.)? What are the pros and cons of a “mastered/still developing” grading system? And, finally, how could we organize and manage an educational system that does not group students by age, but by interests and needs? I will continue to search for answers or perhaps I will come up with my own!

Rath, T., & Conchie, B. (2009). //Strengths based leadership: great leaders, teams, and why people follow//. New York: Gallup Press.

Rose, D. & Meyer, A. (2002). //Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning.// Retrieved March 15, 2012, from Cast Teaching Every Student: []

Schlechty, P. C. (2002). //Working on the work: an action plan for teachers, principals, and superintendents//. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

This week’s information was excellent. I enjoyed listening to Gee, Gardner, and Barab and their take on the future of education and the how the profession of teaching needs to evolve. According to Gee, what’s next is “schooling that addresses the ability to solve problems collaboratively and come up with innovative solutions.” (2008) PBLs are an excellent vehicle for this type of schooling. My school district is preparing to kick off next year having some grade levels at all campuses teach almost solely with PBLs. It is a very exciting endeavor and I look forward to it! It takes the right people in the right places to make this happen. I know it will surprise and delight students and possibly confuse parents, but it is going to be so powerful! This course proves how engaged and how committed a student can become when she has a clear purpose and a collaborative team. The scenario for this PBL was quite relevant and the product we created is real and useful. The tools we used to create it together while apart still amaze me. I realize that to our students, these tools are not that big of a deal, but to me, a digital immigrant, they are almost magic! However, the piece of the equation that is most responsible for making it a success is the team. I am fortunate to have been part of an excellent team of committed educators.
 * Week 5 Reflection**

Borovoy, A. E. (2008). Big thinkers: James Paul Gee on grading with games | Edutopia. //K-12 education & learning innovations with proven strategies that work | Edutopia//. Retrieved March 26, 2012, from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-james-gee-video


 * Week 4 Reflection**

This week, I learned a lot about how we need to reassess how we assess. Using UDL as the framework for instruction is only half of the equation. If we continue to use the one-size-fits-most method of evaluating students, then we cannot fully assess how effective our methods have been nor what the students actually know. As Rose and Meyer point out, “Assessments in our digital age should be dynamic and universally designed. When we provide a full range of customizations and adaptations as a part of assessments, we are able to more accurately evaluate both student performance and the processes that underlie that performance.” (2002) Indeed, the availability of digital tools is allowing us to do this now more than even when Rose and Meyer first published this piece! The videos about project-based learning reiterated the ideas and concepts about learning that we have been developing in our district over that last several years. A huge commitment of time, money and support has been made in training teachers to design PBLs. The benefits of learning through PBLs are indisputable. A well-designed PBL is a lot of work up front, but when the project begins, the students are doing the work and the learning. “Head and hand” is an apt way to describe it, as Larry Rosenstock of High Tech High points out (n.d.). However, it has been a tough climb convincing traditionalists to consider upgrading their teaching. This will become less and less so as new people, who have been exposed to constructivist models of learning, begin entering the teaching profession. The collaborative nature of our work environments today make it clear that students need to be exposed to collaborative experiences in school. Pitler says, “To be prepared for the fast-paced, virtual workplace that they will inherit, today’s students need to be able to learn and produce cooperatively.” (2007) PBLs are an excellent way to do that, but there are various models of collaboration. The point is, the social, emotional, and communication skills that are necessary to be successful as adults can be fostered through well-designed collaborative experiences for students. I would say in the classroom, but the collaborative experiences can happen virtually as well! Our team continued to work on the website. It is quite a bit more robust than it was last week. I am pleased with our progress. We have a great team and I feel a connection with them, even though I have never met them or spoken to them directly. Interesting times…

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). //Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works.// Denver, Colorado: McREL. Rose, D. &. (2002). //Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning.// Retrieved October 5, 2009, from Cast Teaching Every Student: http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/ Edutopia.org(nd). //High Tech High Taking the Lead: An Interview with Larry Rosenstock//. Retrieved on March 19, 2012 from [|http://www.edutopia.org/collaboration-age-technology-larry-rosenstock-video]


 * Week 3 Reflection (3 of 3)**

Wow! It’s been a rigorous week, to be sure. However, I have learned many useful things. I can’t wait to share these things with my colleagues next week! I learned about the Digital Generation Project on Edutopia where schools are using technology as an integrated part of the learning and students are responding very positively to it. Portraits of students Luis and Cameron inspired me to be a more vocal advocate of teaching with technology and fostering 21st century skills. (Edutopia, n.d.) Teachers in the Kansas school teachers noted that through the use of blogs and other 2.0 tools there was so much more participation from students who, for various reasons, are usually reluctant to participate in class. (Schooltube, n.d.) I will share the top 10 tricks site with my colleagues along with the CAST site. The UDL framework is easy to understand and follow. The information on the site breaks it into very manageable chunks. I enjoyed reading the background about the recognition, strategic and affective networks in the brain and about the strategies teachers can employ to address them so that all students will benefit. (Rose & Meyer, 2002) Moreover, of course, as always, the Pitler book was full of so many tools one can use to provide timely, constructive feedback to students. (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007), and the Solomon book offered many social software tools. (Solomon, 2007) I will refer back to them often, as I have marked and highlighted many practical things.

Schooltube.com. (n.d.). //Kansas Technology Rich Classrooms-Partnership for 21st Century Learning Summit Video//. Retrieved March 14, 2012, from Schootube.com: http://www.schooltube.com/video/473dd0fbf0fb48a69b2a/Kansas%20Technology%20Rich%20Classrooms%20-%20Partnership%20for%2021st%20Century%20Learning%20Summit%20Video Edutopia.org. (n.d.).//Welcome to the digital generation//. Retrieved March 14, 2012, from Edutopia.org: http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-project-overview-video Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). //Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works.// Denver, Colorado: McREL. Rose, D. &. Meyer, A. (2002). //Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning.// Retrieved October 5, 2009, from Cast Teaching Every Student: http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/ Solomon, G. & Schrum L. (2007). //Web 2.0 new tolls, new schools.// Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.


 * Week 3- Reflection: UDL Lesson (2 of 3)**

Creating the UDL lesson this week was a little difficult for me. I had to prepare the lesson for a visually impaired student and a hearing-impaired student. It helps that UDL is a framework that helps you design for all learners. Still, because of my lack of experience in working with visually and hearing impaired students, I had to do a lot of research. I learned quite a bit. The most important thing I learned, however was not so much a teaching strategy as it was a relationship strategy. I read over and over that the impaired student should be treated like everyone else, keeping expectations as high as for those students without physical impairments. To not do so would be a disservice because it will hinder the student’s development of independence. (Castellano, 2005) With this understanding, I modified an otherwise mainstream lesson just for the two students in the ways that would meet their needs, but included them as fully as possible with any whole group activities and maintained high expectations for performance as they worked independently at stations. Designing using the UDL framework caused me to consider the brain networks (Rose and Meyers, 2005) and think carefully about the types of activities that I would use to activate all three. This framework fits nicely with what I already do when designing with teachers at my school.

Castellano, C. (2005). //Making it work: educating the blind/visually impaired student in the regular school//. The skills and tools of blindness. (p. 23). Greenwich, CT: IAP - Information Age Pub.. Rose, D. &. (2002). //Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning.// Retrieved March 13, 2012, from Cast Teaching Every Student: http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/


 * Week 3-Team Reflection (1 of 3)**

The e-book builder is such a wonderful tool for differentiating instruction! I was happy to learn to use it. The ability to scaffold the learning through text-to-speech, vocabulary pop-ups, translations, further information from “coaches” and providing space for recording thoughts truly makes it such an all-around fantastic learning tool to meet the needs of diverse learners. As Rose and Meyer say, teachers don’t need more media; they need better media! (2002) I totally agree, and E-book Builder lets you create better media!

Here's the link to the e-book I created on the book builder site at cast.org: @http://bookbuilder.cast.org/view.php?op=view&book=58309&page=1

Rose, D., Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Available online at the Center for Applied Special Technology Web site. Chapter 3. Retrieved on March 11, 2012, from []


 * Week 2-Reflection**

It has been a busy week, but very informative! I have enjoyed learning about various tools to help teachers differentiate instruction for their diverse learners. When it comes down to it, you don’t need to have students with official labels—special needs, gifted and talented, ELL—to have a classroom full of diverse learners. The mere fact that humans are individuals makes us all diverse learners, because as research has borne out, each brain is as unique as a fingerprint in the way it collects, processes, and organizes information. (Rose & Meyer, 2002) So, it behooves us, as educators, to learn to meet the needs of the learners in our classroom, even those without labels. Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, gives educators a framework from which to design learning experiences that will indeed take into account the diverse needs, interests and motivations of all learners. (Rose & Meyer, 2002) Following the UDL framework, the teacher intentionally considers the networks for learning and how she will address the various needs of her students, thus intentionally designing effective activities and employing effective methods. The start of the process, goal setting, was an interesting point of study. The idea of keeping goals flexible that was proposed at first seemed to be counter-intuitive. (Rose & Meyer, 2002) However, it makes sense that when given some say in what a goal is, the chances that the individual is more likely to be on board with it and strive to attain it are much higher. I found the Schacter article on the effectiveness of technology in education to be a confirmation of what I anticipated: that technology without a focus, or without a clear role in service of education, is ineffective as a learning tool. (Schacter, 1999) Overall, Week 2 has been tough, but quite rich.

Rose, D., Meyer, A. (2002). //Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning.// Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Available online at the Center for Applied Special Technology Web site. Chapter 1. Retrieved on October 5, 2009, from []

Schacter, J. (1999). //The impact of education technology on student achievement: What the most current research has to say.// Santa Monica, CA: Milken Exchange on Education Technology. Retrieved on October 5, 2009, from []

This week was a very interesting. From constructivism learning theory where the learner own belief, experiences, and knowledge impact what is to be learned (Abbott), to connectivism where the connections that learners make with each other and the information they gather individually and as a group is the learning (Siemens), to cyborg learning, where the learner’s knowledge is enhanced by the use of a mechanical device embedded within (Warwick), all of these are theories that should be influencing how we teach today. It’s certainly different from the model exercised upon my generation, which was more factory-based. It is truly an exciting time to be a professional educator! Along with this, I’m looking forward to learning more about the Four Planning Questions, the Nine Categories of Instructional Strategies, and the Seven Categories of Technology and how it all works together to design current, relevant, and effective lessons for learners. (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007)
 * Week 1-Reflection**

Abbott, J. (n.d.). //Building Knowledge: Contructivismin Learning.// Retrieved October 5, 2009, from Youtube.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F00R3pOXzuk

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). //Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works.// Denver, Colorado: McREL.

Siemens, G. (n.d.). //The Changing Nature of Knowledge.// Retrieved October 5, 2009, from Youtube.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMcTHndpzYg

Warwick, K. (n.d.). //Cyborg Life.// Retrieved October 5, 2009, from Youtube.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB_I7SY_ngI