Course ReflectionWhat have you learned in this class? What a wonderful journey this class has been. Some topics and technologies in the class I was familiar with, but many of them I was not. It is always fun to investigate and play with something new. I love finding new things that will make learning more efficient and fun for my students. Any tool that keeps students engaged is a good thing. I have taught online classes at the institution I work at for a few years now. A couple of years ago I created a YouTube channel so that my online students could become more familiar with me and my teaching methods. My goal was to give my online students the same opportunities that my face to face students have. My youtube channel has been great, but I was very narrow minded. This class has opened new opportunities for me to be creative with these very heavy technology based classes. Blog I have really enjoyed creating this blog. It allowed me to express creativity that I rarely get to dabble with. I have thought about creating a blog for a few years now, but I never really had a reason to. After this experience, I will probably start working on a blog that is focused toward awareness of incorporating technology in mathematics education. I think that sort of blog could be super useful to “traditional” mathematics teachers that are weary about incorporating technology in the classroom. Podcast Clips Surprisingly, I have also considered starting a podcast for a few years now. I am an avid listener and supporter of many types of podcasts., but most of my podcast interests revolve around personal hobbies. This project helped break the ice for me. I was able to envision all of the ways that I might could use a podcast in my class. Video Clips As I have mentioned, I have been making videos for a few years now. I am so used to watching and making mathematics videos. I was nice to get some inspiration from my peers in the ways that they approach instructional videos in their field. Hands-On Projects The hands-on projects was educational with the use of collaborative projects with my classmates. I was introduced to several applications that were unfamiliar, but I got to interact with my peers’ websites and my own. The learning process of technology in education was necessary for me to understand during the course. Lesson Plan- I know this may seem crazy, but I have never really written lesson plans. I have never taught in the k-12 setting; I have only taught in higher ed. That being said, I am not required to do lesson plans. My undergraduate work and masters is in mathematics. I have not taken very many education based classes. That being said, it was nice to be required to do a lesson plan for a change. I was definitely out of my comfort zone, but it was super easy once I incorporated resources that I already use. Survey- I really like using google forms. This was not my first rodeo, but again, I did like seeing the creativity of my classmates. I use google forms in all of my mathematics classes at the beginning of the semester. I make a “student information” google form to help me become more familiar with my students. This also helps me keep track of alternative communication methods. Google Doc-I use google docs on a daily basis. I use it for work(teaching), school, and church. In fact, I am using google docs right now as I am writing this sentence. I love google docs because of the collaboration capabilities. I also like the fact that I am able to share my documents with a link. Google Slides- Google slides have all of the convenience of google docs but in a powerpoint format. I do not even use microsoft powerpoint anymore. I love the convenience of the google suite. The best thing about the google suite is that it is completely free to me and my students. As an instructor, I do not have to worry about my students being able to view my work and complete theirs. Podcast- As I mentioned, I am a pretty big podcast nerd. This class really opened up my inspiration for the way that I can use lots of different technologies in my classes. I had a huge weakness hear beacuse I was probably most closed minded and shut off to the ways that I could have been using podcasts in my classes. I am so excited for the doors of possibility that this particular assignment opened for me. Camtasia- Camtasia is my safe place. Some people like editing word documents. Others may like editing powerpoints. Who knows, I am sure there are those of you that do not like editing anything. Well let me just tell you, editing videos is my thing. I am not saying that I am good at it. In fact, I am not very good at it, but I just like doing it. It is exciting for me to add interesting elements that will hopefully captivate the attention of my students. Edupuzzle- I was super interested to learn about this. I am always wondering whether or not my students are actually watching my videos. Edupuzzle can help me to eliminate this worry. Course Site- The course site did take a long time, but I found it to be very useful. It is probably something that I will play around with more once I have a bit more time on my hands. Padlet- I think padlet is great. I have actually really used this tool in my mathematics classes. Padlet is a great way to get students engaged. I like to use padlet for my classes to share study tips and give advice. Rubric- I am not a fan of rubrics. This was my biggest weakness in the class. It is just difficult for me to incorporate rubrics in mathematics classes. Quiz- I like quizzes, but I did not love this tool. I prefer to make my quizzes directly inside of canvas. I do realize that not everyone has this luxury. I do think the tool is great for classrooms that my not be accompanied by a learning management system. Thinglink- I was so interested to learn about this. I think thinglink could be a super fun an interactive tool if used for explaining mathematics problems. I may even make my students start creating thinglinks to explain problems to one Scoop.it- I am not sure that I will use this a lot, but I did think it was super cool. It was like social media for education. I am just not convinced of the ways that I could incorporate this tool in my classes. Strong and Weak points I was pretty comfortable with most of the tools that we used in the class. My strongest areas dealt with google suite and video making/editing. As I have mentioned, I did struggle a bit to find inspiration for the rubric, quiz, and scoop.it. Will you integrate these technologies into your classroom? Why or why not? What are your future learning goals? I already use so many of these tools in my classes. They are amazing for keeping students engaged. I already use google suites, videos, and padlet. I will definitely be incorporating edpuzzle and thinglink. Once again, one day I will have more time on my hands, and I am going to really start being creative with podcasts, blogs, and coursesites.
0 Comments
Chapter 11 - Question 3Online social interaction offers great opportunity to develop and practice positive social as well as good communication skills. However, the threat of cyberbullying and the possibility of inappropriate sharing require protecting children. What do you think the role of online social interaction should be in schools? What steps should educators take to ensure that such integration can be done safely? Social media and interaction is such a controversial topic. In fact, most of the time, I do not even know where I stand on the issue. Social media is just like anything else, it has pros and cons. I think that social interaction can be used in school; however, it must be a process that is well thought out and protected. At the end of the day, social media is a form of asynchronous communication. If possible, I believe it is best to communicate synchronously. Chapter 12 - Question 1As emerging technologies continue to affect education, there is little question that the role of the teacher will change. Imagine yourself teaching a class in 20 years. How do you think your role would be different from the typical teacher’s role today? I think that my students will look at me as more of a resource. I used to think that the teacher was the one with all of the answers; further, this is especially true for elementary students. However, as technology evolves students and society have more access to information and modes of education. I think that teachers will start to be seen as the one helping the student to sort through the information instead of the one giving the student the information. Chapter 9 Question 2
The Internet is a public communication area that many believe is protected by the First Amendment. Others believe that its contents should be moderated and the public protected from inappropriate content. What is your view on this controversial issue, particularly in light of the extensive use of the Internet in schools? This is an issue that I would never be outspoken about. I really do not even feel comfortable addressing the issue because I am not an expert on law. I do think that the use of the internet as a public communication tool is protected under the First Amendment. I feel this way because anyone can access the Internet, and most people use it on a daily basis. I do not think that the fact that the Internet is used in public schools affects its falling under the first amendment. However, because of its vast availability, I do think that educators should take caution when using it with students. Chapter 10 Question 3 What role do you think distance education will play in education as the Information Age unfolds and technologies improve? What advantages and disadvantages for teachers and students do you foresee? Distance education has been my life for about 5 years now. In my undergraduate work I took several classes online. Then, a lot of my masters and all of my doctoral work is online. I have also taught online for about 3 or 4 years now. It has been amazing to see the transformations and improvements to online learning form both a teacher and student perspective. I think distance learning will continue to grow and may even grow exponentially due to improvements and convenience. My only worry is that it may eventually put people out of work. Thanks to technology, our mathematics department has lost 2 positions over the last decade while enrollment steadily increases. Please SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube channel. Every view counts. Wow! My pulse is a little out of whack, I may need a tylenol, and I just can't wait to tell you about what I did this week. I must admit, as I am writing this post I am SUPER EXCITED. I have always been interested in podcasts and videos, but things are always more exciting whenever you get to experience it yourself. Let me explain what I did. Listen to my podcast. The podcast was super simple. In fact, I wouldn't mind starting my own series one day. That will have to be after I finish this Ed.D.. I have enjoyed listening and using podcasts for some time now. Podcasts can be educational and inspiring. All of the podcasts that I have ever listened to have been free. I listen to podcasts on religion, history, mathematics, music, higher education, and educational research. This project sparked my interest in the different ways that I could use podcasts in my classroom. For this project, I pretended that I was doing an “orientation” to my online mathematics class. I can see how it would be very useful to embed these “bits” of information throughout my canvas shell. Did you watch the video? The video was definitely fun. I took a file, that I made last year, and jazzed it up a bit. The videos on my YouTube channel are a bit boring. This activity inspired me to stop being lazy and start creating more appealing videos. I added audio and clip art, and the video made a much better impression. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE edpuzzle. Check out my edpuzzle. I must admit. The biggest reason my videos are boring is because I am a bit monotoned. Well, that is not the point. The point is, sometimes I wonder if my students are watching the videos. I often get questions from students, to which I respond, “Did you watch the video”. Let’s just say that with EdPuZzLe (I am STILL excited), this is no longer an issue. I can quiz my student throughout the video to insure that they are watching the required material. I think that this will be great at making sure they get the key point. Thank you for taking the time to read and experience this post. Please use the COMMENTS below to let me know what you think of all my media. Until next time.
The activities from this week have given me a lot of ideas for things I can incorporate into a flipped classroom. My favorite thing we did this week was collaborate on google documents. My classmates did some interesting things to my document. It was really interesting to see how we could see all work on something at the same time. I will definitely be using this for group projects in my classroom. Google suite provides a great platform for students to collaborate and work together. Lesson Plan Google Form Google Doc Google Presentation Chapter 4 Question 1 The concept of universal design suggests that all instructional activities should ensure equal access for all learners regardless of their unique needs. After reading the In Depth feature on universal design and examining its evolution from architecture to learning, consider how you might include universal design in your classroom. Do you intend to adjust your instruction to include universal design principles when you teach? Explain why or why not. I am by default a very reflective person, but this quality is definitely beneficial in my teaching. At the end of each term I usually sit down and make notes about each class and the different ways that I can improve. Every semester I find something to improve. It is also helpful to that I have a colleague evaluate my courses. One of the areas that I focus on is accessibility. In my short time as a teacher, I have had the opportunity to work with some students that were deaf, legally blind, or completely blind. This opportunity has caused me to become super conscious in the way my courses are designed. Over time, I have made several improvement and changes to the universal design of my classes. The biggest change to date is when I remade all of the videos in my classes and uploaded them to YouTube. The older videos did not the option for captioning, and this was a problem for hearing impaired students. The new YouTube videos allow students to choose the captioning options. My next big endeavors will be for students with vision impairments. I have looked into several options such as talking textile tablets, but I am unsure of what I will do. Currently, I am having to work with each student on a person-by-person basis. Chapter 5 Question 2 Discuss the cloud storage. Why is it advantageous for educators to share resources and programs on a network? What concerns are associated with program sharing? There are several advantages to cloud storage. In fact, I may not be the best person to answer this question because I have used cloud storage my entire teaching career. My favorite quality of cloud storage is being able to access my documents from any place with an internet connection. I am usually even accessing my cloud storage while I am on the go. I also like being able to edit documents at the same time as others. It makes web conferences very easy. My only issues with cloud storage is syncing. I do use the sync feature on all of my devices and I do love it. However, if one device stops syncing it causes a lot of confusion. To address this issue I simply try to make sure that everything is synced before I start working. Chapter 6 Question 3
You have learned about the challenges you will face in implementing technology in your classroom. How do you plan to meet these challenges during your pre-service and in-service career? Be specific in describing a strategy to meet each challenge. “Persistence is key.” I live by that phrase. Persistence is significant in the classroom and with implementing new technology. When something does not work, try again. I face challenges with technology every day, but I also face challenges with everything else. We must all learn to be flexible and make things happen. Just as I have mentioned before, I sometimes have issues with my cloud storage syncing to all of my devices. To remedy this, I simply make a conscious effort to sign into all of my accounts and sync everything before I get started on a project. My strategy is to not stop. Chapter 1 Question 2 Lifelong learning is not just a teacher preference; it is also a requirement for maintaining state certification. Technology literacy courses and workshops are some of the most popular learning experiences for certificate extension and renewal. Do you believe that taking additional courses in technology literacy is an important as those for your content or discipline? Is too much emphasis being placed on developing and maintaining technology competency? Defend your view. I do not know that it is fair to compare the importance of technology literacy to the importance of content within a discipline. Content is always the most important, but this is why content is such a focus in order to obtain a teaching license. Content knowledge should be well developed prior to obtaining a teaching license. Of course, content knowledge and areas can change through time, but perhaps it is not changing quite as fast as technology is changing. I do understand how technology courses are more beneficial to new and veteran teachers that are maintaining their licenses. For example, I am at math teacher. There are only a few ways to graph a line by hand. Content wise, I do not know how anyone could teach me something I do not know about graphing lines. Let’s change our focus from the content to the technology. I am always learning new and creative ways of delivering material to my students using technology. Graphing line can become boring for students and a content workshop will not help me fix this problem, but a technology workshop will. Chapter 2 Question 3 You have learned about a variety of technologies useful to support learning in this chapter. With which one of these are you most comfortable? Which are most useful in helping to prepare 21st century learners? Describe the technology and its potential applications in the grade level or content area you wish to teach and demonstrate why it is most appealing to you. I would like to think that I am comfortable with all of the technologies to support learning that were mentioned; however I am most comfortable and excited about using reinforce learning. Most of the mathematics courses that I teach are self paced. It is a very flipped approach. The student watch my videos then complete their homework using a textbook software. The textbook software is equipped with videos, example problems, notes, etext, and many more supplemental resources. Students can work ahead, stay on track, or fall behind. This format is amazing for my students. My gifted students are able to finish the class early, and the students that need more support get just that. This format would not be possible without technology. Chapter 3 Question 2 To effectively design instruction with technologies, a number of instructional design models are used in education. After reading this chapter, discuss the Dynamic Instructional Design (DID) model with the focus on its five steps. The first step is all about getting to know the students that you are teaching. Knowing interests, socioeconomic status, activities, learning styles, etc. will be useful. We need to know our students before we start planning. Step two is to make sure the student know the objectives. Students need to know what they will be learning and what is expected of them. The next step is to identify teaching and learning strategies. The strategies may be a lecture, game, manipulative, activity, etc. You must them select the technologies that support the learning strategies. The technology may be a powerpoint, internet game, textbook software, etc. Finally, you must reflect, assess, and revise the design. The assessment instrument should measure the objectives. You probably know my name by now, but in case you missed it, my name is Jonathan Morris. I have taught mathematics for four years at Pearl River Community College. I am in the all-online higher education EdD program at USM. I absolutely love teaching and working with students. I am very passionate about my work with mathematics remediation. In fact, my doctoral project focuses on the effectiveness of mathematics remediation programs at community colleges. I am also really enjoy incorporating new technology into my classes. I have taught online math classes for three years. I have taken over a doze classes online, and I love teaching online. Teaching online has allowed me to be extremely creative with my use of technology. My favorite technologies that I use in the classroom are Camtasia and YouTube. I make lots of math videos and upload them to my YouTube channel for my face-to-face and online students. My YouTube channel currently has about 42,000 views. I also love using many apps in the google suite for my online courses. I especially like using gmail and google drive. My basic teaching philosophy is "practice makes perfect". I believe that any student can learn as long as they are willing to put in time and effort. The use of technology allows me to retain the attention of students. Students get excited by the use of technology and they love seeing the information presented in new ways. They also love having access to the information in new and creative ways. On a more personal note, my wife and I have been married six years and have a one year-old daughter. I am the music director at my church, and I also serve as a deacon. |