Final Reflection CEP 811

I really enjoyed learning about the stand alone resources. I had always wondered how people made them, but learning that they were just a presentation was really wonderful. I never knew that Powerpoint (which is what I used) was capable of doing so much. It was great to see how to incorporate instant feedback for students using the program. I think these would be great resources for students who may need some extra help in class or need to have that hands on interaction.

Web based technologies are great. Using MERLOT was fantastic; I really liked being able to contribute my own work, but then browse other people's as well. However, because I had so many internet problems this course bouncing from hotel to hotel, I also learned that relying heavily on technology sometimes has its downfalls. The school where I'm teaching here in Germany has extremely limited internet, and things like streaming videos, are very hard if many people are using the internet. We've been told the bandwidth has been increased, but the speed of the computers lends evidence to the contrary. I do love using web pages in the classroom because they help to alleviate many of the problems that may come up. For example, I upload all my worksheets and presentations onto my class website. If a student is absent, they can go onto the site and download and print a copy of any worksheet that was missed, or lecture that they didn't hear. Students can also see exhibitions of their work on a class website. Sites can also be used to communicate with parents; by posting schedules, videos, and worksheets, parents can view the site to witness exactly what their students are completing (or expected to complete) in class. I also put links to videos on my site, so students can watch videos or see diagrams in action, and then maybe they'll be able to visualize a concept better.

I haven't met all my goals for technology integration yet. First, my class doesn't have enough computers to do full fledged technology lessons. I've been trying to work it so that I can do rotating lessons for students, and then they will each have an opportunity to use the technology. I teach in 90 minute blocks, so rotating is a great way to keep the students interest.

I love when teachers ask about new goals; I do it myself all the time. Of course I have new goals. Any time I learn something new, I usually end up creating new goals. I'm definitely going to start designing more StAIRs. I really think they'd be useful in teaching biology. My break begins the day after tomorrow, so I'll have some time to go through the book and pull out some information to make more StAIRs for the material we will be covering. Some of the concepts are at the molecular level, so students may have a hard time picturing what is happening. I want to put in more videos and animations to help students witness different processes. I'm going to continue to use sites like MERLOT where I can contribute some of my ideas and borrow ideas from other teachers. I like getting ideas from MACUL space as well because I think most of my greatest ideas have been inspired by the work of others. I liked seeing many people sharing different technologies because it always makes me happy when people share. My short term goal is to try to develop StAIRs for my next few chapters, but my long term goals are to keep learning more. The more I know, the better teacher I can become.