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.

Face to Face Instructional Strategies

Online Teaching Experiences

I would love to be able to use something like Moodle or Blackboard in my class to give students access to all assignments and reduce paper usage as well. Being able to post lectures and examples of lab set ups would be wonderful to use. Students could review lecture notes or see a lecture if they have missed class. Posting videos of lab set ups would save a lot of time explaining how to complete experiments, especially if a student were absent. It would also allow students to go through videos at their own pace and pause or rewind if needed. Moodle or Blackboard wouldn't necessarily teach just one piece of content; they could help the overall essence of the classroom.

As a science teacher, some of the online technologies that would help me most when teaching specific content would be the online field trips or the online simulations. Many times I don't have access to places that show my students science in action, so online field trips would be great. Many times we discuss topics in class that students do not understand because it doesn't affect them directly (we all know teenagers are keenly focused on themselves), so being able to take a field trip to a lab where scientists are doing stem cell research or seeing what an archeological dig looks like would be very beneficial to them. Perhaps even doing an online field trip at a museum where there is vast evidence of evolution or skyping with someone who is on the Galapagos Islands would help students broaden their visions of the world. It would be great to have them interact with scientists in the field and then create blog posts about the experience.

I think having a class wiki would be one of the most difficult technologies to use, and not because using a wiki is hard. I've noticed that with the internet becoming so commonplace that plagiarism runs rampant, and many students don't know how to formulate their own thoughts without plagiarizing. It seems like a lot of a teacher's time would be checking on students' posts to make sure they weren't stolen from somewhere else.

Universal Design for Learning

I have spent quite a bit of time reading through all the background information about UDL, and I feel as though it was a bit of a waste. I don't mean that as an attack on anyone, but everything that was presented to me is just good teaching. It started out by saying that UDL was used to adapt lessons for students with disabilities or who were classified as English as a Second Language (ESL). It then went on to talk about how the principles can be used to design lessons for all students. Well, duh! We are in an age of education where adapting lessons has become the norm. I feel that the UDL principles are what good teachers use to present material to students in a variety of ways, except that the terminology of what the teacher is doing is different. I'm very disappointed in this lesson because it was such a waste of time on something that teachers SHOULD already be doing. If they're not, then we can't classify them as good teachers. Of course I take my lessons and try to accommodate students who are more kinesthetic learners or who are more visual learners or more auditory learners. That's what good teaching is! It's taking information and adapting it to reach as many students as possible. Perhaps when I evaluate my lessons, I don't use the exact terminology found in the UDL principles, but I definitely try to "Provide multiple means of representation" which means to show the same thing in different ways. I also try to "Provide multiple means of action and expression" which means that I try to involve my students in lesson and give them options to express their knowledge. And I most definitely try to "Provide multiple means of engagement" which means I try to draw on experiences that they may have had or make topics relevant to their lives. I'm actually insulted by the content of this lesson because it seems to imply that good teachers didn't realize that they had students of all different abilities in their classrooms!

MERLOT Evaluation

For the MERLOT evaluation, I chose to evaluate a website. The site was called "Awesome Science Teacher Resources" and AWESOME they were! The site focuses on biology and chemistry topics in the classroom. All of the topics were completely relevant to the class that I am currently teaching, from cellular transport to photosynthesis. The site is broken down by subject area, topic, and finally, activities, labs, and links. There is a plethora of information on the various topics, including different activities that students can do, experiments that they can perform, and other websites they can look at to get additional information.

Any of the material on the site could be used in the classroom immediately. While I was browsing the site, I found a few activities that I'll be trying immediately in my next class. All of the national standards for biology are listed, so it's easy to see how the activities listed link to the standards. Most of the activities have a clear objective/purpose for the lessons listed. I did find a couple that didn't have the objective listed, but overall, most did. There were a lot of interactive type of things that students and faculty could use; for example, there was a Jeopardy game that teachers could use for a class game, or students could use in small groups to test their knowledge. I could use this immediately in my class because I have enough computers to divide my classes into small groups. Looking at all the assignments, I see that most would be easily incorporated into my classes.

The website is visually pleasing, and it has a lot of information. It's extremely easy to use. I like the site because it's laid out in an efficient manner. One click allows users to download something they want to see. Some activities are in PDF and some are in Word. I like both; either can be edited if need be. Students could use this site, but it is a better tool for teachers who are looking for supplemental information on certain topics.

Personal Learning Reflection

CEP 810 has helped me learn a lot about technology that I can incorporate into my teaching. I have learned about RSS feeds, and although it is not something that I like to use, I have envisioned some uses for it in the classroom. For example, it can help students create a list of credible sources for different topics. I also really liked learning how to embed a Google Calendar into a blog or website! I like to give my students as much notice as possible about upcoming and future assignments; I realize that they have a lot going on in theirs lives (much like me) and sometimes need more advanced notice of assignments, tests, and projects. Even though our SIG project wasn't exactly what was expected, I learned a ton about Google and all the possibilities that Google can be used for in a classroom! I had no idea about Google Scholar and Google Docs and Forms; it really opened my eyes. Using a bookmarking tool was genius, so I could find information easily. The last thing that really struck me was doing the Creative Commons Lab and making sure that I register media that is put on the Internet. I thought that was very informative. Everything that has been taught in this course is great because it can all be used from the Internet, and I don't need certain programs to run them on school computers. Making specific requests for school computers is a hassle because sometimes software isn't free or it's blocked or any number of excuses why teachers can't have it. This course allowed me to see how a number of things can be done on the Internet without dealing with those problems.

I'm very proud of the lesson that I devised for teaching Osmosis in collaboration with my sister's biology class in a different school. This lesson combined a lot of what I hope to accomplish with technology. I want to encourage students to collaborate with others, but I don't want them to be limited. I want them to think broader and I hope that working with students from Chicago while we're in Germany will help them think big! It really showed that technology can unite people.

I feel that I have accomplished some of my goals. I learned how to integrate more technology in my class. I used Google Docs to have students collaborate on projects with people in other time zones. I embedded a Google Calendar into my class website. There are a few goals I have not accomplished. The big one is that I wanted to learn how to create a site where I could have each student log in and create their own blog on a universal class site. It's all right, though; you can't win them all. I'll get to this eventually.

Newer goals, for me, just mean thinking bigger! How can I get more computers in my classroom? How can my school increase the bandwidth so we don't have as many Internet problems? When will I have time to develop that class blogging website? How can I reach out to teachers all over the world to try to skype or facetime with them and create new global lessons? I will accomplish these goals by talking to people. It's amazing what can be learned or done when one simply talks to people. People have great ideas, and I need to draw from them all.

Personal Technology Plan