Final Post

During this course, my educational theory of learning did not change but was strengthen because all that was discussed revealed to me the importance of integrating technology in my teaching and student's learning process. The more I can integrate technology, the more chances I am giving my students the opportunity to become successful for standardized testing and other assessments. Also, having students create artifacts like concepts maps, Powerpoints, and other creative ways of presenting information to the class are great ways to increase leaning among students. The only modifications that I can myself doing is integrate more ways I can use technology.
Two technology tools that I will continue and try to use is Powerpoint and Voicethread. Powerpoint is a great way for students to integrate images with information so they can present the information to the class using a projection screen or SMART board. When students create artifacts and teach the class, learning and comprehension is maximized. Voicethread is great way for teachers to present information and allow students to add insight or concerns within each slide. This gives each students the ability to add information directly to the slide to help others understand. Both of these technology tools gives the students the ability to research the material and create an artifact. Technology give students the ability to become active learners and influence others to maximize learning.
Two long-term goals that I have developed is to integrate more technology tools and to stay up-to-date on the new technology for education. Technology within the classroom gives student endless support and learning capability. One of my goals is to bring more technology tools and programs that help with maintaining and increase learning among students. Technology allows me to present information in ways that traditional methods can not do. I am able to bring in media clips, images, and other creative ways of presenting information to my students. The second long-term goal is to stay up-to-date with all the new technology created for education. Technology is in the forefront of education and more I can do with technology the more chances my students can success. My goal is to prepare students for life after high school and with the use of technology, I am able to provide and prepare students for that opportunity.

Cell Phone Problems in School's Today

Cell phones is a growing problem and distraction among students. What are some suggestions on how to limit the usages of cell phones during instrustional time? What are some suggestions on some conseqences about students using cell phones? Just click on the title to view my VoiceThread.

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Social networking like Facebook, Myspace, and text messaging is fluent in today's society among young people. This social networking allows students to communicate more ways then ever before. With technology being at the forefront of education, teachers should be able to take advantage of such a vast communication devices.
Social learning theory is a way for students to collaboratively work together to create an artifact to share and teach others. This theory allows students to be active in learning because are doing the research, compiling the information, and creating an artifacts that can be shared with classmates to teach. Social learning is a great way to connect all learning theories into one process.
Connecting all learning theories is a great way to incorporate collaborative learning. Learning occurs when students are able to connect all the different networks of knowledge together. Technology gives students the opportunity to connect and share information in more ways than at school. Connecting the different theories allows students to learn by doing so they are able to teach each other. Using social learning theories in the classroom is a great for students to collaborate and develop that social interaction skills needed to be successful in life after high school.
In my classroom, social learning keeps the students active because I like to let my students present information to the class. I like to give students topics on a particular concept and allow them to compile the information and present the information to the class, creating an artifact collectively in preparation for assessments like test and quizzes. Social learning allows teachers to get all involved with learning because all students must participate and work collaborative to create an artifact that contains all the correct information to teach each other. When students are able to gather information and teach to each other, learning is achieved.

Constructionism

Constructionism is a great learning process because students are able to be active learners to create artifacts that can be shared with others. Project-based learning gives students the opportunity to create powerpoints, wiki pages, and other projects to present to the class and be active in the learning process. Project-based learning allows students to use personal experiences and knowledge of technology to create something they can present to the class, use to study, or a create way of remembering the information. This type of learning is far from the traditional way of listening to the teacher lecture, answering questions, and taking test. Now students are able to be active in learning by using technology to conduct research, create an artifact, and present to the class. This can be promoted by a sense of ownership from the student in that they are responsible for providing the material for their classmates.
Generating and testing hypothesis allows students to expand their knowledge and understanding how to use programs like excel. When generating and test hypothesis using technology, students are able to create a working spreadsheet while experimenting and finding ways to reach a particular solution. Project-based learning works along side of generating and testing hypothesis in that students are developing ways using technology to solve a particular problem or situation. Students are generating news ways and ideas of how technology can help solve or create an artifact.
Using technology to help with testing hypothesis science class or generating charts and graphics for math classes are all great ways to gain knowledge on using excel, powerpoint, or other programs that help create an insightful and meaningful project. Integrating technology with project-based learning allows students to find new and interactive ways to focus on the results and outcomes rather than compiling and recording the information (Pitler, 2007). Teachers provide more learning opportunities when students are able to be active and provide evidence of learning through project-based learning.

Cognitivism in Practice

When dealing with cognitive learning, it is important for teachers to present information in ways that students can moved from short-term (working memory) to long term memory. Dr. Orey states that "integrating multiple senses in presentation improves learning"(Orey, DVD) and instructional strategies introduce during week 3 is a great way to start. Organizing information and limit the amount of information is important for cognitive practices. Not enough information will not help the students on assessments and to much information the student will forget and will not be able to process in an efficient way.
Concepts map, virtual field trips, summarizing, and note taking are all great tools for teachers to deliver information in short and organized way to maximize learning. Concepts maps, students are able to group ideas that relate to the main idea. This strategy can help students break down information into small segments where students can use their short term memory to process and move it to long term memory for future recalling. Summarizing is a way for students to process information from one teacher lesson and put it the major concepts into their own words. This helps with the process of elaborating because students are able to connects ideas and information in words they can associate with. This goes back to cognitive learning theory because students are able to create a mechanism for storing information into long term memory.
Virtual field trips are a great way to practice cognitive learning because are able to see images and see artifacts from the exact place without being there. Students are able to experience more with this type of technology in the classroom. Images help students moving information from short term memory to long terms. Virtual field trips gives students information as if they were on a field trip. With the interaction features, students are able to go in depth with learning about a particular place or an event and relate it to personal experiences. All these strategies are multiple ways of delivering information to students in an organized manner to help students process the information from their working memory to long term memory. Using a variety of these different strategies, allows teachers to reach students of all learning types.

Behaviorism in Pratice

Teacher do some kind of behavioral learning each and everyday. Lesson begin with a presentation or a tutorial and a question is asked for comprehension. The presentation followed by a questions is what Dr. Orey labels as "programmed instruction" (Laureate, 2009). Technology helps with the reinforcing aspect of behavioral learning because it allows students to review material and give immediate feedback on follow up questions. The immediate feedback, right or wrong, gives the teacher an idea of the students are comprehending and what needs to be re-examined.
Technology, also, allows for teachers to do more with drill and practice and reinforcing the material. With drill and practice, the students are able to get more repetition and remediation because the technology is able to monitor the students more efficient than the teacher. The technology is able to increase the difficulty or remediate question by question but the teacher has to be continuously checking over the student's work. So technology helps with that aspect of behavioral learning because it is able to check for learning and give a positive or negative feedback much quicker faster than a teacher.
Each resource does a great job with reinforcing and remediation of student's learning. With all the tutorial and explanations for a right or wrong answers, students are consistently learning the material. With all the fun graphic, students are learning while having fun which goes back to the concept of active learning. Behavioral learning does not have to be a teacher lecturing and at the end ask questions for comprehension. With technology in education today, it allows for a vast supply of resources to help with presentation and questioning of behavioral learning.

Resource:
Orey, M. (2009) DVD. "Behavioral Learning Theory." Laureate Education, Inc.

Final Reflection

Through this Master's course Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society, I have had to learn and integrate new technology within my classroom. This course introduced me to Wiki, Podcasting, blogging and lots of other technology that I can use to make my classroom a 21st Century classroom. I was impressed how easy and effective using these different types of technology and how each one would benefit my classroom. Now in my classroom, I am looking for different ways of integrating technology because this course has giving me the confidence and motivation to look for and how to effectively use technology to help increase student's 21st Century skills and acquisition of new technology.
Increasing student's achievement is one of the main priorities that I have in my classroom. If I am able to increase the use of technology and help students achieve in my classroom, I feel that I am doing the right thing. One way that I can expand my knowledge of technology is try creating a Wiki page for my US History class with the information they will need for their End of Course Test and graduation tests in Georgia. By creating this Wiki page, the students will be developing and increase their 21st Century skills Dr. David Thornburg mentioned. Students will become critical thinkers and problem solvers because they will have to figure out what is important to put on the Wiki page and how to arrange the page for higher achievement. The students will also become good with collaborating with others because the students will work in groups and assign different jobs for the different members to create one final project. Some students, through this Wiki project will become leaders and will be able to guide group members in a efficient direction to complete the Wiki page in a timely manner. With these skills, students will be gaining important skills needed for the workplace in the 21st Century.
Goal setting is important in education because educators need directions and a lighted tunnel to get throw in today's education world. With so many teaching aids that deals with technology out there available to teachers, it is almost impossible for teachers not to use technology in the classroom. One long term goal that I am setting is creating a blog for my classes and for students and parents to access at home. By creating this blog, it will increase my availability to my students outside of school. To help with student achievement, I need to be available to my students and I feel this will accomplish that. First, I would need to do a survey to see if my students will have access to computers. Through this blog, I would be able to link worksheets, assignments, and notes for when they are out or if they loose their paper work. I feel this would help streamline my classroom because students would have access to the class at home and at school. Also, by creating this blog, my students and parents could post questions about homework, classwork and class test. I believe by having this goal will increase my student's achievement by giving them an opportunity to be in constant communication. The second long-term goal is developing a wiki page with literary terms for my English Language Arts classes. Students see literary terms throughout high school and into college so it is important that they learn and know them. By creating a Wiki, students will be able to integrate other media examples whether through song or movies to define and illustrate the literary term. If students can visually see the word or hear the word and its definition it will increase student's achievement. Student will be actively learning the literary terms by looking for examples and collaborating with other students finding examples and discussing the meaning of each word. I feel that with so much relying on standardized testing, creating this Wiki page over literary terms will help student with understanding the word and be able to find examples for effectively. My two long-term goals are creating a blog page for my classes and creating a project where students are creating a Wiki page with all literary terms found on standardized testing. I plan accomplishing these goals by slowly integrating new technology from this course.

Week 5 Podcast

I interviewed 3 of my family members concerning the usage of technology in their daily lives. I found out that technology is influencing lives for 2nd grade all the way to high school. My questions ranged from the amount of time spent using technology for example cell phones, IPODs or MP3 players, gaming devices and the use of technology the school setting. Click on Week 5 to listen to podcast.

Partnership for the 21st Century Skills

Partnership for the 21st Century is an organization dedicated to create a lasting partnership between education and business to educate others about the importance of how technology is changing as the 21st Century moves forward. In looking at the mission statement " Building collaborative partnership among education, business, community, and government leaders,"
(Partnership for the 21st Century, 2004) reveals that this organization's main goal is to educate and provide necessary resources and tools to help educators move through the 21st Century. This organization sets a high standards for educating with its 3 Rs and 4C. The 3Rs is what is the subjects taught in school: English (reading), math, sciences, government, foreign language, civics, art, history, and geography. The 4C is what type of students schools are wanting to create: critical thinkers and problem solvers, polished communicators, collaborators, and students who are creative and innovated. The framework model given is a view to see the outcome of the teaching and learning of 21st Century skills with innovated support systems. Under each section of the framework is an impressive list of resources and explanation how students are able to learn the skills needed to be successful. This website, also, provides a list of great professional development affiliate programs that help educators, business, and the community understand how the framework for the 21st Century learning is meshed together with the 3Rs and 4C. The resources are endless because of huge amounts of programs that are in place to promote 21st Century learning. Overall, is website provides tools and resources, programs and affiliates, and a list of states that have committed to educating every student to 21st Century learning and awareness.
What is surprising about the entire website is the list of states that have committed. Out of 50 states only 14 have committed themselves to educating every student for 21st Century learning. Figuring how technology is changing the face of education, more states should take advantage of what this partnership provides to educators and the community. Seeing that that governors and chief state school officer has to demonstrate commitment on how their state is going to mesh the 3Rs and 4C into the standards, assessments, and professional development is shocking because education is moving towards how students are learning the 21st Century skills needed for the workplaces.
Personally, I do not disagree with any information, resource, or tool given through this website and organization. I think that in today's society, it is important that we in education are promoting the 3Rs and 4Cs. With the way businesses are operating, students need to be taught how to become critical thinkers and problem solvers along with working and communicating with others. My thoughts are if we can educate student the importance of the 3Rs and 4Cs, the easier the transition will be from school to the workplace. By stressing the importance, schools will be able to produce student going into the workplace with a good foundation of critical thinking and problem solving, communicating and collaborating with others, and creative and innovated.
The implications are that students need have be taught the 21st Century skills earlier so that they can be over prepared for the harsh reality of the workplace. By being prepared and educated how important the 3Rs and 4Cs, it will provide student an easy transition but those who ignore the importance will be faced with the grim reality of being left behind with the skill of the 21st Century. For me as a contemporary educator, I need to have the sense of urgency of educating students for the 21st Century. By becoming a supporter of the Partnership of the 21st Century, I can have a model of the framework of what 21st Century learning is about. I also, have an endless supply of resources and tools that prove excellent ideas of how to incorporate 21st Century learning to all students.

Partnership for the 21st Century Skills. (2004) . Retrieved March 25, 2010, from www.p21.org/.

I believe that I would use a blog as a information center about classwork like due dates, reminders, and encouragement for each student as my educational tool. My blog would allow students to ask me questions about difficulties they are having at home with their homework or any other assignments. It would also be a place for students to ask questions and/or advice from other classmates. My classroom blog would provide the extra communication at home that some students need.
I teach 10th grade literature and having a classroom blog would allow me to post examples of assignments of writings and give websites for citing and extra readings for students and it would allow open communication for students to contact me after school hours. My blog would be an extension of my classroom. My blog would be a great way for students to interact with me and each other out side of the classroom and give them a comfort knowing that every assignment, due date, and examples will be provides for them at all times. With high school students, staying in contact and developing a good rapport is key for having a great teaching/learning environment.

1st Blog

Hello, this is my first blog so I am not sure if I am doing this right or not. I am special education teacher in Northeast Georgia. I am in my 5th year of teaching high school and coaching 2 sports, baseball and softball. I mainly co-teach in a 10th grade Literature class but currently I am co-teaching in a World History class. Over the past 5 year of being a teacher, I am well versed in multiple subjects. Each new class that I co-teach in brings about a new learning for me because of the unfamiliarity of the subject and how the other teacher conducts their classes. I love my job and there is no other job I would have. It has taken me 5 years to go back to school to obtain my masters through Walden University, in the program Integrating Technology in the classroom.