Friday, January 24, 2014

Reflecting on Course Content

Technology Integration 101 has introduced and reinforced many technology in the classroom concepts. In particular, there are three areas that impacted me from this course.  The first area is that of 21st Century Skills.  Although I had heard of them, I certainly had not taken time to really reflect on how my practice of using technology in the classroom was addressing these skills.  The second area was that of flipping the classroom.  I currently flip my advanced science courses and although my reasoning was to increase time for labs in class, I continue to reflect on ways to move towards mastery and a more student centered approach to flipping.  The final area that impacted me was that of data collection.  As a scientist by trade, I love data and evidence and have always felt that education doesn’t quite get it right most of the time on collecting evidence.  And although I do not have a definitive answer for the best way to access whether technology integration is working, I have new resources that will help our tech team as we work to create tools to collect this data. 

I appreciated the practical information from this course.  In particular, the lesson on Special Circumstances has already helped pave a path for our corporation as we begin to come up with a plan for substitute teachers in technology.  In the past, subs were not allowed to access the technology and now as a 1:1 system we have to come up with a plan.  Discussions that I started with our Technology Integration Specialist are now going to the superintendent to determine what training and tools we need to provide our subs.  This was great practical stuff.


Moving forward I want to continue to reflect on lessons that I am creating and see if they are helping students to collaborate and communicate with each other.  Am I creating lessons that are in the modification and redefinition levels of SAMR?  Am I creating lessons that are student-centered rather than teacher-centered?  One of the greatest things about PD such as this course for a reflective teacher is that it forces us to stop and take time to reflect and throughout this course I have done just that.  I feel that the tools along with the reflective piece will lead to some great new opportunities for my students and me.

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