Assessment is something that can be tricky for teachers to nail down the perfect fit for all of their students. I remember the moaning and groaning coming from my classmates when we had to take online tests and receive our scores right after the test was finished. I remember moaning and groaning when my class would be handed paper tests because it takes the teacher way to long to grade them all and give us our grades. Is there a method of assessment that is the most beneficial for all students? I am not exactly sure how I feel about technology assessment. I think with technology assessment, things can go wrong quickly and malfunction. As a student growing up throughout the big advancement in technology, I was used to being assessed formally and informally, individually and collaboratively, and online and by paper. Before reading Effective Assessment in a Digital Age I was not aware of the four different types of assessment that can be done when using technology. I also was not sure how I felt about online assessment, but after Effective Assessment in a Digital Age, I believe that there is a type of online assessment for everyone and it should be used frequently because it is a great tool! The four types of assessment presented in Effective Assessment in a Digital Age are: http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20140614115719/http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/elearning/digiassass_eada.pdf associative, constructivist, social constructivist, and situative perspectives. I felt the best about using social constructivist in my future classroom. I feel the strongest about social constructivist because often times, peers can be your best teacher and they want to help you learn and succeed. Effective Assessment in a Digital Age (2010) stated “Assessment would involve group tasks and assignments, sometimes with individual contributions being assessed. This perspective emphasizes that feedback is not just teacher-provided but must be rich and varied, deriving also from peers during collaboration and discussion (p. 10). I think the best part about the social constructivist is the group collaboration, because not only does the student receive feedback from the teacher, but from other students as well. The more the merrier! Tubechop introduced me to adaption testing- I LOVE the structure! Tubechop stated that “each test would be customized to each student, questions will not be too hard, nor easy for the student”, this is something that I think could improve test scores for classrooms of all ages. All questions come from a question pool, so everyone has the fair chance of getting the same question and as a future teacher this will be something I look forward to investigating more in depth. After learning about adaptive testing, online assessment has earned my vote. As a future teacher, I believe that assessment should be performed in the most beneficial way possible for both the student and the teacher. If standard assessment such as paper and pen seem the best, then I won’t hesitate to go this route. But, I feel that online assessment can be done in so many different ways that regular assessment cannot. I have opened my eyes into a new type of assessment that I can use in the future. At the beginning of my reflection I wasn’t too into technology assessment, but now I have positive feelings about using technology to assess students in the future. Works Cited Effective Assessment in a Digital Age A guide to technology-enhanced assessment and feedback. (2010). Retrieved September 27, 2016, from http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20140614115719/http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/elearning/digiassass_eada.pdf TubeChop - Chop YouTube Videos. (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2016, from http://www.tubechop.com/watch/8379948
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When I first started reading about PNLs I was a bit confused on what a PNL actually is. I was confused about PNLs and what they were and how teachers use them to connect to other teachers across the world, I knew that technology was involved, but still wasn’t sure what a PNL was. My best guess was that is was a Facebook group for teachers or a blog site. A personal learning network is a personal spot to get into touch with other teachers around the world about ideas, lessons, and experiences. But after reading about PNLs I was more familiar with them than I thought I was. Currently, I am using networking sites that are considered personal learning networks, but I don’t use them for educational benefit most of the time. A PNL is not the tool itself (Facebook), but the group you follow or join. Dr. Mark Wagner’s Personal Learning Networks for Educators: 10 Tips confirmed my ideas that I was correct with a PNL being Facebook, along with other great networks. I think that Personal Learning Networks for Educators: 10 Tips provides informative tips on how to become apart of a PNL and not just belong. He states that, “Connect – The growth engine of your learning network is your willingness to reach out and make connections with new people. Leave a comment on a blog post or podcast, reply to a question on twitter, or +1 a post on Google+ (or like something on Facebook). Merely reading, listening, or watching is not connecting. The more people you connect with online, the more you can take advantage of the strength of weak ties”. I think that connecting with someone and sharing your ideas between each other will make you a better educator and more involved. Simply just reading the blog may get you the information you need, but you will make a connection by responding and sharing your input. The author of the blog may share another exceptional idea that you find to be more fascinating that the first blog you read. A second tip mentioned by Dr. Mark Wagner really hit home for me, but made me question the way I am using these networks and how I should use them more for a PNL. An example that I have with a PNL (that I didn’t use the right way) was back in my of high school days when Facebook was used to see who could get more friends and more likes on a picture. What a great tool, such as Twitter and Facebook, that I use everyday at such a mediocre level. I need to step up my game and use the tools for my educational benefit. Wagner stated, “Despite the appeal of seeing your number of followers grow, or trying to post something you know will generate comments or re-tweets, it is more important to be authentic in your online connections”, this is such a powerful statement because being yourself and putting yourself out there as an educator is so important. The first example of a PNL I found I immediately joined and started following to become involved. The first tool that I found is called Facebook and the PNL included is Educational Technology and Mobil Learning. I choose this PNL because when I was reading through the posts I saw a variety of resources for different subjects. A few of my favorites were videos about online safety and digital citizenship, interactive games and quizzes for a science teacher, and a tool called dingo that will allow students to annotate information on the web, including highlighting. I really liked this PNL because it had great resources of all kinds. As a future educator I will frequently resort to this great tool when I need to integrate technology into any subject! The second tool that I found to be helpful was Google for Education Help Forum. This tool is absolutely amazing. In my past, I have never seen a tool like this that can be so helpful for any problem a teacher may be having. I choose this tool because there are over 30,000 members, and one of the members is bound to know the answer to your question. The articles I have mentioned above have educated me greatly on what a PNL is and how to use one. Become involved, be yourself, and get educated is a great way to sum up my findings. In my past I was not familiar with a PNL, even though I used the tools that PNLs are found on, now I know how to interact with these very resourceful tools! Link for Google for Education Help Forum: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/google-education Link for Education Technology and Mobil Learning: https://www.facebook.com/Educational-Technology-202077286473233/ Works Cited Communication. (2008). Retrieved September 20, 2016, from http://www.21things4teachers.net/21-things/6---communication/ Educational Technology | Facebook. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2016, from https://www.facebook.com/Educational-Technology-202077286473233/ Google for Education Help Forum [Web log post]. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2016, from https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/google-education Wagner, M., Dr. (2012, January 31). Personal Learning Networks for Educators: 10 Tips - Getting Smart by Guest Author - edchat, EdTech, PLN. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from http://gettingsmart.com/2012/01/personal-learning-networks-for-educators-10-tips/ Communicating on the internet can be a beneficial, quick, and easy way to reach someone without having to move away from your computer desk. Internet communication can also be violent, unsafe, and falsely provide information. Growing up in the 1990’s and 2000’s technology was blasting off like a rocket, whether the world was ready for it or not. As a future educator, I believe that using the internet safely (talking about cyber bullying) and rules to follow when making a digital footprint are a top priority when developing digital citizenship classrooms for the future. I use the internet daily to communicate with peers about school work, professors about grades, and family members about life. The tools that I use the most when using the internet are my cell-phone and laptop. Growing up I remember my experiences with the internet to be mostly positive, until cyber bullying became a “thing” and I would witness it on the chat room called MySpace. My sixth grade teacher would not allow the class to use social media sites and neither would the computers (as they were considered restricted sites). As stated by Hicks (2015) “Cyber bullying has hurt many people and even caused many children to take their own lives. Students need to understand that their actions, even those taken online and behind multiple computer screens, can and do have enormous consequences” I believe that internet safety should be a top priority because of the risk in dealing with online predators and cyber bullying. As a teacher I will explain to my students why they need to respect others online as the way they would like to be respected and be careful of what they post about themselves. Another important experience I had as a student growing up with technology had to do with introducing a cyber footprint and what it entails in the future for everyone. My previous teachers explained it as once you say something you can’t take it back or once you put something on MySpace you can’t take it back, it will always be there. In the article What's in Your Digital Citizenship Survival Kit (2015), the author explains an example to use for the students: “Showing students a tube of toothpaste can be a metaphor for the information that they are sharing about themselves online—once it’s out, it’s almost impossible to get back in the tube”. The example made me question the way that I was taught about a digital footprint, it wasn’t stressed enough in the classroom. From the metaphor, I understood that whatever I put on the internet is out there, I can delete it at anytime, but I will never be looked at the same because my history can be found. This is a part of technology that can be negative for students who post inappropriate things to the internet leaving themselves a bad digital footprint. Recently, I have had college professors talk about digital footprints and how as a future educator I need to pay attention to what I post because everything is public. I believe that students should be taught about digital footprints right away when learning to have proper digital citizenship. What's in Your Digital Citizenship Survival Kit has confirmed my belief that establishing rules to follow when using the internet will ensure for a safe and positive digital footprint for students. Works Cited Hicks, K. (2015, July 9). Teacher’s Guide to Digital Citizenship. Retrieved September 13, 2016, from http://www.edudemic.com/teachers-guide-digital-citizenship/ What's in Your Digital Citizenship Survival Kit? - edWeb. (2015, June 02). Retrieved September 13, 2016, from http://home.edweb.net/whats-in-your-digital-citizenship-survival-kit/ As a student I grew up using technology in the majority of my elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. Before watching The SAMR Model By Students I was not aware of the different levels of technology integration. The students in SAMR Model By Students took the time to teach me what each letter stands for in the SAMR acronym and provided a great example about writing a paper by hand versus a technology transformation. When thinking about the different uses of technology by levels, it became very clear to me that technology is not about the tool itself, but how the teacher uses it. In order for me to understand the important information of all levels I reached out to 8 Examples of Transforming Through the SAMR Cycle by Kelly Walsh, where she provides excellent examples of each level, such as writing an essay by hand versus creating a movie o act out the essay. In SAMR and Bloom’s Taxonomy, Puentedura described the acronym SAMR as “S” stands for substitution of technology, “A” stands for augmentation of technology, “M” stands for modification of technology, and “R” stands for redefinition of technology” (Puentedura, 2014). When reading SAMR and Bloom’s Taxonomy, I made great connections with my past experiences involving technology. In my past I could think of plenty of examples of using technology on the “S” and “A” level of the ladder, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But, one technology transformation stood out to me the most. During my time here at Northern, I participated in an interactive blog forum in an education class. After each activity I participated in, I was instructed to blog about what I did during the activity and how I could incorporate those activities into my classroom. My teacher would read my blog and make comments to me in class or on my blog site. Not only could my teacher and classmates read my blogs, but future employers could too! The blog that I used is called Blogger. I believe that Blogger is the type of technology that is found in the transformation section under the category of modification. Modification was described in 8 Examples of Transforming Through the SAMR Cycle as, “technology used for significant task redesign” (Walsh, 2015). In my scenario I could have written down that activities I participated in on a piece of paper, but my teacher taught me how to use blogger and transformed my educational experience by integrating technology in a way to improve the assignment. In my opinion, after thinking of the SAMR cycle, I was questioning the majority of my past assignments and what category they would fall in. I think starting at the S on the SAMR cycle is okay, but eventually moving up in the cycle towards the M and R section will be more beneficial for the students as well as the teacher. After further research into 8 Examples of Transforming Through the SAMR Cycle, examples were popping into my head like crazy: good and bad, functional and dysfunctional, new and old. The integration of technology and using technology is making a better connection from last week after reading SAMR and Bloom's Taxonomy and 8 Examples of Transforming Through the SAMR Cycle, and watching The SAMR Model Explained By Students. I am looking forward to learning ways to integrate technology into my future classroom and climbing my way up the SAMR structure. My blog URL for Blogger: http://katelynnjmsed.blogspot.com/ Works Cited Puentedura, R. (2014, September 24). SAMR and Bloom's Taxonomy: Assembling the Puzzle. Retrieved September 06, 2016, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/blog/samr-and-blooms-taxonomy-assembling-the-puzzle The SAMR Model Explained By Students [Video file]. (2014, June 20). Retrieved September 6, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBce25r8vto Xnevad, S. (2013, July). SAMR Ladder- A Wonderful Graphic for Teachers ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. Retrieved September 06, 2016, from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/07/samr-ladder-wonderful-graphic-for.html Walsh, K. (2015, April 20). 8 Examples of Transforming Through the SAMR Cycle. Retrieved September 06, 2016, from http://www.emergingedtech.com/2015/04/examples-of-transforming-lessons-through-samr/ The earliest memory of technology I have was in forth grade learning how to type during computer class. Every week my class would file into the computer room, sit at our assigned seats, and type away like little robots. But, was I really learning anything besides how to rest my fingers on the keyboard? Was this weekly practice triggering any critical thinking skills or building knowledge? Yes, the computing was teaching me how to type, but could the technology be integrated into another subject? An example would be integrating spelling into computer class to practice spelling words. I have always thought that technology could be combined into different subjects and used frequently. Even though I am not strong in technology nor have I had a strong technology background, I agree with the authors Boss and Rao because I believe that technology is important in the classroom for growth in all subject areas, and should be used at appropriate times in the classroom. Technology is important, but shouldn’t be used as a crutch, students shouldn’t be placed in front of a screen to do whatever they should have boundaries when using technology and it should be beneficial. In my past experiences, I have noted that many of my teachers did not integrate technology, but rather simply, just used it. Integrating technology into general class subjects can be done in several different ways with different devices such as iPads, and interactive whiteboards. In a recent classroom observation, an interactive whiteboard was used to help the students work out math problems digitally. I detected that integrating technology into mathematics for problem solving had a better success rate then drilling problems. As An Introduction to technology Integration stated, technology should make the mediocre lesson better. Before reading the Using Technology Vs Technology Integration by Aditi Rao, I never really thought about the difference between using technology and integrating technology into a classroom. The article written by Rao completely changed my views on integrating technology and using technology. Using Technology Vs Technology opened my eyes to the difference between the two different uses of technology. Using technology described by Aditi’s article is summed up as follows: using technology is not planned; using technology is rare, and mostly used by the teacher to instruct (Rao, 2013). Technology should be integrated into a lesson plan and used regularly to improve learning. I have had teachers use technology in a lesson, but the technology was not integrated. An example would be a research paper I was assigned in the tenth grade. The teacher assigned me a topic and I did research. I question this situation, was I really critically thinking or was the computer doing all of the work for me? Using Technology Vs technology Integration also connects to understanding the difference between using technology for learning improvement and the use of using technology. She stated that technology should be used to build knowledge about information and not just deliver information. I think that Rao made a very good point about learning something and just memorizing the information and quickly forgetting it after a test. Building knowledge about a subject is much more beneficial than memorizing information. Technology, like all things, comes with pros and cons. Cons would include malfunction with the program or device that can turn your lesson plan in a different direction and keeping up with the newest technologies. Pros of technology are endless. The articleTechnology Integration, written by Susie Boss made a positive point about technology in the classroom: researchers have determined that when using extravagant learning goals rather than basic skills, technology will help students develop higher thinking and critical thinking skills (Boss, 2011). I agree with the statement that Boss made because children need to be challenged when using tools and technology helps provide this challenge. Technology is not one of my strong points, but I have learned an abundance amount of information about ways technology should be used in the classroom, what it does for students, and the difference between using technology and integrating technology. Works Cited 'An Introduction to Technology Integration' on ViewPure. (2012, December 12). Retrieved August 23, 2016, from http://viewpure.com/d59eG1_Tt-Q?start=0 Boss, S. (2011, September 07). Technology Integration: A Short History. Retrieved August 23, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-history Rao, A. (2013, March 29). Using Technology Vs Technology Integration- An Excellent Chart for Teachers ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. Retrieved August 23, 2016, from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/04/using-technology-vs-technology.html |
AuthorHere are a few reflections about how I plan to integrate technology into the classroom effectively. . Archives
November 2016
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