Educational Leadership in Technology

This class has been a huge learning experience when it comes to graphics and how to use them effectively. I had never heard of the CRAP principles of design, but now contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity are things I pay attention to.

Since this is the fourth technology class in my program I feel like I had a leg up on some when it came to using Googledocs to collaborate and divide the assignment so that each student felt like it was fair. I know some are not as far along in the program and were a little lost when it came to certain areas such as embedding the things on our Googlesite and doing the creative commons. Having the knowledge made me an asset to the team.

I was most intrigued learning about the Blooms Digital Taxonomy standards. “There is a clear disconnect between the media students are accustomed to using outside the classroom and the media they predominantly use within the classroom” (Multimedia Applications for the Classroom, 2009).

I learned about the original Blooms chart when I first started college classes about teaching. When I started to work the school used the chart provided in the article, Blooms Taxonomy Blooms Digitally.

Then when I saw the chart with the verbs and saw that the “ Key to this is the use of verbs rather than nouns for each of the categories and a rearrangement of the sequence within the taxonomy” (Churches, 2007). Now moving onto the digital Blooms chart makes it more relevant to what teachers are charged with teaching in their classrooms today. It leaves me questioning why my school has not shifted to this chart? I plan on sharing this with my admin team so that students are met in their learning spaces. “Technology is their native language and they expect to use technology in school” (Understanding Multimedia Learning: Integrating Multimedia in the K-12 Classroom, 2008).

As most of us probably are in this online program, I learn at my own pace and am very effective in that. Time management is usually on my side, and I like to set plans in motion so others are on my page. I took the lead for the group by laying out the plan in Googledocs and assigning everyone’s roles and letting them know when each section was due. I feel like I contributed to this group a great deal by getting things rolling.

Citations

Churches, A. (2007, April). Bloom's digital taxonomy.

Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/8670

Multimedia Applications for the Classroom. (n.d.).

Retrieved from:

http://www.cited.org/output_pages/printDefault.aspx? page_id=106

Understanding Multimedia Learning: Integrating Multimedia in the K-12 Classroom. (2008, September).

Retrieved from: http://www.brainpop.com/new_common_images/files/76/76426_BrainPOP_White_Paper-20090426.pdf

https://sites.google.com/site/5edtechleaders/

Check out my team website for my EDLD 5366 Class!

Reflection of Web Conferences

The three web conferences I attended focused on very different things. The first was all about forming groups. Students were asking questions about if they could be together. I already knew who I wanted to be with because of the last course we had groups in. I was happy to be with another new member as well. I learned from the conference that we would need to be ready to post to TK20 at the end of the class and that it ends earlier than usual.
The next conference I attended was more about groups and was making sure everyone knew how to make the videos about themselves not too long. She provided her digital story for us and made sure we knew to go to Resources for all the up to date information.
The last web conference was all about trying to get everything finished before the last day it is due as well as things such as what the next class would be and when it starts. I was excited to hear that we have s longer break than usual on that our class does not start until January 14th.
I also learned that my eportfolio could be my blog or my google site. I was told by an IA that it HAD to be my google site, which I had not updated since the first class. I have always put things on my blog so I consider that my eportfolio. Abernathy said this was fine as long as I just always use the same place to put all of my things.
While there were many web conferences held during this class-much more than usual-I felt good about everything and really didn't feel the need to attend for any clarification. Everything was laid out and very straight forward in this class. The only time I was confused about something is when we actually did not gave to submit an assignment (which was also talked about during our last web conference).

I had to create a movie in my EDLD 5363class and ofcourse it had to be something about us. The most important things to me are my family and friends so that is what I chose. To tell a little about me, means to talk about the people that helped shape me into the person I am today. The background music happens to be the song my husband and I picked as "our song" when we were in junior high.  This turned out to be pretty fun as well as made me very emotional. The fact that it had to be under 2 minutes made it difficult. Being a mom of three beautiful girls, I wanted to show more of them. I will use this in the future. We always do various types of slide shows for the kids birthdays as well as family reunions. I look forward to making many more in the future. I Hope you enjoy!!

My Dream-Classroom in Five Years

The classroom in five years will be one that has open lines of communication between parents, staff, teachers and students. Teachers will be using tools such as Blackboard to house all of the content for the class as well as to form group discussions on a weekly basis. Teachers will make sure that they are fully trained and take pride in making sure they have kept up to date with grades, communication and make sure they are fully vested in what they are using. “Bonnie Meyers has a unique perspective on student-information systems -- that of a teacher and a parent. She teaches history and English to sixth graders at the district's Diablo Vista Middle School, and her daughters go to California. She says she sees the undeniable merit of School Loop when it's used properly, but there are times when it's misused, or not used often enough. Diablo Vista's principal expects that teachers will update student and class information in the system about once a week, says Meyers” (Gronke, 2009).

Parents will not shy away from technology in the future as well. They will become a third part y part of the classroom and given the chance to connect in to answer a question or just to show student what they are doing I they are on a business trip will add to the value to each student and make the parents more involved in the classroom experience. "Once [parents] realize the value of being connected, these challenges are resolved fairly quickly," he says, adding that in all scenarios, however the information is delivered, "when parents are involved in their children's education, the child prospers” (Villano, 2008).

The actual set up of the classroom will include many things the schools of today do not have. Things such as many outlets to plug in phones, computers, USB's, comfortable chairs and couches, as well as cafe style tables to work in groups. The atmosphere will be more like a coffee shop friendly environment instead of sterile. The desks will be replaced with tables, one of the walls will be a LCD screen that can have three separate presentations on or one. They will be used to house anchor charts, wight words, and other things teachers normally hang all over the walls. With a swipe of the finger they can scroll to the screen they need. Students will also have their own ipads, bring their own devices and be able to use them throughout the day in every area. While manipulative and paper pencil are still needed in the primary grades in order to learn how to write and perform math problems, they will be doing most of the work on the tablets. Once they write a story they will take a picture of it, to edit, make changes etc...and type the final paper. While it will take some teachers more convincing than others, this will be the norm in five years.

“Technology continues to profoundly affect the way we work, collaborate, communicate, and succeed. Increasingly, technology skills are critical to success in almost every arena, and those who are more facile with technology will advance while those without access or skills will not. The digital divide, once seen as a factor of wealth, is now seen as a factor of education those who have the opportunity to learn technology skills are in a better position to obtain and make use of technology than those who do not. Evolving occupations, multiple careers, and an increasingly mobile workforce contribute to this trend” (Cummins, 2012).

Communication and socialization is an important part of society, so it will be just as important in the classroom. Students will be required to have a blog, create discussion questions, and respond to each others on a weekly basis.

“Blogging represents one of many tools that pioneering teachers are using to empower students to take more responsibility of managing their own work and adding value to the world. Thousands of teachers are using blogs as educational tolls: they are relatively easy to create, you can create content in minutes, you can publish to large audience or a targeted community , and you can invite almost anyone into a conversation” (November, 2008)

With the help of technology leaders as well as teachers that are ready to actually prepare the students for the real word we live in today and not the world we lived in fifteen years ago, this will happen. Students will desire to come to school to learn instead of daydreaming about what they want to be doing in front of the computer. Which is usually things like, talking to friends, checking social media, and playing games. These are all things that will be done in the classroom in the future, all while learning the academic standards they need to succeed in today’s society.

WoW!!! I made through another class! I have learned a lot about technology and collaboration in this course. I typically do not like working in groups when it comes to my job or now in my graduate studies. I hate it when people are depending on me to finish something and on their time table. That is the whole reason I took online classes. I get to set my pace as well as when I want to work on things. Even if it is at 1:00am. I have three little ones at home and have a full time job. I started the school year as a kindergarten teacher (for the fourth year here) and was moved in the third week of school to a third grade class. While I absolutely love the transition, it has not come without more headache and planning than what I was used to. With that said, my group has been an amazing group of ladies to work with. They are understanding, and most are in the same position I am in. I really wish I could meet them for dinner or something! We have gotten to know each other virtually, but they seem like we could all be friends!

The parts of the course I was most intrigued with dealt with the importance of technology integration in the classroom. The videos I watched each week was looking into each students successes and how they use it in their everyday lives. Writing the e books and UDL lessons also made me think about the lesson I wanted to teach my students in a more focused way. I am actually teaching the unit we came up with in our scenario so having four other lesson plans to pull from while I have been preparing for my days has made it that much easier!