Module 8

Identify two insights related to technology that inspired you.

There are two insights related to technology that inspired me. The first one is that 81 percent of teacher educators teaching pre-service teachers are not technology savvy. And, just because technology is bombarding education continue to implement new technology into my classroom. This implicates that the trend will also change but I should not become overwhelmed by it. Research new technology for reviews and other teachers perceptions well before implementing it into the learning environment.

Identify two insights related to andragogy that inspired you.  

Malcolm Knowles (1973), the father of adult learning theory, emphasis that adults learn differently from other student populations. He notes that teachers support their teaching and learning practice with a pedagogical concept. Whereas, higher education teachers support teaching and learning with andragogical concept. For higher educators, this implies that the teaching must relate or have a purpose for why adults need to learn. When adults connect with the idea that learning technology is essential and understand why it is essential, they are more likely to perform the action.

Explain how you will incorporate these insights into your future teaching practice.

I have a legal obligation to incorporate these insights into my future teaching practice according to the National standards for 21^st Century skills. Therefore, I will have students create a lesson plan database. Next, they will choose and present one of the lesson plans to the class using technology. Student may make PowerPoint Picture Books and interactive lessons created in MS PowerPoint to provide interactivity through a customizable electronic learning. Another idea is a multimedia iMovie students generate literacy projects that essentially come to life.  Needless to say careful planning of instruction the assessment of these outcomes will occur. These collaborative learning activities will provide the guidance and classroom environment to discuss the learning outcome and assessment (Morrison, et al.. 2002)

Reference:

T., Morrison, W., Bevill, A. & Messenheimer, T. (2002).

Module 7

Blogging is an awesome resource to use in academic learning environments.  Students have the ability to discuss topics that are significant.  Student collaborate and share ideas about the topic and often complete group assignments and group work via blogs.  One English professor at my work noted how students writing and critical thinking skills had enhanced from the use of blogging.

Using blogs to learn about finances and budgeting is fun for students. Once in a lesson, I provided students with a $500 budget to take an imaginary vacation. They were tasked with reporting research on where they went, how much the vacation cost, how long did they stay, hotel cost, transportation, and food expenses, including excursions if any. The students learn life skills, budgeting, management, math, and that money can be limiting.

I had some students who never been out of their city, even those who had a fear of flying.  Therefore, to avoid embarrassment or lack of vacation leisure for some and restraints for others, I set the budget. Blogging can be used for positive social change because students had the opportunity to view images, listen to stories, and watch video about vacation places, in state, out of state, in the country and out of the country. They had the leisure of choosing the destinations within their budget. There are times when some individuals cannot afford to take vacations, so to dream about a vacation may have a positive social change for the individual to become more motivated and inspired to attain high goal.

Cain and Fink (2010) addressed the legal and ethical issues associated with social media, such as blogs, individual have a freedom of speech.  However, this freedom must collaborate with the rules of the institution.  Dr. Bates (2013d) explained that college educators have a responsibility to inform students about proper internet etiquettes on how to use social media.

Reference

Cain, J., & Fink, J. L., III. (2010). Legal and ethical issues regarding social media and pharmacy education. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 74(10), 1–8. 

Laureate Education (Producer). (2013d). Sustainability and ethical considerations [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Module 6

In recent years, educators are increasingly employing online collaboration such as Edmodo and blogs for group projects and assignments. The contributions can lighten a teacher’s workload; provide time saving lesson plans, and flexibility in the teaching process.  The idea is to increase peer support, group and collaborative learning to enable low achievers to perform a collection of coordinated functions, tasks, and activities (Marchis, 2013).  Higher achievers would be able to share their voice and ideas for the benefit of group work.  Finally, all students will have the ability to participate in a more constructive and social learning environment. 

                Some of the course work would require that students complete group projects and providing feedback upon literature.  Research found that sociability and visibility are two human characteristics are significant in online engagement (Marchis, 2013). The software within Edmodo would expose students to stimulating educational environments when they are used by teachers who are skilled in their operation and who believe that the technology can foster different skills (Foley, 2012).  

                Access to resources like text, graphics, via internet, simulation experiences or type of applications would permit the learner to choose the work to obtain correct answers, including when learning is to be performed in an interactive or engaged manner (Dr. Tony Bates, 2013a).  Finally, teachers would have the ability to assess the student’s learning without establishing additional resources.  Assessments would be immediate and graded using multiple choice questions, writing rubrics, also E-portfolios of work that demonstrates mastery of contents. Student’s results could be emailed to the teacher for a final grade (Dr. Tony Bates, 2013a).   

                 

Reference

Foley, L. (2012). An investigation into the use of interactive whiteboards in VTOS centres in Munster.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2013e). Dr. Tony Bates: Using technology to engage students and assess learning [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Marchis, I. (2013). Experiences of teaching educational software development for pre-service teachers. Paper presented at the , 1 190-195. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1436956080?accountid=14872

Module 5

Podcasts are original audio or video recordings that are recorded broadcasts of a television, radio program, lectures, or even a performance. The benefits of podcast are numerous in nature.  The recordings of podcasts are public and thousands already available on the internet. Some are private and available for purchase, while others are free. Podcast can be used in learning environments for students to create, analyze, remember material, and comprehend text.

Podcasts can help improve student’s academic performance or learning enrichment.  They allow students to learn more information at their own pace and faster without the distraction of other students.  Every student has a unique learning style and podcast has the ability to reach and engage each of these types of learners.  For students who are struggling in online environments, or in the traditional classroom settings, podcast can be a brilliant way to build their self-esteem, and provide academic support. Students’ can listen, see, and hear directions to foster student engagement.   

The strategy to sustain the podcast technology in the learning environment is derived from Dr. Tony Bates (2013c).  He suggested using a plan to determine when to evaluate whether or not the technology is working.  The objective is to make the plan a systematic approach to check every so often and continue the system until a decision is reached.  Heuer (2010) in his review involved offering stand-alone courses to support individuals. He concluded with learning outcomes offered by each participant.  In essence, it is good practice to monitor new implementations of technology to ensure it meets your needs, while meeting the objective of the course.

References

Heuer, M. (2010). Foundation and Capstone: Core Values and Hot Topics; Ethics-LX; SkyTech: and The Green Business Laboratory: Simulations for Sustainability Education. Academy Of Management Learning & Education, 9(3), 556-561. Doi:10.5465/AMLE.2010.53791837

Laureate Education (Producer). (2013c). Dr. Tony Bates: Overcoming resistance to technological change and sustaining change [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Module 4

The technology I chose to enhance lessons in my classroom is fake book, not face book. Fake book is a program almost exactly like face book, but it is a learning social platform media.  My students have exceptionalities. Therefore, the idea is for them to watch/read literature scenarios. Then create a fake book account of the characters and their perception of the characters. Instructions and assignments would require each student to complete the tasks and assignments associated with the lesson.

The benefit of fake book is that students enjoy being part of the current trends of social networking and society. They have the opportunity to actively engage in the learning process (Garrett, 2011).  Similarly, Fake book enable students to collaborate, communicate, share and exchange comments. However, there are challenges when engaging students with exceptionalities in technology. Each student has varying abilities thus requiring additional technological devices for support. These devices are not always compatible, convenient, or simple to use.  As a result, I have to improvise and attain other means to include the student, such as interacting with personal assistants.

To further engage students, we discuss tasks, share ideas, and include links to work together in groups. This also means collaborating with others outside the learning environment. My students are not passively receiving information as experience or wisdom. Online virtual learning allows my students to make their own experience, It is a great way to empower students to actively exchange (engage) their ideas and concepts (Garrett, 2011).

Personally, I thought I knew all about blogging. However, I had to re-familiarize myself (my challenge) with how to create a blog, set it up for viewing and comments. As a teacher in a post secondary work/training program for special needs students, the benefit of Fake Books provides me the platform to communicate with my students.  Fake Book is also a technology tool that qualifies as Universally Designed (UD) instructions recognizes that individual learning patterns differ (Borgemenke, Holt, & Fish, 2013). Fake Book accommodates varying abilities.

Garrett, C. (2011). Defining, detecting, and promoting student engagement in college learning environments. Transformative Dialogues: Teaching and Learning Journal, 5(2), 1–12.

Borgemenke, A. J., Holt, W. C., & Fish, W. W. (2013). Universal course shell template design and implementation to enhance student outcomes in online coursework. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 14(1), 17-23.

Module 2 Assignment 2

I employ a variety of media and formats to communicate information and ideas to multiple audiences.  There are at least five classroom technology resources that are available as resources: webinars, multimedia, e-books, grammarly, and web-based pedagogy games. Although I am familiar with most of them, I do not have sufficient experience teaching or learning with webinars.  I have attended and participated in webinars. To accomplish the task of integrating webinars as a teaching and learning resource my skills need to be developed. I have considered working or collaborating with other faculty members in the IT department for instructions.

My institution also offers professional development opportunities once every quarter.  The professional development courses differ each quarter, meaning the same course is not always offered every quarter. Besides, I don’t have the time to attend the professional development.  Another option is a student-driven lesson, such as a text document or a You-tube video illustration of the step-by-step instructions on how to create webinars.  These are merely starting points and ideas. These are some ideas for me because I really want to learn more about technology and want to extend my skills further and across disciplines.

To improve support of classroom technology, I would recommend multiple sensory avenues.  Providing full academic access to students and not offer them the opportunity to maximize their learning from the instructions through multiple sensory avenues, and a variety of abstract and concrete frameworks, has no significant benefit to students according to Dr. Tony Bate (Laureate Education, 2013b).  Diverse student population suggests different teaching strategies in the classroom (Almeida & Mendes, 2010).  To accommodate the multiple sensory avenues (Video, audio, text) Dr. Bates suggested abstract to concrete teaching because it enables knowledge to be spread permanently.

Reference

Almeida, P., & Mendes, R. (2010). Learning style preferences across disciplines. International Journal Of Diversity In Organizations, Communities & Nations, 10(2), 285-302.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2013b). Dr. Tony Bates: Evaluating technology for teaching and learning [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Higher Education Compliance Alliance. (n.d.). Americans with Disabilities Act & Section 504. Retrieved from http://www.higheredcompliance.org/resources/disabilities-accommodations.html

Module 3 Assignment 2

Colleges and universities use different types of online learning technology as a resource to teach and communicate with students. Teachers and students alike must be able to navigate through processing programs, spreadsheets, even presentation programs.  The online learning technology resources available at my local Community College are: Blackboard, synergy, web conferencing, media library, LinkedIn, smart boards, and blogs.  Others include resources such as live chat with advisors, and social media applications.

The basic knowledge and Microsoft Office skills acquired was easily transferable to other software programs, including Google Drive, importing, exporting, and embedding web link functions.  Social media such as Facebook and Twitters has also proven to be a worthwhile resource investment for my institution. Synergy is a powerful grade-book and learning management interface where educators house everything in one place, the curriculum, content resources, student work, assessments, performance data, and more.

Many educators at my institution use synergy. However, I do not even though I have considered it.  I’m not comfortable using synergy for teaching and learning because I lack the confidence and experience. I plan to enroll in a synergy course this summer.  The course is being offered July, 2015 to professionals for development. I will use the knowledge learned to bring everything I need together to teach and provide my students with support and a collection of resources.

More adults are returning to college to obtain certifications, or to advance in current employment (Xu & Jaggars, 2013).  Online learning resources are convenient and accessible. However, learning online can have a significant negative relationship to both course persistence and course grade (Xu & Jaggars, 2013).  This may be due to the lack of or limited free resource support available online.   As a result, I would recommend free forms of online resource support to minimize this problem at my institution. A series of free videos or podcast on a topic, including training, that offers an additional supply of assistance that is outside or in addition to the scope of the course syllabus.

Xu, D., & Jaggars, S. S. (2013). Adaptability to Online Learning: Differences across Types of Students and Academic Subject Areas. CCRC Working Paper No. 54. Community College Research Center, Columbia University.