Reflection

As this course comes to a close, it is important to reflect on what has been learned and how it will affect technology decision making and change in school. The learning activity and implementation plans developed in Weeks 6 and 7 demonstrates my learning in this course. A new and emerging technology that is not at any school in the district was identified that could have a long term impact on teaching and learning. Strategies were created to implement this new technology and ways to fund this process through the use of grants. Change agents were also looked at to meet the needs of 21st century learners.

One immediate adjustment that I will make to my efforts to identify emerging technologies with the potential to transform teaching and learning, influence and lead the adoption of new and emerging technologies in my school, and incorporate educational technology to support 21st century learners as a result of my learning from this course is to join the community technology committee. This committee made up of community members from around the school district learns about new and emerging technologies and ways that they can be integrated into the classroom. For example, they helped integrate Activboards (interactive whiteboards) into every classroom in the school district and continue to integrate other technologies such as Activotes into the classroom to support teaching and learning. By being on this committee, I will be more aware of new and emerging technologies that may help teaching and learning and I may even be able to pilot new technology so that others can integrate technology into the classroom.

APP4: Emerging Technologies and 21st Century Learning

Click here for my presentation which illustrates how online learning modules, such as Moodle, can fill instructional gaps and support meaningful, authentic, student learning.

Reflection: Blog Post

I will use the resources in the Differentiation Station social network to help implement the principles of Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction into my classroom and school. We have learned and shared many great resources about instruction and assessment for diverse learners. For example, online tools and surveys can be used to get to know students’ readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles. I can use these tools to help understand students better and provide them with more opportunities to be successful in the classroom. One immediate adjustment that I will make to my instructional practice regarding the use of technology integration to customize instruction as a result of my learning from this course is the online program found on www.xtranormal.com. This program which is similar to a text to speech program allows the teacher or student to type in text to create a simple yet engaging animated movie. This tool can be very useful to engage students which is helpful in instruction and assessment.

Universal Design for Learning: Sharing Ideas and Building Resources

Click here to watch a video about Universal Design for Learning.

References

http://www.cast.org/index.html

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: Author.