Personal Learning Reflection

Assessment of My Learning in the CEP 810 Course and My Areas of Growth

Since starting CEP 810 I am amazed, excited, and intrigued by the amount of new technology I have been exposed to and learned about.  I must admit before starting this course, as an online high school teacher I felt pretty comfortable with my technology level.  I was using Excel, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Pixelmator, iTunes, and a few other programs.  As of today, I now realize I was just touching the surface.  I believe my knowledge of and ability to use technology has grown significantly in many areas.

My first area of growth is in the area of terminology. Until I began session one I had never heard of the term Web 2.0.  In the Learn: Overview of Web 2.0-Lecture it states that the “Web 2.0, isn’t merely an upgrade-it is more like an evolutionary marker. It marks a shift in the technologies currently available on the World Wide Web. Technologies that are moving away from the read/write/publish Web 1.0 environment, to one that offers up free Internet-based tools that allow people to create, collaborate, network and share like never before.” (Session One’s Overview of Web 2.0 Lecture) I now know that I have been stuck in the Web 1.0 environment for years.  This is significant to me because with this new knowledge, I began thinking differently about technology, what it is, and how I can use it as a teacher. 

Some additional terminology I learned is: digital citizenship, phishling scams, protecting my computer (hardware and software firewalls), copyright laws, TRACK (three forms of knowledge: content, pedagogy, and technology) Creativity, learning theories, learning styles, ISTE-S Standards, NET-S/NET-T, Mobile learning, and Cloud Learning. 

Another huge area of growth for me is learning about and creating my own personal workflow. The workflow lesson helped me to understand the need for organization when using technology.  The more organized the teacher is the better the plan/lesson, the better things flow, and there is a higher chance of effective teaching and learning. This is an area I really need to work at and I hope to be more efficient in the future.

Lastly, I grew in the area of new technology I learned, such as: Google, Google Docs, Gmail, RSS Reader, Blogs, Twitter, Prezi, Google Calendar, and more. My favorite new one so far is Prezi. I can see my students have a lot of fun working with it. Now that we are nearing the end of the course I am still using all of the new technologies I have listed and I will continue to do so. 

Do you have any new goals? What are your plans for reaching your new 
goals and your long-term goals after this course is over? 

I have many new plans and goals for integrating new technologies into my classrooms, now and in the future.  Right now I would like to start with a classroom blog or website.  I think they enable students, teachers, and parents to communicate with each other and with others from all over the world.  Students can collaborate through classroom discussions, book clubs, journals, and more. With a classroom blog or website, students will have more assess to information and teachers will be able to post schedules, assignments, rubrics, and even grading scales. I especially would like to start a student book club blog.   I envision lengthy posts about the protagonist and antagonist and lots of drawings or images! 

Another technology I would like to integrate into my classrooms immediately is Google Docs.  I would like to be able to have my students work in groups to write reports, work on projects, write poetry, or write review questions before a test.  I had never heard of Google Docs or worked together as part of a team online before taking this course and at first I was apprehensive, and I honestly did not like the idea.  However, as my teammates and I started working I realized how well we worked together and how easily our ideas flowed.  In no time at all we were very productive and meeting our goals.  I would recommend using Google Docs to all my fellow teachers.  It made making our presentation easier than what I expected.

In the future, I would first like to use Google Presenter in my classrooms then work my way up to teaching Prezi.  I believe both technologies would excite and motivate my students.  I think Prezi would “wow” them.  I would also like to learn how to use Voicethread.  As an online teacher I think the more students and teachers hear real voices, the better.  I believe it would bring a sense of closeness. Another technology I would like  to use is Digital Story Telling.  I have not researched it as much as I would have liked to while taking this course, but from what I have seen I think it would be very useful to an English class.  

My long-term goals are to finish my master’s degree and continue teaching.  For now I plan to continue online teaching because it allows for a lot of freedom and flexibility in creating my schedule.  I have worked while in the car as well as on the beach, in coffee shops, restaurants, and in a cabin in North Carolina.  Also, I like working with high school students. I have discovered the unexpected surprise that many online teachers have found, and that is I get extremely close to many of my students. Students tend to lose their inhibitions and shyness in the virtual world; maybe it because they do not have a room full of people staring at them when they speak.  I plan to use many of the new technologies I have learned in my classrooms to connect with my students and I plan to introduce some of them to my colleagues.  I know that my degree from MSU will help me to become the best online teacher I can be.  One day my long-term goals might lead me back into a brick-and-mortar classroom to actually watch my students learn and get excited by the technology they are using.  I think this would be a lot fun!

Effective Teaching Strategies I Have Learned When Integrating Technology

• Cooperative Learning – Group projects/students build communication & teamwork skills/they learn new technology together/social activity
• Discussion Boards-Very important social and learning activity
• YouTube Videos- Very informative videos  (some add a sense of fun to the course)
• Live Classes – As an online teacher attending live classes as a student helped me to assess my own style/knowledge of what the student experiences
• Teach importance of Social Networking-creating blogs, MACUL Space, class websites, Twitter  
• Teach 2.0 Writing tools & Presentation tools- Google Doc, Google Presenter, Prizi
• Emphasize importance of students becoming global citizens
• Teach students to apply technology to real world experiences
• Use technology to increase student achievement levels
• Use technology to help students meet state standards
• Use technology to increase students engagement
• Importance of addressing individual learning styles
• Emphasize importance of students taking responsibility for learning
• Emphasize the importance of copyright laws and Creative Commons
• Ways to incorporate mobile learning into my classroom
• Importance of teacher knowing technology and how to teach it

How I have Learned to Consider and Evaluate Technology? 

• What methods are available?
• What technologies will best fit my students’ needs?
• What equipment is needed?
• What tools are needed?
• What are the standards? 
• How will I assess my students?
• What are the costs?
• What additional resources are available?
• What technologies will excite my students?
• What is the teacher’s role when teaching new tools?
• What time commitment is required?

Which of the assignments that you turned in do you feel really exemplifies good teaching with technology and why?

One assignment that I turned in that I believe exemplified good teaching with technology was the RSS Reader assignment.   It required many uses of technology to complete the entire assignment. It was a challenge for me to create my Netvibes account, search for sites that had RSS Readers, add the feeds to Netvibes, and finally share it with my teachers. 

Creating a blog was another assignment that exemplified good teaching with technology.  I chose the blog assignment because it was used in several different assignments, which covered different areas of technology. First, I had to make a blog and share it with my teachers, and then I had to embed a working calendar (this was a challenge) into it. I also had to attach a screen shot of my RSS Reader, and I created and attached Creative Common images (after studying and researching it), which was also a challenge.

Finally, the SIG Annotated List of Resources used several different technologies that I think represented good teaching with technology.  I had to join a social networking site (I chose Diigo) and search (which took a lot of time) for resources that would assist me in creating my SIG presentation. Finally, I had to add the links I found to the bookmarking tool. This was a shared activity that I completed with my SIG partners.  

How have you met your goals established in your Personal Growth Plan?

How have I met my goals established in my Personal Growth Plan?  This is a hard question for me to answer because there is so much more I want to learn and do. However, I believe since taking CEP 810 I have met most of my goals . Below is a list of my goals at the beginning of the course that I believe I have met. 

• Increase my skills in using technology
• Learn new educational strategies and techniques 
• Learn new educational strategies and techniques to excite and motivate my students
• Become a better and more knowledgeable online teacher
• Become more comfortable using technology (I have a new sense of confidence)

Additionally, there are goals that I wrote in my Personal Growth Plan that I have not achieved because I have not had the opportunity to do so.  I intend to meet these goals listed below very soon. 

• Teach my students to be comfortable using technology
• Learn to facilitate student learning when using technology
• Excite and motivate my students
• Teach students that knowing technology is vital for success and to prepare them for the 21^st Century workforce