Evernote link to: EDTECH 501 Course Syllabus
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Sunday, July 27, 2014
School Evaluation Summary
This week's task of evaluating my school's technology maturity benchmarks using the Maturity Model Benchmarks rubric was a bit difficult. The reason being, our school is governed by a larger overarching school system that encompasses 14 different districts and over 150 schools and our school's technology maturity is partially made up of its own plans and processes, but it is also made up of the plans and processes of the entire school system.
The evaluation results are unique in that they are the outcome of a dynamic relationship between my school and our school system, as my school is the only virtual school in our school system. I believe my school's high ranking on the Maturity Model Benchmark rubric was mainly due to the fact that the rubric was created for standard brick-and-mortar schools whose level of technology integration is considerably different from our school's level of technology integration.
Overall, this was an interesting activity that made me look closer at the technology plans and processes within my school and my school system.
Please see my linked evaluation survey and summary below:
The evaluation results are unique in that they are the outcome of a dynamic relationship between my school and our school system, as my school is the only virtual school in our school system. I believe my school's high ranking on the Maturity Model Benchmark rubric was mainly due to the fact that the rubric was created for standard brick-and-mortar schools whose level of technology integration is considerably different from our school's level of technology integration.
Overall, this was an interesting activity that made me look closer at the technology plans and processes within my school and my school system.
Please see my linked evaluation survey and summary below:
~Rachel
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Tech Trends
In my Tech Trends artifact, I seek to find a resolution to the problem: "How do I [we] foster greater peer-to-peer and peer-to-instructor communication in the online environment?" Through research and consideration, I offer two possible/viable technology tools as solutions to the problem, highlighting the pros and cons of each tech tool, and offering suggestions for the integration of the tools in the online environment.
~Rachel
Tech Trends Presentation Link
~Rachel
Tech Trends Presentation Link
Sunday, July 13, 2014
EDTECH Research
I found this activity interesting and informative. The fact that we were able to create our own specific learning goals/outcomes ensured that the information gathered in the activity was meaningful and useful.
The learning goal I created for the activity dealt with the integration of blended learning in the middle/high school math classroom to increase student mathematical reasoning. To be honest, I assumed that their would be more research that specifically addressed blended learning and math, but I was wrong. In fact, I only found two articles that specifically discussed blended learning and math. This probably has to do with the fact that blended learning practices are fairly new to the educational landscape. At any rate, I still found the information gathered through the activity useful and I am sure I will be referring to these articles if I do indeed incorporate a blended learning model in my math class.
Please see my Annotated Bibliography.
~Rachel
The learning goal I created for the activity dealt with the integration of blended learning in the middle/high school math classroom to increase student mathematical reasoning. To be honest, I assumed that their would be more research that specifically addressed blended learning and math, but I was wrong. In fact, I only found two articles that specifically discussed blended learning and math. This probably has to do with the fact that blended learning practices are fairly new to the educational landscape. At any rate, I still found the information gathered through the activity useful and I am sure I will be referring to these articles if I do indeed incorporate a blended learning model in my math class.
Please see my Annotated Bibliography.
~Rachel
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Digital Divide/Digital Inequality
This was an interesting assignment. As I was assessing my school, in regard to digital divide and/or digital inequality, I found digital inequality to be more of an issue within my school. This is due mainly to the unique student population of our school system, as well as student's relatively stable socioeconomic status.
What did you learn about multimedia principles in creating this artifact?
I didn't really learn any "new" multimedia principles in the creation of this artifact, due to my taking MET courses out of order and having taken a course in Multimedia. Much of the information presented for creation of this artifact was presented in my Multimedia course; however, refreshing one's understanding of multimedia principles is always a good thing.
What did you learn about digital divide and/or digital inequality that was new to you?
I found this assignment interesting as not only did it provide better clarification in regard to digital divide, but it also sought to differentiate between digital divide and digital inequality. As I was creating my assignment/artifact, I looked to my previous school system as source of reference. Due to the unique makeup of our student body, my artifact focused more on digital inequality rather than the digital divide.
What do you plan to do with this knowledge in the future?
Of the factors addressed in my assignment/artifact, the one that I have most control over, as an Educational Technologist, is the knowledge base of school staff (administrators and teachers). I understand how important it is not only to train teachers and administrators on technology integration, but also to create a school-wide integration plan that focuses on creating subject or grade-level communities focused on increasing integration of technology in the classroom.
How might you change/improve this artifact if you had more time?
If I had more time, I would likely have recorded my speaker notes. Google presentation's inability to incorporate recorded speaker notes is a blight on a fabulous suite of technology tools.
My presentation is below.
~Rachel
What did you learn about multimedia principles in creating this artifact?
I didn't really learn any "new" multimedia principles in the creation of this artifact, due to my taking MET courses out of order and having taken a course in Multimedia. Much of the information presented for creation of this artifact was presented in my Multimedia course; however, refreshing one's understanding of multimedia principles is always a good thing.
What did you learn about digital divide and/or digital inequality that was new to you?
I found this assignment interesting as not only did it provide better clarification in regard to digital divide, but it also sought to differentiate between digital divide and digital inequality. As I was creating my assignment/artifact, I looked to my previous school system as source of reference. Due to the unique makeup of our student body, my artifact focused more on digital inequality rather than the digital divide.
What do you plan to do with this knowledge in the future?
Of the factors addressed in my assignment/artifact, the one that I have most control over, as an Educational Technologist, is the knowledge base of school staff (administrators and teachers). I understand how important it is not only to train teachers and administrators on technology integration, but also to create a school-wide integration plan that focuses on creating subject or grade-level communities focused on increasing integration of technology in the classroom.
How might you change/improve this artifact if you had more time?
If I had more time, I would likely have recorded my speaker notes. Google presentation's inability to incorporate recorded speaker notes is a blight on a fabulous suite of technology tools.
My presentation is below.
~Rachel
RSS in Education
RSS feeds and RSS readers are excellent tools for bringing news to the user. This is a refreshing change from the old method of news acquisition in which the user had to search for news. Now the user simply adds the RSS feed content they want to follow to their RSS reader and new content is presented to the user as soon as it is published. Too cool!
RSS feeds and RSS readers have a multitude of uses in the classroom. In fact, right off the top of my head, I can see major implications and uses for RSS feeds and RSS readers in Social Studies and Civics courses. For instance, Social Studies students could be instructed to subscribe/follow a variety of news feeds. Each week, students would then be instructed to use their RSS reader to select an interesting article to be used as a current event. Additionally, a teacher could subscribe/follow a variety of political science RSS feeds and use the content presented to create more lively, current class discussions. Lastly, RSS feeds and RSS readers can be used by teachers as a repository of tips and tricks for technology integration in the classroom. Teachers could take a quick glance at their RSS reader to get ideas for new technology integration.
~Rachel
RSS feeds and RSS readers have a multitude of uses in the classroom. In fact, right off the top of my head, I can see major implications and uses for RSS feeds and RSS readers in Social Studies and Civics courses. For instance, Social Studies students could be instructed to subscribe/follow a variety of news feeds. Each week, students would then be instructed to use their RSS reader to select an interesting article to be used as a current event. Additionally, a teacher could subscribe/follow a variety of political science RSS feeds and use the content presented to create more lively, current class discussions. Lastly, RSS feeds and RSS readers can be used by teachers as a repository of tips and tricks for technology integration in the classroom. Teachers could take a quick glance at their RSS reader to get ideas for new technology integration.
~Rachel
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