Final EDU 585 Post

All good things must come to an end!

Going back through and rereading all of my blog posts for this class, I could definitely see some growth of understanding, and comfort level with ed tech increasing with each post!

In the beginning, I was a little unsure of what to expect, and I wondered if this class might be a challenge since I haven’t worked with too many ed tech tools. One thing I did understand from the start is that educational technologies MUST be driven by the instructional goal, and the technology is used to enhance that goal (and not driven by the technology alone).

After weeks of exploring ed tech tools and learning the value of them throughout this class, I have formed a main objective or goal for my future use of ed tech tools in the classroom:

Main objective: To create meaningful content and an authentic learning environment using technologies to support instructional goals.

To achieve this main objective, I have outlined specific tools I would like to use to help enhance my future students’ learning experiences, as well as outlined the specific objectives of those tools while using the ISTE student standards as a framework.

Tool: HyperDocs

Objective: To allow teachers to be able to work one-on-one with their students while the other students are learning through a HyperDoc lesson. The HyperDoc lessons will be engaging, meaningful, and relevant. They will in no way be used as “busy work” to keep other students occupied while the teacher gets significant one-on-one work done with another student. Not only can HyperDocs be another way to teach kids and another means to deliver content, but it can almost even act as another teacher to allow us to find that time to work with struggling students.

Also, HyperDocs is a valuable use of technology for the students, as it really allows students to be in charge of their own learning. Tasks can be outlined for the students to allow them to go through them at their own pace. This accountability can help drive students’ motivation to learn. With this accountability, a HyperDoc lesson can help fulfill the first ITSE standard for students of becoming an empowered learner.

HyperDocs can serve as additional information in conjunction with teacher-led lessons. A HyperDoc lesson can be used as a way to give students the opportunity to explore a topic first, and then the teacher can verbally explain it and get into the lesson. This gives students the chance to get a little sneak peek into a lesson before it is officially taught. They can form their own questions and wonderings ahead of time. I feel this can create a really meaningful learning experience, as not only is the teacher going in with some prior knowledge on the subject, but the students can as well.  For really important lessons, not only can the teacher teach them, but they can also use HyperDocs to really reinforce the content and points of the lessons that really need it.

Tool: Quizizz

Objective: Formative Assessment

I chose Quiziz for my formative assessment tool because overall it is just as beneficial to the student as it is to the teacher. Creating meaningful formative assessments within this tool is quite simple. The students can enjoy it and have their attention kept with the fun memes in between the quiz questions. After answering each question, students can see how they ranked in real-time with other participants. All of the graphics, sounds, and even fonts are all really pleasing. The pleasing layout and being able to see rankings in real-time can truly help to keep the students engaged, and they may not even realize they are being formatively assessed. For the teacher, the results of the quiz are reported in real-time, and with the results and overviews function, a teacher can really get a quick snapshot of students’ individual and overall strengths and weaknesses. This tool can help students to demonstrate their learning competency, just like stated in ITSE standard # 1 of the empowered learner.

Tool: Adobe Spark

Objective: A great tool to use for lessons plans when a teacher plans to be out. Quite often when a classroom teacher leaves sub plans, the lesson is not always delivered as the teacher intended, thus, becomes less meaningful. As educators, we strive to make each and every lesson meaningful. With Adobe Spark, the teacher can video record herself or audio record herself presenting a lesson and giving instructions. It can be tough for students to connect with a substitute; however, they may be able to make a connection with the lesson when the teacher is not there if they see her and/or hear her voice. Creating within Adobe Spark was effortless but can certainly be worth a lot for the students.

Adobe Spark would also be a fun way to make a video to introduce a new topic to gauge students’ interest before the teacher verbally starts to explain it. If a student goes into a new topic or lesson with some prior knowledge of it, it can help them to already feel connected to the new topic. When there is already a connection formed, this could help the student to stay interested and pay better attention to the lesson, aiding in creating a knowledge constructor as in ITSE standard for students #3.

Tool: EdPuzzle/PlayPosit

Objective: Quick way to add more meaning to a lesson in a pinch. Now a days, classrooms use technologies every day. The goal is to create a blended learning environment between teacher-lead lessons, as well as a good mix of ed tech. Tools like EdPuzzle and PlayPosit are a good way to quickly create lessons to help create that blended learning environment. With the benefits of using ed tech in the classroom, sometimes we need to be able to create something meaningful quickly since we may be creating many pieces. These two tools are useful for that quick creation to ensure ed tech is being used in the classroom.

Tool: Google Forms

Objective: Pre/Post formative assessment. I can use Google Forms to create a formative quiz that I can give to students prior to presenting a lesson, as well as after presenting a lesson. It can be the same quiz, with the same questions. This will help me to understand what the students know on a topic before I teach it to them, as well as let me know what they have learned from the topic after I have taught it to them. I can use this information to adjust my lesson, reteach a certain area, or know that the students are ready to move on. Compiling a quiz within Google Forms is very easy. There are not as many “bells and whistles” as say Quizizz, nor is it meant to really be as engaging and fun for the students. That’s okay, as the purpose of this is not really to entertain the students, it is for me to be able to assess to get results and use the results accordingly. When a teacher is able to understand where a student is at within a certain topic, this can help the teacher to then make the right next instructional steps for the students to help them become innovative designers and computational thinkers (ITSE standards for students #4 and #5). When a teacher successfully formatively assesses students, she can be sure she is not moving on too quickly for a student, to make sure they can in fact master a topic successfully.

Tool: Google Slides/Google Doc

Objective: For students to articulate their own understanding and ideas. For the teacher to get an idea of what the students know, as well as for the students to be able to collaborate on assignments.

My intended grade level to teach will be lower elementary, grades K-3. While using ed tech for these grades can prove to be easy for them in the sense of them watching videos, reading content, listening to audio, clicking on answers, or anything pretty basic like that, these younger grades may not be able to use ed tech in a deeper sense of creation like older students will be able to do. However, I did still want to choose a tool where students can still be able to somehow create within and be able to articulate their understanding of a topic. For this purpose of needing a tool where younger, less experienced students can create something in, I chose Google Docs and Google Slides. For a younger student to be able to communicate with me what they know, they can use a Google Doc as a “brain dump”. They can type words, use pictures, as well as voice record what they may know. This is simple enough for younger students but can still provide me with valuable information on what they know, in their own words. This also gives the students a chance to be the creator, as opposed to always just being the audience member, so to say. With Google Slides, students would be able to collaborate and work together building slides. This can be done with them even sitting across the room from each other! When students reach a level of being able to collaborate and work together creating within a tool, not only are they working as a digital citizen (ITSE standard #2), they are also working as creative communicators (#6) and global collaborators (#7) with each other!

In conclusion, I will strive to use these tools and many more when I have my own classroom. I will continue to explore tools that will help me to meet my instructional needs. I will incorporate blended learning using verbal lessons as well as ed tech. The technology I use will be there to support the learning goals!