Past+Coursework+Posts

=Lake Dallas Middle School - Technology Integration Wiki=

Members: Desi Beard, Library Media Teacher LDMS Robin Goodale Library Media Teacher LDHS Misty Maxwell, Computer Literacy Teacher LDMS Jim Parker, Principal LDMS Dawn Angove, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction LDISD Karla Landrum, Director of Personnel LDISD Karen Selwood, District Instructional Technologist LDISD Kelly Anderson, 8th Grade Language Arts Teacher LDMS

Our theme this year in Lake Dallas ISD is "Connecting to the Connected". Let's share ideas this year through this wiki on how we have been accomplishing this or what we are planning to try. What technologies are you integrating into your daily interaction with our students? Watch the following videos from Teacher Tube called "Pay Attention" and "A Vision of K-12 Student Today". This is the crux of what we need to accomplish as technology facilitators on our campuses...

[|Pay Attention Video] [|Vision of K-12 Students Today]

** Question: ** What current or emerging technology have you tried or are interested in trying this year to support teaching and learning through your current work? Please post your comments to this question. Thanks!

I have been trying to get teachers interested in blogging but have not yet had any participate. I think that blogging is just unfamiliar. I have a "Blogger" Blog which can be found at: [] AND a Gaggle Blog which can be found at: [|__**http://www.gaggle.net/blog/kbselwood**__]

Each one was set up to show teachers some different ways they can use blogging with their students.

I have also created a wiki at PBwiki which I will be sharing with principals at the next principals' meeting. You can check out my wiki at: [] Please feel free to comment on my blogs and wiki.

=
//**Perhaps it would be helpful to meet with a teacher and set up a wiki for them related to the content they are currently teaching, show them how to post to the wiki (it is not easy to figure out how each different host has it arranged for comments), how to screen and/or remove comments that are not appropriate, where to find spell check, etc.  I have created a wiki and a blog but have not been faithful in updating either. The biggest obstacle to my using either has been the lack of participation by colleagues. ** //======

EDLD 5306 Fundamentals of Educational Technology Posts Thank you for participating in this wiki.

Please watch the following video on "Wikis in Plain English". []

Now, we need to collaborate on an agenda for our first online meeting. Here's a suggested timeline for this collaboration:

Let's begin on Friday, February 6th and end our posting on Sunday, February 8th. Please look at the following agenda for our online meeting and please make changes that you feel are needed so that we can have true collaboration. As you add your changes, please change font color so we can see where the additions are. Thanks! Weekends are great for me!!

Focus of Upcoming Online Meeting: //**To Introduce Strategies for Technology Integration to Teachers and Encourage Their Use**//


 * __Suggested Agenda:__**

1. Welcome everyone and decide on a shared goal for the meeting. (10 mins.) **What does everyone think about the following shared goal? To exchange ideas about how to integrate technology on the middle school campus?** 2. Decide on date and time for our online interactive meeting. (5 mins.) Shouldn't this be decided before the meeting? ** Yes, we can decide on this here on the wiki as our collaboration. Because everyone's schedule is different during the day, I propose that our online meeting be during the day, but with a window of about 3 or 4 hours...like from 8-12 on whatever day we pick. ** ** I like the idea of a window for our interactive meeting. ** 3. Discuss what strategies to focus on during this 2nd semester. (15 mins.) **Here are some ideas: using video iPods in the classroom as centers and with small group instruction; using CPS (individual response pads) and interactive tablets in the curriculum; blogging with students as part of class instruction** ** I really like the idea of video iPods. Middle school students love self-directed centers. **

4. Brainstorm different avenues for showing teachers strategies. (10 mins.) **Teachers generally respond better to a small group setting with lots of hands on opportunities.**

5. Debrief by closing and thanking everyone for their input. (5 mins.)


 * __EDLD 5363 PSA__**

Check out my Game ON! READ! commercial for a recent reading contest I held for students at Lake Dallas Middle School. It was a huge success! We had 185 students qualify to come in on Gaming Day. We had about 10 gaming systems set up...Wii...PS2...Xbox...board games, hand-helds, popcorn and drinks...We had a blast!

media type="youtube" key="Gupj_hvbgR4" height="344" width="425"

Our team's collaboration doc: []

__**EDLD 5363 Personal Digital Story**__

media type="file" key="mymasterpieces.wmv" width="300" height="300"
 * __Masterpieces__** - Here is a digital story I made for one of my masters' classes. It explains what I feel are my greatest accomplishments!

__**EDLD 5363 Multimedia Video Technology Course Reflections**__ . What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned? When I saw the title for this course "Multimedia Video Technology" I was excited because I enjoy working with multimedia and learning new ways of producing and teaching content. The projects we were assigned helped me achieve the course outcomes. For instance, I learned how to plan out a digital story and how different shots and angles can communicate a mood in a story. I also refined my video editing techniques by learning how to clip videos to a certain time length. I also provided voice-over narration for the team PSA we created and collaborated with another team member long-distance as he edited the audio file. I participated in two web conferences that were offered for the first time and this led our team to explore how we could visually collaborate online together. One of our team members found the site, [|www.tokbox.com] which allowed all 4 of us to video chat at the same time. This course delivered the outcomes intended: I was able to create 3 pieces of digital storytelling using multimedia software and hardware incorporating editing techniques learned in the course.

2. To the extent that you achieved the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not? Yes, everything I learned in this course is relevant to my work. I am a library media specialist and I teach teachers and students how to use technology and how to integrate it into the curriculum. I have already taught several classes how to make a digital book talk. We will use the new techniques I learned in this class such as incorporating video clips and providing voice-over narration to add to our projects. I will also try to incorporate some web conferencing next year possibly with students video chatting with some experts in a field of knowledge that would add to something their studying and/or connecting with other students in other school districts online to collaborate on a project. We will use [|www.tokbox.com] hopefully if our school network supports it. I want to also incorporate the art of videography by teaching students the concepts of the different shots and angles we learned about in our readings.

3. What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them? The one course outcome I don't feel I was able to spend enough time on was the following objective taken from the course syllabus, "Comunicate the impact of multimedia and video on learning and teaching for both adults and children." I feel that I will be able to achieve this objective following the course as I take back the new knowledge that I've gained and incorporate it in my work with students and staff back on my campus. As I integrate these techniques and get more teachers to collaborate with me on multimedia projects, students and staff will be able reap the benefits of how video and multimedia facilitate learning in our visual society and with our digital natives. I think since this course is only five weeks long, time was a factor in my ability to communicate what I've learned to the staff and students and also the fact that this course took place when school was dismissed for the summer. When students and staff come back for the fall semester, I will be able to share the concepts I learned from this course. <span style="color: windowtext; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; msobidifontfamily: Arial; msobidifontsize: 11.0pt; msofareastfontfamily: Arial; msolist: Ignore;"> 4. <span style="color: windowtext; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you? Since this course took place during an already planned family vacation, access to the Internet was a problem in weeks 4 and 5 of this course. I did not have Internet access where I was staying, so at one point, I traveled 25 miles to the nearest Starbucks and sat out in the parking lot using my wireless laptop so that I could work on assignments. Consequently, what I turned in on a couple of the assignments was not my best work because I was working under a severe time crunch and had children in the car with me at the time. I also participated in two of the web conferences and experienced issues microphone and web cam issues each time we connected. But, it was a very valuable experience working through that and the web conference experience gave my team the impetus to do our collaboration in that way with the "Tokbox" site mentioned above. <span style="color: windowtext; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; msobidifontfamily: Arial; msobidifontsize: 11.0pt; msofareastfontfamily: Arial; msolist: Ignore;"> 5. <span style="color: windowtext; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">What did you learn from this course: about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes? I learned that I still have a lot to learn! Technology is fun for me and I don't feel threatened by what I don't know how to do. It was very enjoyable collaborating with others on the PSA project because we all learned from each other and the end product was better than what any one of us could have done on our own. There was no one leader of our group. We all shared the leadership and worked well together. It excites me when I learn new technology because I see the possibilities in my personal life and my professional life of what we can do with technology and my ultimate goal is to facilitate learning so I'm always thinking about how to integrate this with our students and teachers. Because I was introduced to some new concepts I had never learned before (videography content and editing techniques) I was able to experience how some of my non-tech-y colleagues feel when I'm working with them and they are learning something new for the first time. This was a good experience for me to remember that we are all learning every day.

__**EDLD 5364 Teaching with Technology: Reflections**__

=<span style="color: #0606c6; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Week 1 Assignment 2 - Reflection on Content Learned = <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Three working models of learning were conveyed this week in the readings and video segments. Constructivism is a learning theory that describes learning as happening within the learner. It is affected by social interaction. The learner constructs new meaning from expanding on previous learning and connecting new learning to prior knowledge. Connectivism is a learning theory that describes learning as a network model of learning. It is also affected by social interaction, but the learning is distributed across a network. The learner must know where to find the information or knowledge. Kevin Warwick has done research on Cyborg Theory by actually implanting micro chips into his nervous system which feeds directly into a computer. Cyborg Theory seeks to enhance human performance by using technology to interact with human biological systems. It is the study of how humans and machines interact.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Educators must complete the shift from teacher-dominated learning to student-centered learning and integrating technology into teaching can help achieve this. When technology is utilized in learning, higher-level thinking is called for. Students are more motivated and using technology can increase achievement for all students especially at-risk students and special populations.

=<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Week 2 Assignment 1 - Reflection on Content Learned = ​ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The readings and the video clips this week were all about making learning accessible for EVERYONE! We were introduced to the CAST website and the UDL lesson builder. This site is dedicated to helping teachers find creative ways to present content and therefore reach all learners. The CAST website promotes seeing learning differences as opportunities for creative solutions not viewing them as barriers. Teachers are encouraged to be "guides on the side" and not a "sage on the stage" anymore. Teachers should be leading, directing, assisting students in their learning.

In some of the readings from the CAST site we were introduced to three networks: **recognition, affective and strategic**. We use our **strategic network** when we have to solve a problem (for example, find a word in a passage)...our brain sets a goal, develops a plan, organizes, and monitors our progress. We use our **recognition network** to recognize images, patterns, and information that we see, hear, touch, taste and smell. Our affective network comes into play when we interact with the information and attach emotional meaning to it.

<span style="color: #0606c6; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Utilizing technology with at-risk students increases self-esteem because they are able to access the content through their own learning styles. Student motivation is also enhanced because students are active participants and are engaged in the learning process...no longer passive learners. Studies are showing increases in achievement scores when teachers utilize technology effectively.

= Week 3 Assignment 1 - Reflection on Content Learned = ​ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> This week I worked with the CAST site and utilized the UDL (Universal Design for Learning) template. I created a lesson plan to help students learn the KWHL technique and incorporated the Inspiration graphic organizing software. I attempted to create a lesson that would engage all learners especially learners utilizing different modalities and skill levels. I incorporated strategies to engage the three brain networks throughout the lesson. This was an interesting and thorough lesson plan model and I would like to share this with the teachers at my school.

As teachers of 21st century learners (digital natives) we must seek to incorporate a variety of strategies that include technology in an engaging way to keep our learners focused and motivated. These technologies include Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, wikis, podcasts and Google docs that will allow collaboration and expression. As we seek to include these emerging technologies, we must find ways to make all of these tools accessible to EVERY student in our classroom to include all modalities as they learn and achieve.

=** Week 4 Assignment 1 - Reflection on Content Learned **= This week we focused on how to support teachers in using technology and preparing them with staff development activities. We looked at the McREL Technology Initiative report that focused on what works in technology intervention for teachers. The following strategies were employed and findings were reported: assessing a school's infrastructure, ongoing peer mentoring, observing peers, reflective practice, workshops and training and support from building and district leadership. This study was a 2-year implementation phase and included: one-on-one mentoring, whole-staff workshops, online administrator meetings and teacher technology surveys at the beginning of the project and at the end.

The results of this study showed significant gains in student achievement, teacher's ability to evaluate digital work from their students and greater awareness of administrators on the benefits of using technology in instruction. These results are not unique and seem to be echoed in the current professional literature that calls us as teachers to transform our classrooms and teaching habits, embrace current technologies and integrate them as seamlessly as possible into the curriculum. Curriculum is the focus and technology is just a means to deliver and interact with it. We must allow our students to experience our flat world and become a productive part of it.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">From the video clips this week, we learned how using simulations and gaming format can give students real-world experience and challenges while in a classroom setting. Some of the "Big Thinkers" challenge us as educators to see the benefits of what gaming gives students: problem-solving tasks from the moment they login, ongoing assessments and feedback throughout the "game", chance to experience "virtually" roles of real-world jobs and go inside cultures and interact, just to name a few.

Assessment was the focus of the Web 2.0 text reading this week. The authors gave several ways that Web 2.0 tools could enhance ongoing assessment, for instance, using podcasts to deliver content and then students blogging about it and having other students in another state or country that have heard the same podcast peer-edit their writing; art students having their online art portfolio critiqued by an artist in that medium; Social Studies students creating social bookmarks of the topic of study in class and adding tags that show their deep understanding of the topic. E-portfolios or blog-folios or wiki-folios (all the same just different terms) were discussed and the distinction was made that e-portfolios 2.0 are learner-centered, learner-directed and interactive while the traditional version of the e-portfolio 1.0 was more of a checklist that was put together by the institution and gained feedback from teachers only.

The Pitler text this week focused on reinforcing effort by actively teaching students to look at their own behaviors in a cause/effect manner to see how the effort they expend toward a task or goal directly affects their achievement. Technology tools can enhance this look at effort. Spreadsheet software and data collection software can be used with students to track their behaviors and outcomes.

__**EDLD 5364 Teaching with Technology: Final Assessment**__

1. What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?

I was excited about this course because helping teachers teach with technology is a huge part of my current day-to-day job. I expected to be introduced to new techniques and new resources that would enhance what I’m already doing with my district. I was familiar with many of the Web 2.0 tools we learned about: wikis, Google docs, blogs and videoconferencing. I was pleasantly surprised to learn of some new tools: UDL (Universal Design for Learning), the CAST site, the book builder and Google sites. The collaborative piece of this course was fun and allowed me to work with four other members that were talented in different ways so we formed a cohesive, well-rounded team. The very nature of 21st century learning is collaborative so having this designed into our course was timely and a best practice. This course has left me with a better understanding of lesson design that will accommodate all learners with the integration of technology.

2. To the extent that you achieved the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?

All of the outcomes from this course are very relevant to my current job. I had already incorporated blogs, Google docs and wikis into my work at our middle school. I want to continue and expand my use of these tools while introducing my teachers to the new tools I worked with: UDL, CAST, book builder and building Google sites. The first tool that will be easiest to introduce and I think will be extremely helpful in the classroom is the book builder site to produce ebooks. I had never seen this before and am excited to have this resource. My ESL teachers and Special Education teachers especially can use this tool to create ebooks of content they are learning in the classroom. Exposing teachers to the UDL concept and the CAST site will help them think about how to make lessons fair and accessible for everyone in their classroom. Of course, I will be partnering with them to help them use these tools as they design their lessons.

3. What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?

I achieved what I set out to achieve with this course: gaining new methods and resources for helping teachers teach with technology. If I had to pick something that I feel I didn’t achieve, I can say that I wish that I had more time to work with some of these tools like the book builder. The course is so fast-paced that you feel like you’re moving on to the next set of assignments before you’re ready sometimes. I enjoyed creating the one ebook and look forward to building some more and helping teachers create them with their content. Students can also create ebooks with the site which is something we’d like to try next semester. I’ve worked with teachers and students doing digital storytelling using PowerPoint slides and Windows Movie Maker which can be an ebook of sorts. It has text, audio and images just like the book builder, but this site gives me another resource to use with teachers and students.

4. Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?

I was successful in completing the course assignments each week. Time was always a factor in getting everything done, but I always managed to complete each task on time. I did have to take the 2 days grace period most weeks though. One factor in helping me stay on task and make sure everything was complete each week was the helpful weekly overviews sent by our academic coach. I appreciated these because it gave me an overview and a helpful outline of what I had to do each week. I work full-time, have 2 kids and a husband, sing in a praise band at church and led a weekly class at church during this course, so having these overviews helped me manage my time as best as I could. Another thing that was helpful in completing my assignments was the timely grading our coach did so that we could see how we were doing each week and make adjustments if needed. That hasn’t always been the case in other courses, so I really appreciated it in this course.

5. What did you learn from this course: about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes?

I know that I am a life-long learner and that I will always be learning new technology tools and integrating them into my work and home life. I will never know it all and wouldn’t want to. It’s exciting to learn new things and challenge myself. I took on the role of team captain for our group project and was comfortable in that role, but clearly saw our project as a team effort where we relied on the talents of everyone on the team to complete the project. We truly came up with something better together than we could have done all by ourselves. I learned more about time management with this course because there were several pieces that had to be done and the time needed to be allotted so that I could get it all done. The belief in this course that all children can learn mirrors my own philosophy that I’ve always had and it was exciting to find more resources to help all students be successful.

__**EDLD 5368 Instructional Design**__

=Reflections on Course Learning:=

__ Benefits I See in Educators Knowing How To Design and Implement Online Learning __

Online learning is here! The students that we teach and our very selves will depend on taking advantage of online learning to reach educational goals. It is crucial that educators both in the K-12 educational setting and higher education increase their expertise in delivering and facilitating courses online. Some of the same techniques we might use in a face-to-face classroom can work with online learning such as the technique of building background knowledge, but in an online setting that would look like a video clip either made by the instructor or a clip taken from Youtube for example that students would view as part of their course. The online educator will have to acquire new techniques and proficiencies as they become online course designers.

Offering online courses give students more choices and options in getting required classes and can bring more qualified instructors to students that they would possibly not have the chance to interact with. As educators increase their ability to deliver instruction online, they increase their technology skill set and and become more well-rounded professionally.

__ Professional Uses of the Course I Designed for This Class __

I have had some previous experience with developing online “workshops” in my previous position as Gifted/Talented Coordinator with my current district. Part of my position was to provide staff development to our teachers in gifted instruction. I wanted to give teachers options in getting the required hours so I created three online workshops and facilitated those at certain times of the school year.

<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">The online course I’ve created through Schoology is a class I’ve wanted to teach to our middle school students to prepare them for research. This course teaches them a research model called The Big6. I plan to use this in the Fall to introduce them to this model and before teachers start assigning research projects. I plan to add to the course over time and hope to create other “courses” designed as a week-long project. I will also introduce my colleagues to Schoology and try to encourage them to try creating learning online. I give small technology training sessions throughout the school year to our staff so I’m hoping to feature online learning as a future topic.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">__Integrating Online Learning in My Role as Teacher/Staff Developer__

Since coming to my district back in 1996, I have assumed a leadership role as a technology facilitator on each campus and in each job I’ve performed. I truly love learning how to integrate new technologies into learning and helping teachers learn how to do so also.

With a master’s in Educational Technology I have increased my knowledge and skill set and I will be forever learning as I go along. I plan to continue as a staff developer in my current role as campus media specialist for the coming year and plan to move into full-time instructional technology after that. Currently, for the past two years, I have conducted several 30-minute sessions on technology integration for our campus staff. I plan to deliver some of these sessions online using my webcam, screen shots, podcasting and slideshows to deliver training on-demand.

I also plan on continuing with an idea I initiated a few years ago on offering job-imbedded training. I had learned about this idea from a staff development consortium and brought it to my district. I would like to somehow integrate that on my campus to deliver technology training.

__ Questions I Still Have About Online Learning __

Just as technology is constantly changing, online learning will constantly change with respect to web tools that you can integrate and ways you can offer learning (I’m wondering now if I could design an iPhone app that would give my subscribers (faculty) a daily tech update. I think the possibilities are endless for what the future holds in creating and facilitating online learning. This field is so exciting because hardware gets smaller, sleeker and “smarter” and shareware (open source) offerings are more and more abundant.

I want to learn more about the standards for designing good, quality staff development online. We touched on the standards but I want to now go learn on my own as I seek to develop some online material. I also want to learn more video editing techniques so that my video segments are more sophisticated and visually pleasing. This is a lifelong learning adventure and it will keep changing and I will do my best to keep changing right along with it.

__ Applying My New Learning __

In the past few years as I come across new technology applications I try them out right away so that I can have some experience with it. I find if I don’t do so right away, the idea or website gets “buried” in my bookmarks or in my files and I never get to it. So, I have had a lot of experience with many different shareware sites, hardware applications, etc. Learning how to use Schoology is no exception. I plan on integrating it into my information literacy classes I teach to 6th, 7th and 8th grade students at my campus. Initially, I will try out the course I designed on teaching the research model, The Big6. I will also look at designing more short courses on other subjects as time permits possibly including virtual field trips as part of the courses.

I also plan to use this new learning to present some of my technology training for campus staff online, particularly, the job-imbedded training mentioned previously.