EDLD 5364 Final Reflection

EDLD 5364 – Teaching with Technology  - kept me on my toes.  I think I learned more useful information in this course than any of the others to date. The scenario our group was tasked to solve was very daunting, however our team leader, Shauntel Cooley, kept us all on track. We are a very diverse group of people that complement each other very well.  We come from backgrounds that consist of elementary and secondary, science, technology, and languages.  I believe it is because of our differences that we mesh so well together.  We each brought different strengths to the project, and I also felt like I could trust each of our team members to do their part.  I never once worried that any of them would let us down. Together, we were able to develop a fantastic unit on weather. The first thing we did after forming our group was to install Dropbox.  Dropbox made it easy for us to share files and resources.  Next, we developed a Google Doc for collaborating, and a Google Site for presenting all our information.  Our group selected elementary weather for our unit.  We each choose an area to develop.  I volunteered to develop the on level plans.  As it turns out, my lessons very closely resembled Julia’s lessons for the below level kids.  We decided to mesh them together, tailoring the activities for the below level and at level kids.  Our lessons were on the water cycle, so that allowed for some hands on learning.  The students were to recreate a mini water cycle in a bowl.  While the below level kids were to make a booklet and then describe the water cycle to a classmate and then an adult at home, the on level kids are required to create a Voki avatar to describe the water cycle.  Additionally, the on level students using Prezi and present it.  Julia recommended a web quest for our unit.  I had never heard of Zunal before, so it was wonderful to learn about this new tool.  I really like how the entire unit was in one, organized location.  I love how we are learning from each other as well as from the content of this course. If I had to choose the one most meaningful thing I learned from this course, it would have to be the UDL (Rose and Meyer, 2002).   I feel like this method of planning will help me to reach every student in my class, and not just teach to the middle.  I not only learned a lot from the readings, but I also felt very validated by them.  Solomon and Schrum (2007) suggest using various media as a form of assessment, by allowing students to show what they have learned.   In thinking back about the lesson that I planned for our project, I felt validated since I had planned on using both Voki avatars and Prezis as a means assessment. Rose, D., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Available online at the Center for Applied Special Technology web site, http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/ Solomon, G., and  Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: New tools, new schools. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education, 168.

EDLD 5364 Week 5 Reflection

Week 5 readings centered around student effort and assessment.  As I was working on my part of the group project, the following quote caught my attention:  "Perhaps the most obvious use of Web 2.0 tools for assessment would be for students to be able to show what they know in a wide variety of media" (Solomon 2007).

I selected this quote because I feel so strongly that students should be assessed in this manner.  One lesson I wrote for our group scenario was about the water cycle.  Several forms of assessment included in the lesson were using technology to show what student learned.  In one instance, students are to use a Voki avatar to explain the water cycle.  In another instance, students were to create a zooming graphic of the water cycle utilizing Prezi.  When I read this quote, I felt confirmation on what I already believed to be true.  It was very validating.

Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: New tools, new schools. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education, 168.

EDLD 5364 Week 4 Reflection

The most important thing I learned this week was about the assessment and evaluation improvements that are built into the UDL framework.  UDL removes the barriers of accurate assessment and takes individual learning differences and media constraints into consideration.  Chapter Seven from Teaching Students in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning, addresses the lack of appropriate supports allowed during assessment, as well as the lack of assessment integration within the curriculum.  UDL uses knowledge of the three brain networks to design assessment that is flexible, meaningful and accurate. 

Rose, D., & Meyer A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Chapter 7. Available online at The Center for Applied Special Technology Web site. Retrieved March 20, 2012, from http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/chapter7.cfm

UDL Lesson: Water Cycle (2nd Grade)

UDL Lesson: Why Does Water Fall From the Sky?

EDLD 5364 Week 3 Reflection

When I first began teaching over a dozen years ago, learning styles was the big thing. We had workshop after workshop about addressing the auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning modalities. We made an effort to make sure each lesson addressed all these different learning styles by presenting the content orally, visually, and kinesthetically. The next big thing was the  " True Colors".  This was a personality profile that identified "blue" people as emotional, "green" people are very logical, "orange" people are very outgoing, and "gold" people are very responsible.  Students (and teahers) took a quiz to determine their personality profiles so that we would understand what drives each of us, thereby allowing us to forge better relationships and create lessons to match student personality profiles.  I feel like in this digital age, the UDL an extension of these ideas.  This framework helps us to individual lesson to students as dictated by their needs, strengths, and weaknesses.  Even though we give lip service to the idea that learners are not all the same, the state of Texas still expects all kids to perform the same way and to demonstrate their knowledge in the same manner (state tests). Kids are not all made from the same cookie cutter. We cannot expect them to all learn in the same way. I love that the UDL framework understands that people are individuals with individual thinking skills and individual strengths and weaknesses.

Rose, D., & Meyer, A.(2002). Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Available online at the Center for Applied Special Technology Website. Chapter 6. Retriever on March 10, 2012 from http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/chapter6_4.cfm

EDLD 5364 Week 2 Reflection

This week has been very difficult because there was so much information to take in. In addition to that, as a campus leader (department chair), I've been very involved with benchmark and nine weeks testing and data disaggregation this week. I found myself trying to watch the videos and read the articles very late at night. This week's readings were very interesting and diverse. Probably what interested me most from the reading was the notion that using technology with at risk students lowers the dropout rate. (Page 2002) Even though I have always been a proponent of using technology with students, it never occurred to me that it does more than provide a high interest, engaging method for introducing new concepts. It only makes sense that students that are engaged learn more easily, and that students that are successful have more self-esteem. Having a high level of self worth is critical in lowering dropout rates. I had never made this connection until I read about it in the research by Michael Page. As a team, we are beginning to work on our plan for the given scenario. Luckily, our group members are all very flexible, and we work together well. Each of us brings something unique to the table, and sees things from different perspectives. I think I am in the minority with feeling more comfortable working with secondary students. Our other team members also have science and/or technology backgrounds, whereas I am an English and Speech teacher. Although this could cause problems in working together on a common goal, we have made our differences into positives by learning from each other’s backgrounds and experiences. I have been confused a bit this week about the different Google Sites, Google Documents, Wikis, and Blogs. We each have our own, and we also have our group pages. I prefer my Blog Spot for my reflections, and I hope that is acceptable since the assignment asks for my wiki ePortfolio. I’m not sure, so to be safe, I am posting on both my blog and my wiki. Page, M. S. (2002). Technology-enriched classrooms: Effects on students of low socioeconomic status. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 34(4), 389–409. Retrieved October 5, 2009 from the International Society of Education at http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Number_4_Summer _20021&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&ContentFileID=830

EDLD 5364 Teaching with Technology Week 1

The first week of EDLD 5364 Teaching with Technology introduced students to three learning theories: construtivism, connectivism, and cyborg theories. Of these three theories, connectivism is the one that I am most familiar. I think that this a natural form of learning. As we take in new information, our tendency is to connect it to what we already know in order to make sense of it. This is why it is so important as teachers to either build background knowledge or activate schema before introducing a new concept. 

The connectivism theory seems to be all the rage right now. In my school district, the administrators do walk-throughs as a form of teacher evaluation. Several years back, this evaluation listed what the teacher was doing. Beginning last year, the evaluations moved away from the teachers actions and now focus only on what the students are doing. Teachers are becoming facilitators of learning, rather than the source of all learning.


The cyborg theory was by far the most radical view of the three. I enjoyed watching the video featuring researcher Kevin Warwick, who in 1998 implanted a silicon chip that was connected to his nervous system. This video both intrigued and frightened me. After viewing this video, I realized that it is possible to create a hybrid of man and machine. Warwick goes so far as to say that in the future, education will no longer be necessary, because we will be able to download information, images, and memories directly into our brains.


Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, (1999). Learning as a Personal Event: A brief introduction to constructivism. Retrieved March 1, 2012 from http://www.sedl.org/pubs/tec26/intro2c.html


Warwirk, K. (nd). Cyborg Life YouTube.com. Retrieved on March 1, 2012 from http://www.hyoutube.com/watch?v=RB_L7SY_ngI