Technology in the Classroom
Program Goals:
· Students will be knowledgeable of current, technology-based educational tools
and products.
· Students will be knowledgeable of technologies and programming skills.
Program Competency:
· The educator has mastered the use of basic software applications and is able to
generalize these skills quickly to learn new applications.
· The educator is familiar with multimedia and presentation technologies and is
able to guide students in the application of these technologies.
· The educator is skilled in the organization of classroom technology resources and
orchestration of activity within that environment.
When I started the MSET program my main goal was to increase the level of technology-based learning in my classroom. I was familiar with on-line assessment tools and classroom management applications, such as SyncronEyes, but I realized a need to incorporate more real world project based learning activities for my students. It has been a gradual transition in changing my teaching style from a teacher lead environment to more of a technology-based student-center classroom, but I definitely noticed a decline in my need to monitor the students’ activities through the use of SyncronEyes. Last year I didn’t even use it, which makes me think back to something an old math professor used to say, “The idle mind is the devils workshop”. I believe it is important to challenge the students and have high expectations for them, but still allow them to explore and create by giving them a variety of opportunities to showcase their knowledge.
I have had a lot more success incorporating technology into my science classes than I have in mathematics, but we are making progress. In physics class we use Logger Pro to conduct almost all of our labs, we create wikis and use the discussion tab to share ideas and opinions on current events, we use simulations to alter variables to calculate different mechanical outcomes, and students conduct research and construct presentations using multimedia software. Next year in algebra I’m going see if the students can use Photo Story in an effort to make detailed tutorials of how to work problems.
LT-731 Multimedia Production, Dr. Hawkes, summer 2010
I enjoyed the chance to explore the wide variety of technology applications in this class. I also liked the on campus component and the chance to share ideas with my peers and Dr. Hawkes. The following table is a list, description, and work sample of the multimedia products used.
Multimedia Product |
Treatment |
Inspiration
|
The first one is titled Fluid Dynamics and will be used with my physics students. The underlying principles of fluid dynamics branch off the main theme and then applications to the principles are included on the edges of the diagram.
Next, I created Factoring Polynomials to use with my algebra 1 class. This visual can serve as a great guide in getting students started with factoring polynomials. There are multiple methods to factoring and many beginning learners become overwhelmed with the variety of methods. I am hoping the visual will provide a starting point for students. |
Camtasia
|
I decided to make an instructional tutorial using narration and OneNote. My topic, how to calculate slope, lends itself very well to this multimedia product. It allows the learner visually watch a step-by-step process while being guided through narration. I enjoyed working this product the most and envision incorporating it into my daily lessons in the future as a tutorial guide for absent and struggling students. |
Audacity
|
I used Audacity to sing a song for calculating slope. Enjoy, my students always do – I know I have a terrible voice.
I also made a quick reminder of how to use the quadratic formula. I was going to add it into my Inspiration product but realized that it wasn’t included when I converted the file to a .pdf. So I used PhotoStory and PowerPoint. |
MS Movie Maker
|
I created a personal slide show of rafting trip to Colorado with family and friends.
I also create a video clip of some of our athletes during our summer workout program. |
MS Picture Manager
|
I took photographs of our weight-room and the outside practice and game facilities located around Madison Central. I resized each photo to 25% of the original picture and then compressed them into smaller files for the web. |
CET-726 Technology in the Curriculum, Dr. Wiken, spring 2009
In this course we investigated methods of incorporating technology into our curriculums through student-centered activities. The following work sample is an activity for freshmen physical science students to reinforce the concept of conservation of energy by relating it to the environmental concerns of global warming. The advantage of this activity over traditional text book delivery is in the higher ordered thinking skills the students will utilize. Students will brainstorm, make predictions & hypothesize, gather information, collaborate, analyze, and develop multimedia, all in an effort to foster a greater sense of ownership over their learning.
LT-712 Principles of Learning for Instructional Design, Dr. Yost, summer 2009
In this course we investigated the guiding principles for instructional design and the need for schools to move away from traditional teacher lead instruction to an approach to learning that is student-centered; combining philosophies of cooperative teaching, collaborative learning, educational progressivism, and constructivism. The following work sample is a New Model for K-12 Education.
I have also included a Lesson Analysis of using LoggerPro in the science classroom.
CET-756 Introduction to Instructional Programming, Dr. Wang, fall 2010
This was the most challenging course in the MSET program for me, probably due to the fact that it had been 15 years since I had taken a programming class and I had just accepted the head football position. If I had a choice to pick one course for a face-to-face environment this one would have been it. With that being said, this class definitely revealed the awesome power of technology. In this class we used and created programs that fit well into my curriculum. The following work samples are products which I have used in the math and science classroom with my students:
