In my country, many educators do not have adequate access to technologies and platforms that support teaching and learning. I have been very fortunate to work at a school that encourages technology integration in the classroom.I have participated in a few training programs that has exposed me to the various learning technologies that support student learning. I am hoping that this course provides me with more opportunities to continue my professional development and that of my peers.
LEARNING GOALS
1. I would like to learn how to use platforms like moodle and WordPress to create opportunities to educate my peers about e-learning , collaborative learning environments and the various communication tools (synchronous and asynchronous) to enhance their teaching practices. E-learning environments allows educators to meet the individual learning needs of students by preparing and sharing instructional materials catered to their various learning styles. Similarly, the major premise of a collaborative learning environment is that the teaching – learning process is characterized by students working together in groups ( face to face or online), solving problems, completing given tasks or creating new products. As a result, students become actively engaged in the learning process with their peers and quality communication increases. Additionally, they are better positioned to learn from their own understanding about the topic rather than relying on the teacher as their main source of information.
2. Since I work primarily with younger students I would like to learn how to design a course that is very interactive, fun-filled, uses a lot of game based learning and multimedia tools to enhance students’ learning. This will allow me to not only capture their initial interest but to continue to increase their motivation and engagement in learning .
3. I would like to learn how to evaluate and select the appropriate technologies for meeting the learning needs of students and in turn pass on this knowledge and skills to my peers to help them select technologies that appropriate to their own context.
4. Assessment is very important in my line of work, I would like to find out how I can carry out assessments in LMS platform.
Experiences with instructional technologies or tools
It was during my virtual tutoring training with EDCOAS (Educational Portal of the Americas) I was first introduced to Blackboard.Since then,I have been exposed to more Learning Management Systems. These would include: Connect and WordPress. Apart from having knowledge basic tools such as microsoft office I have created a few videos using iMovie, videoscibe and youtube creator hub. I have even created stop motion films using Stop Motion Studio and MyStopMotion. One of my absolute favorite sites is Pinterest. It is an online storehouse of valuable and engaging resources that can be used in educational settings and more.I have created a few boards on this site geared specifically towards Assessment, Digital storytelling and Technology Integration. I am hoping that at the end of this course that I attain the knowledge, skills, attitudes and experiences to create an online course to transform and improve the teaching,learning and assessment practices or activities in my region .