I’ve had many past experiences using technology and now I wish to learn how to use technology more effectively and authentically.  I have been a part of a technology and critical thinking cohort and have also had experience in completing an e-portfolio.  I have also taken Virtual School training in which we began to discover Moodle, Jing and Blackboard.  I also am a part of the Technology Learning Network (TLN) in my district in which I completed an action project.

As part of the MET program I intend to expand my knowledge of technology and it’s resources to use in my teaching. I want to learn programs to use in my classroom, and resources that I can share with my colleagues. In this process, we (my colleagues and I) are looking for authentic, reliable, user-friendly programs that can enhance our current teaching practices. I usually teach face to face (F2F) and would love to look at blending F2F with online ideas.

 After completing my action project, and it failing miserably, I want to try using ideas from this course to assess, select and design learning technologies that will be appropriate for my students.  In particular, I am interested in Bates & Poole’s SECTIONS model (2003). With this model I want to asses: moodle, LMS, wikis, and other social softwares and multimedia.

I have never seen Learning Management Systems (LMS), besides the quick wikipedia search I just completed, and would like to learn what they are and how to incorporate them with my F2F class.  I would also like to learn alternate types of assessment (besides tests and projects).  In terms of social software and multimedia, I want to find more programs that will allow for more online collaboration. Also, I have never used digital story telling and am interested in learning this skill.

Specifically, I would like to use Moodle to set up a French Verbs unit (French as a second language), including: present tense – être, avoir, ER, IR, RE verbs. Additionally, much of Language Arts/English classes are very traditional teacher-directed learning and I would like to learn how to have student-directed and collaborative learning environments (Lax, Taylor, Wilson-Pauwels, & Scardamalia, 2004). In particular, what is the best way to incorporate authentic technology into a Language Arts classroom? I would like to go beyond using word processors and find ways for collaborative work online. I think a wiki could be interesting, but I would need to learn more about the positive and negative aspects of wikis for language arts before I begin.

The best resources for me to master these technologies is basic steps or tutorials online and for me to try these programs out. The way in which we are teaching our students and trying to develop knowledge-building communities, is also the best way for me to learn (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1994).

Overall, I have many, perhaps too many, things that I wish to learn this semester and am looking for support and time in order to have a chance to try these out instead of just looking at samples.

Resources

Bates A. W. & Poole, G. (2003). A Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In A.W. Bates & G. Poole, Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education (pp. 75-108). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 4.

Lax, L., Taylor, I., Wilson-Pauwels, L., & Scardamalia, M. (2004). Dynamic curriculum design in Biomedical Communications: Integrating a knowledge building approach and a Knowledge Forum learning environment in a medical legal visualization course. The Journal of Biocommunication, 30(1), 1-10.

Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (1994). Computer support for knowledge-building communities. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 3(3), 265-283.