Reflection

Coming into this class, I realized that a big job of a technology integrator is to be able to successfully collaborate with all colleagues whether they are teachers, administrators, or support staff.  I also knew that being a technology integrator involved planning to create changes in a school or district, I just didn’t realize how much.  Completing the task was eye opening to me in seeing how much planning comes into just one development plan.  Completing a plan for bringing new technology into a district takes lots of thought, making it work for administrators, teachers, and other staff.  In addition to all the planning, the plan needs to be implemented and adjusted problems, questions and situations arise.

I also realized the importance of collaborating with other people who are technologically savvy.  Through the module where we were paired with a classmate to help with the integration of technology in lessons, I learned a lot.  Not only did I take away ways to improve my lesson and ideas to use from her lesson, I saw first hand how coming together with someone who understands technology can better both of our work.  Two minds are better than one, and through collaborating this way, I can grow as a learner not only through getting help and ideas, but through helping others.

Before taking this class, I felt that technology integration is essential in 21st Century classrooms.  Students are living in a world where they’re accessing technology multiple times a day, every day.  School should be no different.  While I realize the importance of technology integration, many teachers do not.  Either they don’t want to integrate technology because it’s something new to them or they just don’t know the advantages of introducing technology to the classroom.  Through this class, I discovered ways to assess what staff knows regarding technology and what can be done from a technology integrator standpoint to show teachers what they can be doing in their room and why it can help.

While it’s important to help staff in the district grow in their technological knowledge, I also realized that I can always grow.  I like to think of myself as someone who is technologically savvy, and as a teacher who does a pretty good job integrating technology into my classroom as much as I can.  Through looking at my classmates blogs and discussions, as well as the tools suggested in the learning modules, I discovered tons of new tools that I can use in lessons, and teach my students how to use.  I’m leaving this class realizing that I need to put more effort into researching what new technology is out there and different web 2.0 tools I can be using in my lessons.

BYOD

Being a teacher in a small, rural school (90 students K-8) there are reasons I like about implementing Bring Your Own Device and reasons I’m hesitant towards BYOD.  The district I work in is small and there isn’t much money that is put towards technology.  My schools board also doesn’t allot much money towards technology spending, mostly because the majority of them don’t know the advantages of having students learning how to use technology and they don’t know how technology can improve student learning experiences.  If my district/school was to implement BYOD, teachers would be able to implement more technology use into lessons.  Currently we aren’t able to implement technology as much as we’d like because we have to share the technology we have and it isn't available as much as we’d like to use it.

If a school is to implement BYOD, there are many things that need to be considered.  First, there needs to be infrastructure within schools that can support high traffic on wifi.  If infrastructure can’t handle high traffic, student’s won’t be able to use tools on the web to their fullest potential, and technology can be used within the classroom as effectively.  The school also needs to be determined what types of technology will be allowed.  The school needs to think about what types of tools they want students to be using and how students will be using technology in their classrooms.  Most likely, laptops, tablets, eReaders, and smartphones would be appropriate tools.  I think if a school is to implement BYOD, it should start at middle school, and no younger so that parents of younger students aren't pressured.

Schools also need policies in place, like when technology can be used, what it should be used for, and what shouldn’t be used.  There should be logical consequences that are in place in case there are technology use violations such as loss of technology for a period of time, or limited technology use.  Parents should also be notified as part of this to keep them informed and so they can follow through at home as well.  Trainings would also need to take place.  The district should be in charge of setting up trainings during staff development days.  They should be trained on how students should be using technology and how to teach students how to use technology in school.  Teachers need to be in charge of training students, letting them know how to use various tools effectively that’ll be used throughout the school year, and teaching them the policies.  Parents also need to be informed through letters home to school, pollicies regarding BYOD in the family handbook and parent nights where parents are informed at school by administrators and teacher leaders.

Although BYOD would make more technology available, I feel that the negatives outweigh the positives, and BYOD would be a good fit.  My school’s town has a high number of students who live in poverty.  If we were to implement BYOD, there would be the issue of kids being seen as the haves and have nots.  This would also put pressure on parents to spend a lot of money on technology so their kids are “like the other kids”.  The issue also arises of what age students should be expected to be bringing in their own devices.  I think the technology that is available today can be a great tool for kids to use, but as a parent, my wife and I struggle with how much technology we want our daughter to use.  At two years old, our daughter can easily navigate our iPhones and iPad.  On one hand, it’s great that she’s learning how to use technology, but on the other, we want her to learn to use her imagination and not become dependent on the use of technology to keep her entertained.  Parents of older children face these same dilemmas.  It seems that kids are getting younger and younger when they get their first tablet or cell phone.  It’s hard for parents to make this decision without having extra outside pressures like a school that’s implementing BYOD.  

There are many other issues that could arise with students bringing in their own devices:

• Students could compare technology with one another and some students feeling that their technology isn’t as good as other students.  Even within the students who have technology, there could be the haves and have nots.  
• If students are using 3G or 4G, they can bypass firewalls, and no matter how vigilant staff is, you can’t see what every student is doing all the time.  
• It also gives students opportunities to become distracted with doing things that aren’t on task on their devices.
• Teachers cannot be expected to be able to provide technology support for all students having issues.
• All devices may not be able to support a tool teachers may want to use in a lesson.

As I previously stated, although BYOD brings in more available technology for students to be using during lessons, there are many negatives that come along with it.  While teachers would see the advantage of being able to implement more technology in their lessons, they would have to do more in terms of management, which would be more work for them in the end game.

Resources:

BYOD – Worst Idea of the 21st Century? (2009). Retrieved January 7, 2015, from http://stager.tv/blog/?p=2397

Walsh, K. (2012, July 1). Free Ed Tech Resources eBook. Retrieved January 7, 2015, from http://www.emergingedtech.com/2012/07/5-reasons-why-byod-is-a-bad-idea/

What is BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and Why Should Teachers Care? (2012, November 12). Retrieved January 7, 2015, from http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/tech-ed/what-is-byod-bring-your-own-device-and-why-should-teachers-care/

Bloom’s Taxonomy and Technology Integration

While planning on how to integrate technology into the classroom, it’s important to consider how Bloom’s Taxonomy fits into each lesson.  As a classroom teacher, considering Bloom’s Taxonomy in every lesson is essential in making sure all students gain the knowledge they need and can apply, synthesize, evaluate and create artifacts with the gained knowledge.  The goal of Bloom’s Taxonomy in the classroom is for students to gain skills and knowledge so they can use it to help further their education.  Bloom’s Taxonomy can be applied to the use of technology directly.  Students can gain knowledge through technology.  They can help build comprehension through the use of technology and analyze situations with it as well.  Through the use of different technological tools, students can apply their learning and create products that show their learning.

While creating my budget matrix, I had to think of disadvantages and potential issues that could arise with different technological configurations.  Through all of the configurations, students can gain knowledge and help strengthen comprehension.  However, when you’re in a classroom with limited technology (one computer or ten computers) students are limited to learning in small groups, large groups, or with the whole class.  When students have their own computer to use, they can explore what they want to learn and it gives them an opportunity to be in charge of their own learning.  When students are responsible for their own learning, they tend to value what they are doing more, and more can be achieved for more students.  That is not to say learning in larger groups is bad.  Sometimes in groups, questions and learning arises that may not have happened if there weren’t other learners bringing ideas up.

Teachers can overcome obstacles in classrooms with limited technology by coming up with alternative learning opportunities for students who don’t have technology to work with.  They can also modify lessons so technology fits within their lessons better.  The most eye opening thing that I discovered while completing the assignment was the monetary aspect.  Obviously, the harder of the configurations to integrate technology is the classroom with just one computer and a projector, which cost just under $900.  The configuration of having a computer cart with 25 Chromebooks cost about $6500, and was about seven times more expensive.  If I was working with my district, talking about bringing in some technology to classrooms, I would really push spending more money on chromebooks.  For seven times more, all students would have technology available to work with (given the cart would need to be signed out), but technology would be able to be used more effectively in lessons.  By having just one computer in a room with a projector, student technology use is limited, and integrating technology into lessons is much more of a challenge.

Organizing Data

The link for my Organized Assessment data can be found at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SuDfW872UIYy0fSt3ZYv4rXPpfyf29_ciPVY45s3iVU/edit?usp=sharing

For this assignment, I decided to use Google Sheets because it is a program that I'm familiar with.  I think one big strength of using Google sheets was that the layout of my information is neat, and easy to read.  For me, a big weakness is I had to do a lot of organizing and number crunching on my own.  The whole process, at least for how I organized my data, proved to be a bit tedious.  It would have been nice to have found some program that would organize the information for me, but it's my hope that if I did end up compiling information like this for a teacher, that it would be beneficial for them and they'd use it.  It was interesting for me to have to organize assessment data, because I've always either been handed data sheets from a higher up, or I've used an assessment program that does it for me.  It was good for me to see how much work can go into it.

Adding color to my tables definitely helped see how individual students did.  I think color would have helped me out a lot more if I had organized the students test information differently.  I saw a couple different solutions on different classmates blog posts.  It would have been beneficial for me to put all of the individual student information on one table instead of twelve individual ones, by having students going down the y-axis and questions going along the x-axis.  This not only would have saved me some time, but would have let me look at every student at once instead of having to scroll down.

When giving the teacher back the information, I would have them take a quick look at the individual student results on the left (paying attention to red answers), but to focus more on the two tables on the right.  I would want the teacher to take a look at the student scores.  I included the average student score (60%) above the table.  In my opinion, as an educator, a red flag goes up when the average student score of an assessment is 60%.  To me this is a signal that the teacher must go back a reteach certain areas.  Based purely off of individual student scores, I would group Zoran B., Zyntar C., Zub C., Zancy D., Zhield H., and Zamsung K. in a small group to work on skills they have been taught leading up to this assessment as they all score 60% or lower.

In the second table on the right, I organized how many students (out of the 12) got each question correct, what percent that was, and put what the most given wrong answer was. The teacher should use the "Most Given Wrong Answer" information to explore reteaching opportunities and to explore possible student misconceptions. I feel that out of all of the information in the tables, this is the most useful because the teacher can take a different approach with reteaching their students by going at misconceptions head on.

There were also three different areas I would suggest the teacher reteach based off having a lower percent correct overall in the class:

M:01:NO:6.4 (S) (Question 6) Accurately solves problems involving single or multiple operations on fractions (proper, improper, and mixed), or decimals; and addition or subtraction of integers; percent of a whole; or problems involving greatest common factor or least common multiple.

M:02:GM:6.6 (S) (Question 3) Demonstrates conceptual understanding of perimeter of polygons, the area of quadrilaterals or triangles, and the volume of rectangular prisms by using models, formulas, or by solving problems; and demonstrates understanding of the relationships of circle measures (radius to diameter and diameter to circumference) by solving related problems. Expresses all measures using appropriate units.

M:03:FA:6.1 (S) (Question 5) Identifies and extends to specific cases a variety of patterns (linear and nonlinear) represented in models, tables, sequences, graphs, or in problem situations; or writes a rule in words or symbols for finding specific cases of a linear relationship; or writes a rule in words or symbols for finding specific cases of a nonlinear relationship; and writes an expression or equation using words or symbols to express the generalization of a linear relationship (e.g., twice the term number plus 1 or 2n + 1).

Presentation for Implementing Technology

Here is my presentation using powtoon on implementing technology in the classroom:
http://www.powtoon.com/show/dvcGAcokZ3x/technology-in-classrooms/#/

Survey for Teacher Technology Needs

Click the link for my survey for teacher technology needs that I made using Google Forms:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AaqGH8pOmzCBvO-zIqDuOjbnnbRk0cw8smwz9517Rcs/viewform?usp=send_form

TPACK

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is a framework that describes the knowledge that a teacher needs for effective pedagogical practice of having technology in the classroom.  TPACK’s main idea is the inclusion of technology in the classroom of any core curricular subject by having knowledge of what kinds of technology can be implemented in certain subjects.  In order to do this, teachers need to have strong content knowledge, knowledge of who their students are as learners and knowledge of how technology and subjects can be tied together.  

Teachers would go about implementing TPACK first through assessing their own content knowledge and technological knowledge and abilities.  They need to be motivated to strengthen their content knowledge and their technological knowledge.  Ideally a teacher would research different types of technology and how it can be used in different lessons in their classrooms to improve their lesson.  Assessing oneself is never an easy task, and asking someone else to assess them may be a good way to have an outside point of view.  Teachers should communicate with colleagues for new ideas of what types of technology to look into for their classroom and also find resources online.

Obstacles teachers may face to implement TPACK into their classroom would most likely be not having enough knowledge about technology that can be implemented into their lessons.  Teachers need to be motivated and open to learning new things and changing the way they teach.  Sometimes research on your own is not enough, and teachers may want to take professional development.

After looking over the sample activities from: http://activitytypes.wmwikis.net/file/view/HarrisHofer-TPACKActivityTypes.pdf, I think that most of these options could be integrated into any core subject.  For example:

View Presentation: Students gain information from teachers, guest speakers, and peers; synchronous/asynchronous, oral or multimedia.  Presentations are something that could be used in any subject to explain subject matter and to engage students.

Group Discussion In small to large groups, students engage in dialogue with their peers; synchronous/asynchronous.  Group discussion on blogs can give students opportunities to discuss topics in any subject over time.  Students can give ideas, comment, and make revisions to theories and ideas.

Draw a Cartoon Students create a drawing or caricature using a paper and pencil or digital format on something like Comic Creator, DFILM video, or digital cameras.  They could do this on any topic to show understanding and create original artifacts that can give opportunities for different types of learners.

Research Students gather, analyze, and synthesize information using print-based and digital sources.  Students can research any topic in any core subject to gather information and to come up with and answer ideas on their own.

Resources:

Harris, J., & Hofer, M. (2009). Instructional planning activity types as vehicles for curriculum-based

TPACK development. In C. D. Maddux, (Ed.). Research highlights in technology and teacher

education 2009 (pp. 99-108). Chesapeake, VA: Society for Information Technology in

Teacher Education (SITE) Retrieved 12/3/14