CEP 811 Share: Final Reflections

In this final Sharing Activity we would like you to look over your assignments for this course. Indicate areas of growth and what supported that growth. Also indicate areas where you would have liked to learn and grow more than you did along with anything that limited your learning and growth. Specifically, for this activity you are going to reflect on your work and growth during this course as well as make plans for your future goals for integrating technology. When writing your final reflection blog posting you will want to address the following 1. What are some things that you have learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology? I really enjoyed using Merlot, StAIR, and Webquest, I feel these 3 were the most effective teaching tools that I will be integrating. When using Merlot, I can become the author or view other author's work that is needed for a lesson. It is also a great research tool, in addition to going to the library. Doing the StAIR project was good in helping to get material organized for students or other educators to be taught lessons. Once you have your material organized you can create a wonderful presentation that students or other educators can follow. Lastly using the Webquest was a very creative way to express likes and interest. This will be a very helpful tool as an ice breaker for students to get to know one another. 2. How did integrating web-based technologies help you think about and evaluate uses of technology? Merlot did a great job in showing how a web-based technology program can help display lessons and knowledge of something. You can post your creations and categorize them, and find other material of interest to read on. By using Merlot it helped me evaluate lesson plans for engineering students at college level. 3. How have you met your own personal goals for learning about technology integration? With every class is a goal closer to becoming an informative educator, I feel I have met my personal goals by continuing to learn all there is about technology and learning how to create innovative lesson plans that stay on track and have them more structured for other educators to be able to view and use for teaching. 4. Do you have any new goals? What are your plans for reaching your new goals and your long-term goals after this course is over? I plan on learning more about UDL, I do not feel I reached my goals in knowing all there is to know. That area is still a bit confusing to me, but I know that I will get it over time.

Teaching and Learning in Internet-based environments (online)

The online experience that I believe would be most beneficial with my students is the Educational Gaming. The educational gaming tool will allow students to obtain mastery of the skills needed to complete the task, while allowing students to have fun and compete with one another. Our culture is consumed with the different gaming systems such as the Wii, Playstation and XBOX. These systems are utilized by children and adults of all ages and it would benefit my students to implement these gaming strategies into the classroom setting. For example, as an engineering teacher I would create a game using Unigraphics where students are expected to match sketches with various designs within a set time frame. Students can gain points based on consistency, thoroughness and the amount of time that it took to find the match. In terms of content, utilizing the Educational Gaming experience would assist students with understanding how systems are connected, manipulation of variables, 3D, ProE, and CAD models. The Educational Gaming would provide students the opportunity to explore various engineering fields and theories while having fun competing with friends and family. Numerous pedagogical strategies could be utilized to teach students through Educational Gaming. I would place students in cohorts and allow them to compete with one another to obtain extra credit on assignments. I would also play with students online and help them to see how engineering can be learned in the comfort of your own home while competing with others around the globe. At the end of the semester, the cohorts will have a tournament to determine who is the best and prizes will be awarded to the group who wins. The prizes awarded will have an educational technology component to them (ie Itunes Cards, USB Plugs, Recordable CDs/DVDs). I feel that it would be very difficult to use the online field trips with my class because the students would not have the opportunity to work towards a collaborative effort. The online field trips seem to be more of a fact driven tool than an exploratory tool. After careful review of the links provided with this topic, it did not appeal to me as something that would be beneficial towards my work with students.