Brophy stated, "Effective teachers allocate most of the available time to activities designed to accomplish instructional goals." This quote reflects current learning and personal perspective with regard to effective strategies for integrating technology in the classroom. The statement seems a given and the thought taken for granted about the importance of beginning by articulating instructional goals. No doubt most educators would agree on the significance of starting the planning process with goals and objectives. Adding technology to the equation and reflecting back it seems, although the obvious place to begin, in some instances the emphasis turns to the technology and away from the instructional objectives. As an educator, I need to be mindful of technology's place: as a tool used to support content, instruction, and objectives. Thus to effectively incorporate technology within the curriculum and classroom, educators must know what needs to be accomplished to help select the best tool (technology) to support student learning. With respect to UDL principles, technology remains a strategy and tool to provide students with multiple representations of concepts, options for action and expression, as well as increasing student engagement. Technology tools serve to enhance lessons in the previous three areas while helping eliminate barriers for all students to engage in the curriculum.
Recent work with WebQuests, http://www.merlot.org/, http://www.wikispaces.com/, http://www.weebly.com/, and the creation of a StAIR helped process through which of the listed technologies and tasks constitute an online learning experience and which might be used in a face to face environment to enhance lessons. Creating projects and pages with the technology listed above provided opportunity to think through ways to accomplish technology standards and requirements. One use of the created wiki which served an excellent purpose was storage for the created StAIR to reteach fractions for some students. The project, created with Powerpoint in kiosk mode on the computer in my office, was unavailable to the group of students I needed to work through the activity. Uploading the program to the class wiki provided an access point from any computer lab with internet in the school building. WebQuests and StAIR projects reinforced the importance of the educator testing and working through the activity prior to asking students to complete the task. Additionally, I thought more about how to use the resource in class with students (individually, small group, pairs, etc.). Also, evaluating a WebQuest confirmed how important clear, thorough directions and modeling are, especially when students are expected to complete the task individually. When considering evaluating a technology, the question which initially comes to mind is, "How does this activity help accomplish the objectives?" MERLOT offered a structure and method for evaluating submitted resources based on three considerations: quality of content, potential effectiveness as a tool, and ease of use. These three categories provided multiple lenses to view a web-based technology; however, these three areas of consideration transcend technology tools used in education. "Internet brought about 'information pumps' and lessened effectivity of lesson/instruction," stated Merrill. MERLOT's evaluation guide offers educators a way to sort through the overwhelming number of resources on the internet to find a resource that will effectively help accomplish instructional objectives.
Part of my decision to complete the MAET program emerged from an excessive amount of available technology and a fear the technology was not being used to its potential as a tool in my classroom. In progress describes the status of my current pursuit of learning how to effectively integrate technology. In truth, I would not mind "in progress" describing that goal for a significant amount of time indicating continued learning about how to implement technology effectively in the classroom. Exposure to UDL principles helped see areas to include technology within lessons to help eliminate barriers for all students. Effectively using technology in the classroom requires experience with the tools in order to discover the technology's limits and capabilities. I had the opportunity to create a wiki, website, and StAIR. This exposure either introduced a new program or feature of a program such as kiosk or interaction mode. Discovering more options such as the ones presented provide opportunities to assess and evaluate when a technology will be most effective when considering instructional goals. Additionally, the instructional design format helped organize key aspects of planning in order to utilize technology as an effective instructional tool.
New goals at the conclusion of this course relate to specific technologies. One goal I have is to familiarize and experiment with glogster, voice thread, web-based quiz and feedback platforms, and look into a platform for WebQuest creation. I identified some of the technologies while working through weekly session material. In other cases, I encountered the technology by checking the resources provided by peers in StAIR projects. The goal remains to explore these technologies to become familiar with features and limitations; additionally to form an idea of how the technology could effectively be implemented and enhance curriculum, instruction, and student learning.
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