My job in education, we use Microsoft Office 365 for everything. We use the calendar for student appointments, because it is easy to share with everyone in the office, coworkers or student workers can schedule appointments for us. As discussed in Chapter 7, the university installs it on our office computers before they are assigned to us for work purposes. Office 365 Education allows teachers, students or educators to download the suite for free from Microsoft Office web site at no charge to the user, just simply enter your educational email address. You can use it as a web version, or you can download the entire package on your computer. Having assignments that must be shared in Google was a little frustrating for me, since I only use it for coursework on various class, it tends to leave my memory on how to do certain things, like sharing the files. Doing my first three projects has challenged my group members, but they are awesome and always welling to help! But for the next class projects, I will create them in Google from the start and not have to worry about transferring them. My group members are already teachers, or have taught, so them seem to have an easier time with Google than I do. My group members edited my projects and even made suggestions or corrections to make them more appealing. So thanks to my group members for all your help. Each document will open in a new window, please click on each one as needed.
Lesson Plan Survey Story Presentation
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Chapter 4-Q-1
The concept of universal design suggests that all instructional activities should ensure equal access for all learners regardless of their unique needs. After reading the In-Depth feature on universal design and examining its evolution from architecture to learning, consider how you might include universal design in your classroom. Do you intend to adjust your instruction to include universal design principles when you teach? Explain why or why not. Yes, I would adjust my teaching plans or lessons to accommodate all students in my future classes. Universal design allows me, as instructor, to utilize a variety of teaching methods that are flexible enough to encourage students the many opportunities to succeed. Being a visual learner myself, makes it easy to understand that all students learn differently, and every student deserves an education that will ensure they achieve the highest level of education possible to them. So many applications are available to assist students with any type of learning issue, from visual impairments, physical disabilities, to reading, talking, and writing. If they are gifted students, there is an application to assist teachers with teaching these students as well, allowing them to move more at their own pace, or seeking assistance from peers in the classroom or online. Chapter 5-Q-2 Discuss the cloud storage. Why is it advantageous for educators to share resources and programs on a network? What concerns are associated with program sharing? Cloud storage is what I use to complete my coursework for this degree. In the past I used USB drives, but then I would forget and leave it in the computer I was using, and then I could not complete the assignment I had been working on until the next day. Using cloud storage, I do not have to worry about forgetting my USB device. Cloud storage also has the advantage of being able to share documents with certain individuals by the owner, regardless of where they are located. This option gives instructors the ability to have files available to an entire class without having to send large media files. The main disadvantage is that you must have access to the internet. The advantage is that as users make changes to the document, the file automatically saves, so lost changes are less likely to happen. Network storage also works for students without internet options, if they are on a networked computer. The network could be logged into over the internet with a login and password. The main disadvantage is that school districts do not take advantage of the technology available to them and keeping up-to-date training to be able to use the technology available to the instructor and students. Chapter 6-Q-3 You have learned about the challenges you will face in implementing technology in your classroom. How do you plan to meet these challenges during your pre-service and in-service career? Be specific in describing a strategy to meet each challenge. For pre-service time, I would attend workshops or training sessions on the technology I plan to use in my classroom. This would also be part of the hours for recertification each year. Any training available to me that I could fit into my work schedule I would attend. For in-service time, I would again attend any training session available or if the school district offered any tech support during the school year, I would do my best to take advantage of it. As with any teaching position, it is not an 8:00 am to 3:00 pm job. Research is always a part of teaching. Students will only benefit from any knowledge their instructors gain during pre-service or in-service learning. For support of my technology needs not funded by the school district I would try and complete as many grant proposals as possible. There is so many available with guidelines to complete the forms, it is worth the effort to compete for as many as possible. Students are a great resource for learning as well. The view so much YouTube on things that interest them, some of their ideas can be used in the classroom as well. This also makes good sessions for the flipped classroom. Chapter Three-Q-2
Students with special needs include both those who have disabilities and those who are gifted. Technology can provide solutions to help meet the unique needs of both groups. However, schools typically have limited budgets for technology. Considering that the needs of all students should be met, what do you think the best allocation of limited technology dollars should be to meet these students’ needs? Give examples to support your views. The Dynamic Instruction Design model has five steps to assist instructors with designing classwork. Those five steps are briefly outlined below. 1. Know the learner - is important to know the learners in the class you will be instructing. Designing a class for a general population of learners may not be successful with all the learners in your class. Having a diversified teaching method will allow instructors to modify the lesson plan as needed to accommodate different learning styles for individual students. 2. Learning outcomes/performance objectives -This is one of the most important factors when trying to determine if the learners are learning the materials for your class. If learners do not understand the content, then they will not be successful in the course. Learning outcomes are written in four parts, Stem, Target Performance, Assessment and Criterion for success. All the objectives should be designed keeping in mind the district, state and national content, and technology standards related to those requirements. 3. Identify Teaching and Learning Strategies - Instructors must design a teaching strategy that assist the learners in learning. Learning strategies must be clear and well defined to achieve the desired learner performance. 4. Supportive technology - Once the learning strategies have been designed, the instructor can then identify technology and integrate them into their lesson plans. 5. Assess and Revise - As with any lesson plan, once the course is complete, an assessment will need to be completed. From this assessment revisions can be done using a learning model, such as Bloom’s Taxonomy, that can assist with a design modification of the course. Chapter Two-Q-3 You have learned about a variety of technologies useful to support learning in this chapter. With which one of these are you most comfortable? Which are most useful in helping to prepare 21st century learners? Describe the technology and its potential applications in the grade level or content area you wish to teach and demonstrate why it is most appealing to you. Reading Chapter 2 and the list of the many technology applications available for learning only emphasis how far behind the technology curve I truly am. Of all the applications listed in the chapter, Pandora and Skype are the two I know the most about and have used. Skype can be used in a variety of ways. One of the most interesting ways I have seen is the Paper Airplane project. Skype is used to connect college age Syrian students wanting to learn the English language with tutors in other countries. It is funded by a non-profit organization that began in 2014 with one student volunteering, but it continues to grow today. Pandora is my favorite web format for streaming music over the computer or my smartphone, but I have never used it in any other format. As I do not know a lot about the dozens of web tools listed, it would be hard for me to say which one would be the most helpful to learners based on the tool's brief description, but anyone of them would be beneficial to instructors or students. Using an application that helps students focus on course materials is always a bonus. Chapter One-Q-2 The number of technology tool available to teachers is already daunting, and more are emerging every day. Given the value of these tools to enliven and support 21st century learning, what will you do to keep yourself informed about the options available to you? How will you manage your discoveries and work toward integrating them into your classroom? I do believe that it is important for teachers/instructors to stay up to date with their technology skills. Technology and app’s change so fast in today’s world. Not being certified or having their current licenses renewed, instructor’s may not be utilizing what is available to them. School districts are awarded thousands of dollars each year for technology usage or updating technology equipment in their schools. If school districts do not take advantage of this opportunity to update their technology or instructor's knowledge, then money has gone to waste in the district. Technology is ever changing, and teachers/instructor’s need to be able to understand how to take advantage of the applications and software available to them. Not only will it save time for some, it can also be an opportunity to teach others who may have been at a different training session or may not have had the opportunity to attend training at all. Students always benefit from instructors who are willing to use technology in their classroom. The technology used can bring a more exciting or visually appealing lesson to the classroom. Students of the 21st century who do not have access to or taught how to use technology will be behind in today's world. Technology is such an integrated part of the world today. I have a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in American Studies and Business Technology, which I obtained while working full-time at Southern. I am currently working on my Master’s in Instructional Technology and plan to complete it in December 2019.
I have worked on campus in a variety of jobs since 1995, starting in the University Bookstore, moving through Financial Aid, Office of Admissions, then moving into Dean’s Office for the College of Arts & Letters, now College of Arts and Sciences, for over 6 years. In 2012, I became the Programs Coordinator for the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies, which has now grown into the School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Professional Development in Hattiesburg, MS. I love working with students to help them accomplish their goals and dreams as I have been able to do while working at USM. I am comfortable working with computer, which I use daily for work and home. Email, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Google forms, list-serv and a few other electronic communication tools I have had to learn while at USM. I am new to Blogs, iMovie, and Access, which I have now used for classes in this program. I still have not use or created a podcast, which I see is part of this course's requirements, so that will be interesting to me. As I am not yet a teacher, I don’t have an actual philosophy yet, but I do believe we are all capable of learning, and should encourage others, children, young adults and older adults to continue to learn, because once we stop wanting to learn, what is the basis for being? |
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