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.
2 Comments
Gina Pepperman
6/16/2019 07:03:32 pm
Merita I agree that technology is ever changing and as leaders we need to be up to date with the tech, implementation and training. As a teacher of technology I wonder is it possible to know everything even if you read publications and attend conference that are focused on technology? I know that educators can utilize new tools and innovations but if the districts do not support them they will not be able to get these items in the hands of the students. It is very frustrating as a teacher when I see teachers given technology and not trained on how to use it. I have seen thousands of dollars wasted because no one trained a teacher how to use the device. This is so discouraging as a tax payer who helped fund it and as a tech teacher who had to beg people to try the item.
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Shane Seal
6/23/2019 06:33:09 pm
Merita,
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