In a discussion with a colleague on how best to integrate technology into my instruction the greatest encouragement he gave me was to take the risk and just do it. Learn it as you go along; learn it with the students, he would say to me. Richardson (2009) affirmed that educators must embrace new technologies regardless of the level of discomfort it creates for teachers.
What is the GAME plan I could develop to continue building confidence and proficiency in integrating technology into my content area instruction? As I review the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) (2008) there are two standard indicators that I will focus on. The first indicator is NETS-T 2.a to design or adapt relevant learning experiences to incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity. And the second indicator is NETS-T2.b develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress. Cennamo, Ross and Ertmer (2009) created four steps, called the GAME plan translated as follow: Set Goals, take Action to meet those goals, Monitor achievement towards the goals, and Evaluate whether the goals were achieved and Extend your learning to new situations. My GAME plan will involve using computer as a conferencing tool.
My goal will consist of learning how to use wikis as a computer conferencing tool to increase students experience with technology and to encourage students to take ownership for their learning experience. Cennamo, Ross and Ertmer ascertained that using a tool such as wiki for computer conferencing can encourage the students to develop their creative thinking skills. My plan of action would involve communicating help from other teachers who have used wikis and talking with the school media librarian to show me how I best could integrate this tool to assist student learning. As a self-directed learner experimenting and manipulating the tools on a wiki program would be part of my action plan also. To monitor whether I am meeting my goal I would want to know if what I am learning about conferencing tools such as wikis could be implemented into my content area instruction. Do I have enough time to learn it? Will students have enough time to use it? Is it a tool that students learning experience would be engaging and motivated? As I evaluate my GAME plan I would reflect if my learning experience has gained me the confidence and increased my proficiency in using a computer as a conferencing tool. Then reflect where I may need to continue learning to increase my proficiency in integrating technology as a tool to assist student achievement in learning. It is important to learn to integrate technology as a learning tool and not as a reward as mentioned by Cennamo, Ross and Ertmer (2009).
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
The National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) is located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf
Richardson, W. (2009, March). Becoming network-wise. Educational Leadership, 66(6), 26–31.
I used wikis in my classes last year and they worked very well. I did learn a great deal though. The first lesson I learned was that you have to create your own rule for your wikis. Without them there is nothing that can be done, atleast at my school, when students begin to use the wiki for more than just school work. Once I completed my rules, everything worked out just fine. Students really do love these. The teacher from this weeks video that was talking about her election day podcast reports reminded me of the same feeling when I saw students posting at all different hours of the day and night. It was fun to see students taking an interest and being involved outside of class time. Wikis are a lot of effort when you first begin, I am still in the beginner phase, they still take me forever, but we will be old pros at them after a couple years. Good Luck
ReplyDeleteKevin
Fayette,
ReplyDeleteI believe you will find a wiki simple to set up and easy to use. No harder than setting up a blogsite or reader. You may remember that my yearbook staff used a wiki to collaborate advertisement sales this past year. I set up the pages: home/purpose/members, businesses, and forms. At the top of each page I wrote the purpose for each page and then defined what students were to do on that page. (I always added the date and encouraged students to do the same.)
The biggest issue I saw with our particular wiki was that it did not easily facilitate communication. Each posting had to be opened separately to read that post and those who had responded. There was no obvious way to know the topic of posts, so much time could be wasted. I hope to find a way to use the same wiki this year and also hope to find a better way to use it for communication. I worked quite hard making the site fit our particular needs and even "personalized" it a bit with a home page photo of a nearby Civil War bridge. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the process if you need me to.
One more thing. Your colleagues point about "just doing it." Where on earth would we be if our masters experience hadn't done just that. Made us do it!
Steph
I think you are on the right track! You have me thinking about ways I can use a wiki to foster reflecting thinking in my own students. I think the format of a wiki would be perfect for letting a student see their progress/effort/achievement over time. In many ways this would be a form of electronic portfolio.
ReplyDeleteKelly,
ReplyDeleteYou have given me an idea -- using wiki as a reflection board for students. You are correct, this could be a form of electronic portfolio. I am researching ways that our classrooms can be set up similiar to our experience at WaldenU. I want students to be able to send their documents to me in a dropbox and return their graded form back to them with comments. It would save so many trees -- printed hard copies is a waste of paper.
I was so intrigued by what you posted. I am so pleased to hear that you asked and are still asking questions about technology to your colleagues. How wonderful that you are making connections with other content areas. The librarians are just waiting to assist teachers and love it when they are asked to do so. They are filled with so much knowledge that I could talk with them all day!
ReplyDeleteUsing the computer as a conferencing tool is a creative idea and one that I think you will have so much fun using and your students will find much easier to discuss issues with you more openly. Conferencing is so important to a student's learning. Good luck with your endeavor and I do so hope that they find this just as exciting as we do!
Marilyn Goodrich
K-12 Ed. Con.