Course Description:  Strategies for integrating technology into the teaching and learning process, with a focus on enhancing how students think rather than what they think. Special attention given to supporting higher order thinking and problem solving with technology.

 

Reflection:  This course was a beautiful reminder/wrap-up of all of the concepts I learned throughout the past 18 months.  I learned about/how to SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threat analysis) the device,  I had worked with meaningful learning of assessments and analyzing/creating lesson plans for meaningful learning in the past, so that module was also a great reminder.  While Newsy was another phenomenal concept (and I have and will be continuing to incorporate it where I can), it is harder since I am so specialized in my field of upper level math; same for the concept map—I believe I would need more practice incorporating those into high school math courses. 

 

However, the world of education is consistently changing when it comes to technology.  We are always getting new tools and gadgets to work with and almost expected to use.  Being able to truly sit down and analyze what would work best in the classroom to maximize the meaningful learning experience for our students is something I am looking forward to doing; especially if I can provide an educator’s perspective and not just a technology specialist perspective.

 

After this course, I really would like to learn more about gaming in the classroom.  As with my prior statements, it can be difficult to find activities and games for high school students in Algebra 2 and above.  For example, Prodigy is an amazing tool and resource for my Algebra Essentials students, but that class is strictly for freshmen and is taken as a remedial course since those freshmen mostly failed their 6th-8th grade math classes/standardized tests coming into high school.  Occasionally, having a “game” to have the students play would be a great way to break up the monotony of lecture/assessment.  It would also serve as a different way of seeing/hearing the material which could help more students learn as well.