Foundations of Educational Technology - EEND675
Artifact #1
Classroom Google Site
Creating a Google Site is something that I have been intending to do for quite some time now, so I was excited to see that this was an option for an assignment through this course. I included the Google Site as an artifact within my portfolio because it is practical, useful, and I enjoyed creating it. I plan to utilize this Google Site throughout the 2017-18 school year, and possibly beyond that as well. I created different tabs on the website, including “Literacy,” “Math,” and “Resources.” Students can access these tabs throughout the school day and at home. Within these tabs, students will find links to additional websites, activities, and assignments. The other tab that I created on the Google Site is for parents. I plan to use this as an electronic newsletter; because of this, the Google Site can be a “one-stop-shop” for parents and students. The most challenging part of creating this Google Site was determining the content that will be available for parents and students. Currently, the site is very basic; however, once the school year starts, I can gauge the needs of the students, and include more content that will be relevant to the specific group. There is even an option to connect the Google Site with a Google Classroom, which will make it easy to see all assessments, surveys, data, and other information from Google Classroom on one website. Overall, the process to create the site was very simple. Google makes the creation process very user-friendly with pre-made templates, and step-by-step instructions. I would recommend Google Sites to any educator throughout all grade levels. This will be a useful and convenient tool for parents and students; it will also make sharing resources easier for me as an educator.
Artifact #2
Multimedia Project
The multimedia assignment that I created was a Prezi. Prezi is a unique and visually pleasing presentation tool. The content of this Prezi is “Singular vs. Plural Nouns,” which is part of the Common Core Standards for first grade (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.1.C). I included a link to this on my Google Site under the “Literacy” tab. This could easily be incorporated in the classroom: it could be a whole group lesson to introduce the concept of singular and plural nouns, or it could be used in a small group setting for students planning to incorporate this knowledge in their writing. I included this artifact in my portfolio because it is a very practical resource that I can implement next school year. It also can be used as a template to create other Prezis for different topics or units. Prezi is a fairly user-friendly website for educators. The main challenge that I experienced when creating the Prezi was embedding links into the presentation. After doing some research on the functionality of Prezi, I discovered that videos, photos, and PDFs could only be uploaded to the presentation, not embedded into text. This could be a challenge for educators or students creating a Prezi. Overall, I was very pleased with the visual aspects of this Prezi. Prezi will be very engaging for students because of the different movements between slides and the diverse style, as opposed to a simple slideshow. Students will also find the multimedia in the Prezi to be captivating; it is an entertaining way to elevate a simple presentation.
Source:
Common Core State Standards (2017). English Language Arts Standards. Retrieved from
<http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/L/1/>.
Source:
Common Core State Standards (2017). English Language Arts Standards. Retrieved from
<http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/L/1/>.
COURSE REFLECTION
“Foundations of Educational Technology” was an informative introductory course that had a significant impact on my views of implementing technology in the classroom. The most interesting and influential portion of this course, in my opinion, was the module explaining the ISTE Standards. Prior to this course, I did not know that there were standards for educational technology; however, it makes complete sense in our digital world and classrooms. The one portion of this module that I know I will implement in the classroom is the student friendly poster regarding the ISTE standards (ISTE, 2016). This resource is critical in driving a technology curriculum, as students can clearly see and understand their expectations. It reminded me of “I can” statements that I create with my students for the Common Core Standards; we can create similar objectives with technology standards as well. Developing an understanding of the ISTE Standards will teach students how to be responsible and constructive learners in the 21st Century.
One prong of the ISTE Standards discusses “Digital Citizenship.” As an educator in today’s world, I strongly believe that we need to educate students from a young age on the proper way to use technology. This is another area of the course that taught me useful and relevant information. I did not have many resources to teach digital citizenship; however, it will now stick with me throughout my future years as an educator. Incorporating lessons on digital citizenship will be very meaningful for students, and can be accomplished using these specific grade level pre-made lessons (Common Sense Media Inc, 2017). Overall, I will strive to educate my students more on ISTE standards, especially digital citizenship.
Throughout the discussion portion of this course, I learned about many useful apps, websites, and resources from my classmates. Similar to me, there were numerous lower elementary teachers who inspired me to research new ideas. For example, I am excited to implement new apps that I am now aware of after participating in the discussion post in module 5 titled “Digital Resources.”
After this course, I have grown as a confident and connected educator. I will continue to use my Twitter account as a tool to stay connected with educators. Through participating in Twitter Chats, reading blogs, and subscribing to webinars, I will continue my learning as an educator. There are many influential and positive ideas, and I feel very grateful to be an educator in today’s world, where sharing and learning can be accomplished with ease. I appreciate that this course opened me up to numerous resources to achieve this.
Sources
ISTE (2016). ISTE Standards for Students. Retrieved from
<http://info.iste.org/iste-student-standards-transform-the-classroom-poster>.
Common Sense Media Inc (2017). Common Sense K-12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum. Retrieved from
<https://www.commonsense.org/education/scope-and-sequence>.
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