Aha Moments

What were your "Aha!" moments this semester?

I think one of my aha moments this semester was the use of podcasting or vodcasting for teaching purposes.  Specifically for online, on-demand professional development opportunities.  This is a great way to give teachers help right when they need it as well as allow them to review the material as many times as they need.  Setting up a wiki or a chat to encourage the teachers to collaborate and discuss after having viewed the podcast is another great way to stimulate creativity as well as provide a sort of assessment/ accountability for putting the training into practice.

Try to tie together what you've learned and where you will go from here.

I am very much looking forward to putting to use several of the technologies we discussed this semester in the teacher training sessions I am responsible for developing.  One of the big complaints I have heard after professional development, (whether I was one of the teachers participating or the trainer leading the session) was that it was boring, lacking opportunities to interact.  I am going to try to eliminate that complaint from my future PD sessions!

Also, think back to the philosophy you developed at the start of the semester. In what ways has it guided you in the development of your projects? How will it continue to do so and how has it changed or remained the same?

My philosophy has changed somewhat from the beginning of the semester.  Mainly in the fact that as educators, not only do we have to be life-long learners in our field of expertise but also in technology.  In the world of the digital native, we have to maintain our fluency.  This means we MUST stay abreast of any new technology that is presented to our culture and immediately begin brainstorming about how it will affect our students as well as our teaching.

Week 7… Really?!

This week you had a chance to think about delivering instruction through a technological lens. Why did you develop the learning objective you developed and what was your rationale for selecting the technologies you selected for integration? What are your expectations for the learning outcome?

I used this opportunity to create an assessment lesson for our trainers to use out in the field with school faculty and staff.  They often think they are doing a great job communicating with their audience only to have dozens of questions waiting for them in their inbox and voicemail when they get back to the office.  Our goal is for the administrators and teachers to be able to access their data, analyze and understand it, and then select appropriate interventions for their students.  By having the participants do this assessment lesson during their training while the trainers are still there to help them if needed, they will be able to master the skill and repeat it later on.

How are you viewing your instruction differently now?

I love love love that there are so many more ways to present information instead of the status quo lecture.  By watching a podcast of the instructions instead of just reading the instructions, the participants are able to see it, hear it, and then follow it.  

With the help of new and exciting ideas, we can all be and train Einsteins!  (and I'm not talking about the bagels.)