Current Issues - Week 3 - Part 4

Today I submitted my Issue 2-Scenario 2 assignment.  I enjoyed finding ways for Janice to apply technology in her classroom in a manner that applies constructivist learning theories.  I wish that we could have been more involved in actually applying those technologies, as my goal in my Master's program is to learn to effectively apply technologies in teaching, but this project at least gave me the opportunity to work with selecting technologies to apply.

Current Issues Week 3 - Part 3

This week we are discussing Constructivism & Technology.  As a teacher, I would have to say that my major theories about teaching are most often in the realm of Constructivism.  As a math teacher, I use Connected Math, a textbook series that is largely based on the constructivist principles.  I often apply these theories in other ways as well.  I feel that students are more likely to gain and retain knowledge when they develop and build it themselves.

I feel that Constructivism truly is a Current Issue in . . . Everything Educational.  I'm not sure that it's specifically a Current Issue in Instructional Technology, but it does have relevance in the instructional uses of technology.  For K-12 teachers like myself, this week's topic may be an unnecessary one to discuss, despite its relevance, since we learned about this as Undergrad's and apply it regularly.  For the ITEC students on different paths, like trainers in the business world, this is probably an invaluable thing to learn about, as they may not yet be familiar with it.

Current Issues - Week 3 - Part 2

After hearing from Dr. Ingram today, I am relieved to find out that I can do my Issue #2 assignment individually since I am so late.  Unfortunately, this will mean that I've got to do a lot more work than my classmates, but I am relieved to have some way to make up for my procrastination in attention to Issue 2!

I will be doing Scenario 2, which is about Making Constructivist Lessons for Janice a teacher with 9 years under her belt who is hoping to use new technologies and newly learned constructivist theories with her students.  

Current Issues - Week 3 - Part 1

Well, I really dropped the ball with this issue's assignments.  I never posted my preferred Scenario for Issue 2 nor was assigned to a group because of this.  I should have had this done days ago.  Fortunately, there is still a week before the assignment is due, but it maybe too late for me to join a group.

Current Issues - Week 2

I'm almost back on an appropriate pace in this class!  I feel like I've been a few days behind through this whole process so far!  Hopefully I am getting back on track, after a few days of hard work.

We've been dealing with our first "Issue" and assignment that goes with it -- "What is ITEC?"  I've enjoyed this assignment and discussion, as it is primarily opinion based.

In our discussions, we discussed ITEC as a practical field, academic area and the definitional issues of ITEC.  As for ITEC as a practical field and academic area, the part that I find the most interesting about ITEC's uniqueness is the fact that it involves rapidly changing and evolving technologies in a slowly changing and evolving arena--education.  It seems that educators often see these excitingly appliable technologies on the educational horizon, but are slow to implement them, for various reasons.  As for the 3rd part of the discussion, Three Definitional Issues, I found this to be the least engaging thing that we've discussed thus far.  I don't find defining things to be nearly as engaging or relevant as applying them, as a PBL class certainly exemplifies.

Also this week the Wiki Resources link was made available.  I am not sure what to do here, though I believe that this is an optional sharing opportunity.  I tried to find something include, but was unable to find something of value to my classmates that wasn't already posted!

Current Issues Class - Week 1

As I settle in to my Current Issues in Instructional Technology course--a little late--I am finding that the class is very rapidly moving ahead.  I am trying my hardest to catch up and keep up!

I am excited about what I may learn about in this class.  I feel that my technology usage--like most teachers'--is behind the curve of what is available.  I am hoping that discussing the "Current Issues" may push me forward into applying new and exciting technologies (like Web 2.0 tools) with my students.

I am apprehensive, but excited, to see that the majority of our coursework will be in a PBL format.  I feel that this format can be difficult, but is much more engaging and has potential for stronger learning outcomes.  In my math classes, we started using a book titled Connected Math a few years ago.  It's format is a derivative of problem-based learning and I feel that it is very well designed and a great learning system.  Hopefully, the PBLs in this class will prove to be the same!

Our first discussion is on the Big Issues of ITEC.  I think that the big issue is technology usage in education.  While most people tend to point to funding for technology leading to low-usage of technology, I think that there is more to it than this.  I feel that, even when the funding is found, the technology is under-used, because teachers have little time to learn and implement new technologies.  With better planning for training, continued professional development and comp. time school districts can get technology implemented in a way that is more cost-effective because the teachers will use the technologies more often and more effectively.

Other issues discussed in the Big Issues discussion that interested me were the use of Wii's--my wife and I have one and have so much fun with it, it could be a great Phys. Ed. tool--and the use of Engrade--I discovered this free gradebook program during my summer school class and thought it was very easy to use and efficient.

I am also excited to take this class in Palace, as we did in ID.  I enjoy having opportunities for synchronous meetings and like using Palace better than programs using video or voice like LearnLinc, which we used in Distance Education.  I like that Palace is easy to use and can be used on an Apple computer (unlike LearnLinc).