TPACK Questions Final

My final TPACK responses to the questions presented with the Harris, Mishra, Koehler article at the beginning of the semester are complete. I really felt more confident responding to these questions after all the experiences that Dr. Pierce provided for me through this course. In regards to the 2008 National Education Technology Standards established by the International Society for Technology in Education, this assignment correlated well with the fifth standard. Being able to reflect on what we learned throughout this course and contemplate how we can apply to our content, pedagogical, and technological educational practices provides and excellent opportunity for us to engage in professional growth and leadership. With this, we are able to convey our feelings towards our professional growth through our mastery of different technology that can be added to our practice as well as contemplate and convey how we can apply these to our instruction.

Computer Self Efficacy Survey

I remember taking this survey at the beginning of the class back in May. Most of my responses were more to the center/left area of the scales provided with the questions. I remember being rather unsure about many of the questions. Upon taking this survey at the end of the class, most of my responses have moved to the right of the scales provided. I felt very comfortable taking this survey at the end of the class. This survey enabled me to see how much I actually progressed in regards to my ability to use technology for educational purposes and teach my students to use it as well. In regards to ISTE NETS 2008, this survey accomplished standard 5 very well. I really felt that it enabled me to see my professional growth in regards to technology use as well as my feeling of increased competence in regards to being able to teach my students to use technology for educational purposes.

Google Forms Survey Spreadsheet

I was able to get two people to take my survey. My survey results reflect their responses. I created a hyperlink to my survey in my posting yesterday, but I also included in today's posting as well. It is also embeded in yesterday's blog post. In response to the question regarding how I would get a Google form to parents, students, or co-workers, I could use a variety of methods to do this. If it was a class related matter, I could post it and/or create a hyperlink to it on a class blog. I could also e-mail it to students, parents, and /or co-workers. This would require me to have all of their e-mail addresses. I could also embed it on a blog. Even though it is not advisable, hyperlinks and embedding can also be done through social networking sites such as Facebook. This is an area where teachers need to use extreme caution.

Google Forms Survey

My survey is embedded and posted if anyone would like to take it. It pertains to opinions about vacationing in America today. I will post the spread sheet illustrating the results as well as my answers to the questions pertaining to this assignment. I can definitely see myself using this tool for a variety of reasons including the administration of assessment online. With this, I would be directly using technology to achieve standard two established by ISTE in their NETS for 2008. This is an excellent way to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments.

Jeopardy Lab

I used Jeopardy Lab to create a Civil War Jeopardy. Jeopardy Lab is definitely something that I will use right from the start of the upcoming school year. I would like to show it to my students so they can create Jeopardy boards based on the content themselves. This is definitely something that can inspire student centered learning in my classroom. In regards to ISTE standards, this definitely meets standard 2. As a teacher, this is an excellent way for me to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments. I could use this as a game for test review, or I could use is as formative assessment in itself. As I mentioned, students could also use it to assess each other on what they learned. I will probably get much use out of this tool this coming school year.

Photo Story 3

My Cyberbullying Public Service Announcement was pasted on the popular web site You Tube. I really liked this assignment because it forced me to learn how to use You Tube and upload videos to the site. I always liked to view videos from You Tube, but I never uploaded anything through an account. I really like Photo Story 3. I have been using this program in my classes for a year. I learned about it at a dual session workshop that was part of the Special Education Teachers Leadership Academy (SETLA) that I attended in Charleston, WV last July. It is a great tool for students to create narrative presentations. I really liked the idea of creating a public service announcement. The use of this tool for an assignment like this is a direct match to standard four set forth by the ISTE and the educational standards for teachers that they established. Using Photo Story 3 and You Tube to create a public service announcement is an excellent way to promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility. This is a way that students can create presentations on issues that are important to them. This gives them a sense of civic participation which is part of being a responsible citizen. I would like to use this type of assignment for my students in the English classes I teach. My school, like all schools in West Virginia have blocks on websites such as You Tube. I could have them past their assignments on a Teacher Tube account that I will set up. I am looking forward to using Photo Story 3 for an assignment such as this for the upcoming school year.

My responses to the TPACK questions are updated but not complete. I am learning more with each project, and this helps me to better develop my responses. The link is to what I have at this point in the semester.

Prezi

Wild Wonderful West Virginia on Prezi

As I played around with Prezi, I had so many ideas come to mind as to how I can use this. I got a little carried away with my Prezi Presentation, but I had fun creating it. I just started with a simple idea that was Social Studies related. From there the idea just evolved. I found myself working on this late into the evenings, but I enjoyed it because it was about something that I love to teach and present. Feel free to check my presentation out. I hope you enjoy it. I know there is a lot of stuff there, but it should be pretty easy to manipulate. I created a path, but it is easy to choose your own route of interest with my presentation. The second slide explains that the easiest way to maneuver this presentation is to click the forward arrow and choose as many or as few of the examples from the characteristics that you want. Definitely check out the map. I had the most fun creating this.

The more I experimented with this tool, the more I liked it. I like it just as much as Power Point, although I have more experience with the latter. Power Point is more oriented towards following slides in a specific order. With Prezi, users can establish a path or order, but viewers can deviate from following that order by just using the cursor to slide the screen as opposed to pushing the play arrow at the bottom of the presentation screen. Prezi is also a good tool for creating cognition diagrams that are interactive. Ultimately, as I become more familiar with Prezi, I can see myself preferring this tool over Power Point because of its flexibility and interactive nature. I really would like to introduce this to my students and give them the opportunity to show their knowledge of different content specific topics through the use of this tool. This is an excellent tool for students who struggle with writing because it enables one to use cognition strategies in order to convey a thought or topic. Students can create a Prezi and use their information that evolved from their thoughts to create a written composition. I really like the possibilities with this tool in regards to writing strategies.

As with many of the tools were used in this course, the use of Prezi by teachers and students could coincide with all five standards set forth by ISTE. The three standards the work the best with the use of this tool are standards 1, 2, and 3. The tool is definitely a great way to inspire student learning and creativity. As I mentioned earlier, I started with a basic idea, and as I used Prezi to convey that idea, my thoughts continued to evolve as to coming up with more ways to improve and develop my idea. Before I knew it, my basic idea expanded into a web of supporting details that developed my topic in a more thorough manner. I also see the use of this tool by both teachers to instruct as well as by students to learn as well as convey their knowledge as a way to provide opportunities for students to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments. One characteristic of the 21st Century Schools classroom is that assignments are more student centered. Enabling students to use this tool to convey their knowledge is an excellent way to facilitate student centered learning that is flexible yet rigorous in regards to students mastering content standard objectives CSO's established by the state. By this, I eam that students can create Prezis about given topics in a manner and order that they decide on themselves. The use of Prezi is also a great way for teachers to model digital-age work and learning. As teachers use this, students are able to see how modern technology can be used to guide one's thinking and expression. As they are given the opportunity to become familiar with Prezi and use it they are able to become familiar with technology that is common to digital-age work and learning.

I definitely plan on using this in the fall with my classes. I really see this as something that will benefit my students tremendously. I really liked using Prezi.