EDLD5364+Week+5+Final+Assessment

1. What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned? When I first entered this course, I had the expectation of learning new ways to implement technology into my classroom and also share with other teachers. I was excited to see new possible avenues to impart knowledge to my students. In all honesty, I did not learn as many new ways as I had hoped. I was very excited to learn how to make the interactive books on the UDL website and the the lesson plan opportunities the website provided. I also enjoyed the new website I found to make Jeopardy games to play in the classroom. These ideas were great ways to teach with technology in the classroom. However, I had simply expected more. Perhaps more ideas that were given out from the discussions and professors. Whatever the reason was, my expectations were not what I had built them up to be. I will continue to search for more ideas however, and will broaden my horizons in teaching with technology.

2. To the extent that you achived the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?   The new ideas that I obtained in this course do in fact pertain to the work that I do. I think the book builder website will be an excellent resource to use in a Kindergarten setting. I will be able to make books on the content areas we are learning. We can read these books online or I can print these books for the students to use and read. I can also create books that are beginning readers for students that are learning how to read. This may provide to be quite an asset when differentiating for students. The students may even take these books to centers to read to one another.  The jeopardy game also proved to be something that I can use in my classroom. What a great way to engage the students and provide meaningful feedback on their knowledge and where I can improve or stress more understanding and instruction. This could also be used as a treat for working hard. 

3. What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?   The outcomes I did not achieve were finding more ideas to teach with technology in the classroom. I was not able to find more ideas that pertained my particular classroom. While the UDL lesson builder was an excellent resource, my district has a lesson plan builder built into the curriculum that it purchased. We currently use CScope and this curriculum choice has a built in lesson planner on the website.  I feel that the course could have delivered more options besides the UDL website. Perhaps there could have been technology applications suggested that were available for all teaching levels or a discussion topic of sharing ideas with other students in the class. If the we were able to share in a discussion format one week or two as that being our topic, I feel that many ideas and websites would surface that we could use with our students in the classroom.  4. Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?   I was indeed successful in completing the course assignments. At least, I am hopeful that I have completed them successfully. I had difficulty understanding the instructions for the assignments and often went to fellow students to find answers. I felt that the instructions were vague for the way that I am accustomed to. It may also be that perhaps I am more intune to very specific instructions. I also felt that I do not have the experience necessary to complete the assignments to my best ability. I keep hoping that I will be shown how to use technology applications, but it seems that I am needed to find out how to use them on my own. This type of learning is not the best way for me to learn. I need to be shown things before I can jump into them. Perhaps instructional videos can be given on what Google Docs is and how to create the sites. This may give us teachers without the technology know how, a stronger foundation to teach other teachers what we are learning.  I did complete the assignments but I feel that I would not know how to teach other teachers how to use this application with confidence. I would be very unsure of myself. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">5. What did you learn from this course: about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes? <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> From this course, I take away new things learned about myself. I have learned that once again, I do not know as much about technology as I thought I did. I become more confused by the course about the technology applications that we are required to use. I would love to have more instruction in this area. I have also learned that I work well with my team members. I thought that we did before, but the more we work together, the better we get together. Each of us have our own special niche that we bring to the group. My leadership skills are becoming more pronounced as I become more familiar with some technology applications. The more I learn about the technology available to us and our students and the more I see where our society is going, I am astounded at the lack of technology implemented and used in our classrooms today. It seems as if teachers are in denial about where our students and society are leading us. I feel that we must bend to meet the needs of our ever changing students. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">