Week+Five+EDLD+5364+Teching+with+Technology+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 we began this class, the outcomes I envisioned were to gain new perspectives on how to use some of the technology that I have already learned about into my classroom setting and for it to be effective. I wanted to gain information that would include how to research, investigate and utilize technology in the general education classroom with my particular set of students. I was presently surprised with the information that I gained from this class. I have learned quite a bit form the textbook that was new to me for this class, __Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works __, opened my eyes to some ingenious ways to incorporate technology into my classroom. I enjoyed chapter 7 on Cooperative Learning with its examples of rubrics for multimedia projects and its examples of some of the collaboration sites that it listed within its context. I also enjoyed the last chapter that we read on Reinforcing Effort. Effort seems to be a virtue that is fading in the wind so it was nice to see an example of grading effort on a rubric and would not have thought of that on my own. I am excited to try to implement some of these things inside my own classroom. I am very excited that so many of my expectations were achieved in this class!  2. To the extent that you achieved the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?  The outcomes that I achieved are extremely relevant to my work. I am still in a general education classroom, teaching three sections of math and one section of Language Arts and Writing. I grade every writing sample on a rubric and enjoyed many of the new rubrics that were incorporated in this class. I also read about the Google docs application in __Web 2.0, new schools, new tools__, which was not a new concept to me but I enjoyed revisiting this and actually had my students type their latest paper on a Google docs application so that their parents and I could edit on line. I am hoping at some point later in the year that I can allow other students to collaborate with their peers on line through this mode of communication. It also allowed me to revisit the elements of blogging, working with wikis and podcasting. All of which we tried to incorporate into the UDL lesson in this class. Most, if not all of the items discussed in this class could be used in my current role as a classroom teacher and I am looking to secure a position as a technology facilitator which would allow me to not only work with students but also allow me to offer those professional development classes that I feel are essential in allowing us to move into the 21st century learning community.  3. What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?  As I have stated in most classes through this program, the only thing that has seemed a distraction has been the lack of time to implement the tools and instruction. I understand the goal of having 5-week classes and understand that most of this could not be done in a traditional venue, but the lack of time in 5 weeks does not always allow for a deep integration of the technology I am working with. I have gotten so many new and interesting ideas that I have not been able to facilitate through the timeline of this class. I enjoyed being able to implement the Google sites portion of the lesson. It was interesting to try to have all of us been able to implement our one though process onto a site that had to incorporate every aspect of the scenario that was given. I am in appreciation of the 5 week timeline, and am in hopes that I will continue these items on even after being out of this class, without being overwhelmed by the syllabus of our next class.  4. Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?  Yes, I was able to complete the weekly assignments but was discouraged that so much of it lay on the shoulders of our group members. On weeks that I would have turned in my assignment on Sunday, (the actual due date), I had to wait until Tuesday in order for group members to update their responsibilities on the project. Collaboration can be difficult for people who do not meet in person, who are hundreds of miles away from each other and who all have personal responsibilities that span from work to motherhood. It did, at times, feel a little overwhelmed when having to wait for other group members to post their information. I am somewhat obsessive compulsive and to depend on someone that I do not know to complete his or her portion of the assignments was a little nerve wrecking for me. It is a portion of my undergrad that rings the proverbial bell, I was always pulling an all nighters the night before a deadline to make sure that all items were done, whether they were my responsibility or not. It is hard to do that when working on this type of project. I enjoyed my group and appreciate their contributions, only wish that original deadlines had been seen with more urgency.  <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;">I learned from this course that I am much further along in my integration of technology than most. My campus needs to get with it and I am hoping through part of my internship that I can offer professional development classes that will bring our campus into the 21st century. I also found that I am a different type of group member, than a leader. I think next time I will be offering up to be the group leader only due to the fact that I am very visual and would have preferred a timeline that showed what we needed to complete for what week and for us to originally decide who was responsible for each activity with the whole project in mind. I felt overwhelmed at times and somewhat unfocused when emails were not returned, ideas where not shared or questions seemed to have no answers. I feel as though I am a pretty cut and dry person. I teach that way, I work that way and I think I am a student that way. To be just a team member this time was a difficult concept for me and I felt a sense of anxiousness throughout this class. I learned much about what I need to do to be a better team member and to trust in my teammates!