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6.3 Reflection: Technology and Assessment

As I look toward a future in a blended classroom, I realize that I'm going to have to get creative with assessment. Since I will be operating in a blended environment, I have the benefit of using my usual methods as I explore a variety of online assessment tools.

One of the biggest challenges I anticipate facing is simply making sure that my students know how to use whatever tools I decide to use for assessment. While I already have several go-to methods of online assessment, I intend to explore and find new methods that allow me to engage my students in new ways and provide them with the additional benefit of gaining fluency in learning to use new digital resources. Because of this, I anticipate that I will end up devoting some class time to ensure the students know how to use the technology I will be asking them to use. The benefit of this is that I can use class time to have them try a new technology while using the process as a formative assessment for whatever topic we are studying. The downside is that the students may experience difficulties using the new technology and perform poorly on the formative assessment.

Since I will be incorporating using new technology tools throughout the year my students spend with me, one area I will need to become very good at is diagnosing the cause of poor performance in my students. I will have to work to determine whether it is the technology tool (or lack of access to technology tools) causing poor performance, or whether the student is struggling with content.

I expect that I will find a good rhythm for introducing new technology and integrating it into the curriculum (and therefore largely eliminating the need to diagnose the cause/effect relationship between new tools and poor performance), but that it will take some trial and error to find the right timing and approach.

4.3 Reflection: Social & Professional Networks

Ah, Facebook. Distraction. 

Facebook offers me two kinds of distraction: the first is the kind that feeds my need for interaction with other adults when my time with adults is limited; the second is the kind of distraction that occasionally keeps me from getting the house cleaned when I really should, or gives me a pleasant excuse to procrastinate a little longer instead of completing a task that needs to get done.

I find that Facebook has a lot to offer me as a human being. In addition to keeping me up-to-date on my extended family and friends' lives, it offers me connections, even with people I seldom see. Sometimes a thoughtful post or comment will allow me to connect briefly with another person, even if we have little in common outside of that interaction. While I sometimes find the discussions on Facebook frustrating, self-indulgent, or otherwise obnoxious, I also frequently find thoughtful, and thought-provoking discussions going on. Sometimes I choose to engage in conversations, and at other times I prefer to read what others have written without engaging myself in the discussion. That's part of the beauty of using social media. It allows me to choose when and whether I will participate in any given discussion; those that will become excessively emotionally draining or are somehow inappropriate are available for me to read, but those that I can contribute to thoughtfully are available for me to participate in for as long as I choose.

In addition to the entertainment value of Facebook, I also often find myself motivated to learn more about a given topic under discussion. When I see a link to an article, I will read it, but I will often go and find additional sources to further extend my understanding of the topic. 

The internet, in general, is a boon to readers and learners. Anything is available if you know how to find it, and all you have to do is open up a browser, search the right terms, or find the right website, and you have everything you could want to learn about a topic at your fingertips. Of course, with all that information available, it is also possible to get lost in data overload, or worse, get off-track while you are researching one topic and get distracted and lose focus on the topic originally being researched.

I suspect that my students would agree with the entertainment and distraction factor, although I think they would find my tendency to enjoy doing further research on a topic ridiculous. If I can capitalize on my students' interest in social media, and maybe use myself as an example, I can use it as a way to expand my students' use of social media to extend their view of their world, where they begin to see themselves as global citizens who can contribute to a larger discussion. Once I convince my students that social media represents an opportunity to become contributors to the world, it is my responsibility to help them start to begin to understand how to find good information, what to do with it, and how to use it to contribute productively to the larger conversation.

3.3 Reflection: Using Web 2.0 Tools

If I were to use Diigo in my classroom, I would start by having students select an article about a topic of their choice to work with. I would have them start with some basic annotation strategies: highlighting key terms in one color; main ideas in another color; supporting details in yet another color. I would them have them go through and use the note/memo function to make notes with specific objectives. I would have them explain why they highlighted particular key terms, their justification for selecting a sentence as a main idea, and how the supporting details actually work to support the claim. As a follow-up to this assignment, students would need to go back through and make notes about the rhetorical purpose for some of the areas they identified, as well as the rhetorical strategies the author was using. The final part of the assignment would be to write a reflection (in a creative format) that would evaluate how effectively the author had achieved his or her objective in writing the article.

This experience would probably be initially somewhat challenging for the students. Depending on the amount of experience the class had with annotation in general, I would anticipate needing to spend some time instructing students in effective annotation strategies (or find a video or other resource that demonstrates the same thing). Students who have more experience in annotation or using other processes for evaluating writing will do reasonably well; students who have less experience will probably start out with superficial notes and annotations and require additional future practice in order to do this type of assignment with the depth of thought I expect. I do anticipate some scaffolding will be needed depending on the prior experiences of my class.

The outcome of this assignment is to evaluate the structure of writing and the overall effectiveness of the author's use of rhetorical strategies. This is consistent with the critical reading and writing component of a number of Common Core literacy and ELA standards. Students who are critical readers are critical thinkers, and critical thinking is something our students really need more practice in.

In addition to using Diigo as a primary tool for addressing the assignment, I would encourage students to find a unique approach (using a web 2.0 toold of their choice) to present their analysis/evaluation of the author's work. Areas that will need to be addressed to ensure success are: having a clear rubric for both the annotation and evaluative product, providing clear and specific examples of annotation strategies (including examples of well-done annotation compared to poorly-done annotation), and possibly providing students a list of some potential web 2.0 tools for the final product.

2.3 Reflection Blended/Online Learning

1. My instructional methodologies will need to undergo some significant revisions in an online or blended environment. My usual method of classroom discussion will need to change. I will probably move to threaded discussions for interactive class discussions. For situations where I am looking for feedback from individual students, I suspect that I will use a blog or Openclass.com Submission assignment and allow the students to complete the assignment with their program of choice. For quick 'did you do the reading?' checks, I may try using Google Forms and see how that works out. In a blended learning environment, I will also need to work out out the best way to incorporate independent learning online, live independent classroom exercises, and small-group teacher-led instruction. I will also need to work out the best classroom management for that environment; I want to be also be to make sure students have some control over how they are working, but I want them to also understand that they are expected to be working.

I will also need to find an effective way of turning over the acquisition of information to the students, so that they are guided to the information I want them to have, but they find that information themselves.

This whole process should be an exercise in creative thinking on my part.

2. I will definitely need to improve on the way I teach research if I want students to be successful in an online learning environment. It will be especially important to emphasize thinking through problems and searches when students are going to be doing this work independently.

I suspect that I will also hone my troubleshooting abilities in this environment. I am not just talking about in terms of technology, although that will definitely be a part of it, but it's also going to be important for me to recognize the problems a student is having, accurately diagnose the cause (or misunderstanding), and offer appropriate remediation.

Reflection: Personal Learning Goal

As our schools work to remain relevant in our changing world, I find myself looking at my own teaching practices and seeking ways to improve the relevance of my own classes. We are at an exciting time in education, when those who take a "different" approach in the classroom are valued, rather than told to remain neatly within the confines of their own "box" (classroom) and teach exactly the content they have always taught at exactly the right time in the school year. The adoption of Common Core State Standards has provided an invitation to break the habit of doing things they way they have always been done, because it's the way they have always been done, and I am looking to completely revamp what I teach and how I teach it.

I have spent much of the past year researching effective models of instruction and reflecting on my own practices. I am particularly interested in technology use in education, as I see it as a way to effectively engage students and, at the same time, teach them a foundation of basic technology literacy that many of our students are lacking. It seems odd to say in the days when two-year-olds can effectively use iPhones to entertain themselves, but a large portion of our students are functionally illiterate when it comes to using computers for anything other than entertainment. Our students desperately need to learn to use computers as tools for communication, collaboration, and productivity. Although our students need this knowledge, I do not believe it is necessary to teach these skills explicitly. In fact, it would be counterproductive to do so. What I want to do is create a classroom where my students learn what they need to learn about computers out of a necessity that is a created through the content of my class.

I have many ideas about what I want my class to look like, and I have spent much time reflecting upon my practice and personal educational philosophy. The research I have done in the past year has led me to more questions than answers as I overhaul my approach to the classroom, and I am seeking an opportunity to engage in an environment that helps me find the answers to those lingering questions.

My learning goal for this course is primarily one of gaining additional background knowledge to take into my own practice and build upon. I hope to participate in discussions about best practices in engaging students in lessons where they learn both content and how to use technology; I want to debate the merits of the various ways students access content online (phones, tablets, computers, etc.); and I want to walk away from this course with a solid sense of how all of this fits together in my own pedagogy.