EEND 680Z3 Course Reflection

This course, 21st Century Ed Leadership, focused more on the administrative side of educational technology. Even though this course has been fully online, Heidi Morgan made sure to provide additional resources for the modules and connect with us weekly. She is an amazing instructor and I have learned so much from her. An article that stands out to me is “Cyber Misconduct, Discipline and the Law,” by Gretchen Shipley. It stands out because many cases where students are cyber bullying another student resulted in the students who did the bullying escaping punishment because of first amendment rights. Most bullying takes place outside of school and on personal devices and therefore if it does not cause a substantial disruption in the school. The offense is not punishable by schools I believe in protection of our rights by the constitution. However, it infuriates me how the same rights protect the offenders instead of protecting the victims. The article states, “Now that technology use in intertwined into all aspects of classroom and school operations, acceptable use of technology principles may be integrated into many existing district policies, including but not limited to document retention, code of conduct, publishing, cheating, plagiarism, and homework policies.” The article brings to the forefront how important it is for teachers and schools to enforce digital citizenship, being safe online, and making students aware of the consequences.

Many of the activities in this module stand out. However, there are two activities that stand out the most. The first is from Module three where the assignment was to create a form to use with walkthroughs. This stands out because the form I designed is intended for teachers to use when observing other teachers. I feel that we can learn so much from one another. We as teachers, beg, borrow, steal, and share from our colleagues. The insight we can gain from observing how a colleague teaches a lesson we are not confident in teaching ourselves will help us to gain expertise on how to better teach our students. The second activity that stands out is from Module 7. The assignment asks us to design a Learning Resource Center with equipment no matter the cost. This is the ideal setting for students. The cost of these pieces of furniture and equipment is ridiculous, although the end result of student use is amazing. I only wish that my district would allow for schools and classrooms to receive items like 3-D printers, Noodle chairs (chairs that allow for movement while learning), Whiteboard collaborative tables, and Maker spaces starter kits.

I continue to grow as a connected educator by utilizing what I am learning through these courses with my students. I want to use more video to tell our stories to show the students how much they are progressing academically. Building up their self-esteem plays a great role in their academic successes. Also, I plan on using "Pear deck" in conjunction with the google slide reading lessons I use with small group instruction. During the "My Story" module, I had a 5th grader tell me that he really liked the Pear deck lesson the most. I was surprised that the lesson had made such an impact with him. This reinforces my drive to continue to gain knowledge in technology and implementing it in the classroom. Although, I am still learning and need to seek out answers through looking it up or calling a friend for help. I am creating lessons for students using google slides and the many apps we are learning about. It gives me great pride to see students engaged and wanting to learn.

For module 5, we had to create “our Story.” I was not sure how to use my device to record the students memories from this school year. One of my 5th graders said, “Ms. D. you just do this” and just like that he was able to access the media video recorder. The downfall was that it was very difficult to save the videos. As well as to download the videos to the program I wanted to use which was Adobe Flash. I continue to look forward to learning more about technology; as well as, learning from my colleagues. I am using what I am learning to differentiate and adapt lessons to suit my students learning styles. It is my goal to reach them and build their confidence in their academic ability so that they continue to flourish.


References

Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: E7720. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720. (n.d.). doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f