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Bubble.Us

This project would be for students and for teachers to find out what students really know about science. Its a good way to break the ice to find out what all your students know about science. Science is such a broad topic, so teachers will know what they can just hit and miss on a certain topics.

Reflection

After reading about how instructional design/technology is used in businesses, P-12 schools, and higher education, I would say that a major theme between all of them is the idea of pushing yourself to always be better. In each of these areas, the authors discussed the importance of training. In a business, employees need to go through training to learn new procedures and or programs. In a P-12 school system, teachers and staff participate in professional development, continuing education, seminars, etc. As we read this week, professors in higher education are encouraged, if not required, to get their doctorate, submit articles for publication, and go through training. In all three of these areas, the idea of being complacent and unwilling to learn new things is unacceptable. With this type of attitude, a business, school, or university won’t be able to grow and change as the world around us changes. Therefore, it is important, no matter what you do, to look for ways to better yourself.

I think as teachers, we can learn a lot from both businesses and high education facilities. Businesses have put forth an effort to adapt to different cultures. This is a great example for schools to follow, especially in diverse districts. In the chapter about high education, Brenda Litchfield talked about using orientations and workshops to assist new faculty members. At the orientation and through the workshops during the year, Litchfield is able to help new faculty become acquainted with important aspects of teaching at the university. This is something that would be important to do as well in a P-12 school district. Some districts do provide new staff with assistance at the beginning of the year, but this is something that could be continued throughout the entire year (or longer), as Litchfield does.

One competency that I would like to work on is to become more involved in professional activities. As a reading interventionist, I am actually a part of the support staff, not the teaching staff. So, on professional development days, I spend my time in the classroom instead of attending trainings, meeting, etc. I think I would really benefit from being a part of these professional activities. However, I know there are many opportunities to attend conferences or workshops outside of school. I think that I need to put forth more effort to find valuable workshops that I could attend. Another way for me to work on this would be to becoming involved in other committees at school. I am currently a part of the school improvement team, but there are many other committees that I could be a part of next year.

Reflection

A theme that I have noticed throughout the last three chapters is teamwork. Instructional Design and Technology in any setting cannot be successfully accomplished alone; it requires the work of a team. Table 18.1 in the book, on page 176, defines the roles of different team members. Last week in my reflection, I talked about how these roles carry over to the educational setting with an example of a curriculum committee. One of the main topics in Chapter 21 is that of the Step-Up-To-Excellence (SUTE) process. There is no way in the world that this process can be done alone. This process needs multiple team members that work together. Chapter 22 gives us a look into the everyday lives of five common roles in higher education. All of these faculty members share how they work together with their colleagues to make the most of their careers.
I think that all professions work as a team in their environments. This is also something that can be worked on every year. I know that my district works very well as a team, but there is always room for improvement. This is why we all attend professional development meetings throughout the year. It’s always good to have a team building meeting at least twice a year to keep everyone on track and to keep them looking at the bigger picture. Wouldn’t it be neat if all of our school districts would move towards the SUTE process?
I think that my strength is communication. I communicate very well on a daily basis with students, parents, and coworkers either in person, on the phone, or through email. I’m always giving suggestions for improvements, encouragement, and also asking for advice. If I have a concern, I like to deal with it ASAP; I’m not one to wait around for someone else to fix something! Two competencies that I’d like to develop, or more improve, would be: 1.) Stimulate and sustain learner motivation, and 2.) Use media and technology to enhance learning and performance.
I think that we are all looking to develop, or improve, our skills in media and technology to enhance learning and performance; why else would we take this class. I’ve already learned so much in the six weeks that we’ve been in this class that I hope to put to use in my own class and district. Sometimes I wish we had more time with each new piece of technology that we are learning about!

Screencasting

This video is a tutorial demonstrating for students how to access our online textbook. I point out several features such as concept mapping, audio, textbook pages and review questions, and several others. These features would help students at home with their homework. It also provides a way for students to study/do homework if they have forgotten their textbook.