9410 - eMINTS year 1:
Technology to Enhance Learning (Fall05) and Using Technology to Enhance Inquiry-Based Learning (Wint06)
UMC Course Description
The purpose of the course is for teachers to gain advanced knowledge, insight and experience in the integration of multimedia technology into curriculum. Emphasis is on assisting teachers in the creation of classrooms where learners construct their own understandings and new knowledge about how the world works. In addition to learning that thinking is engaged by activity, teachers will develop an understanding of how to integrate multimedia technology into the curriculum in all subject areas. They will learn how technologies can stimulate and support activities that engage learners in thinking, which may result in learning. Teaching strategies consistent with best practice will be explored for all subject areas. Student assessment (both formal and informal) will be studied with emphasis on using assessment to inform instruction.
Personal Reflection
The eMINTS program consisted of face-to-face training taking place over the duration of two years facilitated by a regional mentor along with additional course work completed in conjunction with the University of Missouri - Columbia. The first year consisted of two semesters for a total of 6 credit hours. eMINTS has given me the opportunity to utilize technology more fully to enhance my students learning. The role of technology in the past focused primarily on routine tasks made simpler, but were not geared to raising the level of expectations and the level of learning. As time and exposure to the eMINTS program developed, my appreciation for the possibilities of technology have included.
Initially the program employed personal surveys to judge current level of understanding of technology resources. I found myself in a good position relative to my peers in the group. However, my depth at increasing the role of technology beyond mere literacy and adapting to transforming needed to evolve. (Grappling's Technology Spectrum at BJPconsulting.com)
The role of technology begins at the lowest level of the spectrum with literacy, a development of how to use and understand the tool, to the mid-level adapting, a modification of lessons to incorporate technology as a replacement for another method, and finally to higher level learning through transforming, a richly evolved enhancement of the education process through use of technology. Many of my lessons were at the adapting stage because the technology was there but the networking necessary to transition to the higher level was insufficient. As my understanding of how to manipulate technology to my circumstances progresses, I am better able to apply more transforming lessons to my technology integration.
There is still a need for developing at all three levels with a student. They are not able to leap from the bed in the morning and resolve the problems of the world. Much the same, they are not going to be able to leap from a seat in a classroom and delve into deeper uses of technology until the modeling and skills are in place. So, each lesson needs to begin with an inventory of competencies and progress accordingly. I have observed my students attempting to capture an assignments spirited purpose, only to be sidelined by inadequate preparation on how to use the technology. It was necessary to digress from the intended, path develop the skills and return to the intended project. The students were then in a position to be able to succeed.
Projects that take students higher up Bloom's Taxonomy and Grappling's Spectrum involve connections to real-world applications and external resources. An example of a project that fell high on the scales was the famous scientist lesson. The simplistic side of the project rests squarely in the adapting level of Grappling's because a student could easily create a poster presentation. However, the advancement of the lesson to move a bit beyond came from the need of the student to develop and defend a presentation of the scientific discoveries of their scientist. The example student product (200kb PowerPoint file) shows the level of basic understanding that a poster project could produce but also the advancement to include demonstrations and further explanation to benefit the audience. This project needs to take further advantage of technology by making connections for students to researchers working today. They can invest their knowledge with that of an expert in the field of study and further increase the gains.
The eMINTS program has offered a set of tools for incorporating cooperative learning strategies into my classroom along with technology. A simple cooperative learning example is the diffusion and osmosis investigation from my biology classes. Technology is not a divisive introduction into a classroom but rather a means to facilitate cooperation. By maintaining a level of computers in the classroom at 2:1 ratio, students are encouraged to support each other to develop products. The use of cooperative strategies such as Groupings for pairing students to develop interpersonal skills, Cross Talk for discussions, Think–Pair–Share setting project goals and expectations, and the Navigator Model developing specific task skills. These are just a few strategies that can be adapted for any level of classroom learning. Each offers a mechanism to engage and educate students even where differences exist in expectations and outcomes. Within a science classroom, cooperation is mandatory to allow students to participate in laboratory investigations. eMINTS has helped to facilitate further integration of technology and cooperation in my classroom.
