Reflection

This is the first course where I had an opportunity to improve my grades after the initial submission. In addition, the professor had more of a moderator role, offering the different learners in the course to assess their own understanding through multiple means.  Despite not taking full advantage of the opportunities of improvement (due to my own laziness), I know and truly appreciate the value of the process. Working on the assignments on continuous bases required me to evaluate the progress of my development. Several assignments required resubmission, proving I was not putting my best foot forward.  These resubmissions made me “face the music”, and evaluate my thought process behind the concept.

Now, I know to  productively provide feedback to encourage my students, peers, or subordinates I have to making sure the task they are pursuing include active, constructive, intentional, authentic, and cooperative activities. Supporting this process with the use of technology will require students, peers, or subordinates to actively think about the information, make good choices, and execute the task on their own rather than in a typical in teacher led activity.

As this course comes to a close I will carry several things in the classroom. First, I will use technology to improve my writing skills.  The creation of concept maps is a gem I do not use often. When I am working on an assignment, I will admit there is little preparation. I created a concept map on a few times and noticed not only were my assignments flowing better, but my grades improved. Secondly, this course has motivated me to personalize learning activities to address students and their diverse learning styles. I believe learning goals should be the same for all students. However, students’ progress through the material at different speeds according to their learning needs. Some students might take longer to progress through a given topic, and I am not going hold this against them. Instead, I will search and find tools to support their development. Lastly, I will use technology to build collaboration among students. My favorite part of the course was interacting with my classmates. Seeing their work often times sparked an idea in my head, or helped me when I was lost during the process. I was also introduced to people in various areas of education. As I did, students working together will learn from one another and extend their interaction and learning outside of classroom. When properly applied, I know technology can eliminate hurdles, such as work schedules and self-esteem, to stimulate collaboration.

Week 4 & 5- Alice

Alice is a free download great for learning how to program. Alice is a 4g world where you can use objects to interact with each other in various ways. I would strongly recommend this program for high school students. A younger student that is computer savvy may use the program, as well.

I consider Alice to my first gaming challenge. Usually, I find a program and have little to no problems figuring out how to use the software. Alice was a tad more difficult.   After searching the web for tutorials and working through the PDF exercises,  I got a better understanding of the features. After I got the features to work, I spent a lot of time trying to make a great video. Before I knew it, the video was almost a minute in length. My only issue was the audio portion of Alice. I was able to find some articles that provided some insight into the issue, but I still had problems. If I spent more time on the project I could have possibly found a way around combating the audio issue.

Alice is a great for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. This  is another cool way to give students a rest from typical assignment submission formats. 

Exploring a Simulation: 3rd World Farmer

 3^rd World Farmer is a simulation game where the player has to farm AND raise a family on small initial savings. This game shows how residents of war torn countries tend to have a low quality of life due to poverty, high crime rates, political strife, and poor education. As you make decisions on what crops, livestock, and tools to purchase, you get an annual report of your earnings and other activities.  If you are lucky, you make money.  If you are not so lucky, you can still make a living, but have to sacrifice things such as health and education.

My main objective was to make as much money as possible. The initial $50 was upsetting. It was upsetting not only because I can eat that in one meal, but I realized some people actually have to live on earnings like that amount. I decided to roll the dice and came out on the winning end the first few years. This was a very irresponsible decision, for I forgot my decisions affected my family, as well.   During the game I had multiple splendid harvests, and gained $1000 within the first eight years. The longer I played I realized the importance of having a variety in crops, and making sure my family was healthy. Health seemed to have a correlation on performance. Therefore, I made sure my family members were in “top notch” condition so I could get good money. Also, I read the annual reports carefully, and noticed thieves would steal certain crops and livestock. I noticed a pattern and would purchase things in a sequence in hopes of only losing certain items, and not having a huge hit to my pocket.

If I played the game again, I would not gamble all my money in the first few years. That was not a wise decision and could have placed my family in a compromising position. I would also provide my children with a better education. 

Task 2 and Bloom's Taxonomy

Task 2 required an examination of selected tables. Therefore, this assignment I believe was done under the analysis level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. In order to complete the assignment, I had to thoroughly read each table. After the reading, I identified similarities and differences between each model. The creation of an organizational structure (comparison chart) was to explain the relationship of the data. 

Wordle

I used Wordle to create my definition of meaningful learning.

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK)

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is a model to effectively integrate technology into instruction. TPACK includes knowing what, when, where, and how to use knowledge to guide learning with the appropriate methods and technology tools. TPACK‘s primary knowledge models are content (CK), pedagogy (PK), and technology (TK). TPACK goes further by highlighting other kinds of knowledge that lie between those forms. Those models are pedagogical content (PCK), technological content (TCK), and technological pedagogical Knowledge (TPK).

Using TPACK will improve students’ understandings, thinking, and learning of a particular content. Educators with little to no technology expertise will be challenge to improve their knowledge and skills about technology. Teachers already familiar with technology or the model are challenged to improve their delivery. By following the TPACK model, teachers can see how technology is not only helpful, but an efficient and effective tool for improving instruction.