Final+Assessment


 * Course Reflection Prompts **


 * 1. What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?**

The outcomes I had envisioned for this course was to learn about specific strategies and methods for implementing technology into my classroom. This class far exceeded my expectations. Not only did I learn specific ways to integrate technology, but I also learned how to create lessons using the UDL framework to diversify lessons for any student, regardless of ability, in my classroom. The template was easy to use to build a unit or lesson rich with various activities, technology, and modifications for diverse learners. In addition, I did not know that this course would be primarily collaborative work. I learned so much about working with others, giving and getting good feedback, and feeding off each other’s ideas. Our team worked so well together and we have never even met. I am working with three people that are not even in my cohort—what an experience! I ended up making some new friends as we used Google talk to chat several times. We had a great leader and everyone did his or her part. It was one of the best group experiences I have ever had.


 * 2. To the extent that you achieved the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?**

This class is such a great model for teaching what is being taught. What I mean is, the way this class is structured teaches us by modeling its own curriculum—very few classes do that. We had to develop teams early on, meet regularly, decide on certain specific criteria, delegate responsibilities and roles, seek out and create lessons that utilize technology, diversify lessons, create and reflect upon what we learned in a course wiki, set up a collaborative on-line document, and post weekly discussion questions to solicit and give feedback from our peers regarding the weekly readings. This course didn’t just tell us what to do—we did it! We learned how to do it and teach others how to do it! This is how we all should be teaching our own students. I have already used several strategies I learned in this course. I have integrated YouTube videos, interactive software, and collaborative learning in my lessons and plan on using it more and more. I have also used a reflection and feedback survey to gather data on how the lesson went and what the students learned. This course is most definitely one of the most useful I have taken in all of my Master’s classes.


 * 3. What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?**

I was not able to participate in any of the web conferences. Several members from my group attended each one, so I did not feel that it was necessary. I am a little wary about doing a web conference, as I have never participated in one before. I do not think it is very difficult, I am just not sure if I have the right equipment. I have a webcam and a microphone built in to my laptop, but I think to participate you have to have a headphone set with a microphone on it. I really want to get over the hurdle of not having participated in a web conference. In addition to not having the right equipment, I did not feel like I had time to do this as I spent a lot of time on my readings and assignments. Since I work full time and am taking Master’s classes, I have very little extra time to do assignments that are optional. Maybe if one web conference was mandatory, then I would have been more motivated and made time to attend one.


 * 4. Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?**

I was successful in completing all of the assignments for this course. I did not even need to use the two-day grace period to get the assignments in on time. I felt that my team worked well together and did not procrastinate. Working in groups is difficult to make sure everyone does their part in a timely fashion. Even though we worked on the last day of the week sometimes, we were always done with our assignments in plenty of time. The only thing that could have been a problem was time, but that is why we have the two-day grace period. I felt that the rubrics were very specific and explained exactly what was expected in each assignment. The weekly overview announcements helped emphasize certain parts of the week’s assignment we were required to do and any changes to the week’s assignment that were made. Overall, I think the class was well organized and expectations for each assignment were made clear.


 * 5. What did you learn from this course: about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes?**

I learned several important things about this course. First, if you want to be an effective teacher, teach the curriculum in the manner you are telling students to teach it. Don’t just “tell” them how to teach it—make them do it! Everyone learns best by actually doing it. Second, I learned that working collaboratively with others is a huge tool for learning new things. Just in this course alone, I learned how to use Google talk from one of my classmates, about voice thread, Photopeach to make a photo story, and specific ways to modify lessons for blind and hearing-impaired students. I did not learn these things in the course itself, but from members of my collaborative team. I also learned that there are educators out there who are trying to do the same thing I am. We are all trying to make learning better and more engaging for students. We are all trying new things and telling our colleagues at school what we are learning. We are all making a change to meet the needs of the 21st century learner and to help lead the way for our campuses and districts to do the same.