CEDU 521 Summary

As this class wind down I'm thinking of my blog needed for the sum of the information gleaned. I like to think of this also in terms of an evaluation of the class itself. Prior to the class I was thinking of technology integration in terms of "The students are in the computer lab a lot? These guys know their stuff and their teacher must be great." It was only when I digested LoTi that I realized that the technology should be integrated into a product that produced or reflects higher level thinking. I guess I always kind of knew it but LoTi clarified it for me. This was connected to the other major piece of the class which was Project Based Learning. This was much more inspiring to me then I first thought it would be. To be quite honest, I feel I occasionally give assignments that are not meaningful and/or "busy work" in my class. I try not to and I think every teacher is guilty of it to some degree, but I feel these assignments bog down the class and me. PBLs are the remedy for this. They engage the students and the teachers. It's an easy way of getting technology into effective, higher level projects and has proven to be a real morale booster in a classroom. I'm excited to do more of this in the future.

Cedu 521 Response to others blogs

As I read through the blogs of others from the class I was struck with how much they ebbed and flowed. This could be seen in some of the range in responses from frustration to encouraging statements. You could even see this as far individuals from one week to the next. I guess what I'm left with is "all's well that ends well." What I saw with some peoples blogs was a clearer understanding of the Unit Plan as time went on. It's through struggling with something that you seem to grow and produce a better product or a better result or otherwise learn something new.

CEDU 521 Week 4

This last weeks presentations on LoTi in the class were interesting. First, I must say that the scenario of having them in front of the school board added a component of educational leadership. I happen to be at a school with a great environment conducive to educational technology but it was still interesting to see my school through the LoTi framework.

CEDU 521 Week 3

I must say that as time has continued and I'm more on roll with my unit plan, I'm excited to implement it. I like the general contributions of the text into our class and I believe that the text has had some influence into my Unit Plan. For me, at the very least, it's planted a seed as to how I approach all lessons with my students. I've also already had some basic plans into the extra days extension into my 8 day Unit Plan.