Informed Decision Making
In education, it is extremely important to make Informed decisions. The future lies in the hands of educators, which is why evaluating tools for integrating technology is essential in education. I have a plethora of experience in elementary teaching from grade levels 2 – 5. My campus is One-to-One and every student has a device, so I am very familiar with integrating technology in the classroom. In my wide variety of teaching I have found that each grade level’s technology usage and integration varies. The tools used in a 2nd grade classroom will differ from the tools that are used in 5th grade classroom. The tools will vary on an even larger scale when comparing elementary technology use to secondary technology use.
The SAMR and TPaCK models are both tools that help educators evaluate technology that is being used. While I believe it is crucial to evaluate the effectiveness of certain technology through these models, I think it is also important to have your own personal experience and perhaps even preference of tools. Through the Intro to Educational Technology course I evaluated several different integrations of technology. The evaluations which can serve as evidence of informed decision making, can be seen through my examples of artifacts
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Quizlet
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This is a web based program that students can use to study and enhance their learning on specific topics. In this tool students may practice flashcards, play games, and work together in groups to study topics.
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Relevant example- In my classroom we had been focusing on money identification and the addition of coins. There are many vocabulary words that students needed to know and the students also needed to be able to identify which coins are which. I was able to assign a quizlet live to my students where they worked as a group to add coins and identify the vocabulary. This quizlet live option also puts the tool in a competition form which gets the students really excited and pumped to solve problems.
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This tool is free and you also have the option to browse through previously created quizlets, or you can create your own.
Splash Math
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This is also a web based program that students can use to study specific math teks and skills. In this program you are able to assign certain topics and students can play games to practice and foster those skills related to that tek.
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Relevant example - As a teacher in this program you can differentiate your instruction by assigning specific tasks to each student. You also have the option to change the grade level if you have students who are on a higher or lower level.
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I used this at the beginning of the year and i love it. The only downfall is that after a couple weeks the app was restricted and students had to get a new access code to login weekly. In addition the app required you to pay for a subscription after a while and my district did not want to pay for it.
Education Galaxy
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Name of technology - Education Galaxy
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I absolutely love education galaxy! You are able to create and assign previous existing assignments to students related to certain topics. This tool also has students take a pre-assessment where it creates a program individualized per each student and what they need to work on most. The students have the opportunity to earn stars and the more stars they earn, this shows student's mastery of concepts. I love this program because it is all researched and STAAR based questions from previously released test. So this prepares students for what they will see on the standardized test in Texas.
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Because this program is research based and revolved around STAAR based questions this helps prepare my students for the annual state standardized testing. My students are able to become familiar with what you can expect to see.
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This tool is an amazing app, and while it does cost for a district subscription it is worth it.
Emerging Technology Supporting Education Evaluations
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The technology evaluations I completed during Instructional media and technology can serve as evidence of informed decision making. During this course we had the experience of working with several different forms of technology, applications, and websites. These three applications I have personally used in my classroom and can attest to how they have influenced my knowledge in technology integration.
Educational Technology Blog
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The evaluations I completed during the tech for instruction course can serve as evidence of informed decision making. During this course we had the experience of working with several different forms of technology, applications, and websites. These tech play evaluations can be seen on my educational technology blog. The blog is where I describe my reflection, ideas and usage of the tools that could potentially be integrated into classrooms.
Instructional Design Model
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I chose to display my Instructional Design project because I wanted to show that I have experience in researching different models of learning theories. Researching B.F. Skinner, along with reviewing other learning theorists will allow the confidence in effectively integrating technology into the classroom. During this project I was able to learn key elements of this instructional design model, and how this might affect the integration of technology/what might work best.
Article Review Activity
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This article review activity is a great way to show how I can use different articles, and learned information to effectively make decisions. It is important to have a proper stance in decision making, and to make decisions based off merit. This article shows how I can review information, and use this to form my own opinion on a matter.