Leading Through Innovation
My Future as a Learner By Chris Groenhout
Looking back at my experience with the MAET program, I can see the direct impact it has had on my teaching, my school, and my district. It is my goal to continue innovation in my district in all three of these areas by staying involved with ed tech groups and collaborating with teachers to help our students succeed.
Applying educational technology pedagogy in my classroom has increased student collaboration, community involvement, as well as improved communication. Students have been involved in community teaching projects using screen casting tools, Weebly and Google Docs. Using these tools, students are able to work together both synchronously and asynchronously to produce a high quality final product that is published on the web. Giving students the time to master a subject that they are interested in provides them with a strong motivation to produce a high quality final product. Publishing this final product on the web adds another level of motivation because they know what they are producing will be relied upon to teach others and that this product will be highly visible in public. I have seen great value in requiring a semester project in a science class and will continue to improve my implementation of project based learning. To continue to develop these projects, I will be using the Project Based Learning University website to find new lessons, take free courses towards PBL certification, and collaborate with other teachers. While working to improve communication with my students and among my students, I realized that I needed a way to organize and make available, all of our class content. The learning management system (LMS) I chose was Moodle. It was available in our district and provided the options I was interested such as quizzing with data analysis, file uploads, and discussion boards. I went to a training session and started exploring the program to the point where I felt comfortable using it in my classroom. After using this technology for a year, other teachers and administrators were interested in its use as well. I created an instructional Moodle site with tutorials to help teachers implement the various aspects of this LMS. I will to continue to update the Moodle resource page for the teachers in our district and stay up on the current revisions to Moodle with the help of sites like Moodle News, Moodle.org, and the Kent Intermediate School District which has several resources and personal to provide support and training. |
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Our district has been a Google School for several years. When this technology was adopted, I could see that this would change the way students collaborate. Students were able to work on the same presentation at the same time on multiple devices, at home or, in the classroom. What was once as simple group mini report on butcher paper, became a complete multimedia presentation. Not only did this increase the motivation of the students to participate, but they also saw the value in producing something that other students could learn from.
As part of the technology committee, I have been part of the decision making process regarding the latest bond. Part of this bond is the implementation of a one-to-one device initiative. The committee has selected Chomebooks as the device. The next step will be increasing teacher knowledge regarding the apps available through Google and their educational significance. We will then need to train teachers in the capabilities of the student Chromebooks. To learn about the current uses of Chromebooks in the classroom, I have subscribed to the Google in Education group. Here, teachers share ideas and experiences about the use of these devices in the classroom.
Innovation in both education and technology will allow educators to enable students to learn in ways we previously could not have imagined. With relatively inexpensive technology and technological knowledge, we are now able to produce, edit and share video around the world in a few seconds; feat beyond comprehension just twenty years ago. It is our job as educators to use the technology that will produce the best learning results for our students. One hundred years ago, those technologies were the pencil, chalk and the printing press. We would be putting our students at a disadvantage in the workplace as well as provide an inferior educational product if we continued to use those technologies. Today, technology is evolving daily and in large steps rather than a slow progression. However, teachers have always been innovative collaborators. No matter what technology a person is trying to learn, there will likely be a group of similar minded educators from whom one may seek support or share ideas. The leaders in this field will be those who are not afraid to try an approach that is not always immediately comfortable or familiar, but one that they believe will best serve their students.
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
- Steve Jobs
As part of the technology committee, I have been part of the decision making process regarding the latest bond. Part of this bond is the implementation of a one-to-one device initiative. The committee has selected Chomebooks as the device. The next step will be increasing teacher knowledge regarding the apps available through Google and their educational significance. We will then need to train teachers in the capabilities of the student Chromebooks. To learn about the current uses of Chromebooks in the classroom, I have subscribed to the Google in Education group. Here, teachers share ideas and experiences about the use of these devices in the classroom.
Innovation in both education and technology will allow educators to enable students to learn in ways we previously could not have imagined. With relatively inexpensive technology and technological knowledge, we are now able to produce, edit and share video around the world in a few seconds; feat beyond comprehension just twenty years ago. It is our job as educators to use the technology that will produce the best learning results for our students. One hundred years ago, those technologies were the pencil, chalk and the printing press. We would be putting our students at a disadvantage in the workplace as well as provide an inferior educational product if we continued to use those technologies. Today, technology is evolving daily and in large steps rather than a slow progression. However, teachers have always been innovative collaborators. No matter what technology a person is trying to learn, there will likely be a group of similar minded educators from whom one may seek support or share ideas. The leaders in this field will be those who are not afraid to try an approach that is not always immediately comfortable or familiar, but one that they believe will best serve their students.
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
- Steve Jobs