Technology Integration Matrix

This year is my first year out of the classroom.  While I do love my new position as an eLearning Coach, reflecting on this matrix and the things that I used to do in my classroom has made me really miss it.  When I was in my classroom I was always very excited to try new things, to think outside the box, and then I would reflect on what worked and what didn't and move on.  This year my role is to help move other teachers forward in their integration of technology, and not all of them are so enthusiastic.

When I looked at the matrix and reflected on where I was last year when I was in the classroom, I think I would have to say I was somewhere between infusion and transformation.  We were in our first year of our 1:1 initiative so each student had their own MacBook.  I was teaching Careers and Finance to 7th and 8th graders and was constantly trying out new things.

A couple of the most successful project that I did were in my 7th grade Careers class.  The first project was covering the content about resume writing and interview skills.  I had students grouped together in teams, and each of them had a topic to cover.  They were given the task of creating a video for an employment agency.  The video was meant to be used for people coming into the agency seeking help with resume writing, interview, or whatever their topic was.  I gave them a rubric and that was it.  They had to do the research to learn about their topic, and then find a creative way to create the educational video.  The students were engaged and learned so much.  They were given the freedom to make choices and were allowed to prove their learning in a creative way.

The other project that I loved was the Career Mentor project.  This was an ongoing project throughout the entire semester.  During the first week of classes, students would let me know what type of career they were most interested in.  Using that information, I matched them up with a professional from our community that would become their Career Mentor.  Each week the student would email their mentor questions that they came up with about the topics we were discussing in class.  The mentors then would email them their responses and we would use those to drive our classroom discussions.  Towards the end of the semester each student went to spend a half day with their mentor and then their final was to create a multimedia presentation about their experiences.  Again, the students learned so much and made real world connections to the things that we were learning in class.  They were given ownership of their learning and enjoyed the "grown up" opportunities to communicate and interact with professionals in our community.

These are the types of learning experiences that I want classrooms to be filled with.  When the correct technology is in place, students shouldn't be hindered by the buildings that they are in.  They should be collecting information, communicating it to the outside world, and collaborating with others to become better.

While I am proud of what I did, I know there is still a long way to go.  And in my current role, my focus has to be on helping others create these types of experiences for their students.  So my goal is to start giving more concrete examples to my teachers.  We have talked about the SAMR model, but I'm not sure they really understand what it looks like in their classrooms.  We are nearing the end of our first year with the 1:1 technology, so we need to be moving forward at a steady pace.

Breaking Down the Barriers

I am so excited about the opportunities that students are going to have with the introduction of Online and Blended learning at the high school level.  For years I have taught and worked in small districts that worked hard to give students as many opportunities as possible, but in my opinion, still came up short.  Small schools have their benefits, don't get me wrong, but they also are very limiting when it comes to academic variety.  Many times there would not be enough interest in a course to have it offered.  This was a barrier to students being able to learn about things such as Marketing, Computer Programing, higher level sciences, or maybe even foreign languages for example.  However, with distance learning this barrier can be removed.  Distance education would give us the ability to offer one section of a course online and have students from multiple schools participating with the same teacher.  So if there were 3 students at one school that were interested, and 7 at another, then you would be able to offer it to the 10 students.  This will begin to give curricular options to these students of smaller schools that they haven't had access to before.

Another exciting aspect of this new learning method is it's ability to make flexible scheduling a reality.  The traditional 8am to 3pm school day doesn't work well for many of todays high school students.  Some need to be at work to help support their families.  Others want to be getting on the job experience or volunteering to help them to grow as individuals and learn about their interests.  And some may not be physically well enough to participate in the traditional school setting. All of these situations that used to be a barrier for students wanting to get a Core 40 diploma or Honors diploma, now can be handled much more easily with the addition of online classes.  Student can log into these courses when it's convenient for them and complete their assignments.  The content is available for them when they need it, and the communication takes place via email at the convenience of the student and teacher.  

I am excited.  I'm excited to be able to provide students with the best curriculum possible.  I'm excited to see students be as successful as they can possibly be no matter what their circumstances.  And I'm excited to be a part of this new endeavor that will forever change the way our children will be educated here in Wabash County.

Here We Go!

So Monday was the day!  Not only was it the first day of my Introduction to Blended and Online Teaching course, but it also happened to be the first day teaching an online course!  I guess I decided that I might as well just jump right in!  I'm really excited to learn as much as I can about how to "do it right."  I've been the student in many online courses, and I think some of the professors did it right. But I've also had experiences with some that haven't.  So I'm very motivated to become one of the good ones and to make my courses as effective as possible.

I also have to say that I am very excited to see all of the other tech coaches that are participating in the course!  This is my 2nd district that I have worked in as a Tech Integration Specialist, but I have always been the only one in that position.  So the idea that I will be making connections with others that do what I do is wonderful!  I can't wait to soak up as much information from everyone as I possibly can!