Reflection of Classes
Spring 2011
ET 605 Intro to Educational Technology: This was the first course I took in the Educational Technology cohort. In this course, we learned about a variety of basic technologies including: PowerPoint, Excel spreadsheets, Publisher brochures, and WebQuests. We worked in groups to incorporate these technologies into two Learning Activities that consisted of four lessons that used technology with the students. It was interesting to see the different levels of technology knowledge each person in the course had. There were a mix of people who were new to using technology and people who were very familiar with using technology. Entering this cohort, I considered myself one of the more technologically advanced people. However, looking back at my assignments from three years ago makes me laugh and realize just how much new technology I have learned since taking this intro course. ET 605 was the foundation for all of the other courses I took in the cohort and it allowed me to build up to a strong internship.
Summer 2011
ED 670 Teacher Research and Inquiry: In this course, we learned and went through the research process. We chose a problem related to technology that we wanted to focus on improving and designed a research project to help conquer that problem in our current work place. The topic of my research paper was Attacking the Technology Gap: Encouraging Veteran Teachers to Incorporate Technology. This is a topic that I have felt strongly about throughout the entire Master's program because I have seen the technology gap between veteran and novice teachers in multiple schools in my career. The research topic and paper became a resource when planning my internship. There is a huge technology gap between the veteran and novice teachers at the school where I currently work. I planned my internship to include professional development sessions to help "attack" this technology gap.
ET 620 Multimedia Design in the Classroom: In this course, we were introduced to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which is something that I had never used before. VBA can get quite complicated and, at times, writing the code proved to be frustrating. This was not a process that I have used outside of this course because there are so many shortcuts that have been added to the Microsoft PowerPoint software program that allow users to use VBA features without writing the code. Another major project in this course was planning a video project for students to complete. The requirement was to create a video lesson for students and record a sample video using video cameras and laptops to edit the movies. However, I was on a family vacation during the video and editing class. So, I had to develop a back-up plan in order for me to meet the requirements of this assignment while on vacation. I proposed a plan to use my iPhone as the recording device and the iMovie app for the editing process. The professor was reluctant to allow me to use these replacements as he was not familiar with Apple products and he doubted the final movie would compare to a video recorded on a video camera. I proved him wrong and opened his eyes to see how incredibly innovative iPhones and apps could be because I successfully filmed and edited my entire movie on my iPhone. The professor was so impressed by the product that he had Loyola purchase iPod Touches so they could use them to film and edit movies in his future semesters. I consider this process my first experience being a technology leader and innovator in the Master's program. This would be the first of multiple opportunities to be innovative and support my technology knowledge and share it with others who were or were not supportive of the changes.
Fall 2011
ET 610 Curricular Applications of Technology: This course was an extension of the content we learned in ET 605 and an introduction to Web 2.0 Tools. I can honestly say that I had no idea what a Web 2.0 tool was when I started ET 610, but by the end of the semester, I was hooked and was excited to continue exploring new tools. In this course, I was introduced to Tagxedo, Wordle, Glogster, Wixie, and SpicyNodes. When I conducted the Technology Interest Survey at the beginning of my internship, I discovered that many of the teachers wanted to learn more about Web 2.0 Tools and some admitted to not knowing what they were at all. Obviously, this directed one of my professional developments to be focused on Web 2.0 Tools. One of the tools that I introduced to my coworkers and trained them on was Glogster. I used the Glogster poster that I had created in ET 610 as one of my samples in the professional development session.
Spring 2012
ED 608 Educational Innovations: This course was our first experience in the program with synchronous learning online. We met online for the majority of the course and we listened to the professor lecture, completed group projects using Google Docs, and then took turns presenting the material to the rest of the class. It was eye-opening to see how similar online learning could be to meeting face-to-face in a classroom. In the course, we had many discussions about the pros and cons of online learning. The majority of the students in the class, including myself, preferred face-to-face learning over synchronous online learning. The most prevalent reason for this was in a face-to-face meeting, there are no frustrating technical difficulties that many of us encountered throughout the semester. There were times when students had to log-off of the online class because they could not hear any of the conversation. We were also introduced to Second Life while taking this course. We had the opportunity to create an avatar and we attempted to meet as a class in an online classroom on Second Life. This was a failed attempt as many of the students, including myself, could not find the class meeting and/or could not hear or see the other avatars.
One of the main projects in this course was to research and present about a Web 2.0 Tool. We had to present about the cost, features, instructional design, customization, technical requirements, and the user needs/training required. The tool that I researched was Animoto. This was my first experience with Animoto, but I used it in multiple classes to come and it played a big part in my internship as it was one of the tools that I introduced to the teachers in the Web 2.0 Tools professional development session. I shared a lot of the research I found during ED 608 in my professional development for the internship.
Summer 2012
ET 631 Distance Education: This course helped us learn even more about distance education and the multiple options available for teaching an online course. We discussed the pedagogical obstacles that distance education imposes and why educators might or might not choose to teach at a distance. The major project in the course involved hands-on practical experience with designing instruction for use over the Internet. We worked in small groups to develop a class that would be used for students or teachers and would be taught mostly at a distance. My group chose to create a hybrid course for teachers to learn about instructional uses of technology. We proposed a three module course to include: Web 2.0 Tools (Glogster, Prezi, Weebly, Voicethread, etc.), Hardware (Smart boards, document cameras, etc.), and Online Databases (EBSCO Host, Discovery Education, World Book Student, etc.). The teachers would complete most of the work asynchronously online at their own pace and on their own time. Our team had to research how much our proposed program would cost and then present a persuasive sales pitch in order to "win" the money to fund the project. The professor and our fellow classmates were the judges for the persuasive presentations. My group was the only group that proposed an online course for teachers and we won the contest!
ET 631 helped my internship by allowing me to research the professional development needs of teachers and decide how best to deliver the PD. I used a lot of my research from this course while planning my professional development sessions during my internship. Although both of my PD sessions were face-to-face, I made them voluntary and made sure they were held in the Computer Lab so teachers could create while learning. We learned in ET 631 that many teachers were frustrated by sitting in mandatory PD and being lectured at with no opportunity for exploration and creation. Making my PD sessions during the internship hands-on and meaningful was extremely important.
ET 630 Digital Communication in the Classroom: In this course, we delved deeper into the multiple ways the Internet can be incorporated in the classroom. We focused a lot on Web 2.0 Tools and created a blog to explain how a variety of tools that we explored could be used the classroom. This was my first experience with blogging and this experience eventually helped me to create my internship blog so I could document every step of my internship, including successes and set-backs. In ET 630, we also focused on telecollaborative projects and we had the opportunity to create our own. I created a project for kindergarten students to collaborate with classrooms around the world in order to learn about animals that were common and local to other states and countries. Again, I had the chance to prove myself by being innovative. I was not able to find any existing telecollaborative projects that were for kindergarten students, and the professor doubted my ability to create a meaningful kindergarten project. I succeeded by developing a project that incorporated Animoto videos that would be created by kindergarten students and shared with other students around the world.
This course helped me gain confidence in my ability to be a technology innovator and increased my abilities to create Internet-based projects. These skills helped me during internship. I was able to share my knowledge of technology confidently with the teachers at my school.
Fall 2012
ET 680 Role of the Technology Leader: This course helped us learn the various issues that technology leaders may face when being innovative and initiating change in schools. We had to apply these issues to our workplace and write a paper about how we would overcome these issues as technology leaders. The top three issues that I chose to focus on were acceptable use policy, equitable access, and cyberbullying. The most prevalent issue at my school is equitable access to technology. I took a small step to help conquer this issue by trying to level the technology skills among the staff by leading the professional development session during my internship.
Another major part of this course was learning how to fund technology projects. We learned how to find grants online and how to apply for the grants. We even worked as groups to write mock grant applications and then graded each other. In my internship, I chose to use online resources that were free so the grant process was not needed, but it is valuable information to have for the future.
The biggest focus of ET 680 was writing a technology plan for our schools. We went through the entire change process while writing the technology plans. This was the beginning of our thinking for our internship projects. In ET 680, I wrote a technology plan to help the teachers at my school use the free online databases provided by AACPS more effectively. In my experience, there were teachers who incorporated the databases frequently and then teachers who never incorporated the databases. I wanted this to become more equal so all of the students at the school would have more equitable access to the provided online resources. This plan evolved as I went into the internship process. The e-coach at my school provided professional development on the online databases and the teachers chose to learn about Web 2.0 Tools and Online Teacher Resources, so this became the focus of my internship.
Spring 2013
ET 641 Universal Design for Learning with Technology Integration: I was extremely excited to take this course as I had been waiting two years to learn about UDL and assistive technology. I teach children with severe intellectual disabilities, so assistive technology is a part of their every day lives. I have learned a lot about assistive technology throughout my experience in special education, and I was excited to share my knowledge with the professor and my classmates. Also, in the courses that I had taken prior to ET 641, it was challenging for me to create lessons that met the course requirements that I could incorporate in my special education classroom. I was thrilled that every assignment in ET 641 applied to my own classroom and benefitted my teaching. During ET 641, I also gained the respect of my classmates because they had never been able to comprehend how much I had to modify the curriculum to meet the needs of my students until I presented my Unit Project for this course. It was deeply meaningful to see my classmates and even the professor in awe of the amount of work I do on a daily basis in order to modify lessons to meet the needs of my students. That feeling of pride and confidence will always be with me and it helps me justify my work to others who doubt my classroom and my students. I have carried this pride with me throughout the rest of my courses and my internship. It helped me showcase how the Web 2.0 Tools displayed in my PD sessions can be used with typically developing students as well as students with special needs.
Summer 2013
AD 662 Leadership, Supervision, and Professional Development: This course was different from any other course I took throughout the program. AD 662 was not centered around technology. It focused on the administrative part of being a leader. We learned about multiple leadership styles and types of supervision. We also discussed the importance of professional development and the way that it should be effectively implemented. We had the opportunity to analyze our own teaching philosophy and professional practice based on leadership styles. In my special education classroom, I use a combination of three leadership styles: instructional, authoritative, and distributive.
AD 662 helped me view leadership, supervision, and professional development from multiple perspectives. This led me to implement a successful internship project. I was able to use various leadership strategies to help increase the use of technology at my school. I also incorporated the skills I learned about professional development into my internship by making the sessions voluntary and hands-on to increase the teacher buy-in.
Fall 2013
ET 690 Educational Technology Seminar: This was the most intense course I took in the educational technology program. We discussed the impact of technology on education, childhood, the future, etc. We read books that included a variety of perspectives on technology and its impact on life and education. Then we had to discuss the deeper meaning and purpose of the books. This course opened my eyes to the "big picture" of technology and how it can change the future of education. We also debated for and against certain technology issues with our classmates. My debate group was against having students bring their own devices to school. We were able to find an amplitude of research on this issue and presented our arguments in a way that allowed our group to win. It was interesting to take the Con side of technology for the debate while we have been Pro technology throughout the entire cohort. Our main topics against students bringing their own devices to school were cost, security, troubleshooting, and increased cyberbullying.
The information that I learned in ET 690 helped me in my internship. I was able to see technology from multiple perspectives and viewpoints. This allowed me to view technology from the novice and veteran teachers' eyes as well. I am personally Pro technology, but now I have a better understanding of the reasons why some teachers view technology as a Con.
Click here to continue to the ISTE Standards page.
ET 605 Intro to Educational Technology: This was the first course I took in the Educational Technology cohort. In this course, we learned about a variety of basic technologies including: PowerPoint, Excel spreadsheets, Publisher brochures, and WebQuests. We worked in groups to incorporate these technologies into two Learning Activities that consisted of four lessons that used technology with the students. It was interesting to see the different levels of technology knowledge each person in the course had. There were a mix of people who were new to using technology and people who were very familiar with using technology. Entering this cohort, I considered myself one of the more technologically advanced people. However, looking back at my assignments from three years ago makes me laugh and realize just how much new technology I have learned since taking this intro course. ET 605 was the foundation for all of the other courses I took in the cohort and it allowed me to build up to a strong internship.
Summer 2011
ED 670 Teacher Research and Inquiry: In this course, we learned and went through the research process. We chose a problem related to technology that we wanted to focus on improving and designed a research project to help conquer that problem in our current work place. The topic of my research paper was Attacking the Technology Gap: Encouraging Veteran Teachers to Incorporate Technology. This is a topic that I have felt strongly about throughout the entire Master's program because I have seen the technology gap between veteran and novice teachers in multiple schools in my career. The research topic and paper became a resource when planning my internship. There is a huge technology gap between the veteran and novice teachers at the school where I currently work. I planned my internship to include professional development sessions to help "attack" this technology gap.
ET 620 Multimedia Design in the Classroom: In this course, we were introduced to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which is something that I had never used before. VBA can get quite complicated and, at times, writing the code proved to be frustrating. This was not a process that I have used outside of this course because there are so many shortcuts that have been added to the Microsoft PowerPoint software program that allow users to use VBA features without writing the code. Another major project in this course was planning a video project for students to complete. The requirement was to create a video lesson for students and record a sample video using video cameras and laptops to edit the movies. However, I was on a family vacation during the video and editing class. So, I had to develop a back-up plan in order for me to meet the requirements of this assignment while on vacation. I proposed a plan to use my iPhone as the recording device and the iMovie app for the editing process. The professor was reluctant to allow me to use these replacements as he was not familiar with Apple products and he doubted the final movie would compare to a video recorded on a video camera. I proved him wrong and opened his eyes to see how incredibly innovative iPhones and apps could be because I successfully filmed and edited my entire movie on my iPhone. The professor was so impressed by the product that he had Loyola purchase iPod Touches so they could use them to film and edit movies in his future semesters. I consider this process my first experience being a technology leader and innovator in the Master's program. This would be the first of multiple opportunities to be innovative and support my technology knowledge and share it with others who were or were not supportive of the changes.
Fall 2011
ET 610 Curricular Applications of Technology: This course was an extension of the content we learned in ET 605 and an introduction to Web 2.0 Tools. I can honestly say that I had no idea what a Web 2.0 tool was when I started ET 610, but by the end of the semester, I was hooked and was excited to continue exploring new tools. In this course, I was introduced to Tagxedo, Wordle, Glogster, Wixie, and SpicyNodes. When I conducted the Technology Interest Survey at the beginning of my internship, I discovered that many of the teachers wanted to learn more about Web 2.0 Tools and some admitted to not knowing what they were at all. Obviously, this directed one of my professional developments to be focused on Web 2.0 Tools. One of the tools that I introduced to my coworkers and trained them on was Glogster. I used the Glogster poster that I had created in ET 610 as one of my samples in the professional development session.
Spring 2012
ED 608 Educational Innovations: This course was our first experience in the program with synchronous learning online. We met online for the majority of the course and we listened to the professor lecture, completed group projects using Google Docs, and then took turns presenting the material to the rest of the class. It was eye-opening to see how similar online learning could be to meeting face-to-face in a classroom. In the course, we had many discussions about the pros and cons of online learning. The majority of the students in the class, including myself, preferred face-to-face learning over synchronous online learning. The most prevalent reason for this was in a face-to-face meeting, there are no frustrating technical difficulties that many of us encountered throughout the semester. There were times when students had to log-off of the online class because they could not hear any of the conversation. We were also introduced to Second Life while taking this course. We had the opportunity to create an avatar and we attempted to meet as a class in an online classroom on Second Life. This was a failed attempt as many of the students, including myself, could not find the class meeting and/or could not hear or see the other avatars.
One of the main projects in this course was to research and present about a Web 2.0 Tool. We had to present about the cost, features, instructional design, customization, technical requirements, and the user needs/training required. The tool that I researched was Animoto. This was my first experience with Animoto, but I used it in multiple classes to come and it played a big part in my internship as it was one of the tools that I introduced to the teachers in the Web 2.0 Tools professional development session. I shared a lot of the research I found during ED 608 in my professional development for the internship.
Summer 2012
ET 631 Distance Education: This course helped us learn even more about distance education and the multiple options available for teaching an online course. We discussed the pedagogical obstacles that distance education imposes and why educators might or might not choose to teach at a distance. The major project in the course involved hands-on practical experience with designing instruction for use over the Internet. We worked in small groups to develop a class that would be used for students or teachers and would be taught mostly at a distance. My group chose to create a hybrid course for teachers to learn about instructional uses of technology. We proposed a three module course to include: Web 2.0 Tools (Glogster, Prezi, Weebly, Voicethread, etc.), Hardware (Smart boards, document cameras, etc.), and Online Databases (EBSCO Host, Discovery Education, World Book Student, etc.). The teachers would complete most of the work asynchronously online at their own pace and on their own time. Our team had to research how much our proposed program would cost and then present a persuasive sales pitch in order to "win" the money to fund the project. The professor and our fellow classmates were the judges for the persuasive presentations. My group was the only group that proposed an online course for teachers and we won the contest!
ET 631 helped my internship by allowing me to research the professional development needs of teachers and decide how best to deliver the PD. I used a lot of my research from this course while planning my professional development sessions during my internship. Although both of my PD sessions were face-to-face, I made them voluntary and made sure they were held in the Computer Lab so teachers could create while learning. We learned in ET 631 that many teachers were frustrated by sitting in mandatory PD and being lectured at with no opportunity for exploration and creation. Making my PD sessions during the internship hands-on and meaningful was extremely important.
ET 630 Digital Communication in the Classroom: In this course, we delved deeper into the multiple ways the Internet can be incorporated in the classroom. We focused a lot on Web 2.0 Tools and created a blog to explain how a variety of tools that we explored could be used the classroom. This was my first experience with blogging and this experience eventually helped me to create my internship blog so I could document every step of my internship, including successes and set-backs. In ET 630, we also focused on telecollaborative projects and we had the opportunity to create our own. I created a project for kindergarten students to collaborate with classrooms around the world in order to learn about animals that were common and local to other states and countries. Again, I had the chance to prove myself by being innovative. I was not able to find any existing telecollaborative projects that were for kindergarten students, and the professor doubted my ability to create a meaningful kindergarten project. I succeeded by developing a project that incorporated Animoto videos that would be created by kindergarten students and shared with other students around the world.
This course helped me gain confidence in my ability to be a technology innovator and increased my abilities to create Internet-based projects. These skills helped me during internship. I was able to share my knowledge of technology confidently with the teachers at my school.
Fall 2012
ET 680 Role of the Technology Leader: This course helped us learn the various issues that technology leaders may face when being innovative and initiating change in schools. We had to apply these issues to our workplace and write a paper about how we would overcome these issues as technology leaders. The top three issues that I chose to focus on were acceptable use policy, equitable access, and cyberbullying. The most prevalent issue at my school is equitable access to technology. I took a small step to help conquer this issue by trying to level the technology skills among the staff by leading the professional development session during my internship.
Another major part of this course was learning how to fund technology projects. We learned how to find grants online and how to apply for the grants. We even worked as groups to write mock grant applications and then graded each other. In my internship, I chose to use online resources that were free so the grant process was not needed, but it is valuable information to have for the future.
The biggest focus of ET 680 was writing a technology plan for our schools. We went through the entire change process while writing the technology plans. This was the beginning of our thinking for our internship projects. In ET 680, I wrote a technology plan to help the teachers at my school use the free online databases provided by AACPS more effectively. In my experience, there were teachers who incorporated the databases frequently and then teachers who never incorporated the databases. I wanted this to become more equal so all of the students at the school would have more equitable access to the provided online resources. This plan evolved as I went into the internship process. The e-coach at my school provided professional development on the online databases and the teachers chose to learn about Web 2.0 Tools and Online Teacher Resources, so this became the focus of my internship.
Spring 2013
ET 641 Universal Design for Learning with Technology Integration: I was extremely excited to take this course as I had been waiting two years to learn about UDL and assistive technology. I teach children with severe intellectual disabilities, so assistive technology is a part of their every day lives. I have learned a lot about assistive technology throughout my experience in special education, and I was excited to share my knowledge with the professor and my classmates. Also, in the courses that I had taken prior to ET 641, it was challenging for me to create lessons that met the course requirements that I could incorporate in my special education classroom. I was thrilled that every assignment in ET 641 applied to my own classroom and benefitted my teaching. During ET 641, I also gained the respect of my classmates because they had never been able to comprehend how much I had to modify the curriculum to meet the needs of my students until I presented my Unit Project for this course. It was deeply meaningful to see my classmates and even the professor in awe of the amount of work I do on a daily basis in order to modify lessons to meet the needs of my students. That feeling of pride and confidence will always be with me and it helps me justify my work to others who doubt my classroom and my students. I have carried this pride with me throughout the rest of my courses and my internship. It helped me showcase how the Web 2.0 Tools displayed in my PD sessions can be used with typically developing students as well as students with special needs.
Summer 2013
AD 662 Leadership, Supervision, and Professional Development: This course was different from any other course I took throughout the program. AD 662 was not centered around technology. It focused on the administrative part of being a leader. We learned about multiple leadership styles and types of supervision. We also discussed the importance of professional development and the way that it should be effectively implemented. We had the opportunity to analyze our own teaching philosophy and professional practice based on leadership styles. In my special education classroom, I use a combination of three leadership styles: instructional, authoritative, and distributive.
AD 662 helped me view leadership, supervision, and professional development from multiple perspectives. This led me to implement a successful internship project. I was able to use various leadership strategies to help increase the use of technology at my school. I also incorporated the skills I learned about professional development into my internship by making the sessions voluntary and hands-on to increase the teacher buy-in.
Fall 2013
ET 690 Educational Technology Seminar: This was the most intense course I took in the educational technology program. We discussed the impact of technology on education, childhood, the future, etc. We read books that included a variety of perspectives on technology and its impact on life and education. Then we had to discuss the deeper meaning and purpose of the books. This course opened my eyes to the "big picture" of technology and how it can change the future of education. We also debated for and against certain technology issues with our classmates. My debate group was against having students bring their own devices to school. We were able to find an amplitude of research on this issue and presented our arguments in a way that allowed our group to win. It was interesting to take the Con side of technology for the debate while we have been Pro technology throughout the entire cohort. Our main topics against students bringing their own devices to school were cost, security, troubleshooting, and increased cyberbullying.
The information that I learned in ET 690 helped me in my internship. I was able to see technology from multiple perspectives and viewpoints. This allowed me to view technology from the novice and veteran teachers' eyes as well. I am personally Pro technology, but now I have a better understanding of the reasons why some teachers view technology as a Con.
Click here to continue to the ISTE Standards page.