End of course reflection

As I complete my final assignments for this course I feel compelled to say I was wrong!  In the beginning, I thought this course was "too easy" for a post-graduate course.  I thought the text and its technologies was outdated.  The second text is inspirational.  The detours I found myself taking while reading this text were totally worth it.  I am inspired by rotational models, problem-based performance tasks, personalized learning and self organized learning communities.  I am fascinated with a future where a child gets to direct his own learning instead of a factory model that dictates what he/she should know.  I am also discouraged at the amount of roadblocks there are in South Carolina, but I remain hopeful for the future.

Extras from week 12

So this video showed up today based on my previous searches and views.  "What if every child had their own teacher?"  Take a look at this view of blended learning and the limitations of America's current education system.

Extras from week 10

Chapter 5 introduced me to Summit Public Schools.  The video clips are not available on my kindle book :(  But I found this clip on YouTube.  I love this idea of blended learning with personalized learning time and project mode instead of a traditional school day schedule.  I would love to see this model in South Carolina!

Extras from week 9

I am completely enamored with Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve schools. I cannot stop reading in order to write my discussion post.  I am inspired!  But sadly, also defeated!  How can I share this message with the stakeholders of my school district?  How can we implement a true blended learning model in our school?  How do I get my teachers to understand that technology-rich instruction is not the same as blended learning?  Our district has invested heavily into providing access for our students.  We are 1-to-1.  We have a district technology integration specialist.  We are making progress, but we are still missing the mark.  Our district's mission is "to provide a quality, student-centered education."  How do we live up to our mission?  New inspiration that wants to be fueled met with frustration at how things really are.  One recent example - a math teacher tries to implement a flipped classroom.  Spends a good portion of her summer converting her old lecture slides into videos hosted on EdPuzzle.  Weeks into the semester, she is flooded by complaints from parents.  Students are saying she is not "teaching" them.  They have to teach themselves.  More time should have been spent educating the parents.  We need them as stakeholders to "buy in."  Instead, she stopped assigning the videos for homework and they listened to them during class time instead.  What??!!  Our teachers were initially overwhelmed by pressure to integrate technology into their classrooms.  They now have, but they don't seem to have made the connection that all they have really done is substitute (SAMR model).  Technology-rich instruction is not personalized.  It is not student-centered.  Sometimes it is more engaging.  Sometimes it addresses different learning styles and modalities.  Sometimes.  Sometimes it proves what teachers (with their eyes open) fear - they are making themselves irrelevant.  You can't sit a student in front of a hyperdoc for an entire class period, day after day, with no direct instruction.  I'm sad.  We've added technology resources but we've maintained our traditional school factory environment.  

Extras from week 8

Extras...

Extras from week 6

I completed my third tutorial today.  This one was an intro to Canva, which I absolutely love!  It is so fun and easy to use.  You can quickly create very professional-looking graphics for print, web and social media use.  I cannot say enough good things about it.  I also really like Adobe Spark.  They have a graphics design element as well as the video creation tool.  I did find a small issue with Adobe Spark just this week.  They require an additional authentication.  You are asked to verify your email address with a link that they email to you.  Our student accounts are blocked from receiving emails outside of our domain.  Our district office did exclude Adobe Spark from this policy but only for students aged 13 or older, which did not help my 6th grade GT class of mostly 11 year-olds.  Oh well!  That's the price we pay for child protection and privacy.

Extras from class readings (week 5)

The amount of tech tools available is simply overwhelming.  As a library media specialist, I feel it is my duty to remain a technology leader in my school, but I find myself feeling inadequate if I am not proficient at every new and great tool that comes along.  It's discouraging, especially in a time when librarians are fighting to stay relevant and working to dispel out-dated perceptions of spectacle-wearing old ladies reading at a desk, telling kids to be quiet all day long!

Additional reflection on chapter readings (week 3)

Presentation Tools
I've used Prezi and Slideshare, but I have to say Google Slides is my current favorite.  It continues to improve and I am fascinated by the ways other educators are using it.  One spectacular example from this week was an idea from Micah Shippee shared by Kasey Bell.  (You must sign up on her site and follow her on social media!)  It is on how to use Google Slides to create your own school app.  Crazy good idea with complete instructions here.

Extras from chapter readings (week 3)

I'm feeling a little discouraged.  I'm not feeling like I am getting a good introduction to emerging technologies.  The technology tools in our text seem a little outdated to me.  Maybe it is because I am too close to the subject matter.  As a library media specialist in a small school and district, I work closely with teachers and instructional coaches on integrating technology. 

Extras from chapter readings (week 2)

I need to dig into the artistic tools discussed in chapter 2.  Initially, I was wary.  I use an iMac at school, so I am comfortable with iMovie and even though some of my colleagues in other schools sing the praises of WeVideo, I do not want to pay for the subscription and I hate the watermark it leaves on the free version.  I teach my students (who are not in my Media Arts class with the iMacs) to use Screencastify to create video projects on their Chromebooks.  I use Pixlr and like it very much, so I am not sure I want to switch to iPiccy or Sumo Paint.  But then again, I am acting like some of my teachers who don't want to adapt to new technologies.  Shame on me!  I should always be adding tools to my technology tool box!

Update September 2018:  My new favorite video creation tool is Adobe Spark.  It is so easy to use and I love that I can use it to also create posters and flyers.  I may actually ditch PiktoChart for this one, too!

Extras from Chapter Readings (week 1)

I really like Symbaloo, but am feeling like I have not used it as I should.  Currently, I use a Symbaloo as the homepage to my school library's card catalog.  It provides an easy to see and understand list of frequently used resources for my students.  I have also used Symbaloos to guide student research.  I had not previously recognized the possibility of using it from the student side (how short-sighted of me!)  My students should be creating symbaloos as part of their bibliographies for research projects.