EdTech 541 Final Reflection

Edtech 541 Reflection

• Part One: Reflect on the entire course. Include -
• What you have learned?
• How theory guided development of the projects and assignments you created?
• How the course work demonstrates mastery of the AECT standards? (Note: If you are not in the M.E.T. program, you can omit this.)
• How you have grown professionally?
• How your own teaching practice or thoughts about teaching have been impacted by what you have learned or accomplished in this course?  What will you do differently as an educator as a result of this course?

What I learned

I learned how to thoughtfully incorporate new technological tools into my everyday lessons. It's been easy to get into a habit and a comfort zone by using the same technological tool over and over again. The fact is that the world is always changing and technology is always evolving and emerging everyday. It's important to stay on top of what is coming in the technological world. For instance, Powerpoint is a useful a tool for organizing information into slides for a presentation. Now a days though there is more advance presentation software out there like Prezi.com and E-Maze. Both are a very powerful and easy to use presentation software that is more advance and easy to use.

Educational Theory

I'm definitely a constructivist believer and therefore I use several project-based learning approaches in my STEM courses. Student's have access to a learning management system that allows them to work at their own pace. I'm very much in a facilitator role in my classroom. I guide students through some of the projects by using guided questions. Students are in control of their education. They have a set goal of what has to be accomplished for an A, B, etc. They love that they know what they need to do to get the grade that they want. This has led to several unique projects and students being successful in their projects. Some students take more time on some projects than other leading to a great diversity of examples to use the next year. 

Demonstration of AECT Standards

Throughout this course I was challenged to create, use, assess and evaluate content and emerging technological tools and resources to enhance my pedagogy of the STEM curriculum in the classroom. Through the practice of careful selection of technological resources and tools I was able to determine better means of supporting student learning. Throughout the course I was challenged to effectively demonstrate the assessing of new resources through a relative advantage chart that was created and several reflective blogs over the relative advantage of using technological tools.  I also researched new technological tools to help support my belief of having adaptive and assistive technology in all classrooms to encourage all students to learn through the use of technology. 

Professional Growth and Impact

This course has impacted me on a professional level. Throughout this course I was presented with opportunities to develop cross curricular lessons that brought in English, History, and Art into the STEM classroom. In doing so this really opened up some lanes of communication with the English and History departments for the Career and Technology Education courses. I was able to introduce new technologies like the ebook creators to the English department. Since then all the English content teachers have incorporated this into the course with positive feedback from the students body. They have enjoyed using the tool to work on both argumentative and persuasive writing using story telling through their ebooks they created. They enjoyed being able to take pictures to place in their ebooks to really make each one unique and individually their own. This course has really developed me for my role on the Technology Committee for my school. Through my research and assessment of new tools for multiple different content areas I now can help my colleagues support student learning through the use of technology. 

Part II Self Assessment

Content of Blogs (65/70)

After looking through my blogs throughout the course, I believe that my content in them has been rich and full of thought. I believe that I did well on all of my post except for the video blog in which I'm not real comfortable with being in front of camera. 

Readings and Resources(20/20)

I always had resources/references listed and cited throughout the blog at least two per each. 

Timeliness (15/20)

This was the struggle for me. Being a full time teacher and a father of two boys with a wife that works evening making me a stay at home Dad throughout the week made it a real struggle. I always tried to have my post up by Friday night but normally ended up posting early in the morning on Saturday. I was able to effectively respond to others earlier in the week. 

Response to Others (10/20)

I feel that my response ranged from being substantial to just being agreeable and thankful to others. I believe that I could of given better feedback to some than I did. 

Adaptive and Assistive Technologies for the STEM Classroom

Accessibility Features of an Iphone

Since 2010 and the introduction of the Iphone 4S which came shortly after Apple's acquistion of SIRI.  Siri became an integral part of the Iphone. Siri is a Speech Interpretion and Recognition Interface that is a very useful component of the Iphone.  This software allows the users to tell the phone what do like call Mom, set up a destination on maps, look up information, etc. All of these features are great for anyone that is in a rush, driving and shouldn't be looking at a phone, and of course those with physical disabilities. My friend K.O. was born with Cerebral Palsy which has caused him to be paralyzed from the waist down. Siri has allowed him to still get around in his wheel chair and communicate with friends, take notes, look up directions, etc. He has bought an Iphone ever since the 4S for the accessibility feature of SIRI. 

Iphone also has a feature for the blind. They have a voice over feature that is an advance screenreader that reads aloud what is on the screen.  The Iphone operating system also includes Dictation which allows a user to speak and it types for you.  This is convenient for those who have disabilities that limit their hand or arm movement. 

References:

http://www.apple.com/accessibility/ios/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siri

Obstacles and Solutions for Integrating Technology into a STEM Classroom

Obstacles and Solutions for Integrating Technology into a STEM Classroom

STEM education is already a daunting task.  The course work should be rigorous and relevant to students and the community. Community involvement in the STEM program is key to developing a successful program. One of the biggest obstacles facing STEM education is the Technology aspect of STEM.  Technology can pose issues anywhere with funding being tight.  The funding to maintain a well kept laboratory of computers, electronic kits, robotics, and shop equipment is almost impossible for schools to budget. Outside of technology it's difficult to find an educator that is comfortable teaching a course that requires flexibility and experimentation for a successful STEM environment.  The teacher of a STEM will be learning with the students; it's almost impossible to know everything about STEM. 

Possible Solutions

Technology 

Technology is expensive, but there is always ways of procuring funds for education. One way is to involve the community businesses in the decision making process of types of STEM course they want in their local school system. Generally, local business have a budget of funds that they can donate to school systems to programs that they believe will help their company. For instance, Toyota has several grants for STEM programs. They have one for $25,000 for three years for programs that start a Project Lead the Way Computer Integrated Manufacturing course. They believe that this course offers significant learning that will feed into their AMT programs that they use to develop their engineers. The AMT program is where a student will work for a specific company (Toyota or other FAME partner) for three days a week and the other two days they will be taking classes that where developed by the companies to teach the workers skills that they need them to know for specific job opportunities at their company. 

References

        Roblyer, M.D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching (7th Ed.) Upper

Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.

Kentucky Fame

http://www.kyfame.com/

Relative Advantage to Technology in STEM

EdTech 541: Relative Advantage

of using Technology to Teach STEM

Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics course is an abstract, project based course that allows instructors to seamlessly integrate technology into the curriculum. Students know that there are forces everywhere and that everything is designed. That doesn't mean that they know how things are invented and designed, or how forces work. This is where technology plays a key role in the STEM classroom. 

One of the relative advantages of using technology in the STEM classroom is that it allows students to use software that is being used in the industry. Autodesk, Inc. is a leader in 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software. (autodesk.com) Autodesk has since made all of their products free for schools and educational institute to use. This has allowed engineering students to access software that is currently being used by engineers everyday. 

Technology has always been here with this generation of children. Students are "plugged in" more than ever. Technology is engaging and motivational to students already, it's up to educators to use that to their advantage. Technology can be used to connect students to worlds they may never experience. The use of virtual tours, simulations, and rapid prototyping machines brings the industry into the classroom. This will bring in community involvement into your school which always helps out students. 

References:

http://www.autodesk.com/company

Roblyer, M.D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching (7th Ed.) Upper        Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.

President Quiz App Design Journal

This week we learned how to make an app that created and referenced lists to produce an educational quiz. I quickly decided to make my quiz app over forces since that is what I'm currently teaching on in my engineering courses.

This app I created an question list that contained 4 questions that included an image list and an answer list.

 

I enjoyed this app because it is a fun and engaging way to give a quiz or even use it as a review app before a final, mid-term, or End of Course Assessments. I edited the app from presidents to materials that are covered in my course curriculum. I'm hopeful to learn how to make an app that allows teachers to add multiple choice questions to course quiz that are stored in a web database. Then the students can take that quiz in the form of a space game. The question and answers would be displayed at the top in a label. The rest of the screen would be a canvas that contains 4 image sprites that would be the answers A,B,C,D Then an image sprite that the students would control to either move into the correct letter or push a button that would fire another image sprite at the answer sprite that when they collide would produce an incorrect or correct reading that would be kept up with using a score feature as well. 

541: Relative Advantage of Using Games for Content Area Learning

541: Relative Advantage of Using Games for Content Area Learning

Instructional games are software products that give learning activities game-like rules and competition.  According to Roblyer (2016), the common characteristics that set instructional games apart from other types of software are game rules, elements of competition or challenge, and amusing or entertaining formats.  

I teach Robotics at the high school level. The class is excited to build the robots, but very few are interested in learning how to program them. I've found a software game called VEX Robotics RobotC Virtual Worlds. This game allows the students to build their robots in a virtual world and then will help them to program the robot to do what task they have chosen it to do. This greatly helps students to then be able to create the robot with the materials provided and program the robot to do the same task for real. The game has proven to gain and hold the students attention because it's a competition style game pits the students against a clock or another student in the class if they would like. Research has shown that learning to program in the robotics virtual world is more efficient than the use of physical robots.

I also teach a Civil Engineering course that requires students to design and calculate truss features for bridges and buildings. I've found that a good introduction to the unit is the Westpoint Bridge Design game. This game allows students to create a bridge that follows specific criteria that the instructor sets up: loads, cost, materials, etc.  At first students will find that it's impossible to reach the criteria that is set up without knowing how to calculate precise angles for the members. Then you'd cover how to solve for forces, moments, force vectors, using trigonometry to solve for forces in the x and y direction. Then the step by step truss design calculations. 

References:

Roblyer, M.D. (2016). Instructional software for 21st century teaching. In J, Johnston, (Ed.) Integrating educational technology into teaching (pp. 72-105). Boston: Pearson.

http://www.robotvirtualworlds.com/

Android, Where is My Car Design Journal

Android Where's My Car App

This week we delved deeper into the use of data bases and possibly using shared databases. We also started using the location sensor this week. This sensor allows us to find our location using latitude and longitude. This app used the location sensor to determine a current location that you could then record into a database using a tinyDB or tinywebDB. Then moving to a new location you could click show map or a directions button that would activate a webviewer to produce a map from your current location to your recorded location. 

This week I decided to add a modification that allowed the webviewer to be viewed larger so that the map was useful. I did this by making all the labels and other buttons visible setting to false when the show map button is clicked. This will also make a back or reset button visible with the webviewer. When the reset button is pushed the labels and other buttons will become visible as the webviewer and reset button become hidden again. 

Other practical uses of this type of app is to set up an app that gives directions to bible studies, book clubs, study sessions, track your run, keep track of your speed, etc. 

Dangers of Social Media in the Classroom

Social Media in the Classroom Disadvantages

https://voicethread.com/share/7168088/

This is my voicethread for the disadvantages of social media in education.

Tour App Design Journal

This week I learned about two functions in App Inventor that will are useful for future apps. The first tool or feature was the ActivityStarter this tool is used to open up other apps, websites, etc. The downside of this is that the user of your app leaves your app. The second tool is the Webview which is great it can allow you to view webpages in your app without leaving the app. Either of the tools can be useful especially in tour apps.

We also learned about the list tool which allows you to create a list that you can choose from. This is helpful for quiz apps, filling out forms, etc.

Acceptable Use Policies

Acceptable Use Policies in Education

In today's society with technology being everywhere including in the school system it's important to have a policy in place.  Most school districts have in place a Technology Acceptable Use Policy.  This policy normally has a statement about why and how technology is used in the classroom. Then a set of guidelines for students to follow throughout the day.  Some schools with the one-to-one initiative don't allow students to have their cell phones or personal electronic devices on at all. Mainly, because the school has invested funds into providing them with an electronic device that they can monitor and already has all the software or apps required for the day. One guideline that is almost always in place is that students can use their phones at lunch. This gives the students a window of time to call their parents if a schedule change has occurred; for instance, practice is canceled. Other typical terms within an Acceptable Use Policy are listed below:

Use of NetworkInternet Safety (privacy, inappropriate content, unwanted contact)Filtering and MonitoringCopyright and Ownership of WorkNetwork Security and Privacy (student data)Disciplinary ActionDigital CitizenshipSocial Media Usage

Schools want students to use the internet safely. They also communicate to parents that their are filters in place to block unauthorized sites. My school enforces a digital citizenship and internet safety policy that requires every student to go through a lesson on being a digital citizen and the dangers of the internet before they are given access to the network.

Below are links to four high school Technology Acceptable Use Policies, typically found in the Student Handbook.

Anderson Technology Acceptable Use Policy pg. 15

Woodford Acceptable Use Policy pg. 15

Shelby Acceptable Use Policy

Franklin Acceptable Use Policy pg 35

Ladybug Chase

Tom and Jerry are the famous cat and mouse cartoon of all time. This week assignment was to make a ladybug chase game.  I decided to make a few modifications based on watching cartoons with my sons in the morning during Fall Break. They love the classics like Tom and Jerry, Looney Toons, etc. The game wasn't just the lady bug chasing an aphid, but there was also a frog that chases the ladybug. So naturally I had to add Spike the American Bulldog that Jerry used for protection in several episodes. The game takes place in the backyard and the users control Tom (cat) by tilting their mobile device in the direction they want him to go. The object of the game is to capture Jerry to continue playing or Tom will run out of energy.  The game continues to play as long as Tom keeps capturing Jerry and Spike doesn't capture Tom. 

Relative Advantage of Multimedia in the Classroom

This week I'm going to talk to you about ways to incorporate multimedia/technology into the classroom and their advantages. Technology can be used and is most effective when used to engage students in their learning. The following video is my Vlog for this topic.

No Texting While Driving

No Texting While Driving

These apps have been springing up all over. I firmly believe in no texting while driving and having an app that will respond automatically is a great preventative measure to cut down on traffic accidents. This was a straightforward app creation and made it hard for me to be innovative with this one. I finally decided to make the textbox visible after the user decides to change the automatic response by clicking on a button. Then I also added in the longitude and latitude as part of the response text. When driving you may not have a current address and this will give others an idea as to where you are located. 

Mole Mash App Design Journal

This week was fun. I've always wanted to create a mobile app game. I know this is just a started game and many questions arose from the work this week. I wanted to create a variable that functioned as a lives counter that so many misses to hits would subtract and after so many hits compared to misses would add a life. I figured out the variable, but displaying the lives as images is where I struggled.  I will figure this out and complete my Marvel Age of Ultron inspired Whack A Mole game.

Paint Pot Design Journal Entry

Paint Pot

This week I dove further into MIT App Inventor. I began with repeating some of the same features such as using buttons to complete a task. This week I learned about using a drawing canvas. Programming an app to sensor where a finger is touching the screen and creates a dot, or if the finger is moving it draws a line. This was a fun week and I've discovered several educational purposes for this app. I designed my app to have Isometric Grip paper as the background image to draw on. This will allow my students to draw isometric parts on their phones and submit them through the LMS directly. 

Advantage of the Basic Suite

Advantages and Uses of the Basic Suite Software

 

  The Basic Suite consists of Word Processing, Excel Spreadsheet, Presentation. The basic suite is used to help teachers and learners achieve goals that normally would take more time. The biggest relative advantage of the basic suite is the fact that technology is faster than paper and pencil.  “Getting organized, producing instructional materials, and accomplishing paperwork tasks all go much faster when software tools are used” (Roblyer, 2013, p. 109). 

 Word Processing/Google Documents

     Word Processing and Google Documents help teachers and students produce professional looking work. Relative advantage of both is that they have built in spell checkers and grammar checks. The use of word processing software includes the options of page layouts, inserting images, charts, etc. All of these can help individuals create flyers, brochure, professional papers, and articles. 

Excel/Google Spreadsheets

Spreadsheet software makes for data collection and representation a breeze. It's easy to sort out data and build graphs, charts, and other visual representations of your data collected. The advantage of this software is that it's quick and easy to use. 

Powerpoint/Google Presentation

Presentation software is a great tool that can be used to organize content and ideas. This is possible since you are creating slides and organizing the content to share with students. Presentation also allows users to import/embed graphics and videos. Teachers and students can also use the animation feature in this software to animate their graphics to help present their points. 

The basic suite has a huge upside in the education field. We must have our heads on and know that their will be a certain level of training needed for both teachers and students. You'll never have a full class of students that know how to use word, excel, or presentation to their fullest potential. In addition to just being able to use the programs, students and educators alike need to learn the best practices for design and layout. In my previous course, E-Learning and the Science of Instruction, we learned that there are several research based principles that can guide users to make presentations that enhance learning, rather than detract from it (Clark & Mayer, 2008). I became informed that some graphics can be distracting rather than helpful in the learning environment.

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2008). E-learning and the science of instruction, 2nd edition. Pfeiffer: San Francisco, CA.

Roblyer, M.D. (2013). Integrating educational technology into teaching, San Francisco, CA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Hello Purr App Design Journal Entry

This week I used MIT App Inventor for the first time.  Throughout the week I learned about the different views such as the viewer window and the block editor. The block editor is by far my favorite aspect of App Inventor. I've always been in to the programming and have designed websites using HTML5, Java, and C++. This particular way of programming is easy to learn and you can see the loops and how they are going to work.

This week I used a simple application to place a button that played a sound when clicked. I also learned how to access different sensors on mobile devices including the accelerometer that can tell when the phone is being moved/shaken. The app that was originally planned was a button that was the image of a kitten and when clicked it would produce a meow sound. I decided to create an app that was educational and helpful for my son in kindergarten.  They are learning letters and words that start with each one. I created an app that has a picture of an A. When you click on the A or shake the phone it activates the sound "A for Apple". I plan to develop the app to include all 26 letters as buttons. I may have to drop the shaking of the phone portion.

Instructional Software

In this blog I will be giving examples of the five types of software and the advantages of this software in the teaching of STEM.

Drill and Practice
This is a software type that enforces repetition for learners to learn a specific topic.

Example: Flashcard Maker app by Imad K
                Cram.com Flashcards app and website

Both are apps that allow you to make flashcards to study. It brings technology into the old fashioned index cards that we turned into flashcards before all this technology came around.
Advantage:
 Students can create the flashcards that they need to and the apps will generate random order every time they study so it's not memorization of an order, but students are learning the vocabulary.

Tutorials
These can be useful tools to present new computer software or even walk students step by step through a process.

Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lahyXq1ZDrE
This is a basic tutorial to Inventor that I've created for my classroom. Most of my students find this helpful.

Advantage:
 Students get to see step-by-step instructions on how to use computer software. Sometimes it's best to allow students to work through a tutorial at their own pace. Students learn at different paces.

Simulations
 Simulations are great tools that can create virtual lab experiences for students.  This is helpful in schools that have budget restraints and can't afford the expensive lab equipment,

One example of a simulation I use is. http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/circuit-construction-kit-dc

This is a circuit construction simulation created by Colorado University.

Advantage:  Simulations apply knowledge that students have learned into a real-world experience. This really helps active learners and is a cheaper route than purchasing equipment that you don't have.

Instructional Games
Games are engaging and fuel students competitive drives to be better than their peers in some cases. Games can be a fun way to improve math skills or content knowledge.

Example: Math Blaster

Math blaster and all the blaster related games are great games to improve mathematical speeds and science knowledge.  I know some of this could be considered lower level math, but I find it a great way to keep students accountable for their math and knowing how to multiply, divide and convert without the use of their calculators.

Advantage:
Students are engaged and learning content that will always help them in the future. It's a fun way to interact with students and push them to become better that you(the instructor). Some not all students strive in an environment of competition.


Problem Solving Software
 Example: Autodesk Inventor

Throughout the engineering curriculum students will have to solve design problems. These problems will give the students real world experience in solving common problems that engineers could face in their daily jobs. Inventor allows students to create 3Dimensional models to solve these problems. Using this software will help students to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills.

EdTech 541 Vision Statement

Educational Technology Vision Statement

Throughout history one thing that has always impacted human lives is technology. Humans have managed through the Stone Age, to Iron and Copper Ages, to the Industrial Revolution all these enhancements are caused by the innovation of technology. Today's society is driven by technology and everyone is basically required to use it. My vision statement is stated below. 

         Educators will engage students with the technology to teach them 21st Century skills, language arts, science, mathematics, technology literacy, etc. To prepare them to be responsible college and career ready citizens. 

To achieve this goal I believe that as educators we have to set some goals for ourselves and our students. Educators need to be willing to integrate technology and use new/emerging technology.

Goals of Integration

• School wide adoption, promotion, and enforcement of an Acceptable Use Policy. Students will be instructed in appropriate online behavior, cyperbullying, the dangers of interacting with others on social media and possibility of hacking. Digital Citizenship curriculum is introduced and implemented throughout the district K-12 during homeroom/SWS. 

• Increase student access to technology. Through Bring your own Device policy, mobile labs/carts to allow for technology integration in classrooms. 

• Design lesson plans that follow the Quad D strategies provided by the Dagget System for Effective Instruction. (ICLE)

• Provide ongoing professional development. 

Technology Integration in the Classroom:

    "We need to create support for rigor and relevance systemwide"(http://www.leadered.com/our-philosophy/dsei.php).  Relevant lessons begin with the integration of technology in the classroom. Today's children are growing up with technology at their fingertips everywhere, why not in the classroom as well? Students need to be taught how to research, which sources are credible and which are not. Students need to learn how to use technology to organize data in graphical representations. Integrating technology in the classroom will lead to life long learning opportunities. The implementation of technology in lessons will allow students to take knowledge at their disposal and run with it, if the students take ownership of their learning.

Resources

 Our Philosophy. (n.d.). Retrieved September 4, 2015. http://www.leadered.com/our-philosophy/dsei.php

 Roblyer, M., & Doering, A. (2015). Integrating educational technology into teaching (7th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 

 

Designing Integrated Curriculum 7/27-8/2/15

Project Based Learning (PBL) is the perfect opportunity to integrate curriculum from multiple content areas. Common Core State Standards (CCSS) challenge teachers to creat authentic learning experiences and our standards from multiple content areas dovetail together more seamlessly than before.

Currently my school has been building to this. We've begun with having weekly collaboration time for teachers from every department as a professional learning community. Basically instead of having a common plan with other math teachers, now we have a plan with science, social studies, and English. This common plan time allows instructors the time to build cross curricular units with each other.  

This process would begin by brainstorming together.  This could start with a novel for English courses that contains enough historical content to pull in History.  History would then pull in the Architecture and arts from the time period. Architecture could correlate with math by calculation slope of stairs, or the arc in an arch, area of buildings, etc.  

Assessments in Project Based Learning

This week (July 20-26, 2015)  is all about the Assessments in Project Based Learning.

Currently in this project I've developed formative and summative assessments to measure students outcomes. Throughout my teaching career I've always had the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which basically includes 21st Century skills and Information Media and Technology Skills for students to become college and career ready.  In my department, Career and Technology Education, we have always been pushing to prepare our students for college and the career field. When aligning a standard to the project one needs to remember that the standard needs to be clearly defined and measured.


Authentic assessment of these skills requires separate measures for them that meet the essential criteria for effective assessments. The assessments I have created for my PBL project meet those criteria as follows:

• Assessment is for students: All assessments on the assessment page of my Project Based Learning project website are written in language that is understandable and student-friendly. Descriptors in the rubrics are detailed and evidence-based to promote student understanding of feedback. Several formative assessments are built into the project for students to refine their work based on feedback from these formative assessments.
• Assessment is faithful to the work that students actually do: Assessments are built directly into the work of the project to give opportunities for peer and teacher feedback as part of an ongoing revision and refined project. Each skill assessed by the rubrics is aligned to specific components completed by students.
• Assessment is public: Assessments are available to students on the project website to use as a standard to guide their work.
• Assessment promotes ongoing self-reflection and inquiry: The standards assessed in the project reflect College and Career Readiness. All of the rubrics articulate what excellent work looks like. The Engineering Notebook allows for students to reflect on the days task and how they can improve from the day before. Along with making these privates allows for complete honesty from the students.

Writing a Driving Question

Throughout this week (July 13-19, 2015) we have been introduced into the science of writing a Driving Question. Through my research I've discovered that a driving question should be simple, but compared to learning objectives more broad and more engaging for the students. The driving question should be used to focus the students work and the planning for the instructor. For students to successfully answer/respond to a driving question they may be required to master several sub-skills. The Instructor when planning will use the driving question and the sub-skills/questions to plan out the entire unit.

This week we are tasked with just that situation. We have to write a driving question and develop a set of sub-questions or skills along with a graphic organizer. Before I started this task I went to the Buck Institute's Youtube Channel. While watching their videos I was able to see how creating a driving question, then developing sub questions from that driving question can turn the Driving Question into a unit.

Below you will find my graphic organizer. I created this using Adobe Fireworks.

EdTech 542 - Project Search

Throughout this week (July 6-July12 2015) we began searching out Project Based Learning example projects in order to begin developing our own. Throughout my research I discovered several common threads of PBL including an authentic problem, student choice, self-directed information gathering, and evidence-based mastery in the form of original authentic student products.

I discovered several PBL projects from the Buck Institute that could be edited to fit into several content areas.  All the projects I looked into had common features of brochures or videos with great enhancements.  One such enhancement that is left out most of the time is to clearly define and assess Technology skills.  While working in a rural school district in a technological advance society, I find it crucial that my students develop technological skills. By assessing these skills using the content standards and rubrics complete with learning outcomes assures me that each student grows their skills.  Secondly, in most of the projects I research I noted that 21st Century Learning Skills are as essential to the project as the standards are.  They are clearly embedded in the project requiring all students to critically think, communicate together, be creative, and collaborate as a team to accomplish the task. Lastly the project starts with the overall project. Then it is broken down into smaller tasks as the students begin their Inquiry based learning. Students receive feedback throughout the project and not just one summative assessment at the end.

Worked Example Screencast

In my Engineering courses, students use a computer software call Autodesk Inventor. This is a complex software that can do just about anything you want it to.  I've created this tutorial that discusses the different facets of inventor. There are decisions for students to use so that they don't have to keep watching the same videos over and over again. I've edited this tutorial overtime to keep the most up-to-date version of Inventor on it.  This tutorial gives students a walkthrough of creating parts, assemblies and technical drawings in the software.

Digital Story

This is my Digital Story.  May 8th, 2014 was a changing point in my life. I wanted to share my story of my first year as a father. This little guy has changed so much about my life. I love him and all the challenges that have come with him. He has been sweet and sour, happy and mad, and full of giggles, squeals and squeaks. This digital story takes you through all the life events that come with having a baby boy thus far. Almost a year old today and walking up a storm laughing all the way.

Coherence Analysis

1. What is the Coherence Principle and its most important constraints/criteria?

The Coherence Principle is the recommendation to keep your lessons uncluttered. To accomplish this you should avoid adding any additional fluff to your lesson. If the material does not support the instructional goal, it is fluff and should be left out. Examples of coherence principle include:

Avoid e-Lessons with Extraneous Audio - Research is still being conducted on the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of having background music during a presentation.  The common feeling is that background music can overload the cognitive channel during heavy learning times such as introduction to new materials, presentation isn’t user controlled.

Avoid E-lessons with Extraneous Graphics - Graphics that are used as simply decorations can be distracting and disruptive to the learners process of interpreting the materials being presented.

Avoid E-Lessons with Extraneous Words -  Keep narration short and concise, implementing the modality principle. Concise narrations will help keep the learners engaged and less frustrated on lengthy audio segments.

2. Describe and/or include one example of successful and one example of unsuccessful attempts to apply the Coherence Principle in actual instruction and training you have experienced, especially as it might be implemented in PowerPoint-based instruction and training. Have you ever seen this principle violated or abused? Identify the violations, including citations as needed from your textbook.

I have a successful attempt of applying the Coherence Principle in a PLTW training that I was involved in. PLTW is heavy mathematics STEM curriculum that can be tricky to understand if not taught correctly. PLTW does a really nice job breaking down the mathematical problems into step by step instructions through the use of powerpoints. They keep their slides short and concise showing the mathematical steps to solve an equation. Their isn’t extraneous words, graphics, or audio in the presentations.  They’ve successfully avoided adding unnecessary fluff to the course content.  Image below is a slide over simple machines that uses colors as headings and related graphics as examples of the simple machines. The slide is concise and keeps the learners arousal, while not overloading the working memory.

I have also witnessed unsuccessful attempts of the Coherence Principle. Taking an accounting class with flipped classroom aspects had fully failed at the coherence principle.  During a presentation viewed online over using Microsoft Excel the instructor added basic music to the entire presentation.  I found it hard to concentrate on the meat of the content and became easily distracted by the melody of the music.  

3. Discuss the relationship of the Coherence Principle to other Multimedia Learning Principles examined thus far in your readings.

The Coherence Principle goes hand in hand with the Multimedia Principle, Contiguity Principle, and the Modality Principle.  Coherence and Multimedia principles both have you avoid using extraneous graphics.  Multimedia explains that a graphic that is there just a decoration has no educational benefit and can be distracting to the learner.  Coherence principle says that extraneous graphics can interfere with learning by causing distraction, disruption, and seduction (Mayer, 161). Graphics can pull learners’ attention away from the relevant material, can cause a gap in between relevant materials, and can lead the arousal of inappropriate existing knowledge.

4. Discuss the relationship of the Coherence Principle to fundamental theories of psychology as described by Clark & Mayer in your textbook.

Arousal theory assumes that the learners will become emotionally engaged and, therefore, have greater interest and focus in the main learning material (Clark & Mayer, 2008, p. 156).  Many colleagues share the challenge of keeping the attention of their learners.  To do this, they attempt to grab attention through the inclusion of images meant to excite the learner.  This would seem to make sense, that the learners attention is up front because of the included images. However, the Cognitive Theory contradicts this. Basically the cognitive theory states that learners have so much working memory to process information.  The inclusion of images that do not coherently relate to the instructional goal can overload that working memory.  Overloading your working memory will lead to decreased learning, rather than increased.

5. What do you personally like or dislike about this principle? Present a coherent, informed opinion and explain why you hold this opinion. Are there any limitations or qualifications of the principle (caveats) which the authors did not consider and, if so, what are they?

The aspect of the coherence principle that strikes me as being right on target is that the illustrations used in a multimedia presentation should be simple.  As an engineering teacher, I am faced with the constant challenge of helping students to better understand complex equations.  Clearly, images and video go a long way towards helping a student visualize a process of steps such as water supply calculations.  However, there exists a wide variety of diagrams that can show this.  Diagrams that are simple and focus on few specific details help beginner students to pay attention to the process in general without getting lost in the details.

ACHS Podcast

Over the last couple weeks, I've delved into podcasting and started researched different topics to podcast.  Finally after sitting through a PLC meeting, it hit me. I need to do a podcast that informs parents and students about the PLTW program at my school to recruit students. Over the course of the year I'll interview students from all the different courses offered in the STEM program and share news with the parents about projects that are currently taking place.

This first episode is an introduction into what Project Lead the Way is and an informative lesson on each of the course offered at my school. This is a great tool for parents and students to listen to and gather information about courses before scheduling their classes.

ACHS PLTW

Creating My Learning Log

Throughout the Boise State MET program we are required to document out progress in a learning log, which eventually becomes the portfolio. I originally developed this learning log in Edtech 501, but I'm looking forward to using it again.  I'll be updating the learning log with projects from my other three classes as well this semester to catch up on keeping the programs Portfolio up to date. I know that I'm not proficient using blogger and would love another opportunity to learn more about it from classmates.