Course Description:
This course examines various instructional technologies and their integration into the K-12 classroom to enhance instruction and learning. This course will ensure that the classroom teacher or teacher candidate can demonstrate competence in the Virginia technology standards and the ISTE standards to effectively integrate technology into a classroom setting. Topics of study will include integration of technology into the classroom, ethical and legal issues of technology use, communicating and accessing electronic information, evaluating and using hardware and instructional software, productivity and management, barriers of technology use, and meeting the needs of diverse learners.
Course Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate the effective use of the Virginia Department of Education Standards of Learning for Technology/Computers and in the Standards for Instructional Personnel to enhance teaching and student learning.
- Use appropriate technology tools to gather and manage information, and to create relevant real-world activities that require problem solving, decision making, and communication.
- Use technology tools for productivity and management.
- Create technology lessons that meet the diverse needs of learners in a variety of educational settings.
- Use appropriate technology tools to communicate with peers to access and exchange information.
- Identify and use appropriate technology tools that support learning activities.
- Evaluate instructional software applications to enhance teaching and learning.
- Use appropriate technology tools to communicate and collaborate with peers.
- Use appropriate vocabulary and terms associated with instructional technology.
- Analyze and critique technology lessons.
- Identify benefits and barriers to using technology within the classroom.
- Identify, collect, and discuss instructional technology resources that support SOLs.
- Demonstrate ethical and social issues concerning the use of instructional technologies within a classroom.
Assignments:
| Category | Points |
|---|---|
| Online Community | 10 |
| Social Bookmarking | 10 |
| Digital Tools | 10 |
| Screencast | 10 |
| Podcast | 10 |
| Photo Sharing | 10 |
| Ethics, Digital Equity, Copyright | 10 |
| Searching the Internet | 10 |
| Web-based lesson | 10 |
| Total | 100 |
Description of Assignments:
Grades will be based on completion of course requirements and on the scope, quality, and creativity of all assignments. Details of assignments will be in Blackboard.
Online Community (10 pts): Join an online professional development community (TappedIn) and participate in one session (tips and tricks). After completing tips and tricks, participate in a session of your choosing.
Social Bookmarking (10 pts): As you explore the Web and look at the many resources on the Internet you will need to have access to these Web sites readily from any computer with an Internet connection. Social Bookmarking is your answer. There are many bookmark management tools on the Web for this exact purpose. By the end of this class, you should have a minimum of 20 quality resources stored in appropriate categories. (Class resources can be used.)
Web Portfolio (10 pts): Online portfolios of your quality work are important steps in becoming digitally literate. You will be creating your portfolio using Google pages. This is a great online tool that allows you to create Web pages without knowing html. How cool is that! In your portfolio you will have a minimum of three pages. At least one page will be devoted to your Teaching Philosophy (technology integration must be included and theorists identified that you (will) tailor your teaching around). At least one page devoted to All Class Activities and Projects, and at least one page for Activity Reflections and ISTE/TSIP Standards met. Examples of portfolios will be given.
Digital Tools (10 pts): The overall goal of technology in education is to prepare our students for the 21st century marketplace. This means that we as teachers need to move our students from lower-order thinking to higher-order thinking. Our students need to analyze, evaluate, and create (synthesize). Digital tools (google earth mashup, concept maps, databases, spreadsheets, powerpoint, blogs, surveys, rubric maker) are the tools that we will utilize throughout this course to create active projects for your students, fellow teachers, and yourselves. (Assessment of digital tools will be done throughout the semester with short activities incorporated throughout.)
Screen Casting (10 pts): A screen cast is a digital recording of your computer screen from a specific window or your entire desktop. You can also include audio narration in a screen cast. A screen cast can be a tutorial or a narrated slideshow just to name two examples.
Podcast (10 pts): A podcast can include audio and/or video. You can send podcasts via the Internet so people can download onto their mobile mp3 players or onto their computers to view or listen to. You will create a podcast of your choice (person on the street interview, local walking tour, soundscape, etc.).
Photo Sharing (10 pts.): Photos are great tools in our classrooms. Photo Sharing Web sites allow you to post images that your students or fellow teachers can access. You will upload photos, organize them, add notes, and tags. You will then invite your fellow teachers and classmates to share your images and possibly contribute.
Ethics, Digital Equity, Copyright (10 pts): Whenever you make use of commercial, copyrighted materials in you classroom you step into a realm where some rules are clear and others are a bit gray. You need to model ethical standards as you use the work of others.
Searching the Internet and online safety (10 pts): Searching the Internet by critically evaluating resources is an important skill to have in today's world. As users of the Web, we must also go beyond the basic Internet to the “undercover” Web of primary sources and rich databases.
Web-based Lesson (10 pts): Many teachers are incorporating inquiry based lessons into their classrooms. In this activity, you will develop a thorough understanding of the different possibilities open to you as you create a web-based lesson. Your lesson can be in the format of a WebQuest or Web Investigation project.
