End of Course Reflection

Over the course of this semester, I have learned more about effective teaching strategies that are essential when integrating technology. First, I think it is important to create an environment where students feel comfortable taking risks and making mistakes. Learning with technology is not seamless- there are bound to be bumps in the road. If students feel comfortable in their environment, they will be more willing to problem solve when problems arise. This allows students to take ownership over their learning as they work through their problems. By doing this, they build real world skills as well. I feel a teacher can facilitate this environment by modeling this problem solving behavior. When integrating technology in a lesson, there are bound to be hiccups. This is a perfect time for a teacher to demonstrate that problem solving behavior and approach these hiccups as "part of the process" rather than as an inconvenience.

When integrating web-based technologies, I learned that it is important to first decide what you want students to accomplish before choosing a technology. For example, you must decide if you want them to use the technology for drill and practice, problem solving, exploration or even for acquiring a new (or newer) skill through educational gaming. It is important to have the goal in mind and then find a technology that supports that goal rather than finding a technology and forcing it to fit in to the learning.

One of my goals for this course was to find ways to first look into current educational practice and find a way for technology to be integrated into the solution. As the technology coach for my school, this is essential. A common problem of practice consistent in many schools is the communication. My goal was to use Moodle as a way to give 24 hour access to teachers to important information that has to do with curriculum, standard operating procedures, committees and access to technology tips.

My new goal is to enhance the teaching and learning in our school through technology. Specifically, I would like to see Moodle used more frequently by classroom teachers. I strongly believe that online learning is here to stay and that the education system has to embrace it early. We have already seen some states that have embedded a requirement for online learning into graduation credits. Although this has been set for the middle and high school levels, we will soon see the trickle down effect to elementary. My goal is to encourage teachers to provide these opportunities to their elementary students. This will prepare them for later experiences with online learning.

Technology can transform learning for teachers and for students. The most important lesson I learned this semester is to look for technology that supplements the curriculum rather than the other way around.

Project Evaluation

In my attempt to get Moodle off the ground as a Professional Learning Community, there is one major step I would do differently. This time, when creating the Professional Learning Communities, I asked the administration what they would like to see in this area. Next time, I will ask the teachers as well. I expect all experiences with the building of my professional learning communities to be different from here on out. This summer, when attempting to implement Moodle in this format, I did not know the staff. As the year progresses, we will all be getting to know each other. I think this will be a huge benefit to establishing expectations for the use of Moodle. Through my research, I learned that teachers give more of their effort to professional learning communities they have helped to establish. The benefit at my school is that we have the opportunity to develop EVERYTHING from the ground up since we are a brand new school. I realize that this comes with many challenges, but I foresee our teachers having more buy in because of this.

One lesson that I have learned is that setting up a Moodle course takes more than just technical ability. You also have to have pedagogical reasons for the course. As I began to set up the courses, I struggled to put more than just the "title" of the course. This was due to the fact that I was not sure what the focus or goal of the course should be. For example, in the Positive Behavior System course, I went back and forth between having areas for teachers to discuss different systems. I also thought it might be beneficial to post the behavior forms and expectations. Then I thought "why not all?. However, a good Professional Learning Community is formed to focus on an area where teachers need to improve. In the end, there were too many possibilities for the focus of the course. I decided to wait until school began and we could establish that focus as a group. This went on and on for each section. So, the moral of the story is: Establish your focus before attempting to layout your Moodle course.

This year, I will be keeping this lesson in mind as we begin to form committees and dive deeper into our professional learning communities. My plan is to assign a co-teacher for each PLC. This person will be directly involved with the committee and will facilitate the meetings and discussions. As the year progresses, my hope is that each committee will set their focus and begin building their PLC course around this focus (with my assistance of course!).

In addition, I set up a Tips & Tricks area for the teachers. This was an idea I came across in my research and was inspired to create! Here is a snapshot of how it looks so far:
Each section is created under Toggle view so teachers can focus on the section they need. This section on computer set-up gives teachers access to instructions for basic set-up of Mail, Address Book, Safari & Firefox bookmarks and iCal on their new MacBook Pro teacher computer. The course Toggle sections continue for other items like Avatar (our district professional development course sign-up center), Pasco Star (district data collector), Moodle and access to our school logo files.

I see this area of Moodle being utilized and updated frequently in the first few months of school. Throughout the year, I hope to add screencasts and other helpful items for teachers. So far, I have taken baby steps toward making Moodle an integral part of each teacher's toolkit. In the next two years, I hope to continue what I have started. If I persist in setting the expectations for Moodle and demonstrate the many possibilities of its use, I believe that Moodle will become one of the greatest assets for professional learning at Odessa Elementary.