Professional Autobiographical Profile
Personal Short-Term Goals
Goal 1
Goal 2
Goal 3
Goal 4
Goal 5 |
Goal 1
Goal 1: Demonstrates understanding of various theories and concepts that inform the practice of instructional design and learning technologies.
Throughout my course work I have learned that instructional technology involves much more than the use of a computer. From the very beginning in IT 500, I learned that an instructional technologist is an open-minded professional that looks to improve instruction and solve learning problems by use of technology. Instructional technologists are problem solvers that carefully dissect problems and look to other disciplines and research for solutions (Wiley, 2002). An instructional technologist is much more than someone who works with computers. He or she is an instructional designer that utilizes the latest technology tools, research, and best practices to engage students with the use of technology.
I realized in IT 500 that thorough instructional design is vital to becoming a successful instructional technologist. This requires careful planning and application of multiple theories, disciplines, and medium. For example, Robert Gagne found that successful classroom instruction must lead students through the following nine stages in sequential order in order for learning to take place: gain the students' attention, present the objectives, tap into students' prior knowledge, present necessary learning materials, provide guidance during the learning process, provide students with experiences, provide students with feedback, assess the students' performances, and help students make connections (Clark, 2004). Application of this theory is evident in my field study project as a requirement for IT 572.
I was instructed to research the latest emerging technology tool available within my school building, then develop a unit plan based upon the latest research and best practices, implement this unit, and evaluate the results. I designed an NTeQ unit plan that incorporated the use of flip cameras in a fourth grade classroom. This unit was designed to assess students’ knowledge of force, motion, and simple machines. I knew that the best way to incorporate video production into an elementary classroom was to first research how other educators had integrated this technology into their classrooms. After careful research, I designed instruction based upon sequential completion of the following events:
- In order to gain students' attention I showed them two types of student-created videos: a demonstration and a commericial. After watching each video, a class discussion followed sharing what worked well in each video and what could be improved in each video.
- I presented students with the class objective: create a demonstration video to demonstrate to others a science activity relating to force and motion or create a commercial persuading others to buy a simple machine to make their work easier. Videos would be created using a flip camera. Students then chose which type of video to create themselves.
- I tapped into students' prior knowledge by asking students to create videos based upon activities we completed in class. Students worked in cooperative groups to complete a problem sheet in order to determine the best way to approach the video creation process. The problem sheet was assessed with a rubric. This rubric, presented to students prior to completion, was used to determine if students could progress to completing a storyboard.
- Next, students cooperatively completed a storyboard. The storyboard was a graphic organizer used to plan each scene of the video. The storyboard was also assessed with a rubric to determine whether or not students were ready to rehearse their videos. Students were given technical guides to refer to when using the flip camera. The problem sheet, storyboards, technical guides, and rubrics all served as guides to enhance their learning experience.
- Students were given a flip camera to rehearse their videos and then tape a final project. This allowed students to experience filming a video. Students uploaded these videos, with my assistance, to the Flip Share software. Students edited and pieced the videos together using basic editing techniques.
- I met with groups frequently during the problem sheet, storyboard, rehearsal, and taping process providing timely feedback.
- Student videos were assessed with a rubric. Students were provided this rubric prior to the video creation process. Students also participated in the assessment process by evaluating two groups' videos.
- Finally students completed a reflection. The reflection gave students an opportunity to connect to other experiences and share with me information they learned during the video creation process. They also let me know what they enjoyed the most and what I could improve upon for next year.
IT 572: NTeQ Unit
Three theories presented in IT 500 have highly influenced my instructional design: situated learning theory, constructivism, and metacognition. Situated learning theory emphasizes that learning comes from experiences learners gather from solving real-world problems. Students collaborate to solve these problems and use these experiences to create meaning through the constructivist approach to learning (Jonassen, Davidson, Collins, Campbell, & Haag, 1995). I incorporated these principles into a unit designed for IT 500. The unit, titled Exploring Matter, engaged students in cooperative learning activities. Students were, for example, given numerous objects. Students were then asked how they would find the mass and volume of each object given to them, while using the measuring tools provided. These types of activities required collaboration to solve real-world problems using manipulatives. At the end of the unit we baked chocolate chip cookies by following a recipe in order to connect skills from the entire unit to a real-world skill.
IT 500: Exploring Matter
Constructivism emphasizes that students learn through problem solving and collaboration in the classroom which allows them to examine material through different perspectives. The teacher serves as a guide to the learning process (Tam, 2000). In a project designed for IT 481, I developed a unit based upon the NTeQ model and utilized principles from the constructivist theory. In this unit, students chose a topic they were interested in researching further under one condition: the topic must relate to a story from the basal reader discussing Japanese American culture. Students created research questions, based upon Bloom’s taxonomy, and used the internet to answer their research questions. Students then created a power point presentation to present learned material to the class. I found that letting students choose their own topics to research and creating their own research questions highly motivated them to complete the project. Giving students choices during a learning task helped them to have a sense of pride and take ownership in their work. I also benefited from stepping back and letting students determine the direction their investigations would take them. I became a learner in this process too.
IT 481: NTeQ Unit
IT 481: Resources
Metacognition is the process of understanding and becoming more aware of how one thinks and learns. This process involves developing an awareness of one’s own strengths and weaknesses, the ability to communicate them with others, and accepting suggestions from peers. While proceeding through this process, which may be difficult for some students, teachers play a role by creating a comfortable learning environment and providing timely feedback to their students (Lin, 2001). Metacognitive activities in the classroom include the construction of KWL’s, peer reviews, and reflections. In the Exploring Matter unit developed for IT 500, students were asked to complete a KWL throughout the duration of the unit plan. The first phase of a KWL asks students to provide what the already know about topic. This piece of a KWL is a great discussion starter in the classroom. I benefit by taking what they already know and adjusting my lessons to meet their learning needs. The second phase asks students to share what they want to know more about as it relates to the discussion topic. This creates an opportunity for research outside of the unit plan on topics students are more curious about. The last phase asks students to share information they have learned at the end of the unit as a way to reflect upon their learning. I believe this type of reflection, along with hands-on activities, helps build metacognition and develop connections between classroom material and the real-world. In units developed for IT 486, IT 571, and IT 572, students completed a reflection at the end of the unit. In this reflection students shared what they learned from the unit activities, what lessons were difficult for them, improvements that I could make during instruction, and how they could connect this material outside of the classroom. Students in these units were also asked to participate in peer reviews. Peer reviews strengthen metacognitive activities by requiring students to look at projects from a different perspective: the teacher’s perspective. When students are asked to complete peer evaluations, I find that they are tougher on their peers than I am. The majority of students reflected that they enjoyed this process.
Reflection Example
These theoretical influences are also evident in the online course I created as a requirement for IT 540: Distance Education. Creating this course was a challenge in itself. It required organization, careful planning, and flexibility. I had to create a learning environment that connected learners at a distance, promoted collaboration, and communication. The course design itself was based upon the linear-designed model of instruction. In this model, instruction is broken into modules. Each module is dissected into a group of units. Each unit provides instruction, an activity, and an assessment. When students successfully complete each unit, they may move to the next unit (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009). Within this model, I incorporated a number of cognitive strategies to engage the learner, utilizing situated learning theory and constructivism: collaboratively designing a plan to encourage school districts to use distance technologies in their schools, submitting the latest research supporting numerous topics into a research library database, and designing a course module to teach others over a distance a topic of choice. I incorporated peer reviews, drawing from the theory of metacognition, in order for students to gather different perspectives and to improve upon their work. I also incorporated the use of a wiki in order for students to collaboratively create rubrics used to assess assigned projects.
IT 540: Distance Education 101
IT 540: Syllabus
Resources
Jonassen, D., Davidson, M., Collins, M., Campbell, J., & Haag, B.B. (1995). Constructivism and computer-mediated communication in distance education. The American Journal of Distance Education, 9(2).
Lin, X. (2001). Designing metacognitive activities. Educational Technology Research & Design 49(2), 23-40.
Clark, D. R. (2004). Robert Gagne's nine steps of instruction. Retrieved April 5, 2010 from http://nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/learning/id/nine_step_id.html.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (Eds.) (2009). Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Tam, M. (2000). Constructivism, instructional design, and technology: Implications for transforming distance learning. Educational Technology & Society 3(2), 50-60.
Wiley, David. (2002, Jan/Feb). A definition of the field. TechTrends, 46(1), 59.
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