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Head: EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

My Journey in Technology in Education James Choe Azusa Pacific University

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY My Journey in Technology in Education History of Coursework My history of coursework consisted of ten classes in twelve months! That was a lot and I have grown a lot from this personally, technologically, and professionally from this program. Term 1 Fall 2 EDTC 511 Foundations in Educational Technology, Dr. Bacer

EDTC 571 Curriculum Foundations, Dr. Suffern

Key Learnings Introduction to Adobe PDF and its uses versus a Microsoft word file. Learned about meeting together on a different type of medium, Tapped In. (A secure way to meet because of transcripts provided) Converting web pages to PDF files, editing, and combining PDF files. Pavlovs theory and how I should be conscious of my students and try to teach to their strengths. This course made me realize and reinforce the idea of students who had different types of learning capabilities, multiple intelligences. Sequential order in a curriculum or unit plan. Key Learnings Video editing. This was so much fun! Getting waivers for video taping kids. Learned about blogging and how much energy/time it requires to keep it updated all the time.

Term 2 Spring 1 EDTC 517 Foundations in Educational Technology, Dr. Bruzzesse

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY EDTC 527 Special Topics, Dr. Bettger From Amanda H, I was able to find a few more websites to help with P.E. lessons. Do not believe everything on the Internet. Wikipedia is not a bad source of information because of so many people collaborating together.

Term 3 Spring 2 EDTC 518 Global Learning/CrossCultural Classrooms, Dr. Bacer

EDTC 524 Instructional Design/Development, Dr. Silva

Key Learnings Learning about using the Internet to be able to reach to other teachers around the world and closing the gap between us through the use of the Internet. The potential that the Internet can have on making lessons more interactive and engaging. Copyright infringement and how much we probably broke the law. TEACH and Fair Use act, which helps people, especially teachers get around many copyright infringement laws. Key Learnings Planning for the GLP to be user friendly and to attract people takes a long time. Building the website to make it is another story, however using Weebly was fun and a good experience. Thinking about lesson plans in reverse. Essentialism and Perennialism Learning about our own philosophy in education was a good way to reflect on our own theories. The paper that I wrote helped me realize what educators should try to get out of kids when teaching them.

Term 4 Summer 2 EDTC 523 Instructional Apps of Hypermedia, Dr. Silva

EDTC 573 History and Philosophy of Education, Dr. Suffern

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY Term 5 Fall 1 EDTC 515 Emerging Trends, Dr. Brown

EDTC 520 Applications of Tech Supported, Dr. Silver

Learned about a few other websites that could help with keeping kids engaged, Moodle and Prezi. Learned how to create a unit/lessons on the website for students who are absent or students who want extra credit. Most districts have a detailed technology plan. There will always be a gap with the latest technology and what the kids are currently using. Budget is one of the biggest problems when trying to keep an updated technology lab. These days, most people are wired and we need to keep up with that.

Personal Growth My personal growth throughout this program is very significant. Not only do I feel more confident in myself when trying to come up with technological ideas at school, but I also have a stronger relationship with God, which was done by having many readings in our Faith in Action Bible (Zondervan, 2005). When I first started this program, I was single, had a really easy schedule at work (only taught four periods). However, throughout this program, so many things happened to me, marriage, pregnancy, teaching all periodsetc. I was and am a nervous wreck because so many things have been going on, I always feel like I am behind in my schooling. Well now that I made it this far while being under so much stress, I feel like I can accomplish anything and that I am ready to take on the world. This feeling of confidence is also because of all the messages that I was reading from the Bible for my class. Many times, if I was not feeling mentally stable, one of the

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY professors assigned readings had a message of inspiration. What a coincidence? Coincidence does not seem right, it was more like destiny! To this day, I still get frustrated when there is a lot of weight on me, but I seem to be more relaxed and in control of myself. I think God would be proud of the way I handle some situations, not all though, not yet at least. My personal growth was even seen by my co-workers. My co-workers have told

me things like Youre growing up, yay! or Wow Choe, thats not like you! I believe that these courses and my life journey has hardened me and made me become a more mature person in the view of others and myself and a more mature person in the eyes of God. Professional Growth Throughout the program I was able to work on my personal growth every week, but there was also professional growth as well. The weekly modules always had us learning about theories in education, learning about backward design lesson plans, analyzing lesson plans, and putting units in sequential order to make it easier for our learners to learn. With this new information getting stuffed in my head, it made me think and reflect the way I taught. One of the theories that I take into consideration when teaching is Piagets theory of cognitive development and Gardners theory of multiple intelligences These theories break down the way a child can learn and different types of way of learning. One thing that I noticed after learning about Piagets theory is that with my eighth graders, I tend to have more deep conversations about things. With the sixth and the majority of the seventh graders, I can converse with them but it is not as fun as the eighth graders. This

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY is because the eighth graders at the last stage of Piagets theory, which is formal operations (Shelly, Cashman, Gunter G. A., Gunter R. E., 2006). This stage is to start around the age of eleven and continues until adulthood. During this stage kids begin to

think abstractly, reason logically and draw conclusions from the information available, as well as apply all these processes to hypothetical situations (Piagets Theory, 2011). While Piagets theory helps me understand why my relationship with the older kids is why it is, Gardners multiple intelligence theory helps me with the teaching aspect of my job. While you may think that the monkey see monkey do expression works best with kids in Physical Education, sometimes there are different avenues of teaching and learning. These different styles are; logical-mathematical, spatial, linguistic, bodily kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and existential (Theory of Multiple Intelligences, 2011) So, while 80% to 85% of the class may learn well in my P.E. class by doing, the other 15% may need to learn through one of the other ways of Gardners theory, like reading. As a teacher, I know that there are many different types of learners and that I have to adapt to them, not that they have to adapt to my style of teaching. I believe that there are no bad students only bad teachers. However, if you are a bad teacher, you can always try to become a good teacher by adapting to your kids learning style. It will always be a continuous cycle of us teaching, assessing, and adapting to the kids style of learning. Technical Growth My initial reason why I joined this program is to have technological growth. Throughout the program, I was exposed to many different types of software that could enhance my lesson plans through the incorporation of technology. The usage of certain

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY types of websites to enhance our curriculum or lesson like; Weebly, Moodle, and Prezi are a few examples of what I learned throughout this program. What I learned were serious lesson enhancers, they can keep the class focused, engaged, and well behaved if they are implemented in classrooms. One assignment that I am proud of is my Moodle project for Dr. Browns class (Brown, 2011). Moodle is basically a website for teachers who want to post their teachings up on the Internet. My project was on self-defense for kids and it consisted of five lessons that go over a few basic moves for self-defense. The great thing about this program is that there is a lot of rich media. I was able to put videos, explanations, and a

checklist for the kids to learn from. At the end of the lessons, I was even able to put up a test. I can see this being an excellent way to teach our kids something on a rainy day, or if they need extra credit to go onto this website for more lessons. One of the other ways to get students engaged with technology is using a Prezi. In short, this program is like a rollercoaster version of power point. This is not a program though, it is a website that you can go on and create. A Prezi has a starting point, and every time you click the next button the Prezi flies to the next area that you wanted it to go. I feel like it is a little gimmicky, but because of the whole rollercoaster effect, I believe that it can hold students attention longer than a regular power point. Lastly, learning how to use website creators like Weebly or Google sites to create websites is something that I believe can help our classrooms. With websites, you can set up a global learning project to reach out to other classrooms anywhere around the world. Another idea that I have is to be able to post things like blogs about what is going on in class to create a class culture and on the website I can put a twitter ticker, twicket, to post

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the most recent events. Parents and the students can follow what is going on in my class. It would create a more engaging experience for our kids and could even bring more parent participation into schools. Life Long Learning Plan Now that I am almost done with this program, I have found out that I have only scratched the surface of technology in education. This program was an eye opener on how to enhance our curriculum and lessons through the use of technology and as technology keeps upgrading or changing we will need to keep adapting to it to keep the kids interested as much as possible. The way I plan on keeping updated with technology is to use the real simple syndication (RSS) feeds to my Google reader account. With the right RSS feeds, I can keep up to date with the newest ways of the use of technology in classrooms. Another way to keep up to date with technology is to collaborate with the technology teacher some more on how to incorporate and infuse my class with the computer teachers class as much as possible. Lastly, I would like to go to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conferences to enhance my professional development, to work with other like-minded individuals, and to be able to see what current technology is being used in classrooms in an effective way. Conclusion My technological skill has increased a lot throughout this program. The exposure to many different types of software programs that help create better lessons and curriculum will always be a consideration when planning. All the technical stuff that I learned aside, I believe that this was only the beginning of learning about improving

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY technology in our schools. The Azusa Pacific University, Educational Technology in Education, has opened my eyes to see the classrooms differently, to be more innovative, and to be more creative with technology. If technology is used properly, it can enhance everything about the schools, classroom participation, behavior problems, management, Academic Performance Index (API) scoreseverything.

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY References

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Piagets theory of cognitive development. (2011). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 20, 2011, from http://tinyurl.com/7yp7z4a Shelly, G. B., Cashman, T. J., Gunter, G. A., & Gunter R. E. (2006). Teachers discovering computers: Integrating technology and digital media in the classroom Boston, MA: Thomson Course Technology Theory of multiple intelligences. (2011). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 20, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences Zondervan. (2005). Faith in action study Bible. Grand Rapids, MI. Zondervan