Teaching with Technology Final Reflection

EDLD5364 Teaching with Technology afforded me a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with others in the design of a UDL lesson unit. Already working collaboratively during my other courses made this a fairly easy process. Our team had a strong grasp of Google Docs as well as Google Sites, making the flow of the project nearly seamless. We used the live chat feature and the new social-media based “discussion” functionality within Google Docs for meaningful and real-time communication assisted with some emails. Some fo the other tech tools that we used, but that I was already familiar with were Prezi and YouTube; a new tool that I plan to use in my own classroom is Book Builder. I liked that our collaborative assignments were somewhat open-ended, giving us the opportunity to explore these various tools and come up with exciting new ways to integrate technology into real-type scenario lessons.

New to me, was CAST’s Universal Design for Learning site with the lesson builder. This is the type of lesson planning and pedagogy I am interested in developing, personally and find CAST’s UDL Curriculum Self-Check a valuable tool in helping me develop this skill. I am very excited to learn more about UDL tools such as speech to text, Braille keyboards, structured search-engines, text linked to glossaries, visual dictionaries and screen-readers to increase student performance by helping eliminate some of the barriers that stand in the way of many students. In keeping with UDL expectations, providing multiple ways to learn will removes obstacles to learning that can skew assessment results. This tool can really strengthen a student’s ability to communicate and reflect on their learning providing the teacher with an authentic assessment. Communicating and evaluating learning through rubrics and ePortfolios as well as setting high expectations for student peer and self-evaluation are simple means through which to vary assessment and thus provide for more accurate appraisal of student mastery of objectives. (Solomon and Schrum, 2007, p. 65).

I also enjoyed learning about voicethread. I learned about voicethread at the 2012 TCEA convention, but had not taken the time to sit down and actually learn how to use it. I was very impressed by how simple it is to use as a learning tool that exemplifies UDL principles, “break(ing) from the traditional classroom model-that of a teacher standing up in front of rows of students to deliver ‘truth” and later using a test to check whether “truth” sank in (Rose & Meyer, 2002). since there are so many means (text, audio, visual) by which to create and add to a voicethread. It is definitely a learning tool that I will work to have “unblocked” in our district.

References

Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: New tools, new schools. Eugene, OR: International Society    

     for Technology in Education.

Rose, D., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. 
     Chapter 1. Retrieved on March 1, 2011, from http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/