Semester: Fall 2010

Instructor: Dr. Laura Wedman

Credits: 3

 

Course Description

This course will engage you in integrating technology into lessons in order to support meaningful learning by your students. The activities in this course are but a representative sampling of the many ways that technology can be used to support learning. Because there is too little time in the school year to waste it on having your students memorize large quantities of material, it is important to teach them how to think rather than what to think. The emphasis in this course is on using technologies to engage and support student thinking, especially higher order thinking and problem solving with the use of technologies.

Reflection Statement

This course was an excellent follow-up to the first course of my program, “Introduction to Technology in Schools.”  While the content of that class was still fresh in my mind, this course allowed me to explore the concepts and ideas that I had previously formed, but at a deeper level.  The discussion boards also gave me additional opportunities to share my thoughts and reflect on the similarities and differences between my views and those of my classmates.  The structure of the class was open, and exploration was encouraged, allowing me the freedom to customize my assignments to my content area and the needs of my students.  As a result, the Newsy lesson plan and eThemes Request that I completed during this course could easily be implemented in my general music classroom.   As I completed these and other assignments, I was able to draw comparisons between my course work and my daily teaching.  This class also gave me several opportunities to evaluate the use of technology by other teachers as recorded in the KITE database.  By reading these interviews, I could see strengths and weaknesses in the use of technology by other educators as well as my own use of technology.  This sparked reflection of my teaching and forced me to ask the same questions of myself that were asked of the teachers in the KITE interviews. 

Artifacts

• KITE Case Report (PDF)
  • This assignment is a reflection on an interview in the KITE database.
• Learning and Technology Matrix (PDF)
  • This is an analysis of one interview in the KITE database.
• Newsy Lesson Plan (PDF)
  • My Newsy Lesson plan focuses on copyright and digital music downloads. A BrainPop video and student discussion are used to augment the Newsy Video.
• eThemes Request (PDF)
  • I prepared and submitted this eThemes request focusing on choral and vocal music from different cultures.
• Technology Use Concept Map (PDF)
  • I chose to focus my educational technology concept map on computer-aided music composition.
• Self-Assessment (PDF)
  • My self-assessment is a reflection on a lesson I taught to sixth graders using DoodlePad (MusicAce) to compose music.
• Technology Use Assessment (PDF)
  • This document contains a rubric-based assessment of technology use as described in a KITE interview.