EDLD 5364 Week 5 Reflection

As I reflect this week upon this class, I am reminded of how technology use in education is vital for student success. Throughout this course, I have added tools to assist me in incorporating technology into my classroom. In the Howard Garner video, he speaks of the changing times we are experiencing these days. He speaks of how easy the of retrieving information from a website is for anyone with internet access. Instead of looking up words in paperback dictionaries, you can find the dictionaries on line now. As teachers we need to prepare our classrooms for the digital age and equip our learners to continue to make strides in it. Vision for technology in the Classroom speaks of the challenges we face with having the available technology. We have to make a change at home and school when it comes to technology. Technology is creating a new division between people. Those who have access to technology, and those that do not. We must make sure that are students continue to find new and exciting ways to incorporate technology into their lives. This will ensure that they will not be left behind in the digital age.

EDLD 5364 Week 4 Reflection

This week has been trying at times, and fun at others. I have tried to make sure that I am completing all of my assignments and getting them in on time. Last week was such a struggle that I feel that I am forgetting something this week. Using technology to teach students is something that I enjoy doing. Our group has been using ePals as a tool to connect different students from different countries to share experiences in the classroom. I am going to use this in my classroom this school year. I feel that students can learn so much by interacting with different people and learning from them. I believe that allowing students a variety of ways to demonstrate their learning benefits the student and the teacher. As I went through the readings and watch the videos this week, this belief was intensified. I want to have my students use different mediums to express themselves and what they have learned. I really enjoyed watching the videos about project based learning. I love the idea however, how can this work in a high stakes testing environment? This is the questions that prevents me from moving into this type of teaching.

EDLD 5364 Week 3 Reflection

Reflecting upon this weeks assignments, reading, and videos this week has been busy to say the least. I enjoyed using the UDL builder for my lesson plan. I also enjoyed using the book builder to create my eBook. I can see me using the book builder tool in my classroom with my students. My favorite videos were the ones that the kids were talking about using technology in their lives. This showed me that I must make sure that I am as up to date with technology as I can be. I want to make sure that I am able to assist my students with their use of technology as a tool.

EDLD 5364 Week 2 Reflection

This week, I have been reminded of just how important the use of technology can be to student success. Our students are "digital natives" and are in need of digital learning to impact them in the classroom. Students come to class with different abilities and needs each year. Teaching with technology can be used to bridge these differences to help all students learn. Using assistive technology with our special needs learners will help them become a very important part of the education process. I am always looking for new and exciting ways to incorporate technology into my classroom. I am currently setting up My Big Campus for my students to access videos, lectures, articles, podcasts, and much more information that we use in our classroom. My classes really enjoy using technology to enhance their learning. I have found that using technological tools increase my students retention of information.

EDLD 5364 Week 1 Reflection

As I reflect on the information that I have obtained this week, I feel that I have gained additional knowledge that will assist me in my classroom. I have heard about the constructivism view point of education for a long time. I was introduced to it while completing my undergraduate studies. I have felt that if I know what the students already know, I can build from that. I was quite interested by the new views of constructivism with regards to the use of technology. I enjoy seeking new opportunities to use technology to enhance my students learning. The article "If I Teach This Way, Am I Doing My Job: Constructivism in the Classroom," gave me a sense of affirmation. I chose to do this type of teaching in the classroom with an even heavier focus on technology integration. Connectivism is a new term for me. I can also see how I use this model in my classroom at certain times. I feel that it is important for students to work together to achieve their learning goals. I strive to create a safe learning environment for them to accomplish this. We work together to set the boundaries, and they work with each other in those boundaries to learn, and to help each other learn as well. Students need to learn that their education is not always just about them. Others have a hand in the process as well. A community of learners is essential for students to succeed. Cyborg sounds like something from the future to me. I have heard of this term while playing video games, but had not seen the information that was presented about this topic until now. I feel that the cyborg concept is interesting however, it is also disturbing at the same time. If we use technology to gain experiences instead of actively seeking them out, how will we know if those "downloaded" experience are offering true feelings? Experiences must be a whole body event, not just created in the mind. Being able to connect to others through the nervous system was quite interesting. I am not sure that connecting to others in this way would benefit us greatly in the educational world.

Course Reflection ED 5366

The knowledge that I feel I gained from this collaborative group assignment will assist me in working with other groups in the future. I have worked with several groups on assignments throughout my master’s classes however; I feel that this project had the best outcomes for everyone in the group. In the past, I felt that I needed to keep the ball rolling to make sure the assignment was completed. I would take on additional pieces of the assignment, more than some other members, to ensure completion of the assignment. With this assignment, I relaxed and pick the element that I wanted to focus on. I also stated that I would do more if needed. The other group members took the elements that they wanted to focus on, and my stress level was lessened for this assignment. I was able to focus on the tasks at hand for myself and let other members complete their roles without me stressing over them. I offered my services to anyone that needed me to step in and assist them with their design element. I also found that I was not the only one that had additional knowledge within this group. In other collaborative groups, I have felt that I needed to support the entire group with the use of technology. Within this group, I had an individual that had as much, probably more, experience working with technology. I found myself relying on her to help facilitate our group. I asked her many questions about different pieces of the process that she had a firm grasp on. There were also many opportunities for me to assist her as well. It was a great collaboration between her and I. I had not had that type of experience in the master’s course work thus far in the program. It was a very refreshing experience from this group project. I will use the information that I gained from this group project to engage others in the collaborative groups that I work with, to discover new information that they have acquired, and use this information to increase my knowledge base. I will use websites in my classroom to assist me as I teach my students. I will be attempting to “flip” my fourth grade classroom this year. I have researched this concept for a number of years, and attended workshops on how to implement it into the classroom. Most of the research is based on high school classrooms. I want my students to have the same experiences no matter the grade level. I will use different websites for my students to access information as we explore Science and Social Studies through technology. I have discussed the use of websites with my peers at my campus. I have shared my ideas for the use of websites as a teaching tool, as well as how I plan on changing the way information is given and received in my classroom this year. I will also be sharing different technology tools that I use in my classroom at faculty meetings this school year to assist other educators in embracing teaching in a digital world.

Web Conferences for EDLD 5363

I attended three different web conferences during this course.  I attended conferences on June 5, 2012 at 7:00; June 18, 2012 at 7:00; July 2, 2012 at 7:00.  The conference on June 5th was at the beginning of the course.  The information that was given during this meeting was overwhelming, but Dr. Abernathy continued to tell us that we would be okay.  She told us that she was here to help us in anything that we needed to be successful in our coursework.  This gave me a re-assuring feeling as I began this 5 week course.  The next conference I attended was on June 18th.  During this meeting, we discussed our video project and how we were to put these together.  Again, Dr. Abernathy continued to reassure us that she would assist us in anyway possible.  The final conference I attended was on June 2nd.  I had some difficulty accessing the conference however, I was able to share a contention with a classmate at Starbucks to attend the meeting.  Dr. Abernathy explained how she wanted us to gain a learning experience.  She did not want us to just get the assignments done to have them completed on time.  We were told that we could have additional time if needed to complete the assignments so that we had an opportunity to do our best work.

I have learned a lot by attending the web conference throughout this course.  The reassuring nature of Dr. Abernathy has been great.  I to, desire to do my best work instead of just completing tasks to get it competed.  The questions asked during the conference assisted me in understanding the information that had been given to us.  I did have so technical difficulties throughout the web conferences with poor connections, getting disconnected, not being able to use a web cam, and other unfortunate events.  However, these conference gave us an opportunity to find out answers to our questions, acquire information from classmates, and put faces with names in this digital learning experience. 

Newton's Three Laws of Motion- EDLD 5363 Video Porject

Newton's Three Laws of Motion by Adele Ford, Jorge Leal, Merrill Redfern, Brett Murrey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Education Storyboard- EDLD 5363

As I began working on my storyboard, I was not sure what to expect.  I had not worked much in the multimedia areas of technology, other than downloading video clips.  My first, second, and third attempts at my story board were not successful.  Once I was able to wrap my head around the ins and outs of the Windows Movie Maker software a little better, my fourth and final attempt was a success.  I enjoyed the creativity that creating the storyboard allowed me to work through.  I had a vision and I could not stop until I knew that it was the best work that I could do.  I am excited to share my creation with everyone.  I hope that you will enjoy it.
Educational Storyboard

EDLD 5301 Week 5 & Final Reflection

As I began this course, I was not sure as to what educational research entailed.    I did not realize the depth and steps involved in action research planning.  Choosing a topic to research was a small change.  I was not sure which avenue I wanted to explore.  Researching the use of technology in some type of setting was what I kept being drawn back to.  Since I teach writing, using technology to help students increase their writing skills was at the forefront.  Then I began to think about the lack of parent involvement at my campus, and thought that I could look into a technological tool that might increase parent involvement.  In the end, my passion for the students that struggle in school won out.      

As I completed each week’s assignment, there were moments in which I felt the lessons were a redundant.  Looking back, I can see how it reinforced all of the steps and thought processes needed to fine tune a well-crafted research plan.  Each week allowed me to focus on the plan as a whole, and also break down the steps and concentrate on the small pieces. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading other ideas and research plans on the discussion board and on student blogs.  There are so many great ideas, and I definitely will be following my colleagues’ research.  I am looking forward to seeing results, and using the knowledge learned from my colleagues’ research in my classroom.

The reading material was very useful during this course.  I loved having the templates and tools that were provided.  They not only helped with weekly assignments, but will also assist me during future steps in the research process.  I will be referring back to these resources while conducting my action research plan and will use during other projects/research as well.

I think one of the most informative lectures of this course were the videos of leaders discussing action research. Listening to them describe the process, the steps involved, and important things to remember brought the importance of action research. They are great leaders because of their dedication to finding the answers to the issues.  This means that they must examine very detailed, concise information, and not quick judgments and decisions that are not supported by research.

I have increased my ability to produce a data driven, research based plan after completing this course.  It has also given me confidence to consider other action research plans, and to appreciate the thought process and time involved in making decisions.  Action research is a process that is necessary in making the choices in education.  It can also provide data that will change the entire direction of your plan.  I’m looking forward to developing my action research plan, conducting research, collecting data, and finalizing the results.

EDLD 5301 Week 4 Reflection

I met with my site supervisor this week to discuss my Action Research Plan.  She said that she really liked the direction that I was going with my research.  The only question that she had was about what tools I was planning on using to assess my students with their writing samples.  She offered to assist me in looking for one, or developing one that would give us accurate results.  We discussed how this student population is an area for improvement in our campus improvement plan each year.  She is very interested in the results that will come from this Action Research Plan.

ELED 5301 Week 3 Reflection

This week I put my action research plan on paper.  This has been an awesome experience getting this project put together.  I cannot wait until I can implement the plan and begin gathering data from it.  The project has had a few changes that have helped me to pinpoint the exact project that I wanted to learn more about.  Using technology in the classroom has always been a passion of mine.  I am excited to see the result from my low socioeconomic students.  I know blogging can be used for so much, I want to see how it can be use as a tool for learning.

Action Research Plan for EDLD 5301

Action Research Plan
Goal: To use blogging to increase communication skills of students of low socioeconomic status across different ethnic backgrounds, thus increase their scores on standardized writing tests.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Identify 6 to 10 student with low socioeconomic backgrounds to assist in research project.	Donna McManus Angelee Morales Brett Murrey	August 2012	School documentation for free or reduced lunches.	Use the information from the school to determine students who have a low SES from different cultural backgrounds.
2. Obtain students' authentic writing samples for baseline evaluation.	Brett Murrey Students	September 2012	Spreadsheet for tracking the student's communication effectiveness.	Ensure that enough data has been collected to judge the effectiveness of student communications.
3. Setup blogging account for students and begin having them blog twice a week. The students will blog once for what we have learned in class. The second post will be a student's choice.	Brett Murrey Students	September – December 2012	Edublogs.com Create log for tracking when students are accessing the blog site.	Monitoring postings from the students every week and provide written response to their responses.
4. Obtain students' authentic writing samples for mid-year evaluation.	Brett Murrey Students	January 2013	Spreadsheet for tracking the student's communication effectiveness.	Compare baseline data to mid-year data.

 

 

Action Research Plan
Goal: To use blogging to increase communication skills of students of low socioeconomic status across different ethnic backgrounds, thus increase their scores on standardized writing tests.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
5. Continue with students' blogging a minimum of twice a week. Encourage students to post comments to peers.	Brett Murrey Students	January - April 2013	Use log for tracking when students are accessing the blog site.	Students should become more comfortable with discussing topics through blogging.
6. Obtain students' authentic writing samples for end of the year evaluation.	Brett Murrey Students	April – May 2013	Spreadsheet for tracking the student's communication effectiveness.	Compare mid-year data to end of the year data.
7. Obtain data from action plan data and standardized writing test data to evaluate the effectiveness of students communication with the use of blogging.	Brett Murrey Students	April – May 2013	Spreadsheet for tracking the student's communication effectiveness and standardized writing test scores from the previous year and present year.	Compare data from similar students from the previous year's standardized writing test scores with current standardized writing test scores.
8. Compile all data into the action research plan and create an informal oral presentation of the results.	Brett Murrey Donna McManus Angelee Morales Cynthia Pense	May 2013	Baseline data Mid-year data End of year data STAAR Writing Scores	Using all data collected and analyze to determine if the use blogging to increase low SES student communication skills was successful.

ELED 5301/ Week 2 Reflection

This week, I have learned how important action research is to administrators.  Administrators need to take time to research different areas on their campuses to insure student achievement.  The videos help me see the importance of action research in my own environment.  With the ever changing environment of education, we must continually find different ways to engage our learners.  By using action research, I can help support the needs of my students in the classroom more effectively.

EDLD 5311 Course Reflections

As I started the first class towards my Master's degree, Concepts of Educational Technology, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I had been putting off going back to school for a while, so I was really just hoping I would be able to make it through the first course.  While working as a full time teacher, I was nervous about the time the course work would require.  As each week passed, my fears eased a little bit and I adjusted to the assignments, deadlines, and requirements of this course work.  The occasional thought that this was just too much to handle still enters my mind from time to time.  With the technology aspect of the course, I expected to learn more about technology and digital tools, and how to use them in an educational setting.  I gained experience by using many different tools, such as blogs, wikis, wordle, and animoto to communicate information with others.

The experiences that I have obtained from this course are relevant to the work that I do as a fourth grade teacher.  Being a classroom teacher, I have incorporated many of the tools that I used in this course into my classroom and into my lesson planning. I have also shared many ideas and suggestions with colleagues on my campus.  Learning about our campus technology ratings and the Star chart has given me insight into the technological areas that need to be addressed on our campus. The weekly readings provided information and knowledge about ethics, safety and copyright laws, which I have used when teaching my classroom students about Internet safety and also when creating assignments.  I have made strides to find a balance between teaching, family, and school over the past five weeks.  The course work has forced me to organize my time wisely, and make adjustments to meet all of the requirements of my time. 

I do not believe that there were any specific outcomes that I did not achieve upon completion of this course.  I accomplished what I set out to achieve when I began the course, to gain more knowledge about technology, technology assessments, and digital tools, and their use in an educational setting.  I know that I will probably need to go back periodically and review the weekly assignments, just to gain a greater knowledge and understanding of the material covered in this course.  I also need to refresh my knowledge so that I can be confident when discussing and sharing the information I learned with other individuals and groups.  This course challenged me to continually improve my use of technology.  With using webcams, group video chats, and other forms of communication, I have increased my sense of comfort with using these different tools.  This was one of my personal goals during this course. 

I was successful in completing the assignments and meeting the required deadlines. To be honest, when I looked at the first week’s assignment, I was worried that I would have trouble finishing in the required time frame. There were a lot of requirements contained in the written assignments, but I discovered that for me it was all about organization and scheduling my time wisely. Once I realized that I was capable of doing the work, I was able to focus on creating a schedule that would blend my work load and classwork. Taking a class online is quite a bit different that taking a course on a college campus, and requires a lot of self motivation. As far as actual assignments, I found I enjoyed creating both the blog and the wiki, and creating the animoto video about myself.  I have use the animoto site to create other videos to show to people.

I have learned quite a bit from this course, both about myself and about my abilities.  I have learned that I have more confidence in myself then I thought I did to take on something new.  I have also discovered leadership qualities that I did not know that I had.   I have stepped outside of my comfort zone in a few situations.   I took the first steps to discovering the possibility of becoming a principal or some other form of administrator.  There have been several colleagues that have asked me when I would pursue this leadership role.  I now have an answer for them now.  I have reassured my technological abilities and found areas for growth.  I really need to take ownership of what I know and enjoy sharing my knowledge with others.  I also need to ask specific questions about technological matters that I do not know about, so that I am always increasing my knowledge. 

Week 4: Web Conference

I enjoyed the last conference for EDLD 3511 last week. There was lots of great information given to assist us as we continue to move through this program. I am looking forward to writing my internship plan. For me, it is exciting to begin with the end in mind.

Week 3: Web Conference

I enjoyed this weeks web conference. I did not get to attend the conference last week, so this week I was able to introduce myself to my colleagues. The overview for week 3 let me know that I was on the right track for this week. Being able to look ahead at weeks 4 & 5 gave me insight to what lies ahead for the last two weeks of this class. Also, being able to look at what is expected for our internship and principal competencies allowed me to go ahead and start making plans to accomplish these tasks. Each week, the web conferences offer a sense of calm after a hectic week of getting assignments completed. I look forward to next weeks web conference and learning how to write the principal competencies.

Week 2: Web Conference

I was unable to attend the web conference for EDLD 5311 on Wednesday, March 7, 2012. However, I did watch the video of the web conference on Thursday, March 8, 2012. I was glad to see some of the same people that I had talked to at the previous web conference.
I was excited to hearing details about the upcoming Educational Technology Leadership Internship. I am eager to get this section of the program underway as well. Lamar’s Accreditation and Standards was another key component that I was very interested to hear about. I enjoyed listening to the other members of Cohort 27, as they introduced themselves and I learned of the diversity of graduate students in this cohort. It has also much easier to connect to the conference this time. Last week, I had some issues with the microphone in the beginning. I am ready for the rest of the web conferences now that I have the first two under my belt.

Brett Murrey
EDLD 5311/ ET 8050

Week 2 Assignment, Part 4

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Week 2 Assignment, Part 3 Blog Posting #3

The National Educational Technology Plan has two specific goals.  The first goal is to raise the number of college graduates who hold either a two year or four year degree, and the second is to close our achievement gap so that all of our high school graduates are prepared for college and future careers. 

Five strategies have been identified to help reach these goals.  The first strategy is learning.  We must give our students the power and flexibility to take control of their own learning.  This means making a huge change from our traditional classroom and how we are used to instructing.   Instead, students should be given options and different opportunities for learning, such as allowing them to work in small groups, tailoring the work to their own unique learning style, and using each student's prior experience to engage them in the process. We also need to realize the impact our community can have as a learning resource and use them as a tool.

The second strategy is assessment.  We need to utilize technology based assessments that give us a true measure of student knowledge, and our assessments should involve higher level thinking skills.  The third strategy is teaching. Teaching should be a team activity, not individual.  Professional development should be a collaborative effort between teams, and also immediate and convenient. Online learning and 24/7 access will be used to provide learning opportunities for teachers.  Strategy number four is Infrastructure.  Every student and teacher should be provided with the resources they need, when and where they need them.  Infrastructure is vital in allowing us to leave the traditional model of teaching behind and move forward into the future.  The last strategy is productivity.  We need to ensure that our students are making progress, and group them according to ability and skill level. We need to change and adjust our classrooms to reflect the world that we live in today.

It will take work and dedication to make this plan work. Its success will depend on everyone working together. 

Reference:

U.S. Department of Education. (2010).  Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. March 9, 2012,  http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/netp2010.pdf

Brett Murrey

ELED 5311/ ET 8050

Week 2 Assignment, Part 3 Blog Posting #2

The Royse City ISD Technology Plan's primary focus is on integrating technology with our core curriculum and campus operations. Not only will this will allow us to utilize the highest level of staff and student performance, but it will also lead to increased productivity throughout our district. Our technology plan addresses several goals and components for a successful technology program.  These include the integration of technology, professional development for all employees, a high level of community involvement, incorporation of 21st Century Skills, trained and quality personnel, consistent technology access, and a management plan for the infrastructure. Growth challenges do exist for our school district, in the form of new buildings and expansions.  This is causing a large strain on our technology department and infrastructure, as they continue to try and keep up with the growth of our schools.
RCISD has formed a District Technology Improvement Committee, which consists of teachers, technology personnel and campus administration.  This committee is responsible for performing an assessment of the current condition of our district and schools, and to use that information to help prepare for our future and make or adjust goals as necessary. 
RCISD recognizes more opportunities for professional development in the area of technology are essential for technology success.  Our district has had several professional development opportunities for technology learning, utilizing technology experts within our own staff.  Technology integration is a priority on our campus and our classrooms.
Multiple assessments are used to ensure that learning is student centered and continues to improve.  Some of these assessments include:  Technology integration planning meetings, material and equipment inventories, STaR Chart data, online assessments, and formal technology skills testing.

 Reference:
ROYSE CITY ISD Technology Plan for E-Rate Year 14,  2011 - 2014 (2010),  March 11, 2012 
http://schoolsites.schoolworld.com/schools/RoyseCity/files/filesystem/ROYSE%20CITY%20ISD%20Technology%20Plan.pdf

Brett Murrey

EDLD 5311/ ET 8050