Instruction

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Instruction is an important theme to me because of the courses that included activities and projects that changed and/or improved my instruction in the classroom by increasing my knowledge of integration,learning theories and styles. I really appreciated the refresher of learning theories. I think I had these at some point during my bachelor's degree work, but now I could see and apply my learning directly to my classroom. I've found that my classroom is primarily constructivist in focus. I appreciated the instructors allowing me to create/design activities that could be used in my classroom. My students are active learners engaged in constructing meaning through projects, research, technology use, etc. My role is changing to more of a facilitator, but I have to admit that I have a ways to go yet. It is very difficult to be the guide on the side when so many standards have to be covered before testing. My goal is to have my students engaged in active learning rather than busy work. As I continue to grow and learn as an educator, I will continue to monitor and adjust my teaching style to better meet the needs of my students.

Related MSET Program Goals:

* Students will be leaders in educational technology.
* Students will be current in teaching and learning processes and practices.
* Students will be current in research technologies and designs.
* Students will be knowledgeable of technologies and programming skills.
* Students will be knowledgeable of current, technology-based educational tools and products.

Related MSET Program Objectives:

*The educator is skilled at identifyingg opportunities within the curriculum for improved student learning through technology and is capable of designing technology enriched learning activities that support the curriculum.

*The educator has a variety of instructional strategies for teaching and learning with technology and is able to match specific strategies with the learning needs of individual students.

*The educator is sufficiently knowledgeable to play a significant role in the identification and acquisition of technology resources in support of learning.

*The educator is familiar with multimedia and presentation technologies and is able to guide studetns in the application of these technologies.

Course
Comments
Project Links
CET 727 Social Studies in a Mobile Computing Environment  This was my last course of the MSET program and a great way to finish. The projects and assignments were worthwhile and usable in my classroom rather than just busy work. I was able to find more links for the Revolutionary War unit I teach and really work on my lesson plans to coordinate with the new textbook adoption.
CET 726 Technology in the Curriculum  Th course fits in my Instruction theme because of the focus on using technology in the curriculum with real purpose. It is one more tool that I have available to me as an instructor to enhance the learning of my students. I fin the idea of a paperless classroom interesting. I do have an electronic dropbox on the building server where my students can hand in projects and we did use it some. I'm still working through the kinks, but the students really liked it.
LT 712 Principals of Learning for Instructional Technology  I decided to complete a final project in this course on cooperative learning approaches because I use cooperative learning often in my classroom. I have seven round tables instead of desks and my students are actively learning and working together using the wireless laptops and other tools available. Students engage in task work and team work and develop the social skills necessary with my help.
CET 728 Language Arts in a Mobile Computing Environment  I found that this course did not meet my expectations because I had hoped for more of a focus on Web 2.0 skills of blogging, podcasting, and wikis. I did like using the web tool Zoho to work on the lesson plans and if I taught at the middle or high school level, I would have been more enthusiastic about some of those sites. I do want to use sticky notes more in my classroom as a notetaking tool for my students when they are researching information. I had not thought about using stickies this way until this course.
 LT 716 Systematic Design of Instruction  I really wish I had taken a course like this before I was in my technology facilitator role. In that role I often presented to and taught teachers about various technology tools, programs, etc. I learned the lessons taught in this course through trial and error. I was able to use the project I designed for this course in my classroom though because writing a strong lead had been a weak area for my students.
LT 731 Multimedia Production  This course definitely fits in the Instruction theme because I really believe it is the way to engage students in instruction and learning. Kids are wired to multimedia. It catches and holds their attention. It was fun to have the time to work more in-depth with some of the tools I use in my classroom. My students create imovie reports about Revolutionary War heroes, vocabulary, books, etc. They also use Inspiration to web information. I had not thought to have them use their created web as a presentation tool, however, until this course.
CET 721 Web Authoring  I already use my K12 web space for a web site as part of my classroom instruction, but it was interesting to learn about the actual standards for web pages. I also learned about frames and how to set them up. My instructor allowed me to use DreamWeaver instead of FrontPage which I appreciated even though it raised my learning curve.
LT 741 Introduction to Distance Education  This was my first completely online learning experience. I appreciated the organization of the course and really learned about WebCT. The instructor was flexible and allowed me to design my lesson plan for 5th graders while incorporating a discussion board and quizzes using WebCT.
CET 769 Adult Learning for Distance Education  This course was also very interesting because I learned more about adults and how they learn. What was really intriguing was how much of it applies to 5th graders! I developed a presentation about blogging and its purpose in the classroom. This gave me the confidence to use a "gated blog" with my students and it was worthwhile and successful.