Levels of Technology Implementation

Howdy!

So for this EDIT 7500 class we had to read an article on Levels of Technology Implementation. It was pretty interesting. I instruct at a collegiate level and wonder to what extent technology will be helpful to my future instruction. I love using technology, but generally I use it as an extension of my existing lesson plan. I typically setup a lecture/discussion outline. With the outline in place I develop a powerpoint and bookmark a few relevant images and videos that may help. I am interested to see what is out there, but am comfortable with my current technology use. In the article it mentioned research that technology availability in addition to professional development helped enrich classrooms. Thus, I am happy to be part of this class because UGA's technology is phenomenal.

As far as the survey, I was not surprised by the results....well at least the broken down results. The bar graph was something....different....

 That surprised me, but once I checked the results on the side I was much more encouraged.

For LoTI I was a Level 2 Exploration with sounds about right. I really only use technology to support my existing lesson plan, but I am interested in learning./applying more. Here was my printout result for that section.

For Personal Use I kind of felt I would blow this one out of the water. I have had a computer since I was 9 and subsequently learned very early how to fix my cpus. I have learned a lot about cpus over the years culminating in a two year stint working on an IT Helpdesk saving up for Grad School. While I applied my existing knowledge to fixing one set of problems, my base grew and I became very knowledgeable. I was level 7. Here is its printout.

Current Instructional Practices placed me with Level 5, which evidently indicates I focus on student's being involved in the learning process. I think that is very true. I think a student learns best by doing and being involved. Such a process is particularly beneficial to the discussion sections I currently work with. Here is its printout.

So, I have had a few things about myself confirmed which is always valuable to see. I am looking forward to taking this survey at the end of this course to see if anything has changed.

As far as my project is concerned I am still leaning towards a Flipped Classroom with a special youtube video students can watch outside of the class so I do not have to provide a bunch of background. I just need to set aside some time to make a rudimentary outline and discuss the item with Dr. Soper. We'll See. Until next time....

Angermeier Out!

Reflective Blog 1: Flipped classroom?

So, I had never heard of a flipped classroom until one of my classmates in EDIT 7500 mentioned it as a potential project idea. I went and looked it up shortly after that and was intrigued. Here is a link to a wikipedia article on the flipped classroom(which is ironic because I would never recommend wikipedia in my classroom) Flipped Teaching.

For those who are not interested in reading the article a flipped classroom involves providing students with video lectures to watch as homework. After watching the videos the students bring questions to class and then do their "homework" assignments in the class with the instructor. Theoretically, the teacher gets more hands-on time with students to develop the application phases of learning.

Coincidentally, I watched the local news at home this weekend that discussed a school doing the flipped class. The science teachers all got together and did video lectures, then did experiments and homework in the class. It seemed very rewarding in the short story.

I am intrigued and wondering how this could possibly be applied to my own breakout sessions. For example, I have to lead one session of life in Nazi Germany. As my specialty is Nazi Germany I could provide A LOT of background information on this topic. I could provide so much background I would likely eat up critical discussion time just prattling on about any number of things. So, I am wondering if I did a brief online lecture with background, what benefits it would have....

Benefits:
1. Give students more background with an intricate topic.
2. Take up less class time with background knowledge
3. Allow students to get more in-depth with reading materials as they will be armed with new background info.
4. Students can have more information with which to debate/discuss the lecture material.

Cons:
1. Does such a video overstep my role as a TA?
2. Does such material contradict the value of the main lectures?
3. Can/should these students be obligated to view this video?

What is encouraging about my initial thoughts on this matter is that all my cons are questions, not definitive negatives. I will just need to ask these questions and if those answers turn out favorably...

I am intrigued by the idea of a flipped breakout section and will be thinking of this idea for quite sometime.

So....I was going to sign off like Doogie Howser does in his blog, but as it turns out Howser never signed off....so....in homage to that cult classic show.....