Final Course Reflection

Areas of Growth:
When learning, it is very important to build on strengths. I really appreciate the design of the 812 course, which builds on projects we created in 810 and 811. For example, the podcast project extended our techquest project and allowed us to add a new element to our blogs. One highlight of this course was the Valenza article and the forum discussion about the valuable information packed into this article. I plan to devote more time to learning how to search more effectively and teach students the higher-order skills required to access, evaluate and synthesize information they find on their searches.
In my techquest project on Promethean Boards, I was able to connect research findings with my own goals for using this technology tool. I used the ISTE NETS for teachers to develop a technology plan for my future classroom. Both of these projects helped me to advance my understanding of how to meet ISTE NETS standards with the effective use of the technology tools in our local classrooms.
The most important outcome of this class was my increased comfort level in selecting, using and problem-solving with a variety of software and internet resources. My "coolness factor" has been raised, since I can now navigate new tools (such as my new touch screen phone) and new programs (such as garage band.) I am better able to share ideas with my sons (aged 10 and 14) about our favorite tools, apps and programs. See the end of this post for a summary of my positive experiences at my first technology conference.

Questions and Challenges:
The clock is ticking....My challenges are the same as those faced by other busy teachers. As a full-time teacher and mother of teenagers, my main question is how to incorporate technology in the classroom and develop my confidence with new technology tools without spending too much time at a computer screen. My goal is to mentor fellow teachers on the effective uses of educational technology resources such as WebQuests, podcasts, ActivInspire flipcharts, etc. How can I convince them that it is worth investing their valuable time to learn and apply these resources to their classrooms? I need to learn more about time management strategies, ways to work more efficiently on the internet (without getting lost in a labyrinth of interesting images and bits of info) and how to make the best use of my time with students. Along these same lines, I am working with my sons to reflect on the amount of time that they spend on the computer and which activities are "displaced" by this time in front of a screen. I know that many parents are struggling with this same challenge in their homes.

Future Plans:
I plan to continue in the MAET program until I complete my master's degree. I am convinced that these classes will provide well-selected materials and projects that will advance my understanding of how to integrate technology in my classroom. Also, I plan to take advantage of all of the training opportunities that I can find along the way, including training offered by my 2 sons. It is very empowering for our "digital natives" to teach the eager-to-learn immigrants such as myself.

This screen shot is from the Alaska Society for Technology in Education, www.aste.org
The first three MAET courses (810, 811, and 812) gave me to gain the skills and confidence I needed to attend my first ASTE conference. This was such a worthwhile 3 days of training!
I learned and practiced new skills at the two classes I took at the pre-conference and the two sessions I attended at the regular conference. I walked away with a new comfort level in 2 programs (ActivInspire and garage band) and techniques for creating multi-media projects using web 2.0 tools.
Even though it is stressful at times, I am very thankful all of the training and support I have received so far on this learning journey. I know that I need to "go slow in order to go fast." Now, I just need to figure out how to work more efficiently and effectively.

Promethean Project Evaluation

The goals of this project were to increase kindergarten students' skill level and engagement with creative writing and to introduce these students to the Promethean Board using a flipchart that featured their writing, artwork and photos.
This multi-layered project using the ActivInspire software from Promethean in a kindergarten classroom included the following steps:

• I began by telling animal riddles with 3 clues during group time in the kindergarten. I encouraged students to create and tell their own animal riddles.
• Using my laptop, I worked one-on-one with students to create their own animal riddle with 3 clues.
• I printed this riddle and worked with students to put these riddles in a bound book with flaps that lifted to reveal clues and their illustration of the animal.
• I read this book with the students at group time to talk about creative writing skills (such as which clues were more challenging and which order was best for the 3 clues)
• I created a Promethean flipchart with the student's riddle on a page along with a photo of this student showing his/her illustration in the book. (the cover page of this flipchart is shown in the screen shot above with one of the riddle pages shown on the left side. The blank box on the riddle page is the location of the student's photo and artwork. For this screen shot, I removed the photo.)
• I plan to show this flipchart to the students and have each student use the revealer tool to read his or her riddle one clue at a time (the rest of the screen will be black until the students use the revealer tool to show all of the clues and their illustration and photo at the bottom)
• I will show the students how they can use the "pen device" to move the text around and change the order of the clues on their riddles.
  
• I will pre-load the animal sounds for their riddles in the media library and show the students how to add their animal sound to the page.

Challenges to implementing this project:

• The main challenge was the lack of cords for the Promethean Boards, which meant that this project is still on the back burner until we can use our Board with the software.
• This is the first flipchart I have ever created and used with students. The kindergarten students and their teacher are new to Promethean Boards as well. The challenge will be to show the students some of the interesting features of the ActivInspire software (i.e. using the revealer tool, moving text around while editing and inserting sound clips) without trying to teach too much in their first experience with this tool. We will break this lesson up over a series of days so that it is more manageable.
  
• I have only received 1 day of training in this software and have not had additional opportunities to work with my fellow teachers on creating and using flipcharts effectively. The school administrator and tech coordinator plan to offer a series of training sessions on this tool in April and May.

Lessons Learned:

• Since I have not been able to implement this project, I don't have any ideas about modifications yet. I will post this information on my blog after I implement this project.
• One lesson I will keep in mind is that it is always important to connect every project to the NETS for students. This is harder to do with younger students, but may be easier to do when I am working with older students in the future.
  

Modifications for future projects:

• I hope that I will be teaching older students next year since I am applying for a classroom position in 4th-6th grade. With older students, I would use this format for a fun research project about an animal. I would have a partnership of 2 students select an animal from the continent we are currently studying, then they would do research (using 2-3 websites I selected ahead of time) to write an animal riddle and create an informational report on this animal. This ActivInpsire flipchart format would be used for the animal riddle. Students would have the option of choosing to use ActivInspire, VoiceThread or a podcast format for their informational report. We would repeat this process for all of the continents.
  

Promethean research and podcast

Promethean Research and TechQuest Project

• Welcome to the summary of my research on Promethean boards and the effects of using ActivInspire to increase student achievement, especially in the area of creative writing.
• This podcast (see side bar) describes my Promethean board project, which I am currently implementing in a kindergarten classroom. It will also include an overview of the research on the effects of instruction using Interactive White Boards (IWBs) such as Promethean boards.
• On my own computer, I created a Promethean "flipchart" for an animal riddle project that I did with a kindergarten class of 20 students. I wanted to use the Promethean Board in a way that built on the students enthusiasm for animal riddles. We began by sharing animal riddles during group times, then I worked one-on-one with each student to type their animal riddle on the computer so that they could illustrate their riddles for a class book. We worked on concepts of print and basic editing skills while working one-on-one. Then, I created a "flipchart" with the students' animal riddles in the ActivInspire program. Each page of the flipchart included a riddle and a photo of the student holding the book open to their illustrated page. As soon as our Promethean boards are functional (we do not have the connector cords yet), I will use the "revealer" tool on the flipchart to have the students interact with their writing on the IWB. This will be one of the first IWB projects for the class, since the board was installed in early February. Since I am an instructional aide for this class, it was outside of the scope of my job to create an assessment piece that would provide feedback on student achievement results. When I am teaching in the classroom, hopefully next year, I will use formative assessments as a key piece of my projects so that I can provide specific feedback to students and plan for the next step in their learning.
  
• I recently attended a day-long training on the new Promethean board software, ActivInspire, at the Alaska Society for Technology in Education conference. The presenter, Mr. Sawyer, gave his view of the levels of interactivity that most teachers move through when they begin using a Promethean board. First, teachers build on what they know and get comfortable with the board in a "teacher use" phase of low interactivity. Then, the teachers allow students to use the board and pen at a basic "student use" level. Eventually, the class reaches the "student anticipation" level with full student engagement and a high level of interactive learning.
• After reviewing the research on IWBs, I understand why our local middle school principal and the teaching staff had implemented Promethean boards to the greatest degree possible, yet had never prepared reports on the effects of using this technology for the last 3-4 years. Because this school adopted a number of innovative programs at the same time, such as one-to-one computing, block scheduling, etc., it was impossible to determine which innovation had contributed to the positive effects on student achievement. Another challenge is deciding how to measure the effects of the IWBs. In a blog post linked to the Promethean Planet site titled "Quantifying the Unquantifiable", Mark Robinson asked the question, "Can you really measure things like enthusiasm, commitment, passion, fun and engagement and use this as additional 'evidence' to help all stakeholders evaluate how learning is actually happening in order to improve it?" Sometimes it is hard to select what evidence to use when measuring the impact of a new technology. Finally, as we all know as teachers, there is never enough time to accomplish all of the necessary tasks in a day, so lack of time is a roadblock to conducting and reporting on classroom research.
  
• For a great overview of research on IWBs, I recommend the report by Cisco and Metiri Group titled, "Technology in Schools: What Does the Research Say: 2009. I have included a table from this report that summarizes the research findings for both experimental research and "correlational/ descriptive" case studies. The findings were mixed for experimental research, yet case studies had positive findings.
• While conducting research on Promethean Boards, there were times that I was concerned about the lack of extensive, peer-reviewed studies. I have included a screen shot from the Promethean World website that lists 10 research articles. Out of the 10 articles, there are only 4 reports that directly relate to the effects of Promethean IWBs. I will discuss these articles in depth in my TechQuest paper. The other studies were either about related technologies (such as sound systems) or about the general trends in educational technology. I spoke with a Promethean representative at the conference I attended and expressed my concern about the lack of research at this time. As I stated earlier, I understand the reasons why it is very difficult to conduct classroom-based research on IWBs, such as the challenges of time, the competing effects of other innovations, and the challenges of deciding how to measure the overall effects.
  
• Overall, I am very excited about the potential for student engagement and achievement with the Promethean ActivInspire program. I am hoping that our school will be able to purchase multiple sets of the ActiVote component, which is a hand held device that allows for multiple opportunities for interaction and immediate feedback. In Mark Robinson's blog about "Quantifying the Unquantifiable", he wrote that the ActiVote system included "pre-set scales for getting feedback on confidence and agreement...and the resource library was stocked with a variety of response scales and templates designed with the purpose of providing contexts for self-reflection." He goes on to say that, "there is some great evidence that making use of these meta-cognitive questions can have profound impacts on student learning."
• My tech quest paper, which will be available on my website in early March, will go into greater detail about the research on IWBs and the specific ways in which the Promethean company has used research to evaluate impacts on student achievement and engagement.
• The screen shots on this blog are from the following sites: http://www.prometheanworld.com/server.php?show=nav.19203 http://www.metiri.com/
  

My research on interactive white boards (IWBs) and their effective use in the classroom has lead me to a collection of interesting studies found on the ERIC database. I have found some articles on the website for THE journal (Technological Horizons in Education). When I searched the internet using google scholar, I found a number of recent research articles on IWBs, mostly from the UK.

On the Promethean website,http://www.prometheanworld.com, there are links to 10 research articles. I plan to continue researching the study conducted by the Marzano Research Lab on the effectiveness of the Promethean IWB as well as the critical reviews of this study.

For my 810 class, I analyzed the Marzano Research Lab study on the Promethean IWB and read blogger's criticisms of this study. These critical reviews can be found at the following sites: http://iwbrevolution.ning.com/profiles/blogs/taking-aim-at-marzano-and-1, http://edtechleadership.com/wordpress3/?p=246, http://edinsanity.com/2009/06/03/marzano_part2/
I will continue to look for additional studies and participate in a forum discussion about effective use of IWBs on the site, classroom 2.0, http://www.classroom20.com/forum

ISTE recommendations and my TechQuest project idea

In the ISTE policy brief, Techology and Student Achievement--The Indelible Link", there are 7 factors identified for successful technology implementation.
I have included these 7 factors along with a connection to my TechQuest project plan about Promethean Board use in our local schools and using this IWB tool to effectively teach lessons in creative and informational writing.

1. Effective professional development for teachers in the integration of technology into instruction is necessary to support student learning. (On Feb 20th, I will participate in a day-long training at a state-wide ASTE confference on the effective integration of the Promethean Board technology. I will share resources from this training with my colleagues. I will participate in the trainings offered by our local tech staff members and seek one-on-one training from local mentors who are effectively using this IWB technology in their classrooms.)
2. Teachers' direct application of technology must be aligned to local and/or state curriculum standards. (I plan to investigate how the NETS for teachers and students are being used in our schools, as well as how the use of the Promethean technology is aligned with curriculum standards in language arts and other subjects. I have 5 years of experience with a standards-based model of education as part of the award-winning Chugach School District in Alaska)
3. Technology must be incorporated into the daily learning schedule (i.e., not as a supplement or after-school tutorial). (The school-wide expectation is that teachers will incorporate the Promethean Boards in their daily learning schedule. In my current role as an instructional aide, I will need to partner with other teachers to use this technology with students on a day-to-day basis.)
4. Programs and applications must provide individualized feedback to students and teachers and must have the ability to tailor lessons to individual student needs. (I agree with the statement in this ISTE brief that "educational technology provides multiple avenues for assessing student learning and allowing students to communicate what they have learned to their teachers and parents." One goal of my TechQuest will be how to provide individualized feedback to students on their creative and informational writing, plus provide an opportunity for the students to share their writing projects with their families.)
5. Student collaboration in the use of technology is more effective in influencing student achievement than strictly individual use. (I plan to focus on effective ways to use the Promethean Board to encourage student collaboration in the area of responding to and editing creative and informational writing.)
6. Project-based learning and real-world simulations are more effective in changing student motivation and achievement than drill-and-practice applications. (I have read a number of articles and blog postings that are critical of the ways in which Promethean Boards and other IWBs are mis-used in classrooms. The criticisms point out how teachers are using this technology to do "old things in new ways" such as drill-and-practice worksheet type applications instead of using this technology in a transformational way with project-based and real-world simulations on the IWBs)
7. Effective technology integration requires leadership, support and modeling from teachers, administrators, and the community/ parents. (I plan to research how our local middle school administration, staff and students are sharing the results of their effective use of Promethean Boards with community and School Board members. Our local middle school has been using this technology for more than 2 years, while some of our elementary classrooms just received their IWB at the end of last month.)

I hope that these 7 factors from the ISTE brief will help guide my research and training on the Promethean Board, which is an important tool that is being implemented district-wide in our local classrooms.

New York Times blog discussion about "Wired Kids, Negligent Parents?"

My creative 10-year old son was asked by his language arts teacher to write a paragraph about an animal in its natural habitat. He decided to write about "tweens" and "screenagers" in their natural habitat of school. My sons (10 and 14) and I talk about the phenomenon of "screenagers" when we talk about reasonable amounts of "screen time" and the amount of time their friends spend on their screens. This blog discussion can be found at http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/wired-kids-negligent-parents/?emc=eta1
I agreed with 2 pieces of advice for parents from Linda Guernsey who wrote,

"Experiencing the media together would a good first step. The research on “co-viewing” — on the positive impact that comes from parents watching media with their children and talking about it — is persuasive. Schools and community groups need to wake up too and explore how these media interactions could be turned into more active learning experiences that extend to real, face-to-face life.

And yes, we will still need to set boundaries. I liked the example, given at the Kaiser Family Foundation forum last week, of middle-school parents banding together to impose a texting “curfew” on weeknights."

Recently, I had dinner with a group of friends to discuss our teenaged kids (who are all friends) and to share ideas about how to pick our battles and work together to enforce some common rules, including curfews on texting on school nights. This discussion helped us to create an agreement with our "screenager", who turns off and gives us his phone and laptop at 10pm on weeknights.
I feel like I should wear a black and white referee shirt, since I often find myself in the role of policing parental limits on daily screen time. It would be more positive for me and my husband to find more opportunities for "co-viewing" when my sons are allowed screen time.

Lively debate about IWB technology

Thank goodness for the free e-newsletter service from Education Week (http://www.edweek.org). I was just alerted to a featured blogger who wrote a criticism of IWB tools and how they are being used in the classrooms. You can find this posting at The Tempered Radical by Bill Ferriter (http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical) At the onset of his post, "Wasting Money on Whiteboards...", he warns "Blogger’s Note: I’m a bit worked up today, so this post has rant written all over it. It’s heavy on the Radical and light on the Tempered. Read at your own risk."
I am so grateful for the forums created by blogs. I plan to read the comments to this posting and join in the discussion with my thoughts about IWB technologies.
I need to make sure that I keep an open mind and wait to decide whether the IWBs (and Promethean Boards specifically) are worth the cost. I am concerned about the passivity of our local community of teachers and tax-paying residents, since I have never heard discussions about the schools' IWBs and how they are being used to increase student achievement and engagement. Why aren't people asking questions about the costs of putting IWBs in all classrooms, even the kindergarten classrooms? Why aren't the schools sharing results with community members about the measurable gains they are observing in their students? The middle school has been using these IWBs for more than 2 years now. The only time that I've heard a presentation about Promethean Boards was at a school board meeting last February, when a group of teachers and administrators publicly thanked our School Board members for sending them to an excellent training on Promethean Boards at the ASTE conference. I don't recall any questions by the board members about the effectiveness of this tool in the classroom.
I plan to talk with local teacher and administrators (with an open mind!) about how they have measured and reported on results to the School Board and community members.