EDU6713: Course Reflection

Over the past seven weeks of this course, I have learned a great deal while implementing my GAME plan. My original plan was to spend at least an hour every two weeks researching a technology that I could use to accentuate my lessons. I later decided to research weekly instead of biweekly since I enjoyed it so much and was eager to learn more.

I spent a solid month studying the Geogebra mathematics application and brainstorming ideas for using it my classes. I ended up redesigning an entire calculus lesson on vectors due to the amazing visuals provided by this app. I also plan on utilizing Geogebra heavily in my geometry classes next year since nearly any geometric structure can be created and experimented with by students. While I studied a number of mathematics technologies I was not crazy about, the other promising program I spent some time with was Winplot. Ever since I began teaching AP calculus, I wanted to find a way to make solids of revolution come to life for my students and Winplot is the application that does it. The learning curve was a bit higher for this program than for some of the other graphing technologies, but it is the only one I found that adequately shows the result of revolving solids around an axis of rotation. I will need more practice with this one before I am ready to incorporate it into my lessons, but I already anticipate using some summer time for this purpose.

Due to the positive results I have seen in my instruction as well as my own motivation through implementation of my GAME plan, I intend to continue building my technological repertoire even after this course ends. I feel like the pace of research I set is reasonable so I do not intend to revise it at this time. I also intend to share the GAME format with my students in order to improve their creative and self-directed learning skills (Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer, 2009). Therefore, at the beginning of the unit plan I developed this year, I will introduce the GAME format to my students so they may use it to set goals, plan their project, monitor their progress, and evaluate their performances. Since it will be my first time utilizing this process, I will likely develop a project sheet the students will complete at the end of a work day to self-assess their performance.

Some of the learning I acquired in this course will be utilized immediately while some will have to wait a year before it is implemented in my classroom. As far as immediate application goes, I plan on giving my Calculus students the opportunity to do their final lesson by utilizing digital storytelling. The students will have to teach a Calculus lesson and a digital storytelling program is a nice way this can be done. I already utilize the social networking aspect of technology through Edmodo and I do not have an additional plans for this platform at the moment. In terms of problem based learning, I will have to wait another year to implement the full unit plan I developed in this course. However, I was excited with how well the first lesson based on problem-based learning turned out and cannot wait to see how the other two follow up lessons will play out.

 

Reference

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning