Douglas+Gimbar

Class Project Link to the wiki created for everyday use by my students, present and future.

Concluding Assignment For my concluding assignment I decided to describe my growth as an educator in regards to the ISTE standards. My growth has not only occurred as a result of my class project, but also because of the wealth of information I attained over the course of the semester, and was able to use immediately in my classroom.

1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity As a result of the emphasis placed on reflection in this class, I tried to place an emphasis on it in my own classes. I have encouraged them to, everyday, if only for a few minutes, review everything that went on in class that day. They should analyze the notes they took and the practice problems we went over. It is up to them to realize what aspects of the lesson they understand and what parts they need more help with - and then ask those questions the next day in class. I feel that understanding your own weaknesses is the only way to improve upon them, and thus become a better learner.

2. Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments My final project is an example of the digital-age learning experience that all of my students will now be able to experience. They now have the ability to find a multitude of external resources on any topic we cover, all located in one place. With all of the information available to us by just clicking the mouse, my students do not have to wait until the next day in class to get clarity on a topic. I feel this will also be beneficial for a student if they are absent. They can look in the book or on the wiki to determine which section we covered in class and to find some websites that explain the content they missed. When they come in the next day, they will not feel overwhelmed by the material, they now have the opportunity learn some of the material on their own, then just ask me to clarify any questions they may have. As far as the digital-age assessments go, I will begin to incorporate blogging and/or discussion boards or forums on the wiki page as a requirement for the class. They will be required to post either a question or a comment about the material covered in class as well as a response to someone elses comment or question. This will promote communication skills, better collaboration, and force them to think about the material outside of the classroom. Hopefully, it will keep it fresh in their heads and help them comprehend all of the material.

3. Model digital-age learning and work The perfect example of modeling this type of work occurred throughout the semester as I constantly showed my class the types of technologies we were experimenting with our our class. I was able to walk them through the creation of our class wiki, as well as blogging and the importance of communication and collaboration as it relates to the future of our society.

4. Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility For the same reasons mentioned in the previous standard.

5. Engage in professional growth and leadership First of all, my participation in a Master's program in general, and this class specifically, has greatly effected my professional growth and leadership. It shows that I am constantly trying to learn more and better myself as a person and as an educator. Secondly, the creation of the wiki involved a great amount of collaboration with my students as well as my fellow teachers and their students. I was able to "organize" all of the information gathered by my students and those in the classes taught by my colleagues. They were extremly helpful and provided a great deal of information to the wiki. Most of them were also in love with the idea of the wiki. I hope their classes will use it as a source to benefit their learning also. It will be interesting to see if students in different classes are able to communicate/assist each other using the discussion board. Maybe the other teachers have a different way of explaining certain topics and students can get the extra help they need through this medium also.

This class and the tools I discovered throughout it will frequently be used in my classroom. Hopefully they will benefit my students just as much as they benefitted me when I learned about them for the first time. It was an eye-opening experience that I will carry with me as along as I am in the classroom.