Reflection for EDTC 6139:  Selection and Integration of Multimedia for PreK-12 Schools

Instructor:  Dr. Ken Luterbach

State the competency, or standard that is appropriate for your degree and licensure area.

Standards for the Master of Instructional Technology Degree/Coordinator/Director of Technology License (077)

Standard 1:  The instructional technology coordinator/director will demonstrate knowledge and skills related to technology operations and concepts.

Indicator 2:  Demonstrates continual growth in technology knowledge and skills to stay abreast of current and emerging technologies.

Standard 2:  The instructional technology coordinator/director will plan and design learning environments and experiences.

            Indicator 3:  Identifies and locates technology resources and evaluates them for accuracy and suitability.

Standard 5:  The instructional technology coordinator/director will use technology resources to enhance productivity and professional practice.

            Indicator 2:  Continually self-evaluates and reflects on professional practice to make informed decisions regarding the use of technology in support of student learning.

Describe the requirements for the artifact.

            Selection and Integration of Multimedia for PreK-12 Schools, taught by Dr. Ken Luterbach in Summer II 2013, focused on gaining experiences in the selection and evaluation of multimedia resources.  Understanding the area of computer technology and its application to the K-12 curriculum was included in this focus.  Smaldino, Lowther, and Russell (2012) state that it is important to carefully select, use, and evaluate multimedia resources (traditional and the more innovative) so that learners gain the skills and knowledge they need to be successful in the 21^st century.  This project consisted of identifying, describing, and sharing exemplary multimedia resources found on and off the web.  We were to also share these resources with a teacher and request feedback, and to include a reflection on using these resources within our teaching practices in the future. 

Explain how your artifact is a good example of the objective, competency, or standard.

            Upon completion of this artifact, we were required to put the information on a webpage and provide the link within the document.  We created two separate web pages, one for resources on the World Wide Web and one for resources not on the World Wide Web.  The page with World Wide Web resources included working hyperlinks to the available resources. 

I feel the creation of this webpage demonstrates my knowledge and skills related to technology operations and concepts (077 Standard 1). 

            According to Johnson, Levine, Smith, and Haywood (2010), technology is no longer seen as an isolated influence.  It is now seen as a way for learners to take control and keep in touch with their learning.   To support this change, teaching practices and teaching tools must adapt.  Through the evaluation of several technology tools and the collection of these few as exemplary, I am able to demonstrate continual growth in technology knowledge and skills to stay abreast of current and emerging technologies (077 Standard 1, Indicator 2). 

            Simply providing access to technology doesn’t mean that children will learn from it.  It also does not mean that the material provided by the technology will be actually help students learn.  Without being connected to appropriate objectives and goals and being evaluated for effectiveness, technology does not do a whole lot of good (Noeth & Volkov, 2004).  The purpose of this entire artifact was to identify, locate, and evaluate technology resources to find resources that were accurate and suitable for a particular goal or objective (077 Standard 2, Indicator 3).

            As part of the assignment for this artifact, we were required to share these sources with another teacher and then reflect on that teacher’s feedback.  I feel that this section of the artifact provided the opportunity for me to self-evaluate and reflect on my professional practice (077 Standard 5, Indicator 2).  In addition to the reflection of teacher feedback, we also had to provide a personal reflection that shared how we might use these resources within our teaching practices in the future.  I believe this section allowed me to show that I am able to use my reflections to make informed decisions regarding the use of technology in support of student learning (077 Standard 5, Indicator 2).

Discuss how you might change the content, strategy, or design of the artifact.

            The only thing I would change about this artifact is that I provided only Language Arts resources.  At the time, that made sense because I was working as a Reading Specialist and wanted to find resources that not only would meet the needs of the assignment, but also my needs as a teacher.  However, now my teaching needs have changed as I move into an AIG Specialist position.  I would love to have had some evaluated resources that were related to math or science that I could refer to as well.

            I really like the design of the artifact.  I believe it provides a great deal of information about the resource in an easy to view format.  The only thing I would change about the design would be to include a copyright or publishing date.  Including this date would allow me to easily see which resources may be close to becoming obsolete and allow me to monitor updates to these resources if and when they become available.

Discuss how the artifact is representative of future and career goals and plans.

            EDTC 6139 has provided me the opportunity to gain experiences in the selection and evaluation of multimedia resources, as well as, to help me understand the computer technology and its application to the K-12 curriculum.  I have learned this is important when using technology in the classroom in order to create and provide quality instruction.  Before taking this class I did not really evaluate the resources I used in my classroom.  I would look at them to see if they somewhat met my needs, but I did not truly evaluate them.  I now see the importance of this, and knowing how to evaluate these resources has already proven to be a valuable asset to me as I transition to AIG Specialist this year.  I am sure that this artifact will be pulled out and used frequently throughout my educational career.

References

Johnson, L. F., Levine, A., Smith, R. S., & Haywood, K. (2010). Key emerging technologies for elementary and secondary education. Education Digest, 76(1), 36.

Noeth, R. J., & Volkov, B. B. (2004). Evaluating the effectiveness of technology in our schools. ACT, Inc.

Smaldino, S. E., Lowther, D. L., & Russell, J. D. (2012). Instructional technology and media for learning. Boston, MA:  Pearson Education, Inc.