Using only YouTube videos and online help forums, I attempted to learn something completely new. The Networked Learning Project allowed me to learn at my own pace and on my own schedule. This project reminds me that as educators, it is important to put ourselves in the role of learner. Experiencing what it’s like to learn something new and being mindful of the challenges will help us relate to our own students as they encounter frustrations and setbacks. This video documents my learning process as I explored typography and hand-lettering.
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Following a face-to-face professional development session about iPad creation apps, I designed on online course to help teachers extend their learning. During the design process, I made important pedagogical and design choices as I considered my audience, accessibility and assessment. For example, ISTE Standards for Teachers (2008) guided my work in decisions I made for my students (and fellow colleagues) about authentic and relevant student learning experiences, creativity, innovative thinking, and engaging in professional growth. Also, an alignment activity allowed me to reflect on existing content and make sure activities and assessments were aligned with my learning goals. This course is a prototype as I continue to develop content and refine the online experience of my users. I am hopeful that it can be a powerful professional development tool.
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I became an active learner in the Design Thinking process as I worked to identify and address an authentic and meaningful problem of practice. Design Thinking is an active, creative, reflective process that provides an innovative approach to problem-solving. Now that I have experienced the process, I understand how it can also be a powerful tool for student learning. It also supports my progressive education pedagogy with a focus on the learning process. The prototype I designed is a professional development website that later evolved into a monthly newsletter. It serve as a helpful professional development resource for my colleagues.
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After exploring and playing with a maker kit, Circuit Stickers, I repurposed the kit in a way that supported my teaching or classroom context. This was an innovative, hands-on learning activity that gave me a introductory experience for using the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework and repurposing. Teachers often need to repurpose educational technology as they re-envison its connection to curriculum, pedagogy and learning goals. I repurposed a traditional journal and integrated craft with technology.
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To share my learning about creativity in teaching and learning and help teachers cultivate creativity in their own classrooms, I used two well-loved picture books, Beautiful Oops and A Little Bit Ooomph by Barney Saltzberg, to represent the cognitive tools of creativity. This also provided an opportunity in my educational technology integration role to introduce teachers to a new technology tool, Adobe Spark, for use in their classrooms.
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As as technology integration specialist, I am often asked to help support students with learning needs using assistive technology. I identified a problem of practice (how to support students with dysgraphia) and critically evaluated a digital tool to address the problem. I also learned how to create a screencast and it's a technique I continue to use and share with colleagues when evaluating other digital tools or providing tutorials of new technologies.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
ALL IMAGES ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED |