Tech Rich Lesson Relection

April Keyes and JoAnne Cole
Tech rich lesson plan reflection

The article that we chose to write this review on was a journal article researching the changing beliefs of two elementary school teachers who engaged their students in project-based learning in a technology-rich environment. Researchers visited the classroom daily collecting many different types of data: videotape, notes, surveys, interviews, ect, to get as much information as they could. Three core beliefs were evident in the data collected: (a) Strategic knowledge of how to find and organize information is important; (b) construction of projects leads to constructing and organizing knowledge; and (c) knowledge of student learning is evident from group.
A quote from the journal sums up in clear words the main ideas of the article, “While technology can be valuable in supporting students and teachers in projects requiring higher level thinking it is not the kind of technology that matters most, but rather how it is used.” We were able to use technology in one of our lesson plans and agree with this statement. In part of the lesson we had a PowerPoint presentation and the students watched while Mrs. Cole talked. In the other part of the lesson plan, the students were able to use the computers and independently do the assignment that was given to them. We noticed that when the students were engaged in the learning themselves they were more excited and willing to learn, but during the PowerPoint they weren’t as attentive.

The article goes on to report that teachers who are using more technology in the classrooms are lecturing less and coaching more; and, rather than expecting students to learn all the same information, they expect individual differences. Not one person in this world is exactly alike, so how can we expect our students to do the exact same things or learn in the same ways? We can’t expect that and this is one of the reasons why technology is getting to be so important in education. We as college students are being told that technology is going to be more prevalent in education by the time we are teachers and students will be spending more time using technology than ever before. Why is technology becoming such an important resource to use as teachers today? The article answers this question by talking about three key reasons why technology in the classrooms is so important. 1. People learn from new experiences based on prior knowledge and beliefs, 2. New knowledge is always situated in a context; and 3. Learning is socially mediated and acquired within learning communities.

This article supports the technology we used in the classroom because we got to see the difference a lesson can be by using technology, and what it is like without it. We decided that there a many pros and cons to using technology in the classroom. Some of the cons are: we are completely dependent upon technology so if the power goes out or some other unexpected event, we are out of luck with our lesson plan. Another con would be that students aren’t learning the social skills acquired by doing group work. Some pros are: Students learn independently, students can be on different levels of learning, higher level thinking is brought out, and there are not as many behavior problems because the students are enjoying what they are learning.

We believe that our lesson plan strated proper use of technology in the classroom because we were able to engage the students in the lesson and they enjoyed it at the same time. We believe that this is the key to any great teacher, being able to teach in a way that the students want to learn. We also know that from this experience we still have a lot to learn and will continue to practice and enhance our technological skills so that when we are teachers we will be able to use technology and get our students to enjoy learning.

For our technology rich lesson we integrated a couple different forms of technology in order to get the students attention and inspire them to engage with the material presented. As the students came into the computer lab their screens were locked so that all of their focus could be on the introduction and first part of our lesson. This caused a little confusion because they really didn’t like their screens to be locked, many of them expressed their complaints. Once everyone was settled down, we explained what we were going to be talking about that day and briefly introduced the assignment they would be completing later. Mrs. Cole then explained and presented pictures that she had taken while on a trip to Washington DC in the national archives. The student s really enjoyed not only seeing actual pictures of the documents we had been talking about and where they were written but also seeing Mrs. Cole in some of the pictures.

During the presentation each student wrote down one question they had about the three documents that we had been discussing (The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, or The Bill of Rights). After the presentation we explained, each student would be received five index cards to record the data they would be collecting from the actual national archives site. The students had to put specific information on each card; card one and card two were used for answering the assigned questions, card three was used to record the answers to the question they came up with on their own, and on cards four and five they recorded fun facts that they had found while exploring the site.

This lesson was by far the most stressful one that we taught because the programs we were using were incompatible. The PowerPoint that we had made was working fine when we were in the UVU computer lab, but would not load on the Mac computers at the elementary school. We ended up remaking the entire show an hour before we were supposed to present it. We could still not get it to load correctly until about five minutes before the students came into the lab. Because of this confusion the last slide containing the assignment directions was no longer in the power point show. Leaving us trying to explain and give all the direction orally. This was very confusing for the students and there were a lot of questions about what was supposed to be on each card. Once we had the questions on a temporary slide and had reviewed the instructions many times they were able to complete the assignment with no problems.

Another thing that went wrong in our lesson plan was the need to take out a short video clip that wouldn’t load. We took it out right before the students came into the computer lab and gave our students more time to search the archives website instead which actually worked out great because they enjoyed doing the research. The students are very accustomed to coming into the computer lab to play games so when they came in and saw their computers locked, they were very disappointed. They seemed annoyed at first that we were giving them an assignment and that they actually had to do more than just play games.

Overall we would count this lesson as a triumph, because the students were able to engage with the information we presented and be excited about their learning. Many students were excited to share the fun facts they found with us and we learned a lot this way as well. They were able to work in an environment that they could control and that they were comfortable with but they still understood and comprehended what we wanted them to do and understand by the end of the lesson.
As teachers our lesson fits with the NETS standard stating that technology should facilitate student learning and creativity. The student’s were able to expand their learning by exploring and interacting with a place that most of the students had never been. This lesson also furthered the student’s development through the NETS standard three for students stating “Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.” Through the use of the internet the students were able to explore the national archives and collect data. By looking at pictures and reading information about what we had been learning about the students had an individual opportunity to gain a personal appreciation for the information we had been presenting. They were able to have this opportunity through the use of the technology used in our lesson.

Through presenting this lesson we have gained a greater appreciation and understanding of the vital role that technology plays in the classroom. The students were so excited to have the opportunity to use the computers; it was almost like they didn’t realize that they were learning new material. They were also more motivated to finish the assignment because they were able to find the information in a place that is fun and exciting for them, the internet. Through the use of a PowerPoint presentation and the computers, the student’s were excited to learn because it was presented in a way that was out of the ordinary. Before presenting this lesson we believed the information about student responses to technology but it was exciting to see it actually happen in our own class. We also learned how much more effort it takes to create a technology rich lesson compared to a regular lecture lesson. Tech rich lessons seem to take more time to prepare but also reap much greater student results. Our understanding of how important technology is in the classroom has greatly increased and we hope to integrate it in any way possible in our future classrooms.

Source:
LUNDEBERG, M. A. (1997).We Think They're Learning: Beliefs, Practices, and Reflections of Two Teachers Using Project-Based Learning. Journal of Computing in Childhood Education. 8, 59-81.

Lesson Plan: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg4n69sd_24cptsrzfz