How do you feel you have grown

as an educator as a result of
taking this class?
The course of Instructional Design of Technology has helped me to develop
a more well-rounded technique of incorporating technology into my
curriculum and instruction. Previous to taking this course, I used
technology frequently in my classroom, but often as a supplemental tool. It
wasnt until this course when I was able to really embed the different
practicum assignments into my instruction as actual teaching tools.
Through this course I have gained the confidence to step outside of my
comfort zone to really try new things with my students and the
technological tools available to our classroom. One of the truly helpful
articles and tools that I have taken away from this course is the ISTE
Student Standards of technology. By continuing to review the seven
standards, I was able to think more critically and strategically about the
ways that I was incorporating technological tools into my curriculum. It
gave me an understanding of how the technological tools that I do use, will
directly help my students grow academically.

What are your views of 21

century teaching skills as a result
of taking this class?
The 21 century teaching skills are a great synopsis of how teaching has and
should be evolving around technology in your classroom. I think for a long
time, technology was this unknown and unexplored tool that was unnerving
for teachers to use and dive into without knowing the parameters of its
capabilities and benefits for our students. The 21 century teaching skills act
as a guide for those sort of unsure teachers to use and to understand what
they should be able to do and what to teach their students in order to find
the full benefits of technology. However, I must be honest, my first reading
of this article was a little daunting because I didnt have a clear
understanding of what some of the skills even meant. I wasnt 100% sure if
I had tried some of those skills or was not even close to knowing how to try
to use those skills. After completing this course, I can honestly say that I
know what each of those skills are and that I have completed those skills
with easethey are not as intimidating as they may seem!

All course practicum assignments

you completed this semester
including the final project, what
did you learn from developing
these assignments?
Where to begin?... through completing the practicum assignments, I have
taken away so much valuable information, tools, and motivation to use
more technology. Throughout the module assignments, I was able to have
immediate tools and strategies to take into my classroom the follow day! I
have to say, the best professional development courses that I have taken,
are the ones that you are able to walk away from with, at the very least, 5
tools that you are able to use immediately following. If I am not able to
accomplish that, I feel it is a waste of my time (to be very blunt)! With the
completion of this course, I was able to absorb countless strategies and
tools for infusing technology into my classroom! The practicum
assignments that I completed throughout the modules were not only
extremely useful for all classroom environments, but fun and engaging to
partake in!

To name a few skills that I have developed throughout the semester:

1. Web Design
2. Embedding resources and tools
3. Creating virtual lessons
4. Using target images to develop resources, skills, tools, etc.
Discuss the reasons for the 3
chosen artifacts you picked for
your Eportfolio.
I used more than 3 artifacts from this course in my Eportfolio because there
were so many good resources to use, it was easy to incorporate more for
student benefit. The artifacts that I used are as follows:
1. Animoto
2. Infographic
3. Aurasma
4. Poll Everywhere
5. Padlet
6. Pinterest
7. Screencast Matic
Although this was a lot of artifacts, I did not use them in an overly dramatic
way, so that it would be overwhelming for my students. In fact, many of the
artifacts can be accessed by student ipads, so they are able to move from
activity to activity in a fluent manner. I chose the artifacts above for a few
reasons, which I will review with you:
Animoto is a great tool that allows students to learn visually and
musically. There are few words in the presentation, allowing it to be less
daunting for students as well as being a great tool to get students hooked on
a topic.
The infographic is an instrument to reach students that think in a more
structural way. The infographic has all of the most essential information of
the lesson laid out in a clear and concise way.
The Aurasma app is a tool that has captured the attention of my current
students for its magic! It is a way that allows me to engage my students in
a hands on approach. It gives students choices in their learning and the
ability to decide what makes more sense to them in a given topic. It is a
quick resource tool that can be used at any time throughout the day or
school year once it is created!
In order to get quick assessment of students prior knowledge and lesson by
lesson gains, Poll Everywhere allows me to gather that data in a way
that students are motivated to try their best because of how it is used.
Padlet is a great tool that allows students to communicate through words.
It is visually appealing for students and easy to use.
I have used Pinterest for many years, and what draws me towards
Pinterest the most, is its ability to organize your findings. I am able to easily
access pins that I have chosen from years ago within seconds!
Screencast Matic is a newer tool that I have recently used. I watched
many Youtube videos on how to appropriately use this tool, which were
extremely helpful. I found this instrument extremely user friendly and I will
definitely be using it in my future lesson plans!

Class discussions, what did you

learn from participating in these?
Class discussions were a helpful tool for me to reflect on the readings
throughout the course, my learnings, and professional growth in the field of
instructional design of technology. While reading other classmates
responses and point of views on various topics, I was able to look through a
different lens while approaching future topics. That process really allowed
me to grow in my personal deliberation of course content as well as growing
professionally by learning about challenges and successes of my classmates
implementation of artifacts in and out of the course.

What did you learn from the

various readings from all of the
modules? (i.e., have the readings
filled in any gaps of knowledge,
changed your perspective, given
your ideas)
All of the above! Not only I have learned and gain perspective on various
technological classroom engagements, but I have gained confidence in my
skills and knowledge of technology in my classroom. The readings allowed
me to look through a different lens on certain topics that were
uncomfortable for me to try, such as class badges. After reading articles The
Teachers Guide to Using Badges in Your Classroom and 7 Things You
Should Know About Badges, my perspective changed in my
implementation of class badges. Although, the articles mostly discussed
badges on a large scale, such as replacing High School diplomas and
College degrees, I was able to contemplate, how can I implement class
badges in my classroom instruction to help motivate students and keep
students accountable! I have begun to develop my ideas of implementation,
but will not put them into effect until next school year!

Lesson plans, what did you learn

by creating these?
Although I do not feel that I needed to create a lesson plan in order to gain
familiarity and competence in my use of the skills presented in the
modules, it was an important part of the process of developing an
instructional sequence with technological implementation. Through the
development of my lesson plans, I have gained a better practice of how
technology can fit into the flow of a lesson in order to eliminate the possible
distractions that technology can have on a student and optimize on the
benefits of the implementation of the technology. It also was great practice
on the development of rubrics assessing the use of technology!