EDLD+5364+Group+Collaboration

Our group is full everyone. It includes: Roger, Meritte, Elizabeth, Karen, and Diana. Thanks to all those who responded! We filled up fast. If you are still looking for a group, go to http://edld5364teachingwithtechnology.wikispaces.com/ to see if anyone is in need of additional members. Good luck!! -Diana

// Further collaboration on our Google docs website and Roger's wiki. //

Ok guys, We have the first part of the assignment done, now we just need to decide who we want to be the "leader" of the group. I put a Google Docs page together, but we don't have to use this one. Just let me know what you would like to do. Thanks! -Diana

Diana, Is this page we are typing on now a google docs page? Armon

I'm in with you! Here is a copy of the assignment so we can share notes on it. I put a few notes down. Karen
 * Diana,

Scenario** The school principal directed you, a lead technology school-based technology expert, to work jointly with a classroom teacher to create learning experiences that not only meet students’ individual differences, but also address 21st Century learning trends. Specifically, the principal asked for you to design, implement, and assess a technology integration/intervention program for a group of 30 students with unique needs.

The classroom teacher possesses basic computer skills, but has minimal understanding of how to teach with technology to benefit student learning.
 * Teacher Background**

Of the 30 students, there are 10 identified as gifted and talented. The gifted and talented students are accustomed to working individually online. Two students have disabilities dramatically affecting learning. One student is blind and another is hearing impaired. The remaining 18 students reflect ability levels ranging from the lowest level to high achieving.
 * Students’ Background**

As the school-based technology expert, you have been given an opportunity to model how technology can positively impact student achievement for diverse learners. Work with your learning team to create a solution for the scenario listed above. Use the following guiding questions as a resource to begin your planning and discussions within the shared Google doc your team created in Week 1.
 * Task**

What process will you use as a learning team to solve the scenario-based problem? We need to decide the age and subject area of our class, then go from there - Karen 6th grade Science - Force and Motion - Meritte
 * Guiding Questions**

Who should be a part of the learning team composition? A person who knows technology, a person who knows the curriculum, someone creative...? - Karen I think we have a good mix of group members - Roger knows the curriculum because he teaches Science, Karen is the creative one since she teaches art, I know technology because I am an instructional technology coordinator, Elizabeth has a gift of writing, an Diana has experiencing teaching and has already proven to be a great organizer of the group.- Meritte

Who will be the team leader to get the project started and keep the team on track? Diana already got us started..thanks! - Karen Diana is doing a great job - thank you - Meritte

What skills will your learning team need to possess to successfully solve this problem? Organization, creativity, practicality - Karen Based on the skills each team member brings to the group, we have what we need to successfully solve this problem.-Meritte

Which team member has experience with special needs students? I have some - Karen I have no specific training in special education, but I have worked with dyslexic and ADHD students as a public school teacher. In my current job, I serve a few college students who have visual and auditory disabilities; I tutored one student in math who has Asperger's. I've also worked with some highly gifted students throughout my career--I think these count as special needs students, too. - Elizabeth I taught SpEd one year and I wasn't very good at it. I taught GT Math for about 5 years. - Meritte

What will be the roles of each team member in the development, implementation, and assessment of the program? Maybe two team members could be responsible for conducting research--gathering articles and studies from which to draw ideas for activites. I say two people because the research seems like the biggest part of the job. Another team member could be responsible for evaluating and narrowing down the list of suggested activites. The fouth person could design the overall plan of interviention and produce a working draft. All team members would then collaborate on editing and fine-tuning the final product. Whoever is best at editing might give it a final proofing before submission. - Elizabeth Just don't make me the final editing person - if you remember from the last class, I am the worst at spelling and grammar. Did I say I was a math teacher?

Who will be responsible for ensuring the technology-based learning activities are research-based? I guess that would be our research duo mentioned above. - Elizabeth That sounds good to me. - Meritte

What grade level and content area (s) will you address? ​I have no experience with primary grades, and I believe Diana and Karen have both worked mainly with secondary levels as well. I'm not sure about Roger and Meritte. My content area is English language arts; I also have a certification in art, though I've never taught this subject. Working in the Learning Center, I get to do a little of everything. I know Karen teaches art, and Diana teaches Spanish. We need to choose something all of us would be comfortable with. - Elizabeth I have taught math from grades 4-12 from SpEd to GT to freshman Algebra to senior level Math/Finance. But, I have been out of the traditional classroom for about 6-7 years. Currently, I work with teachers, of all subject areas, to integrate technology into the curriculum, so whatever subject is good with me. I saw somewhere science mentioned. How about forces and motion (I have been looking at science TEKS all day creating courses in Odysseyware) - Meritte

What will the learning activities look like? Hands-on, cooperative, able to be individualized by students - Karen ​ I know we will be using the Internet. We need to consider how to adapt the Internet (which is especially visual) to someone who is blind. The visually impared student I work with now is not totally blind, and he is able to enlarge text on the screen enough to see it. However, I don't think he is able to view images in the same way other sutdents do. - Elizabeth I definitely think the activities need to be hands-on and student-centered. - Meritte

How will you model examples for the teacher? Provide a couple of completed projects, each representing a different level of expectation. Karen ​ Maybe we could find some video demonstrations of these activities. It would also be nice to make videos, but I don't think I'd be able to do it. - Elizabeth I guess the examples or models would depend on the activities we decide on. - Meritte

How will you assess the effectiveness of the learning activities? Research would give us some idea of their expected effectiveness, but I suppose we also need to provide some way for the teacher in our scenario to assess effectiveness with his/her students. I think that means we need to create rubrics for each activity. - Elizabeth I agree Elizabeth, we need a rubric for each activity. - Meritte

What technology tools will be included in the Google wiki/website format your team will use for the final delivery of your scenario solution? Will it include video, documents, and other technology project samples? ​ I would imaging we could use any and all of these. I don't know enough at this point to answer. I'm thinking this project is supposed to be a selection of activities and technologies the teacher may choose to use in his/her classroom rather than a fully developed lesson plan for each activitiy. What does everyone else think? - Elizabeth I think we go outside the box here and find technologies that not all the other groups are going to use as in wikis and google docs. There are some amazing web 2.0 tools being developed everyday. Meritte

Who will publish your work and to which free sites such as TeacherTube, Google Videos, Flickr, or others will be linked back to the Google team wiki/website? I think we need to gather our ideas and some information before we can select any of these. I don't see how we could make all these specific decisions until we are well under way with the project. - Elizabeth I don't mind doing this. I created a website at wordpress.com - our site is http://dregersscience.wordpress.com - I named it this because I thought maybe Roger could use it after this course is over plus every variation of teaching with technology was already taken. Roger, if you don't want the website at the end of the class, I can delete it. - I will add the rest of the team as editors. Meritte

- Develop a plan of action - Provide examples of student-centered learning activities with technology to meet the diversity of the students - Include 21st Century learning trends - Create sample technology projects - Select the mediums your team will use to share your final group project with the world within the Google wiki/website - Publish your scenario-based solution to the Google wiki/website and share with the world.
 * Required Components**