FACILITATE AND INSPIRE STUDENT LEARNING AND CREATIVITY
Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments.
- Promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.
- Engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.
- Promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.
- Model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments.
REFLECTION
Standard I to me, is the ultimate goal of an instructional technologist. It is our job to show our students how we can use technology to our advantage in our everyday lives. Being able to think outside the box and come up with creative ideas for uses of technology is very important for our students to learn, because they will be the leaders of society and our government in future years. I feel like I have demonstrated the objectives of Standard I by the three artifacts I have linked below.
Muvizu is a fun and easy animation software that our students can use to create animations of different scenarios that the teacher might assign. This artifact exemplifies the objective of Standard I, "Promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness." This is a creative way to have students express their creative side for any number of projects or lessons. Through the use of animation software like Muvizu students have an opportunity to express themselves creatively. Muvizu can be used for any number of lessons or projects in the classroom. While having students create animations is fun, we as teachers must remember that we have to provide learning opportunities for all of our students; even those with disabilities. The importance of web accessibility is often times overlooked. The majority of American's are not physically or mentally disabled, but those that are, have a legal right to have the same access to information on the internet as American's that are not classified as disabled. The Web Accessibility PowerPoint artifact below exemplifies the objective of Standard I, "Engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources." The artifact I have linked below is a PowerPoint that I create about the importance of web accessibility. The PowerPoint explains what web accessibility means, examples of disabilities, and examples of assistive technology. Having students aware of web accessibility early on should prove to be beneficial or everyone in the future. This artifact will educate students on the different ways that people with disabilities can access the internet and have the same opportunities as themselves. Blogging is one example of how students with disabilities can contribute and participate in classroom discussions. Within the past five-to-ten years, I would say that blogs have increased exponentially. Blogs were non-existent before the internet was around. The advent of the "blog" gave internet users the ability to freely share their beliefs, family activities, and thoughts on any given topic. Blogs can also be instrumental in the collaborative learning process in the classroom; whether in-person or virtual. This artifact exemplifies the objectives of Standard I, "Promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.” and "Model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments." The artifact below, a WordPress blog, is one that I created for an IT course where we had a given topic each week, then we as students summarized our views of the topic, then commented on our classmate’s views on the same topic. This is an excellent way for students to express their writing creativity.
Muvizu is a fun and easy animation software that our students can use to create animations of different scenarios that the teacher might assign. This artifact exemplifies the objective of Standard I, "Promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness." This is a creative way to have students express their creative side for any number of projects or lessons. Through the use of animation software like Muvizu students have an opportunity to express themselves creatively. Muvizu can be used for any number of lessons or projects in the classroom. While having students create animations is fun, we as teachers must remember that we have to provide learning opportunities for all of our students; even those with disabilities. The importance of web accessibility is often times overlooked. The majority of American's are not physically or mentally disabled, but those that are, have a legal right to have the same access to information on the internet as American's that are not classified as disabled. The Web Accessibility PowerPoint artifact below exemplifies the objective of Standard I, "Engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources." The artifact I have linked below is a PowerPoint that I create about the importance of web accessibility. The PowerPoint explains what web accessibility means, examples of disabilities, and examples of assistive technology. Having students aware of web accessibility early on should prove to be beneficial or everyone in the future. This artifact will educate students on the different ways that people with disabilities can access the internet and have the same opportunities as themselves. Blogging is one example of how students with disabilities can contribute and participate in classroom discussions. Within the past five-to-ten years, I would say that blogs have increased exponentially. Blogs were non-existent before the internet was around. The advent of the "blog" gave internet users the ability to freely share their beliefs, family activities, and thoughts on any given topic. Blogs can also be instrumental in the collaborative learning process in the classroom; whether in-person or virtual. This artifact exemplifies the objectives of Standard I, "Promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.” and "Model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments." The artifact below, a WordPress blog, is one that I created for an IT course where we had a given topic each week, then we as students summarized our views of the topic, then commented on our classmate’s views on the same topic. This is an excellent way for students to express their writing creativity.
FUTURE LEARNING GOALS
My future learning goals for Standard I consist mainly of staying abreast of the latest instructional technology tools. Specifically, laws and requirements that pertain to web accessibility. Also, maintaining a working knowledge of the latest websites and blogs for how they can be used in the in-person and virtual classrooms. I use forums which are similar to blogs in my graduate courses that I teach at Mississippi College. These forums have proven to be very enlightening to me and my students because it gives everyone a chance to speak freely about an assigned topic, which can shed light on perspectives that others may have not thought of.
ARTIFACTS
Copyright © 2015 Robert Gatewood, M.Ed. Last updated November 11, 2015. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part, without express written permission of Robert Gatewood is prohibited.