Instructional+Design+Reflections


 * Week 5 Assignment - Reflections **

· What benefits do you see in educators knowing how to design and implement online learning? There are many benefits for educators knowing how to design and implement online learning. As online learning becomes more prevalent in k-12 education I can see that educators that have these skills to design and implement online learning will be ready to integrate this into their curriculum much more readily than one who does not. Today, many students have experience navigating the Web and working with technology so educators would be teaching students in a manner that they feel comfortable with and keeps them interested. Watson, J. F. states, "Online students also develop socialization skills through school projects and academic activities that require collaboration via technology as well as face-to-face." p. 18. Online learning may allow educators to reach students that ma y not be able to attend class or that live in rural communities. I feel that as an educator we must see the benefits of online learning such as teaching students the importance of time management and providing students with knowledge of navigating through an online program which will give them an advantage for future opportunities that may arise in the business world.

· How will you professionally use your course that you designed?

I enjoyed working on designing and implementing a unit in Schoology and feel that the experience was very rewarding. I plan to add the course I designed as an additional resource for students to truly understand problem solving in mathematics as it relates to everyday situations. This will allow the students to apply and create their own projects that will demonstrate their understanding. I also plan to expand this with my third grade students next year and provide them with the experience of working through a partial online course. I feel I can build on what I have learned and create weekly units that will integrate with the curriculum we are teaching whether in Math or Science. In the future, as a technology facilitator I plan to create online professional development courses for our teachers and teach them how to integrate online learning into their own classrooms to use with their students. Providing our students with the knowledge required to prepare them to succeed in the 21st century.

· Will you integrate online learning in your role as a teacher/staff developer?

As stated in my previous paragraph, I will integrate online learning next year with my third grade students to provide a new form of learning and prepare them for their educational future. I will implement online learning into the individual units so students will have practice working with the online assignments and projects. Thus providing students with opportunities to create, apply, and synthesis on projects as well as collaborate with other online as well as face-to-face students. I also plan to eventually expand my career to become a technology facilitator and utilize online learning to create professional development courses that will allow teachers to learn online as they continue learning more about technology. This will allow teachers to work at their own pace and feel comfortable learning about technology and how to implement it and integrate it into their curriculum. I hope to eventually teach educators to integrate online learning into their curriculum so that students may learn to create, collaborate and assess through online learning courses or partial online courses.

· What questions do you still have about online learning?

There are many questions I still have regarding online learning and Schoology. Regarding Schoology I felt there were many more features that I did not practice with or utilize these last couple of weeks. So one question I have is; how do you create assignments or assessments directly in Schoology that students may take online so that Schoology could provide both the students and me with immediate feedback? I also wonder what are the long range expectations of online learning in relation to k-12 education and how will it impact the classrooms as it expands to a more integrated role in teaching As a third grade teacher, I am also interested in learning how online learning should be implemented with elementary students in the lower grade levels and how effective are the online learning courses with these students. Another concern is how online learning will be funded in the near future so that we close the gap between students in affluent areas and students in a rural or poor city areas. “Educators must work to ensure that the opportunities of online education are available to students across all income levels, geographic regions, and ethnic groups” (Watson, 2007). I feel most of these are valid concerns that must be addressed regarding online learning in k-12 education.

· What will you do with this new learning?

I hope to continue to learn more about how online learning can be integrated into k-12 education and start applying the knowledge and understanding that I have learned into my classroom. In the future I would like to get to the point where online learning becomes an integral part of the teaching and learning in the classroom. I want to start to practice the skills we have learned and effectively implement online learning in my third grade class as a differentiated source of instruction in the classroom. I believe students may be more focused and attentive in learning through online courses. In the future, as a technology facilitator I would also want to be able to train other teachers in integrating online learning in their classroom so as to prepare students to become life long learners past high school. Online learning is growing in popularity and K-12 education is now learning how this new technology can be integrated into student learning and I believe educators must also learn more about online learning and how it benefits our students. References:

Picciano, A., & Seaman, J. (2007). K-12 Online Learning: A survey of U.S. school district administrators. The Sloan Consortium. Retrieved May 3, 2010, from __ [] __. Watson, J., & Ryan, J. (2007).//Keeping pace with K-12 online learning: A review of state-level policy and practice.// Naperville, IL: NCREL. Retrieved May 5, 2010, from http://www.kpk12.com/downloads/KeepingPace_2007.pdf.