AECT - What's going on there?

So besides a large amount of Disney and desserts, the AECT Orlando conference was a hit. I want to hit on a few highlights:

1. My presentations
2. PAET's table at the University Reception
3. Witty banter and positive thinking
4. AECT Ambassador proposal



1. My presentations
These actually went fairly well. I tend to get nervous in the first few minutes, but after I get into it, I calm down and am able to better answer questions without the ums. It's a process. :) My first presentation was a brief cameo in the TKB project looking at Low and High self-regulation in PBL classrooms. The second was a roundtable covering the Exemplary Technology-Using Teachers Enabling Factors study that I've been working on with another graduate student (Cindy York) and faculty member (Peggy Ertmer). We received some really good conversations about what is the definition of "technology integration" but settled on the fact that it is fuzzy, but we assumed that the awards were presented to those who used technology in a innovative and creative fashion. For our preservice teachers, I enjoyed the conversations about how to better prepare them. One participant mentioned we needed to provide them with more successful teaching experiences with technology. One difficulty with this is the lack of opportunities to coordinate them experiences. Currently I'm debating the best mechanism to accomplish this whether it is through simulations (which those will argue aren't realistic enough), mock presentations to their classmates (where even when assigned "problematic roles" don't really give this experience), video of quality teachers using technology in creative manners (which students aren't actually practicing), or placing these technology infusion requirements in their methods courses where they design lesson plans to use in the classroom which include creative manners to use technology. Kay Perschitte actually had an interesting point of having educational technologists as content experts. Therefore, science methods educators would also be experts at using technology in K-12 environments which is another interesting theory. We also discussed that in order for these preservice teachers to really use the technology after University life, they need to pedagogically believe and make a connection between their beliefs and practice while they're in their teacher education programs. This is important to study how we can influence these students' beliefs and show them how to connect between what they think works in the classroom and what they can do to accomplish this in the classroom. Perhaps constant reflection is a must through an electronic portfolio or journal. I'll get back to this. My third presentation went really well even though it was on Saturday in the afternoon concerning Preservice Teacher Perceptions of their Skills and Development and this application towards the Ed Tech 101 course. For Saturday, I had quite a few people (even though about 25% were from Purdue).

2. PAET's table at the University Reception
First of all, the University Reception always seems to be a great time. I had a whole number of those little apricot treats on the tray, not to mention too much cheese and bread (as usual). the PAET table was impressive and the handed of the bags to get them to visit our "treasure chest" was ingenious if I do say so, plus I got to talk to many people. I think Purdue is really beginning to show off how much impact we really have as a program on the Ed Tech field. I was incredibly proud of my board members as the Prez and our student reps as well.

3. Witty banter and positive thinking
Possibly one of the best lessons learned on this trip was that witty banter and positive thinking keep me alive and enjoying every moment. Whether it was enjoying the Seinfeld-like quirks of the Utah State clan, the carefree laughs with Purdue faculty, or the plane ride home with the 'tootinator', smiling and enjoying every second of my time gives me the sanity I need to make it through graduate school. I enjoyed every moment at the conference and believe that positive thinking and appreciating every gift I'm given will allow me to succeed.

4. AECT Ambassador proposal
As for getting involved in the organization of AECT, I'm currently trying to help maintain and involve graduate students more in the process of AECT. I'm under the current impression that we need WAY more involvement from our graduate students and encourage them to stay with AECT after graduation. I think one thing we forget is these students need to feel success at AECT to want to continue. We need to provide them with a reason to come back. I know we are encouraged to become involved, but beyond volunteering, presenting, applying for the internship program (only 5 accepted), reviewing proposals, we don't really get to be involved in AECT in general. As a year-long type assistantship opportunity, I'm proposing that graduate students can become involved in the Ambassador program to assist Divisions with monthly projects and problems. Ambassadors will need to serve as volunteers first to help with the program. We are also proposing a Graduate Student Committee to assist with the management of this program, as well as other possibilities.


This is AOL signing off. :)

AECT - What's going on there?

What to do about Ed Tech 101?

I’ve actually started my dissertation on this topic to see which technology integration programs allow K-12 teachers in the field to feel the most confident using technology and which courses seem to be most successful based on the teachers’ perceptions.

One thing I’m discovering in my literature review is the vast amount of technology integration courses. At our University, the required educational technology course teaches the two main components of instructional design (lecture) and technology integration (lab). The students learn how to construct technology documents by completing activities (i.e., making a newsletter, making a lesson plan, making a grade book with Excel, making a tutorial using PowerPoint, making a WebQuest using FrontPage, etc…). Then once the students have learned the basics of these programs, we have them go through the instructional design process (a modified one using P.I.E. – planning, implementation, and evaluation) to construct each of the four projects using the different types of software. We also just have one lecture that is dedicated to showcasing the newest technologies and their potential uses in the classroom. We also dedicate another lecture to assistive technologies and use technology as a model (i.e., PodCasting lectures, posting lectures online through other forms of software such as Breeze and Impatica, using a course management system in the labs for students to keep track of materials, grades, etc…).

There are so many different types of curriculum choices out there. I know that one University guides their students through a three-step process: (1) a technology skills course (teaching them the basic computer skills and introducing them to all the new toys), (2) a technology integration course (where they learn how to use the technology in education), and finally (3) a technology methods course (where they go into the schools and use the technology). Other schools have paired up a methods course (science/math/language arts/social studies) with a technology course so they can integrate the technology into their methods lessons to really get a feel for how to use technology in the classroom. Others have used technology training during student teaching to help engrain technology into an authentic sitation. Others use some form of PBL or Open-ended learning environment (many with software) to convey the importance of technology. The one thing I believe is the most important (suggested in many articles – Ertmer, 1999) is preservice really need to believe that technology enhances learning. Without this pedagogical belief, preservice teachers will not use the technology in effective ways once they do get to their classroom. I believe we still need to teach them the skills, but also have an effect on their pedagogical beliefs. I love showing my preservice teachers examples of great uses of technology. However, sometimes it’s difficult to find a model that provides the “I could do that” factor. Usually the example is an expert teacher who seamlessly integrates and manages technology in the classroom.

The other thing we need to convey to our students is the importance of using technology to increase higher order thinking skills. Sure it’s great for a Jeopardy game, but what about having the students collect data with Excel to graph it and come up with an answer to why we have more pollution in our rivers as opposed to lakes? What are the results? This is the type of thinking that requires that pedagogical shift. What can we do to effectively teach our students this information? Any suggestions?

What to do about Ed Tech 101?