This example from the Technology Integration Matrix touches on specific standards from the NETS for Teachers. The above Matrix talks about blogging, something we all have become very familiar with, breaking blogging into specific instructions that a teacher, who is interested in incorporating more technology in his or her classroom, can find fairly easily.
The specific standard I would connect with this particular Matrix would be under 1 Facilitate and Inspire Students Learning and Creativity, which is letter D (Model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face to face and virtual environments).
The reason this standard applies to blogging is that blogging uses the concept of collaborative knowledge when students are assigned to read each others blogs and comment. This way, they are getting other perspectives on books or other worldly topics while creating their own base of knowledge. In other words, the students get a chance to act as colleagues in a virtual environment.
I feel that after many weeks of this class my level of technology integration would be classified as infusion. I feel much more comfortable tackling the tech labs and less intimidated by the hands on technology we have learned. These skills will enable me be soon progress to the transformation level where "the teacher creates a rich learning environment in which students regularly engage in activities that would have been impossible to achieve without technology." I feel that by the end of the semester I will be comfortably in this level of technology integration.
I am glad you are feeling confident about technology. As with any tool (mitre saw, clarinet, MRI machine), the more practice you have, the better you get. More importantly, the tool sits there if you find no purpose for its use. That will be the key - can you find a purposeful use of the technologies you know.
ReplyDelete