Best+Examples+of+Instructional+Activities+with+Student+Engagement+through+Technology

ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION

Instructional Applications of Technology (our course title) is an equivalent phrase to technology integration and instructional technology. The simplest "definition" is using technology to achieve an instructional objective or outcome. This can be as simple as a drill and practice program where the learner develops a specific skill, such as, arithmetic facts or multiplication facts to more complex simulation and graphing software where higher order thinking skills are used to solve complex mathematical equations in authentic problem solving.

Notice that both examples had students using technology. Student use is the goal of building out the infrastructure and placing computers (technology) in our schools. The No Child Left Behind law includes Enhancing Education Through Technology (Title II, Part D). The primary goals of the Enhancing Education Through Technology program is to improve student academic achievement through the use of technology in schools, assist students in crossing the digital divide by ensuring that every student is technologically literate by the end of eighth grade, and to encourage the effective integration of technology with teacher training and curriculum development to establish successful research-based instructional methods. If the students rarely touch the computer, we need to develop instructional strategies that will allow students to access our available technologies to supplement instruction that utilizes the higher order thinking that is described in the upper levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (analysis, synthesis, evaluation). Remember, it’s all about instruction and using technology to support that instruction.

Based on your classroom experiences and the material you have reviewed in this course so far, what are your two best examples of instructional activities with student engagement through technology (that you do, you have seen, you have heard / read about, or you want to do)?

Avoid administrative applications (i.e., Accelerated Reader) and instruction that only involves the teacher using technology (i.e., PowerPoint presentation). Instruction should engage the students while THEY are using the technology so the students develop the 21st Century skills they need to compete in a global environment.

You have completed your two Best Examples of Instructional Activities with Student Engagement through Technology and created an audio recording of one of those examples that can be used as a podcast. The  Best Examples of Instructional Activities with Student Engagement through Technology are part of the Applied Technology in Education Portfolio.  You will need to create a page on your Applied Technology in Education Portfolio wiki that highlights the process you went though to determine the two lessons / activities, why you consider these examples to be the best, and a reflection on your participation in this activity.

To me instructional technology is using technology applications as a part of your lessons or activities while keeping in mind the state standards. As a part of my standard curriculum we incorporate technology when we can. In the Business and Personal Finance class that I teach, I think it is important that the students understand the concepts being taught and that they understand the written/formulas used to calculate financial data, but I wanted to take this one step further and but these concepts into some type of technolgy that the students could use and would be able to use at home or after graduation and Excel seemed to be the perfect choice. So if you want to read more about you will just have to open the word document below or listen to my podcast. media type="file" key="PodcastStudentEngagement-JessicaScott.mp3" width="240" height="20"

REFLECTION

This activity was one of the easiest ones for me to complete. I use technology in the Integrated Business Technology class that I teach. The class consists of an introduction to business topics and the use of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Access. However I wanted to focus this assignment on the Business and Personal Finance class that I teach. I am trying to come up with more ways to incorporate technology in that class because it is primarily a lecture class with examples of calcuations and formulas being put on the whiteboard and then students working from their textbook or their student workbook to complete problems based on the examples on the board. So there really wasn't a whole lot of technology incorporated in those lessons. This is why I felt it was important to come up with some technology based activities that students could do and take that knowledge home and continue to use it. But it was very important that the technology used reinforced the concepts that they were learning through the lectures. So all in all I enjoyed doing this activity and re-evaluating my classes.