Online learning

The learning technology that jumped out most to me is podcasting/videocasting,  In CEP 810, I ran across the idea of the flipped classroom, and I was instantly intrigued.  Using videos that students watch on their own time to replace in-class lecturing can free teachers to use class time to interact with students, address problems, and provide feedback.  This site provides some excellent explanations and resources for teachers interested in using vodcasting and/or the flipped classroom model. There are instructions for creating and posting vodcasts, faq about the flipped class/mastery approach with answers from an educator who is doing it, and many other helpful and interesting resources.

I can also see a great deal of potential for student-created content using vodcasting.  Reason number 1: making videos is fun and engaging.  I recently helped one of my students make a flipbook-style video showing the process of mitosis (using candy to represent all the different organelles).  The video turned out looking very cool.  I had never seen this particular student work so hard and so meticulously on anything for school, and I had never seen her express any kind of pride in any of her schoolwork.  So, not only did she really get a good grasp on the concept (mitosis), she learned how to edit videos (I learned a great deal by watching her, too), and for the first time since I've known her, she showed pride and interest in producing a great project.

So I can see videos as not only a great alternative for delivering instruction, but also an engaging tool for completing assignments. The former provides teachers with a way to use face-to-face time to interact and guide students.  The latter provides students with an outlet where they can be creative and have fun while learning curricular content as well as useful technical skills.

I have trouble seeing an equally intriguing use of audio podcasts for use in the classroom.  It almost seems regressive to stick with audio when video is so prevalent and easy to use and produce.  That said, I listen to podcasts every day, for entertainment (Smodcast network), professional development (Terry Freeman's Educational Technology Podcast), and just to expose myself to interesting ideas (Freakonomics, This American Life).  Audio podcasts can be a great way to keep current and keep informed.

Wikis

So, first of all, I created a small sample page in the sandbox for the learning center where I work since they do not have a Wikipedia page:

After doing this, I read up on how to publish pages on the site, and read this:

"Do not create pages about yourself, your company, your band or your friends, nor pages that advertise, nor personal essays or other articles you would not find in an encyclopedia."

Here's a link to the site.
So I did not try to publish this page, since where I work is a private business.

Next, I went to Wikispaces, and created my own: http://jonclass.wikispaces.com/

I created a test page to mess around with some media, and was able to embed this blog and a Youtube video so far.  I will have to do some further thinking about where I could use something like this.  I get the idea, and I can imagine situations where this format would be great, but in my daily teaching life, I'm not sure what the fit is for a Wiki right now.  At the very least, it's another tool for me to use if/when it becomes useful.

UDL

For a recent lesson, we were asked to go through a lesson plan we had completed earlier using a checklist of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles.  I completed this self-review on a lesson plan involving triangle congruence.  Here are the links to

• My lesson plan
• My UDL checklist

All-in-all, I think the lesson plan addressed some key points of UDL principles.  Most of what I viewed as "features" involved the collaborative aspects of the lesson and the multiple representations that students are asked to produce to show their understanding.  The main barrier that I found useful in thinking about improving the lesson plan was building in more options for student responses, or at least making it explicit in my instructions that different methods of responding were acceptable.  For example, one of the activities students are asked to complete is to write instructions for using some geometry software, and then provide those instructions to students who haven't used the software to help them solidify their own understanding of it.  In going through the UDL checklist, I realized that this would be a great place for students to use a screencast instead of writing out instructions; it would probably be more fun and interesting for everyone involved.

I made the mistake of trying to fill in something for each sub-point in the checklist, and it got me kind of frustrated.  Trying to fit all of these principles into the writing of a lesson plan would mean that lesson plans would be too detailed to complete very often, and too complicated to be really useful.  For many of the principles, my response was, "Well, I didn't write that into the lesson plan, because that's just part of how I teach."  I think this checklist might be better used in evaluating a lesson through observation, or for something like the STAIR project, where the lesson is all contained in one presentation. However, the points are all very important considerations to keep in mind when planning lessons, and will help me make my lessons more accessible in the future.