Personal Learning Goals for Leading Edge Certification

Personal Learning Goals for Leading Edge Certification

The main reason I selected this course, besides the fact that CTAP has always delivered useful and meaningful instruction, is that I see that society is continuing to increase our dependence and application of technology.  In order to strengthen my own technical ability (I am considered part of the “paper-trained” generation, after all) and make myself adaptable as an educator, I know I need to further my education.  Being better educated myself means I can be a better asset to my students and my district.  Specifically, I am interested in being able to teach the occasional elective or, as my district is expanding online programs, I’d like to be able to teach an online course if the need or opportunity should arise.

As we were asked to review several resources to determine our readiness for online education, I was struck by three things.  First, the so-called survey had “wrong” answers!  Perhaps this is an English teacher phenomenon, but I was surprised that my honest answer, ‘I’m not sure how I feel about technology,’ was not a scaled issue, but a flatly wrong answer.  I realize this is beside the point, but it does reinforce one of my concerns as a regular classroom teacher in this century: how do I keep the content of computer-related activities relevant to tech savvy students without overwhelming my students who, for numerous reasons, just have not been exposed to very much technology?  While the colorful, animated, multi-layered glitz of web content is going to be attractive for students, is it really better for those students who are easily distracted or, and I’ve had a couple of these, adept hackers?  (I mean, I’m a little tempted to go and check my facebook and email accounts right now, but I’m pretty disciplined and won’t until the work is completed – but there are students who will lose their phones in class every day because they just cannot seem to stop themselves).  Obviously, I’m in the course, so I see a lot of positive potential, but I like to think I’m taking with me a healthy dose of reality.

Second, I noticed, as I trolled different "how to be a good online student" surveys and advice columns (including how important it is to keep a clean home! Like students have tons of time to think worry about things like that never quite shrinking pile of laundry that needs to get done...eventually...), that it matters how the information is organized, how it looks, how easy it is to get from one page to another, the links, etc.  It really helped, for instance, to know that I could click and drag URLs to become bookmarks in Firefox or right click and open in a new tab so I didn't have to worry about going back and forth.  These are simple things, but I'd be having so much trouble without them!  Still, just to be sure I really didn’t lose track of information, I went ahead and bought the Evernote app from Google play.

There is so much out there, and so much more out there everyday, that I see I will also need a way to network and review new technologies to stay abreast of developments.  RSS feeds and blogs and CTAP in particular are great resources, but I don’t always have time or energy to investigate things as much as I would like.  Even if I did, I need a blue print to be able to incorporate such into classroom use.

Finally, I see that I need the help of re-envisioning instruction without the advantage of face-to-face time.  I’ve always relied on student expressions, immediate questions (from kids and random assessment), progress, and so forth of regular classroom management to help me determine how well students are engaged and understanding content.  I can convey a LOT of meaning through simple facial expressions or modulating my voice – always to fit the circumstances.  Kids like my passion, I like theirs, and a lot of that comes through in interaction.  So again, organizing and presenting online content is becoming the center of this learning trip.

As far as readiness goes, I scored a “B” on the survey from Foothill College, indicating I’m generally ready for online learning.  I’m glad to hear that since I’ve completed two online courses already.  But those were a couple summers ago when my kids generally slept at the same times.  I like the asynchronous nature of online learning as…well…life happens.  Scheduling a specific time(s) is a good idea, but not always possible.  Between changing practice times for my sports stars, the inevitable network or car troubles, and a full workload, it’s hard to meet at a regular time (and honestly, 7:00 on a weeknight was havoc for me, but probably ideal for many others).  Obviously, I lost that point in the survey.  On the other hand, I’m an avid reader and a competent writer – I cannot say the same for all of my students, particularly the ones who are most interested in not having teachers push them to become better readers or writers.  I won’t be able to spend 12 hours a week "studying," but I doubt I’ll need to since I read well and fast and I’ll be doing other things (sorting laundry, doing dishes, waiting in line at the grocery store) while mulling over coursework or even typing.  I’m sitting in a salon now while one of my kids gets a trim.  This is a dedicated act, but not really dedicated time.  The nice thing about online courses is that the deadlines are not the end of an hour class.  I am concerned about the level of tech expertise required to learn online for myself and my students, but I’m a good student and a good classroom teacher, so here I am.

I’m ready to advance my career and become a better teacher, especially for online teaching and learning.  I want to focus on the organization and the best (current) ways to get content across in a variety of instructional venues from traditional to purely online.  And I'm certainly ready to do this online.