Week 2 - What have I learned?






This week has been the most interesting for me so far from both of the IICTIC courses.  I really enjoy looking at assistive technology and how it can benefit the teacher and the student.  I know that a lot of teachers find the concept of differentiating their instruction to be a difficult and cumbersome task.  The reality is that there are a lot of technologies out there that can stop you from needing to reinvent the wheel.

Describe one significant idea or issue that has arisen for you, as you were engaging in the topics during Learning Experiences #1 and #2.

For me, the significant idea was to think about the tools that we use, and think about new ways that they can be used.  The video of Westfield Technology College had a profound impact on my thinking about not using technology for technology sake.  They took things I use every day and put a whole new use to them.  I love the idea about using idea mapping tools to co-create expectations.

Elaborate on how specific resources, ideas or experiences in the Learning Experiences have contributed to your learning. e.g. reading material, course activities, etc.

I think the activities stretch my current understanding of the tools.  They encourage thinking outside of the box.  Taking existing or new lesson plans and integrating the technology into them is really useful because it takes something I already know, something that has worked well in the past, and putting a spin that makes it more accessible to all students, rather than just a few. 

Share how your participation in the discussion forums have contributed to your learning and connect this to your understanding of the Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession.

Participation in discussion fosters all of the standards of practice.  It creates an environment where we can have preexisting ideas challenged to increase our understanding of a key element of our profession.  It encourages scholarship by looking at tools that are available and encourages not only mastery of these tools for self, but then encourages us to take them and become leaders in our board in sharing what we have learned to help our fellow educators.

  1. Discuss any outstanding questions and the steps you may take to further explore your interests as part of your learning in the course.
I would like to have a conversation regarding using slides as notebooks, and using these to help students with self regulation.  That really stuck out to me as a way to further using slides as digital visual schedules, and I think it can take it to an even bigger level that allows a greater level of self regulation from students who have difficulty staying on task.

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