Final Reflection - EdTech 541

Part I 

Edtech 541, Integrating Technology into the Classroom Curriculum, has given me the opportunity to think again about technology from the perspective of the classroom teacher. As an administrator, it is valuable for me to not only consider classroom integration, but to actually create lessons and plans to be utilized in the classroom. For several years i have presented to teachers about research on effective classroom practices; in this class I struggled to ensure that my lessons contained strategies and activities reflect research-based understanding of what works to improve student achievement (Hattie, 2011; Marzano, 2001).

There are so many new tools and resources available every year that it is tremendously valuable to take a strategic look at what the relative advantages are. It’s important to look not only at the relative advantage compared to non-digital methods, but to other digital tools that may already be familiar. It’s a constant comparison, and it takes a lot of time and energy. This class forced me to spend the time on those comparisons, and learn about some new tools and resources available. I would have really liked greater interaction around my classmates’ content, rather than the blog posts. I’m very interested to see some of the science resources shared by secondary teachers in the group, because I know I will learn a lot from them.

I plan to use my project website with my upper elementary teachers, as a resource and a way to stimulate conversation. “Relative Advantage” is an important term, and one that will inform many conversations I have with staff. There are so many sacred cows in elementary education, where teachers teach a specific project in a specific way because that’s the way it’s always been done. By talking about the relative advantage of various tools, maybe we can find a better way to teach geographic concepts than a bean map, for example! 

Part II 

I felt that, overall, I posted strong blog entries and responded well to my classmates. I think the content of my reflections was outstanding. It reflected thoughtful effort, insight, and clear connections to prior content and real-life situations. My use of readings and resources was somewhere between proficient and outstanding. I used APA citation in every post, but sometimes had only one or two references. In general I did an outstanding job of posting by midweek in order to give my classmates plenty of time to respond,. However I had one posting which was late, which meant that I had no replies to that particular post. I consistently replied to 3 classmates, with at least two substantial responses. Overall, I would rate my blog at about an A-, or 132 out of 140 points.
Content - 70/70
Readings and Resources - 15/20 (limited citations)
Timeliness - 17/20 (1 late post)
Responses to Others - 30/30


Hattie, J. (2011). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. Routledge: UK.

Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.