Sunday, December 19, 2010

6714 Course Reflection

The course, Reaching and Engaging All Learners through Technology, has reinforced the notion that students are diverse in their in their interests, learning styles, intelligence, and learning profiles. Because of student variances, this course has also reinforced the implementation of Differentiated Instruction (DI), Universal Learning by Design (UDL), and technology tools to reach and engage all students. I have learned many new technologies to Differentiation Instruction and learned how to adapt instruction using UDL to meet the needs of diverse learners. Dr. Carol Tomlinson discussed that the goal of UDL is to reduce barriers for all learners; whereas, the goal of DI is to open the classroom to provide more avenues for students (Laureate, Inc., 2009). The technology tools that I have gained from interacting with my colleagues through the Differentiation Station assignments will help me provide many new avenues for students to learn content so that I can meet their diverse needs. I am excited to implement new tools such as Prezi and Microsoft Photoshop that was shared through the Differentiation Station. These tools will give my students another avenue when creating digital stories other than using the traditional Microsoft PowerPoint program. My students will be motivated and engaged when learning these new technology tools and I will be able to activate their recognition, strategic and affective brain networks as they use these tools to complete summative assessments at the end of a lesson.

An immediate adjustment that I will make in my classroom as a result of this course will be to implement my Learning Profile that I created through Survey Monkey located at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5TSTH9Q. Students will complete the survey at the beginning of each semester so that I can gather and evaluate data to understand my students’ interests, learning styles, intelligence, and learning profiles. Lauria noted, “Identifying students’ individual learning styles and showing students how to capitalize on their strengths can empower learners…” (2010). To increase my students’ successes it is important that I gather and analyze data to help me plan how to differentiate content, process, and product according to student’s readiness, interests, and learning profiles (Hall, Strangman, and Myer, 2003).

On a final note, I am grateful for all of the resources shared by my colleagues through the Differentiation Station located on our wiki at
http://reachingalllearnersthroughtechnologygroup3.wikispaces.com/. I will continue to visit this valuable resource as needed to help me further differentiate instruction for my students.

References

Hall, T., Strangman, N., & Meyer, A. (2003). Differentiated instruction and implications for UDL implementation. Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_diffinstructudl.html.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Program 11. Learner Differences. [Motion Picture]. Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology. Baltimore: Dr. Carol Tomlinson.

Lauria, J. (2010). Differentiation through learning-style responsive strategies. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 47(1), 24-29. Retrieved November 12, 2010, from ProQuest Central.