2.3 Authentic Learning
Candidates model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to engage students in authentic learning experiences. (PSC 2.3/ISTE 2c)
Artifact: Engaged Learning Project
Reflection:
During the fall of 2014, I worked through the process of creating an Engaged Learning Project which focuses on the Levels of Technology Implementation and the indicators of engaged learning for ITEC 7400: 21st Century Teaching and Learning. My project focused on the students participating in an authentic nationwide online project to gain some data about dominant and recessive traits as part of our genetics unit in 7th grade life science and then creating an educational video that will be shared with younger students in a fun science education day. My contribution to this artifact was the creation of this project, and finding ways to use technology to enhance the authentic learning experience.
For the completion of this artifact, I worked to model for and facilitate my students through an authentic learning experience centered on the concept of genetics and heredity. The students were able to participate in an online project created by a group of high school students in New Jersey that polled thousands of students all across the country to determine which traits were actually dominant and recessive in our country. This authentic learning experience allowed the students to see data in a much larger scale than just our classroom or even school to know that the results we were seeing in our experiments matched those of others. Taking this learning and using digital tools to create a video product that was then shared with younger students in our school district gave the students purpose in their work and made the product more authentic as well. I modeled for the students how to use the video editing software and set learning expectations through a rubric that guided their work. Throughout the process I facilitated the overall process while allowing the students to discover and create their own learning by asking probing questions as needed, but not giving step-by-step instructions or a checklist of everything that had to be included in the final product.
During the creation of this artifact, I gained insight into the way my students saw themselves as compared to those across the country through the participation in the online genetics project. The high diversity within our school made many of the students feel that our results would not be the same as those from the project and they were quite shocked to learn how similar they were to the overall population of the country. Providing opportunities like this where the students are able to connect with others their age across the country for educational purposes has become a goal of mine moving forward. I see the importance of making the students feel connected to the bigger society as a whole and am working to connect to other classrooms through technology such as blogs, as well as other online projects that they can participate in for our other units of study. In the future, I would like to adjust the time spent completing this project. Although I know it is important to give the students time to “play” with and explore the technology before they begin creating their own project, the students were much more familiar with the video editing software than I anticipated, and ended up wasting time that could have been used for something else.
Student learning was improved within the school through the development of this lesson and other lessons focused on using technology in meaningful and authentic ways that meet the indicators of engaged learning. The creation of this engaged learning project has also led me to work with the staff at my school to create projects for their own classrooms as well as introduce many of them to the idea of online projects that increases the levels of engagement for their students as well as make the learning more authentic and real. The impact of this work on engaged learning projects can be assessed by the levels of engagement and achievement taking place in my classroom as well as others I have worked with in the completion of this project. The end goal would be for the students to create their own online project that shows their knowledge and connects them with other virtually.
During the fall of 2014, I worked through the process of creating an Engaged Learning Project which focuses on the Levels of Technology Implementation and the indicators of engaged learning for ITEC 7400: 21st Century Teaching and Learning. My project focused on the students participating in an authentic nationwide online project to gain some data about dominant and recessive traits as part of our genetics unit in 7th grade life science and then creating an educational video that will be shared with younger students in a fun science education day. My contribution to this artifact was the creation of this project, and finding ways to use technology to enhance the authentic learning experience.
For the completion of this artifact, I worked to model for and facilitate my students through an authentic learning experience centered on the concept of genetics and heredity. The students were able to participate in an online project created by a group of high school students in New Jersey that polled thousands of students all across the country to determine which traits were actually dominant and recessive in our country. This authentic learning experience allowed the students to see data in a much larger scale than just our classroom or even school to know that the results we were seeing in our experiments matched those of others. Taking this learning and using digital tools to create a video product that was then shared with younger students in our school district gave the students purpose in their work and made the product more authentic as well. I modeled for the students how to use the video editing software and set learning expectations through a rubric that guided their work. Throughout the process I facilitated the overall process while allowing the students to discover and create their own learning by asking probing questions as needed, but not giving step-by-step instructions or a checklist of everything that had to be included in the final product.
During the creation of this artifact, I gained insight into the way my students saw themselves as compared to those across the country through the participation in the online genetics project. The high diversity within our school made many of the students feel that our results would not be the same as those from the project and they were quite shocked to learn how similar they were to the overall population of the country. Providing opportunities like this where the students are able to connect with others their age across the country for educational purposes has become a goal of mine moving forward. I see the importance of making the students feel connected to the bigger society as a whole and am working to connect to other classrooms through technology such as blogs, as well as other online projects that they can participate in for our other units of study. In the future, I would like to adjust the time spent completing this project. Although I know it is important to give the students time to “play” with and explore the technology before they begin creating their own project, the students were much more familiar with the video editing software than I anticipated, and ended up wasting time that could have been used for something else.
Student learning was improved within the school through the development of this lesson and other lessons focused on using technology in meaningful and authentic ways that meet the indicators of engaged learning. The creation of this engaged learning project has also led me to work with the staff at my school to create projects for their own classrooms as well as introduce many of them to the idea of online projects that increases the levels of engagement for their students as well as make the learning more authentic and real. The impact of this work on engaged learning projects can be assessed by the levels of engagement and achievement taking place in my classroom as well as others I have worked with in the completion of this project. The end goal would be for the students to create their own online project that shows their knowledge and connects them with other virtually.