OLTD 509 - Emergent Environments & Technologies
OLTD Learning Outcome:
Critically assess and evaluate resources for best practices in online learning.
Evidence to support outcome: Barely Alive in the Swamp, A blog post
Reflection to Support Evidence:
The piece that I chose for this reflection is a blog I wrote which reflected on the intrinsic value of the teacher as the real link to best learning environments. It was based on the selected reading from “Alive in the Swamp”, by Fullan and Donnelly.
In my blog, I had to think about how technology has really been sold as the magic bullet that will shape educational reform. The very idea that kids are bored in school and teachers are lack-luster due to low morel is, to me, indicative of the declining value that society places on our school systems and education as a whole. Imagining that technology can be inserted into any learning environment and reinvigorate it, is ludicrous. We need to recognize that best practice does not just come hand in hand with new tools and methods, it comes with well educated, well trained, and highly self-actualized teachers. The document providing the basis of this reflection was great in that it allows a teacher to do what is at the heart of good teaching and the basis of best practice – that is, to be reflective.
As with so many other resources I have come across in this program, the ones that stand out the most for me are those that will help me to better articulate my philosophies of learning, engagement, teaching, and best practice. Looking for best practice examples and guides not only promote my own professional development, but assist me in passing these on to my staff. The sharing of these resources has made our PD activities rich and structured and served as a catalyst for excellent discussion and dialogue.
OLTD Learning Outcome:
Examine current research around best practices and emerging practices.
Evidence to support outcome: Why Sustainable Change Doesn’t Happen, A blog post
Reflection to Support Evidence:
I chose this particular blog post as I had to give serious consideration to the idea that any changes I am trying to implement in terms of my online school, may not be around much longer than the time it takes to organize them.
Once again, I find myself pondering how to create true best practice changes to the learning environments that I work with. I can only affirm that in my experience, it is only best practice that is sustainable. I found that the story line presented at the beginning of this course, where the archetypal categories of teachers in any school were presented as Yesvi, Novi, and Avi, helped to contrast the data from the related article for this assignment: 19 Reasons Sustainable Change Doesn’t Happen in K-12 Education, by Jackson, Gould, and Haenke. The Bubble Bump School drama was easy to apply the change resistors discussed in the article, and will serve me well in my ongoing discussions with my own staff about how we need to create sustainable change in our school.
Best practice and emerging practice are not necessarily the same thing. Every author of educational reform would have us believe that what they propose is solid pedagogy and will serve education well into the future. Remember ‘Whole Language”? Thankfully that has gone by the wayside. I think that the 19 indicators of best practice/sustainability covered in this assignment provide at least one lens we can apply to emerging trends and practices to evaluate their efficacy and sustainability. Tools like this help us remember to do two critical things when contemplating educational reform – take time to really examine the pedagogy and research involved, and ensure that healthy discussion takes place throughout the process.
OLTD 509 and the Critical Challenge Questions
1. How can you select emerging technologies which fit your developing philosophy of education?
At this point in my career, although I may be adventurous, my philosophy of education is fairly well defined. What I do appreciate about this course, is that I have been led to examine it in new ways that include emerging technologies and pedagogies. While I believe that my philosophy is sound, integrating new ways to interact with students certainly helps. An example is gamified learning environments. While I am not a gamer, I have certainly been highly engaged in progressing through this course and checking my running score. I am very competitive by nature, so I looked for ways to earn high points quickly. What I get from this, is that I am always happy to share new passions for engaging ways to learn with my staff and my students.
2. How can you inspire, initiate and implement sustainable integration of emerging technologies in your own practice, and in the practice of others?
To really answer this question, it is important to have tools like the 19 Reasons Sustainable Change Doesn’t Happen in K-12 Education, by Jackson, Gould, and Haenke, to examine the change processes involved with the educational reform you wish to make. Having a critical lens that provides the means to look at emerging technology or practice in ways that promote a focus on students and best practice can only help when you need to justify why you want to make a change. Another excellent tool is the Innovation Index found in “Alive in the Swamp”, by Fullan and Donnelly. There are always many barriers to making educational changes sustainable. Most of these deal, in some way with communication and perception. If you have not taken the time to involve all stakeholders in research and discussions about the changes you wish to implement, you will find little open support for your endeavor. The same goes with public perception. People need to be well informed about what you wish to do, what you are doing to ensure it is good practice, and how it will impact their children. By being passionate, inventive, transparent, and willing to take calculated risks, you can infect your students with the same passion for utilizing the emerging technology or practice. Once they are on board, their parents will surely come on board. Perhaps the harder crowd to bring along will be your district supervisors, school board, etc. But, given that you will be involving all stakeholders in the process of change, this should ultimately prove successful.
Critically assess and evaluate resources for best practices in online learning.
Evidence to support outcome: Barely Alive in the Swamp, A blog post
Reflection to Support Evidence:
The piece that I chose for this reflection is a blog I wrote which reflected on the intrinsic value of the teacher as the real link to best learning environments. It was based on the selected reading from “Alive in the Swamp”, by Fullan and Donnelly.
In my blog, I had to think about how technology has really been sold as the magic bullet that will shape educational reform. The very idea that kids are bored in school and teachers are lack-luster due to low morel is, to me, indicative of the declining value that society places on our school systems and education as a whole. Imagining that technology can be inserted into any learning environment and reinvigorate it, is ludicrous. We need to recognize that best practice does not just come hand in hand with new tools and methods, it comes with well educated, well trained, and highly self-actualized teachers. The document providing the basis of this reflection was great in that it allows a teacher to do what is at the heart of good teaching and the basis of best practice – that is, to be reflective.
As with so many other resources I have come across in this program, the ones that stand out the most for me are those that will help me to better articulate my philosophies of learning, engagement, teaching, and best practice. Looking for best practice examples and guides not only promote my own professional development, but assist me in passing these on to my staff. The sharing of these resources has made our PD activities rich and structured and served as a catalyst for excellent discussion and dialogue.
OLTD Learning Outcome:
Examine current research around best practices and emerging practices.
Evidence to support outcome: Why Sustainable Change Doesn’t Happen, A blog post
Reflection to Support Evidence:
I chose this particular blog post as I had to give serious consideration to the idea that any changes I am trying to implement in terms of my online school, may not be around much longer than the time it takes to organize them.
Once again, I find myself pondering how to create true best practice changes to the learning environments that I work with. I can only affirm that in my experience, it is only best practice that is sustainable. I found that the story line presented at the beginning of this course, where the archetypal categories of teachers in any school were presented as Yesvi, Novi, and Avi, helped to contrast the data from the related article for this assignment: 19 Reasons Sustainable Change Doesn’t Happen in K-12 Education, by Jackson, Gould, and Haenke. The Bubble Bump School drama was easy to apply the change resistors discussed in the article, and will serve me well in my ongoing discussions with my own staff about how we need to create sustainable change in our school.
Best practice and emerging practice are not necessarily the same thing. Every author of educational reform would have us believe that what they propose is solid pedagogy and will serve education well into the future. Remember ‘Whole Language”? Thankfully that has gone by the wayside. I think that the 19 indicators of best practice/sustainability covered in this assignment provide at least one lens we can apply to emerging trends and practices to evaluate their efficacy and sustainability. Tools like this help us remember to do two critical things when contemplating educational reform – take time to really examine the pedagogy and research involved, and ensure that healthy discussion takes place throughout the process.
OLTD 509 and the Critical Challenge Questions
1. How can you select emerging technologies which fit your developing philosophy of education?
At this point in my career, although I may be adventurous, my philosophy of education is fairly well defined. What I do appreciate about this course, is that I have been led to examine it in new ways that include emerging technologies and pedagogies. While I believe that my philosophy is sound, integrating new ways to interact with students certainly helps. An example is gamified learning environments. While I am not a gamer, I have certainly been highly engaged in progressing through this course and checking my running score. I am very competitive by nature, so I looked for ways to earn high points quickly. What I get from this, is that I am always happy to share new passions for engaging ways to learn with my staff and my students.
2. How can you inspire, initiate and implement sustainable integration of emerging technologies in your own practice, and in the practice of others?
To really answer this question, it is important to have tools like the 19 Reasons Sustainable Change Doesn’t Happen in K-12 Education, by Jackson, Gould, and Haenke, to examine the change processes involved with the educational reform you wish to make. Having a critical lens that provides the means to look at emerging technology or practice in ways that promote a focus on students and best practice can only help when you need to justify why you want to make a change. Another excellent tool is the Innovation Index found in “Alive in the Swamp”, by Fullan and Donnelly. There are always many barriers to making educational changes sustainable. Most of these deal, in some way with communication and perception. If you have not taken the time to involve all stakeholders in research and discussions about the changes you wish to implement, you will find little open support for your endeavor. The same goes with public perception. People need to be well informed about what you wish to do, what you are doing to ensure it is good practice, and how it will impact their children. By being passionate, inventive, transparent, and willing to take calculated risks, you can infect your students with the same passion for utilizing the emerging technology or practice. Once they are on board, their parents will surely come on board. Perhaps the harder crowd to bring along will be your district supervisors, school board, etc. But, given that you will be involving all stakeholders in the process of change, this should ultimately prove successful.