Week 1: Reflection
I agree wholeheartedly with Andrew that our first class felt like a better version of Ed school – specifically, a much better version of the technology class we took (which was universally regarded by the students as completely useless, in part because barely any of us had access to the necessary technology, but never mind that, I'm getting off topic). I have to admit, I wondered whether this course would be useful to me, but I've come to the conclusion that it will. I'm excited to dig into the material, to learn more about the approaches and tools I can use in the educational setting.
Week 2: Readings
As I began the One-Shot Workshop reading, the material seemed pretty common-sense to me, but then I do have some experience planning instruction. ADDIE is definitely a logical set of steps to take when preparing a lesson, and I can definitely appreciate the idea that a the whole and the pieces of a workshop can be continually updated and reused, adapted to fit different content, and be a solid foundation for beginning instructors.
The ADDIE model definitely showed through in the Johnston and Yelinek readings. I think that the fact that those readings were in line with One-Shot is a reflection of the sensibility and applicability of that set of concepts to the planning of workshops and tutorials as well as assessments.
The Griffis article was a clear, concise summary of the pros and cons of various free screen capture tools, and I don't doubt that it wil come in handy. As far as what sort of skills would be best improved with the use of screencasts and online tutorials, I feel that these tools would best be utilized to demonstrate the use of different platforms and software, both for the basics and the advanced features, where a visual demonstration is more useful than a textual explanation.
I felt the same way about the ADDIE method! I kind of wondered if I was missing something, because I wasn't sure how those steps would be different from the "traditional" way people prepare workshops. Seemed like common sense to me, as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious, what was the technology they asked you to use in your other class that no one had access to?
I think its really interesting that three former ed school grads have all had similar feelings about this class. I think you make a really good point about how the ADDIE model was used in the other articles. So often what we learn in class or is theorized is then not actually used. I think many teachers/librarians might use the ADDIE method without realizing it. It is important though to know about it and to make sure one is following all the steps to ensure its is being used to its fullest potential.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about ADDIE seeming like common sense-- but I was surprised by how often these methods can go by the wayside when people have to plan on the fly-- I was even guilty of that a time or two, and it was very noticeable how much better my plans were when I thought them through!
ReplyDeleteRe: technology unavailable to us
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of that program was to place teachers in "critical need" or "high poverty" schools, so many of us didn't even have access to enough computers for all of our students to do an activity at the same time, the computers we had access to were old and slow and there was serious competition for their use, and none of us had more than one computer in our classrooms. That was the major problem - we mostly focused on online tech tools and how they could be used in the classroom. Other technology we learned to use in that class included smart boards (I think maybe one person had access to those) and projector attachments for graphing calculators (a few could get their hands on those). I can't really remember the rest - I think I've blocked it out.
Re: ADDIE
I definitely agree with y'all that knowing the steps to ADDIE and following them while planning makes instruction more effective. I know I've been guilty more than a few times of just throwing together a lesson without considering those elements, and they were pretty universally abysmal.