Lindy Lee

EdTech 592
7-13-17
Reflection Paper

Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century

Introduction

This paper reflects my accomplishments and the challenges I faced in my journey to

higher learning in the M.E.T. program at Boise State University. It will describe how this

experience has influenced my life as a learner, a teacher, and my future endeavors. I started this

journey due to my love for technology. In retrospect, I often wonder how I brought myself to this

point in my life. As a daughter of refugee parents, I had all the odds stacked against me: my

parents were uneducated and my family of seven grew up in a 2 bedroom 1 bath home situated in

a low socioeconomic area. Regardless of our situation, my parents worked hard to make ends

meet and stressed the importance of higher education. When the Apple IIe model came out, my

parents decided to invest in one for me because they felt technology was an important

educational tool. As a millennial, technology was a common part of my daily life; I embraced it

and knew that technology integration into education was eminent. This prompted me to do more

research and it became apparent that this was a passion of mine.

I graduated from credential school in 2009, and reality finally set in one day as I was

staring at my class of thirty or so students, not knowing what to say or how to transition from one

topic to the next. I was shell-shocked of the multiple tasks I handled daily such as behavior,

classroom management, teaching standards-based lessons bell-to-bell. I thought to myself, how

am I going to get through the day? This was a daily struggle in my first year of teaching, but I

loved the daily interaction I had with students; they kept my heart and mind young. A part of me

knew that teaching was right for me--I was just not good at it yet.
Lesson One: Reflections on Learning

Learning occurs when practice or experience causes a relatively permanent change in an

individuals knowledge, behaviors, or attitudes (Larson & Lockee, 2014, pg.3). Learning

happens everywhere from home to school to the people we interact with or the new places that

we go. For me, I dreamed of being a teacher because many of my teachers over the years have

inspired me and influenced my learning experiences in a positive way. I dreamed of having my

own classroom, the many ways I would decorate it, and how I would teach the most well

behaved students. Years later, this was the profession I decided to pursue.

Looking back at credential school, I was taught that students learn through different

modalities such as visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and other ways. I knew that I had to diversify

my teaching to harness all the multiple learning intelligences. Howard Gardner constitutes these

were the different ways how individuals take in formation, retain and manipulate that

information, and demonstrate their understandings (and misunderstandings) to themselves and

others (Veenema & Gardner, 1996). I used visuals, did hands-on experiments, collaborative

activities, K-W-L charts, and used PowerPoint, which was my main mode of explicit direct

instruction at that time. As I did this, I became more comfortable with using technology in the

classroom, but student technology usage was still very limited and controlled. I started with

using technology only for math drill practice and then eased more into using the applications.

When I came into the MET program, I got a firsthand online learning experience. In my EdTech

504 course, I researched and compared the difference between the constructivist and behaviorist

approach to using technology in the classroom. Through this process, I learned that my initial use

of technology in the classroom was more behaviorist, but realized that was not where 21st

century learning was headed towards, rather a more constructivist approach. The use of
technology as a constructivist tool could help students represent and articulate their ideas,

explore, manipulate, and process information while collaborating with others (Juniu, 2006). In

the next few years, I found out that as I integrated more technology into the learning

environment, I provided opportunities for my students to be engaged. The learning became more

interactive and student-centered. I was starting to become more of the facilitator of the learning

with the technology versus being the central dispenser of all information.

However, I still had challenges such as providing enough computers for my students to

use, scheduling lab time, and managing student usage. My school at the time did not have a

technology department, therefore our district did not have an AYP (Acceptable Use Policy) that

outlined appropriate use of school technologies for students and educators and putting

procedures in place (Roblyer & Doering, 2013). However when I transferred to another district,

access to technology became more available in the classroom; I experimented with a variety of

technology tools such as Google Apps and YouTube. This led me to becoming more interested in

providing creative usage with technology in the classroom that led me to enter the Masters of

Technology program at Boise State University.

As I took more classes in the MET program, I found more ways to integrate technology

into the classroom. I allowed my students to collaborate with Google Drive and other Google

Apps. Once I got more comfortable with using technology in the classroom and realized the

benefits it gave to my students, I learned how to create my own teacher website and had my

students access it with their tablets. I was able to upload assignments, learning objectives and

prepared my students to become 21st century learners. I know that this might have happened

even if I did not get into the MET program but would have happened at a slower pace.
Lesson Two: The Art & Science of Teaching

The art of teaching would be best defined as how a teacher crafts his or her own teaching.

When the teacher magically connects with the students face-to-face, the art of teaching begins.

This art of teaching when crafted right produces a classroom environment where students are

excited about the learning and students become engaged. This engagement leads to more teacher-

student interaction and the learning is both ways; from teacher to student and student to teacher.

As stated by Gurung and Beth, when a student is engaged, he or she is more apt to study and

participate in class and therefore be successful with their college careers (2009, p. 95).

Teachers teach with their own personalities, design lesson plans according to their taste

and teach content using their experiences and personal touch. The environment of the classroom

depends on their style. The style of a teacher is a combination of personality and philosophy.

This is evidenced by behavior and attitude, what the teacher emphasizes, and how he or she

reacts to different situations (Ornstein, 1990, p. 9). As a beginning teacher gets more comfortable

with the content that they teach, they begin to personalize the lesson. Examples of this would

include two biology teachers teaching genetics and injecting their own comical points along the

way. Though the same content is covered, one teacher might feel more comfortable to use

comedy where another might not. The art of teaching requires time and experience to develop.

Such is observed during instructional walk-throughs, evaluations and the sort. Some teachers are

fortunate enough to see their colleagues practice this art of teaching. Some school districts allow

beginning and even veteran teachers time to observe their colleagues; hence adding more tools to

their teaching craft.

The science of teaching is the research done behind the professionan in-depth look at

the studies. In todays diverse classrooms, students bring to school with them many interests,
experiences, family circumstances, support systems, degrees of maturity and confidence

(Tomlinson, 2015, p. 204). Researchers such as Marzano and Kagan have compiled years of

studies on effective teaching strategies based on observations and data collection. The science of

teaching always looks at best practices, refines those practices, experiments, and refute or keep.

All educators would agree that there are certain best practices within teaching. An example of

this would be the concept of checking for understanding. This is the notion that teachers must

check to see if their students understood the lesson just taught. It is an indicator that learning

took place, if any. And most teachers would agree that more frequent checks for understanding,

the more formative assessment the teacher has available about how well the students learned the

material.

Such is true for the art of teaching as well in terms of years in experience. The more

seasoned veterans, given their experience, will be able to use these tools along with their art of

teaching. The beauty of this is where the science of teaching and the art of teaching marry. As a

teacher gets more comfortable with their craft and has more research under their belt, learning

takes place quickly, naturally, and the flow of learning seems smoother in the classroom for all

students.

I recall when I first started teaching. I was not aware of the pacing guide, had little

experience with classroom management but was very comfortable with my content knowledge.

It was challenging to make my content engaging or interesting because I was rushing to cover all

of the topics in one year and was unsure about my teaching craft. I would have to admit that

credential school did not really prepare me for a class of thirty students who were full of energy

every day. It took a while for me to be comfortable with my teaching craft, to attend workshops

where I gained valuable research about teaching and learning. As time progressed, I became
more confident with the daily routines and both the art and science of teaching. Like any other

profession, it is an ongoing learning experience.

Lesson Three: The Design and Evaluation of Instruction

Assessments are important and necessary in the learning process because it allows

teachers to gather information on what students learned and found challenging, identifies their

students needs, and determines if the learning objectives have been met. Through assessments,

I can re-adjust and reteach once I find out what standards or objectives have not been met. When

I was working on my Instructional Design project in EdTech 503, I used the ADDIE model

(Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) as a framework to create

instructional materials that met 4th grade ELA and writing standards using the Story Jumper

website as a technology tool (Larson & Lockee, 2014, pg. 8). Although there are different

variations of the ADDIE model, going through this process taught me the importance of careful

planning, designing, and modifying lessons systematically to improve instruction. When

designing instructional material for that purpose, the design and technology content should be

carefully balanced to match the students backgrounds and capabilities as well as to suit the

different teaching styles (Huang, Stephen, Tsai, 2009).

In my first couple years of teaching, often times I jumped into developing lessons that

failed, or taught lessons that didnt meet learning objectives where I would pick up and move on.

When I became a 4th grade teacher, I worked with a group of colleagues who embraced

technology and saw the importance of moving our fourth graders towards 21st century learning.

As a study of NCREL (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory) states, Technology

serves as a bridge to more engaging, relevant, meaningful, and personalized learning, all of
which can lead to higher academic achievement (Roblyer & Doering, 2012). Being the first

grade level to pilot the 1-1 tablets, our initial usage was experimental and we ran into a lot of a-

ha moments. The great thing about this was our principal and district administrators were

understanding and supportive. Besides using technology tools to practice skills, we started using

technology to assess formally and informally. Our students were using Microsoft Applications

to type up their culminating tasks, Story jumper for creative writing, Weebly for student

portfolios, reading programs such as iReady, FrontRow Ed, and Illuminate to improve their

reading levels. One of my favorite assessments to use for whole class instruction is Kahoot,

which had a wide range of topics from math to reading to science and social studies. Students

found these assessments more fun and engaging besides regular pencil and paper ones. They

became more interested and active in learning. Through these assessments and collecting the

results and evaluating them consistently and as a team, we increased our ELA and Math scores

as a grade level and as a school. My experience using the ADDIE model has made me appreciate

the process of collaborating with other colleagues through planning lessons, collecting and

analyzing data, modifying, and evaluating instruction. These are definitely critical steps for

effective lesson design and instruction as well as assessments, which are necessary to keep our

students accountable for their learning and teachers accountable for their teaching.

Lesson Four: Networking and Collaboration

When it comes to networking of professionals, it is always better to know more

professionals and be connected. The more people you know in your field, the more resources

youll have available to draw from. We all have our strengths, different areas of focus, and

unique experiences. Given this, we can draw from each others experiences and ideas to make
informed decisions. For example, in one of my MET courses, I partnered with someone who

came from a business technology background. We were able to draw from each others

experiences and used those ideas to collaborate and design an implementation technology plan.

Through my years of teaching, I have been involved in a variety of professional learning

networks. One in particular involved the new ELA curriculum that our district received this past

school year. The objective was to get the teachers to familiarize themselves with the online ELA

curriculum. In this professional learning network, we communicate via email or listserv to

provide feedback and suggestions for questions regarding the new online curriculum. I received

daily tips and tricks on best practices from other colleagues. I would then put those tips and

tricks into action and report out to the group. Others would do the same and when we had

questions that could not be answered; the moderator would reach out to experts. I learned about

professional networks in my EdTech 501 course. In this course, our professor asked us to

subscribe to Moodle. This gave me an opportunity to see other classmates work, webpages, and

news articles. This gave us a chance to comment and assist each other throughout the

assignments. Like the previous example, I believe I would have done this but at a slower pace

without the MET program.

Lesson Five: The Research-Practice Connection

I experienced the research-practice connection in many EdTech courses. I first

experienced the research part in the Edtech 504 class where I had to revisit the topics of

constructivist versus behaviorist theories. The professor asked the students to summarize both

thoughts and apply them to our everyday profession. I had an opportunity to apply more of the

practice part in EdTech 542 and EdTech 554 where I developed project based learning websites.
As I have researched, PBL allows students to solve real-world problems by designing their own

inquiries, planning their learning, organizing their research, and implementing a multitude of

learning strategies (Bell, 2010, pg. 39). My students were exposed to this constructivist thought,

where they had to create mini assignments and finished with a culminating task. In the end, my

students were more engaged in their learning, held each other accountable, and gained valuable

technology skills. This was evidence that the research behind constructivist thought was

accurate.

My current thought on research-practice connection is that I do not do this enough as a

teacher. Before the MET program, I believed that sometimes the practice is not supported by the

research. In other words, I was very skeptical of researchers because some have never taught in

the traditional K-12 classroom. Going through the program, I became confident in the theories

thought and reviewed in the EdTech courses and actually applied them. I have used more and

more of the project based learning assignments in my everyday profession and will continue to

do so and even share them with colleagues. For this learning reflection, I do not believe that I

could have achieved this level of confidence without the instructions or guidance of my

professors in the MET program. I am very thankful, as they have changed my views on

research-practice connections.

Conclusion

Reflecting on my experiences in the MET program has given me the opportunity to look

back and realize the growth and skills I have developed as a learner, educator and technologist.

The knowledge that I acquired in my MET courses have inspired me to do more with

technologyto experiment and allow creativity to take shape when it comes to my students and
their learning. As mentioned previously, I am aware of the research and have put that research in

practice. Confidence is gained when we acquire new knowledge and in the art and science of

teaching, confidence is needed to deliver meaningful and purposeful learning. This meaningful

and purposeful learning can be assessed and evaluated to help refine educational technology.

That confidence also comes from the fact that I have built a larger network base when it

comes to professional learning networks. I am able to reach out to other educational

technologists who are also experimenting and putting research to the test. There is power in

reflection as well. I have learned that the more I reflect on my own learning experience, the more

confident I am. This confidence exudes when I allow others to constructively critique my

teaching even when technology is integrated into the learning. Therefore, in the end, this lifelong

journey allows me to grow professionally and build confidence in all aspects of my career.

References

Bell, S. (2010). Project-based learning for the 21st century: Skills for the future. The
Clearing House, 83, 39-43.

Gurung, R.A.R. & Schwartz, B.M. (2009). Optimizing teaching and learning: Pedagogical
research in practice. London, U.K.: Wiley Blackwell Publishing.

Huang, Y., Stephen, Y., & Tsai, C. (2009). Web 2.0 for interactive e-learning. Interactive
Learning Environments, 17(4) 257-259.

Juniu, S. (2006). Use of technology for constructivist learning in a performance assessment class.
Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science, 10(1), 67-78. Retrieved from
http://www.montclair.edu/profilepages/media/286/user/Use_of_Technology_for_Constru
ctivist_Learning_in_a_Performance_Assessment_Class.pdf

Larson M. & Lockee. B. (2014). Streamlined ID: A practical guide to instructional design.
New York, NY: Routledge.
Ornstein, A.C. (1990). Institutionalized Learning in America. City: Transaction Publishers.

Roblyer, M.D., & Doering, A.H. (2012). Integrating educational technology into teaching
(6th ed.). Allyn & Bacon.

Smith, G. E., & Throne, S. (2007). Differentiating instruction with technology in K-5
classrooms. International Society for Technology in Education. Retrieved from
http://www.iste.org/docs/excerpts/DIFFK5-excerpt.pdf

Tomlinson, C. (2015). Teaching for Excellence in Academically Diverse Classrooms. Society,

52(3), 203-209. Doi: 10.1007/s12115-015-9888-0

Veenema, S., & Gardner, H. (1996). Multimedia and multiple intelligences. American Prospect,
69-76.