Week 5 Assignment: Supporting Learning and Leadership with Technology

Amanda Knight

EDU 697: A Capstone Project

Theresa Lally

July 16, 2019

Program Learning Outcome 8 “demonstrate the ability to make informed decisions regarding the

use of technology in support of learning and leadership.”

Original activity

In Education 658, I wrote about my current school and how they implemented blended learning

at the beginning of last year to become an “A” school. We had fallen to a “C” school and needed

a lot of change. “Blended learning is an educational program that combines traditional classroom

teaching methods with digital media.” (Freeman, 2017) Blended learning will hopefully bring

our school back to an “A” school with excellent Florida Assessment scores. Last year we

implemented three types of educational programs, i-ready, reading plus and imagine math.

Change

Although we are now credited as a “B” school, there definitely should be more change to achieve

that A standard. I noticed that Reading Plus was not a very efficient and engaging tool for

students. Even though it was an excellent tool to train students to read independently, students

did not use it correctly. It did not efficiently train. I would change this reading plus program to

find a more efficient and engaging.

Searching a bit online, I came across a software called ReadingBuddy. It is a software for grades

first through eight. I liked this software because rather than having students learning independent

reading, and you might not know if the student is focused and reading, this program improves

reading fluency and comprehension by using responsive speech recognition technology. This

will ensure that the students are engaged and focused. When a child is struggling, it helps the

student learn that word. It also has a point and prize system, and game mechanics help motivate
the student to want to keep using the program. Unlike Reading Plus parents can access the

program and see how their students are doing.

Another tool I would like to implement would be an online classroom management system that

works throughout the entire grade. This year third grade through fifth-grade teachers will only be

teaching one subject. Since the teachers will have every student in the grade, it is essential to

implement the same management system throughout the entire grade.

Challenges

Challenges will be that this program is only supported on the computer, and it may be difficult

for a school to have enough computers for the students to use. Another challenge would be that it

might not be accepted by the school or district, so then we would have to search for a more

efficient program for students.

The challenge I had for classroom management was finding an online management system.

When I would find a good program, it would not be free. I would also come across a “free”

program, but then it was just a demo or a free trial. This would mean that if it were actually

effective, it would have to go through school approval, and it might not be affordable.
 Reference:

Freeman, J. (2017, January 6). Using Blended Learning in the Classroom. Retrieved September 4,

2018, from http://www.teachhub.com/using-blended-learning-classroom