Reflection on Integrating Instruction into Curriculum Course

Through the Integrating Technology into the Curriculum class I have been able to grow as a technology coach in a few ways.  I am just completing my first year as a Technology Instruction Coordinator in my school district so I have been providing technology integration assistance throughout the year, but the course provided me with new ways to approach my coaching of others.  

One thing that was new to me was using the screencasting tools and publishing a product that I created.  I had played around with the screencasting programs before, but had never actually completed one.  I had recommended using the screencasting software to some teachers and helped show them some of the tools, but I hadn’t taken it upon myself to create any presentations or tutorials with the tools myself.  Once completing the SAMR model presentation, I realized how easy it was to use the tools and that it is something that the students should definitely be able to do.  Even though the screencasting process did require time to think out and plan the presentation, and it took a little time getting used to the tools and how they worked, it is something that has moved to the top of my list of recommendations for teachers to implement with their students.  I think that students would be able to pick up on how to use the tools pretty quickly, and having the students create screencasts could become an invaluable tool into seeing the thinking of the students.  

Another aspect of tech integration that has been affected by this course is my professional learning network.  Through this class, I was encouraged to branch out and try to find professional development from a variety of new sources.  I now have a much better way of organizing the tools that I find through my Pearltrees curation site so that when I need to use the resources I have found I can easily access them.  Also, I have discovered many different sources of information by following new blogs and professional twitter accounts so I have increased my personal professional development and found many new resources, tools, and implementation methods that I can share with the teachers I work with.  In the future, I hope to be a better member of my professional learning network as I start to contribute to it by sharing my own ideas and experiences with others.