This is a gifted group!
I am excited to be able to find so many wonderful ideas among my colleagues in this class. Before it is over, I should have nearly all the lessons in the curriculum showcase downloaded. There has been at least one time in looking over every unit that I have said, "Wow! What a great idea!" I know I can adapt many of these lessons for use in the future.
This class, Designing Technology Rich Curriculum, ended up to be more about designing curriculum than really emphasizing technology for me. The book Understanding by Design was a terrific resource. I got something out of every chapter. The authors' philosophy really hit home with me. The UbD framework can apply to many different educational approaches and styles. That's the beauty of it.
This course was designed with just the right balance of reading and activities. I grew to enjoy my blogging experiences. I find I am contemplating my next post way ahead of time. Colleagues have shared so much wisdom and insight, not to mention websites and activity ideas.
The units all benefited from the input of others. I know I took a look at several blog entries as I reached my final draft. I also decided that next time I do unit planning with my grade level team, I am going to look for online lessons, etc. the way I learned in this class and in Internet in K-12 Instruction during Spring 1.
I am almost to the conclusion of my sixth online class through UF. The classes have been better every time. I appreciate the way the faculty has been responsive to the needs and preferences of the students. I especially like the promptness with which Dr. Dawson has responded to messages and assignment submissions. That must take a big chunk of her time. But she seemed to be online to answer just about any time I asked. That is very reassuring when you reach a frustration point in an assignment. Overall, I'd give the the class an A. Now let's see what I get on the unit I turned in....
posted by Shelly D @ 7:59 PM
3 Comments:
Great Post Shelly,
I too thought I learned much more about curriculum design than technology integration. - Which is a good thing - I didn't realize I was weak in that area. But, I think I did it kind of backwards - this is my last class in the program, so technology integration was the easy part. I suppose I would really have looked at things differently if this would have been one of my first classes.
Take care & have a good summer!
Like you, I've downloaded all of our colleagues' lesson plans for review this summer - there is such a rich array of talent and energy exemplified in my quick peek at them. The development of these units really helps us to appreciate the need for concentrated change in instructional design - and yet, it will surely have to be balanced with the ever increasing demands already placed on teachers.
As I was pondering UbD (from a veteran teacher's view), I first thought that it may easier to "learn" this as a beginning teacher and then I realized that it might still be difficult - very few, if any, beginning teachers come to the profession without their own experiences as a learner and those experiences are so often still based on the traditional ways of "coverage" and "activities" rather than desired results and assessment demonstrations. And so we begin again - no matter - I'm glad to be a lifelong learner!!
Hope you keep posting to your blog! Enjoy your summer, too!
Marie
Shelly,
It occurred to me that I can't even remember my curriculum class in my undergraduate program...how sad is that? It was wonderful to spend time on the various curriculum designs, although very overwhelming to me; especially after having had to wrap my brain around educational philosophies all over again.
Perhaps just focusing on the UBD model and how technology can be used to support our curricular goals would have been enough. I, too enjoyed blogging but found myself rushing through the blogs to get to the readings. I didn't feel as though I could dig deeper because I was doing so much...kind of skimming the surface, so to speak.
Thanks for sharing throughout the past eight weeks, Shelly. I really enjoyed reading your blogs!
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