Final Reflections - CEP 811

            When integrating technology, I have learned that since all students enter the school with various levels of technology skills, I need to have my lesson planned with UDL guidelines in order to meet the learning needs.  This is something that needs to be anticipated because I will never have students who all have the same understanding.  It is a fact.  But by being prepared and ready for multiple scenarios, I will have a quality lesson ready for students to learn with outcomes they can use in further studies and projects.  Aside from skills, I also need to anticipate cognitive abilities.  This strategy will enable all students to be engaged learners from day one without hesitation.  Understanding the different learning styles will further enable me to guide my students toward success rather than frustration.

            Integrating web-based technologies helped me think about and evaluate the uses of technology by enabling me to actively participate in using FTP and MERLOT.  I was able to upload my coursework to a remote server and provide a web address for its location.  This was a great tool to learn and understand because I understand how to share my work on a global scale. 

            At the beginning of this course, I wanted to understand how to utilize and integrate technology into my teaching.  The various assignments stretched my mind to think beyond the traditional uses of the computer and the Internet.  In particular, having learned about WebQuests, I was able to have a student work on one near the end of the year.  It was incredibly helpful by enabling me to understand the greater role technology can (and will) play in my future teaching. 

            I want to continue to discover new available resources through WebQuests and MERLOT to enhance my teaching.  These assignments gave me the hope that teaching does not have to be a solitary mission.  As educators, we want our students to succeed, so by contributing useful information and lessons to various sites, we have created this network that will flourish and give our students amazing new learning opportunities.  To reach these goals, I will continue to learn more about the resources available and document my work so others may use it, modify it, and benefit from it.  

Evaluation of Learning Material in MERLOT

            For this assignment, I found the lesson “Connecting Concepts: Animal Physiology/Homeostasis 3: Does Ben Have Diabetes?” by Jan Cheetham from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.  I was drawn to it because it is about Diabetes.  I was hoping for information regarding Type 1, but still found the lesson interesting, accurate, and informative.  Its target audience is older students in high school and college level.  Therefore, I found the concepts, models, and skills to be pertinent.  However, since more and more people are being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes at earlier ages, with some alterations, this lesson could be used with younger (upper elementary or middle school) students.  Some of the content is rather advanced, so preparing students with basic definitions of diabetes, warning signs, and understanding of human physiology will benefit understanding.

            The interactive nature of the lesson will enable students to better understand the causes of Type 2 Diabetes.  Using a young man (“Ben”) as an example in the lesson also gives learners a personal connection because he is someone in their own age group.  The questions posed by Ben may give students experiencing similar issues a starting point to open a line of dialogue with a parent or health care professional.  This lesson could be readily integrated into a human physiology unit with the proper background information.  However, as previously stated, it may be necessary to “tweak” the content to make it more accessible to learners of different ages.  It could be easily be used to achieve teaching and learning goals, which are to identify causes, symptoms, treatment, and prevention of Type 2 Diabetes.  Additionally, learning assignments, such as other auto-immune disorders, could branch out from this exercise to give students more information for further study.

            The lesson is very easy to use.  As I navigated through it my first time, I was able to locate buttons easily and find other controls.  It presented the information comprehensively without overwhelming and bogging down the text with technical jargon or too much information.  The module also provided a quiz.  If a question was answered incorrectly, another chance to answer correctly was provided.  Further explanations were also given regarding a correct answer to help learners draw concrete connections.  The module ran flawlessly on my Mac.  I did not need to download an alternate program to use it.  It was presented in a familiar PowerPoint type presentation in which many students are already accustomed.

            If I chose to use this lesson with my students and needed to modify or alter it for age appropriateness, I could do so under the “Creative Commons” license.  Overall, I found the information pertinent and usable in a classroom setting.