CEP 811 - Final Reflections

I think one of the best strategies I have taken away with me from this course is to be always in consideration of UDL Guidelines.  Not only will this help those students in my courses that have some types of learning disabilities, but will help all students.  When I kept these guidelines in mind while creating my lesson plan and StAIR assignment, I could see how this would benefit so many people in so many ways.  Of course, I can't squeeze in every guideline in every assignment, but just keeping these guidelines in mind for all lessons, both online and in campus classes, will certainly enhance each lesson and provide a more enriching learning experience for all students.  I can't wait to go forward with this new knowledge to see how lessons, lectures, assignments, and all aspects of online and campus courses are improved. 

I also learned that many projects take a good deal of work.  This is wonderful!  If I spend a good deal of time preparing a lesson, like a StAIR, I can use it forever...and trust me, I will use the StAIR I created in CEP 811, until the day I am no longer a teacher.  I can use this StAIR for four different world religion courses that I teach, both online and on campus.  And, I think this particular StAIR will really help students understand a topic that they generally get very little training in...understanding the meaning of symbols.  Putting in some good time on the front end, will certainly pay off for students.  My symbols StAIR is a ready made tool for all students to use.  I am very happy about that!

Integrating technologies in this class helped me realize how I can really customize lessons to fill some needs that I have.  World Religion materials...good ones anyway...aren't easy to come by.  Usually, world religion is the last discipline to be incorporated into the pre-made technology tools out there...I really have to search for quality You Tube videos, tutorials and the like.  There are plenty of less than scholarly materials available, but not good academic ones.  I have learned that I can really just make my own.  They will be more tailored to my courses anyway.

In CEP 811, I have certainly continued on the path of my long-term goal, which is to learn more about educational technologies and put them to use.  Working with them is really the only way to understand how they can be used for strong pedagogy, and I have certainly used some technology this semester.  I like that I have been able to think specifically about good teaching strategies while using the technologies this semester because without good teaching strategies, technology doesn't serve learners well.  And, I have come away with some materials that I can use right away in my courses.  It doesn't get much better than that!

I don't want to pile on too many goals on my plate, but sometimes I just can't help myself.  I have come to really love this process of integrating best teaching practices and technology.  I have begun to think about some dream jobs, so one goal is to sniff around and see what job opportunities are out there.  I am also strongly considering apply to the MSU MAET program.  But, aside from that, I want to keep up with original goal of learning as much as possible about educational technology and use that knowledge in my courses.  I plan to use the materials I created in CEP 811 in the Fall semester, and am going to work on getting those placed into the LMS before the semester begins. 

I can't wait to begin CEP 812!

Share Activity - CEP 811:session 6

As I was working through the Online Experience Guideline of the Michigan Merit Curriculum, I was familiar with most of the technologies and have even used many of them in my courses.  Electronic Portfolios is one of the technologies that I have seen used in courses of some colleagues at the College, and, I believe in them whole-heartily as a technology that can teach students valuable 21st century skills, as well as give them a practical product they can use for career opportunities outside of their college educational experience.  As I was thinking about them and how they really don't fit into my courses because I have to teach my subject matter, which is world religions, a thought began to blossom.

Hmmmmmmm...my mind began contemplating...an idea is in there somewhere...and then, it bloomed.  What if I had students create an electronic portfolio describing themselves as a follower of a particular religion, preferably not their current one?  Hmmmmmmm.  How would this be a pedagogical value?  Well, it is known in the world of academia, that providing students to opportunity to defend a position other than the one held personally by them, or otherwise put themselves in the shoes of another, is a good teaching strategy.  In order to understand a differing point of view, one needs to really internalize that point of view and come to know how a person holding the differing point of view thinks. 

Therefore, I would like to create an assignment wherein a Muslim student, for instance, creates an electronic portfolio detailing her life as a Hindu, for instance.  The portfolio could include a biography section, which may be fictional in nature, detailing that she was born in India and how she grew up in a wealthy caste, and what her life was like.  She could have a philosophy section explaining a type of religious concept that she holds dear; list of religious practices, perhaps with photos; a "favorite sacred text" section, in which she'd link to a favorite sacred passage and explain its meaning and how it relates to her life today; and on and on.  Many of the elements could be not true to her real life, but be included in the portfolio in the same way that authors write historic fiction novels.  The information would have to be accurate, but it doesn't really apply to her life.  An assignment of this type would involve good research techniques, develop writing skills of a technical as well as creative nature, provide practice using 21st century skills to conduct electronic research, find digital and copyright safe images, music, etc.  And, a student would become familiar with an electronic portfolio to use in the future for professional reasons.  Hmmmmmmmm.

I think the technology that would be most difficult to use from the Online Experience Guideline would be online simulations as this really doesn't blend well with my discipline of religious studies.  I can't really justify putting a simulation of a frog dissection in my class.  Also, I can't see that online gaming would be compatible either.  World religions is usually the last category of academia to be included into educational applications, so I would highly doubt I'd find anything applicable to my content.  Other than those two technologies, I think I could use pretty much every other category of technology in the table provided in the Online Experience Guideline.  It is fun to contemplate the wonderful assignments just waiting to be produced with all those great tools out there!

Wikis & Wikipedia

I have made a Wiki on Wikispaces, which I will use for an assignment in a campus course.  I have expanded on my original myth lesson plan.  Instead of designating several groups to create their own myth, I think I would like to try asking one group to create an oral myth.  After that is created, I'd like to work off that single oral myth to have other groups create other aspects of that myth that naturally develop within religions.  From that oral myth, a group will develop rituals and religious practices based on the myth, which will be named, "The Developers".  Then after the rituals are set and practiced, another group, called "The Writers", will compose a written version of the myth.   Lastly, a group, called "The Painters" will create a visual interpretation of the myth, either in the form of a painting, skit, short film, etc.  Feel free to check out the wiki I have created for student use during this processs.

Below is the Wikipedia page regarding Henry Ford Community College, where I work...very hard...especially in providing high quality online learning experiences for students at our College. What shocked me, is that there is no explanation about our wonderful distance education classes and programs offered on this entire page. So, I felt the need to add some. I have to say that it was difficult to stick to "encyclopedia" type writing as I wanted to add all kinds of opinions about our classes and programs. I stuck to the basics suggested in the Wikipedia tutorial, but am glad there is at least a reference to it now.

Below is my entry.

CEP 811 - UDL Guidelines Checklist

I have used my lesson plan titled "Defining 'Myth' in the Academic Study of Religion" as the platform for incorporating the UDL Guidelines and have written notes in this Google Doc, as to which guidelines are already present in this lesson, which guidelines I hope to incorporate, and which cannot be included. 

I found that many of the UDL guidelines to occur naturally in the lesson, which was was a pleasant discovery.  I plan to include as many of the guidelines that didn't surface in my lesson plan, as I can by retro fitting the lesson.  I think it is important to conduct such analysis of lessons, so that instructors keep these design elements in mind as they move forward and progress.  The more I use the UDL Guidelines, the more naturally they will manifest in my lessons without struggle, which will benefit all the learners I encounter.

CEP 811 - UDL Discussion Forum Post

I agree that often times curriculum is not flexible and poses barriers that may inhibit positive learning experiences. You might think I am crazy, but I think this problem goes way back to the roots of our education system. Prior to the formalized schooling, when students learned, they were often in an apprenticeship type learning environment, wherein the job of the teacher was to teach only one or a few students at one time. Individualization was intrinsic within the apprentice system because the teacher could know the student and how he learned best. When we decided to mass educate our students, it became difficult to differentiate learning styles, areas of intelligence, and individual skills. Therefore, we expect the students to meet the expectations of the curricula, instead of the curricula meeting the expectations of the students. When the curriculum is static, students not only have to learn the material, but also how to deviate from their natural inclinations for learning, meaning students often need to go against the manner in which their own brain works. This is a barrier because a good deal of energy of the student is then put toward fighting his own DNA, which takes away from the energy that can be put forth toward real learning. Without flexibility in the lessons themselves, some portion of the student body, struggles to just understand the material based on how it is presented, leaving less time to internalize the lesson itself.

The benefits of analyzing the curriculum for strengths and weaknesses rather than focusing on a student's strengths and weaknesses, is that adjusting the curriculum is actually much easier than trying to "adjust" all the students. The curriculum is actually less complex in nature than a person's mind and abilities. Constructing a curriculum that doesn't lower standards for students, but makes it much more accessible to all types of learners is a task that takes less time and effort than attempting to get students to conform to a certain method of learning. Why would we want to do that anyway? If all of us think alike, than there will be nobody to be innovators who think critically and creatively in the world. The benefits of analyzing the curriculum and making some minor adjustments to be inclusive to all learners will certainly produce more successful students than trying to change the physiology of the students to make them understand a non-living and less complex curriculum. I would also like to take the time here to argue that if an instructor has trouble adjusting the curriculum, then maybe that instructor doesn't understand her curriculum very well. When I began teaching, a very wise colleague shared with me the idea that a teacher should be able to explain the same concept in at least three different ways. If a person knows her content well, then this isn't really a problem.

I guess the challenges to this approach is that our system is engrained in our very lifestyle. It is the model we have been using for education for a very long time, it is regulated by the states and depends on outside sources for funding. With all kinds of people trying to control it, education itself becomes difficult to morph because there is so much more involved in its survival than the success of students. Having said that, I do think that individual teachers can make a lot of change to the curriculum on an individual level, which may not change the very infrastructure of our education system in the U.S., but can have a big impact on the success and happiness of students. All students will benefit from a teacher striving to make her lessons universal.