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!
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