NARRATIVE

 

I demonstrated my  ability to read and understand educational literature related to Educational Technology in my Final Paper in EDCI 513, I established the ability to process and understand educational literature related to Educational Technology.  My paper focused on Technology, Flipped Classrooms, and 21st Century Workforce Skills.  A large component of my paper was based upon research findings that I synthesized to illustrate the importance of the task of instructional designers in reinventing educational delivery methods by incorporating technology into classrooms and workplace learning.   Sorting through and analyzing the research findings allowed me to highlight the changes in cycle of content acquisition and application.  The classroom should essentially become like a workshop for the students, and the teachers should take on the role of a coach.  Flipped Classrooms and Workplaces should encourage deeper study, problem solving, group and team work, and peer collaboration.  This paper spotlighted the importance of incorporating technology through the use of Web 2.0 tools that provide a strong foundation for important workplace and life skills necessary for success. 

 

 

During EDCI 531- Learning Theories and Instructional Design, I enhanced my knowledge of the fundamental theories of human learning through my paper “Using Principles of Instructional Design to Flip a Classroom”.  I demonstrated three theories of learning: cognitive, behavioral, and constructivism by developing a science unit for a high school Earth Science Class.  The goal of the unit was to change the classroom from teacher focused to student focused.  By using Bloom’s Taxonomy and Skinner’s philosophy and state standards as my points of reasoning. Not coming from a traditional teaching background, this lesson plan gave me the opportunity to explore theories of learning and to put them into action.  I uncovered that professionals build the foundation for learning by figuring out and then building learning tools designed to meet target learning goals with specific needs of the learner in mind.  If an instructional designer is going to be successful, he or she has to have knowledge of learning theories and be familiar with not only educational psychology, but also teaching methods and trends in education. The paper allowed me to expand my thought process and understanding of teaching and learning to focus on the learner, the outcome, the methods used and why, and teacher strengths.

 

 I applied knowledge of human learning, diversity, and effective pedagogy to solution of problems in EDCI 569.  This was a group assignment that I did titled                        

"4-H Online Judges Training”.  The idea stemmed from a need for a central training for all 4-H Judges in the State of Indiana to complete to receive accreditation. This project demonstrated my ability to apply knowledge of human learning, diversity, and effective pedagogy to solution of problems.  My teammate and I developed a lesson plan that focused on the key areas of 4-H Project Judging.  This unit was very interactive and engaging, as it incorporated several areas of technology.  Having different technologies provided an exciting delivery method that kept the learner’s interest.   This unit also allowed the learners to go at their own pace, which proved to be a major success in its effectiveness.