Module 2 EDU 776 - Frameworks for Evaluating Technology

 I suppose if you've signed up for an educational technology class, it is important to take an honest look at where you fall on the spectrum of integrating technology resources into your instruction, especially early on in the course. For a digital immigrant like myself, remote learning and incorporating more technology was challenging.  I finally feel like I know Google Classroom really well, and welp we're back to in person learning and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is not going to a 1 to 1 device setting -- talk about a missed opportunity for the district to take a step towards addressing technology inequity. 

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As I was reading through the different rubrics and matrices, the one that most closely aligned with my professional teaching philosophy and technology goals was TPACK which stands for Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge which builds on a model first developed by Lee Shulman and then modified to include technology. 

I have always believed that just having content knowledge -- like knowing a lot about history, doesn't make you a good teacher. This is why, many college professors with PhDs, have a hard time connecting with students or communicating their information in a manner that others can consume. This is because no one trained them on the pedagogical tools they need to break down information into meaningful pieces to individuals who have never interacted with the topic before. TPAK address this with the pedagogical and content knowledge components. As someone who is pursuing the technology certificate, I am trying to increase my weakest area of the TPAK which is technology integration to enhance learning. 

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The other component that I identified with in this framework was the dotted line surrounding the three circles which represented the context in which the teacher is teaching. I think it's an important component that was missing in the other examples. As I mentioned earlier, I think it's a shame that CPS' Device policy does not include a 1 to 1 option as some of the projects or assignments require regular use of a device. For example, CPS recently rolled out a new curriculum called Skyline which is supposed to be more inclusive and equitable, but in order to fully use all the features of the curriculum, students need to access it online with a device. Even attempting to download or copy materials into Google documents is not allowed. So, on the one hand, we're trying to learn and manipulate a new digital curriculum with all the bells and whistles and on the other hand, digital inequity is hampering our attempt to do so. My niece and nephew in the western suburbs of Chicago were given their own Chromebook and iPad since they were in junior high -- now they are in college! We're way behind where we should be and that presents challenges that other districts don't face. Some of the other frameworks mentioned elevating their tech by using smartboards, but that's not a financial option at my school at this time to install in classrooms. 

I personally want to expand my knowledge of incorporating technology into how I break down and teach history and psychology at the high school level. I want me students to be exposed to different ways of digesting information. I feel like I'm good at showing students information via technology, but I haven't gotten great at letting them explore the technology and create something using sources outside the Google suite, even though there are so many amazing ways to do so. I took the video editing course in the spring, so I'd like to assign my students an opportunity to create video content for our course, just have to find a good avenue for it. I'm looking forward to learning more from my fellow classmates and Nicole to increase the technology section of the TPAK framework.