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Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you are having a wonderful day today. Today, we're going to go ahead and take just a little time for reflection, specifically reflecting on developing instruction within various learning management systems. This is going to provide us with the opportunity to reflect on all of the major elements we've discussed within these various conversations about learning management systems.
For today's lesson, I've chosen a quote by Robert Frost which say, "I talk in order to understand. I teach in order to learn." And today we're going to do a little bit of both of those. I am going to teach you so that we can help learn that process of reflection. And ideally, we're both going to talk through the situation so that we can better understand all that's involved as we develop instruction within learning management systems.
By the end of the lesson today, you will be able to reflect on the ways using a learning management system could benefit or challenge teaching and learning in your environment.
So let's take a look at some really important reflection questions that we want to be asking ourselves as we look at developing instruction within learning management systems. First and foremost, it's really important to ask yourself considering what you now know about learning management systems, would you consider moving to one or switching to a different learning management system? Why or why not?
Here is what you want to grapple with. What are you currently using in your classroom right now? What are the various benefits that it gives you? What are some of the weaknesses of that? And if you don't currently have a larger system in place, have you discovered one throughout our conversations about learning management systems that seems like it would work really well for you in your classroom?
If you currently have a learning management system, have you, through your education, discovered one that you think might work a little bit better, might meet the needs of you as a teacher as well as your students? And if you would consider switching, why? Why is that going to be better for your educational environment?
If you're not going to switch, don't let the conversation just end there. Think to yourself why not? What am I truly getting from the current learning management system that I have? Or what does it offer that I could tap into that I'm not already using? If you want to think about these questions right now, feel free to pause the video for just a moment to think about that.
The second major reflection question that we want to ask ourselves when looking at learning management systems is considering your school environment, what would be the biggest improvements and challenges to moving to a learning management system?
Here is where you want to take the question, not just in your own classroom and what you are specifically using, but expanded a little bit to your school environment. Take a look at your students who are walking in the door. What are their specific needs? That's going to differ from other educators that you know who teach in other parts of the country or other parts of the state. That could even differ from the students who go to school at a neighboring high school.
Your school wants to look at what are the biggest elements that should be considered within your environment and what would be some of the improvements or challenges to moving to a learning management system. Sometimes this could have to do with access to technology, both within your school environment and outside. Sometimes this could have to do with the amount of training that your current teachers have in using various digital elements. These are not necessarily reasons not to move to a learning management system, but definitely things you want to consider. If you would like to consider this question for your own school environment, feel free to pause the video for a moment to think about your answer.
The final question we want to look at today as we reflect on developing instruction within learning management systems is how does using learning management system in your teaching help you address the two following elements of Marzano? As we know, Marzano sets up a framework that really helps us with reflection. And when it comes to LMS, we're going to pick out two specifically.
First, we're going to look at Domain 2 Element 5, planning and preparing for the use of available technology. How does a learning management system aid your planning and preparing as a teacher? When you look at the elements with in your current lesson plans and as you prepare for future lesson plans or the ways that you can aid or add to those current lesson plans, how could a learning management system help you address that planning and preparing? Do you think a learning management system would be helpful as you plan and prepare using available technology. Or do you think it might hinder you in some way, or could cause that process to not run as smoothly?
The other major element of Marzano that we're going to look at is Domain 3 Element 2, which looks at evaluating the effectiveness of individual lessons and units. Think about this domain an element in conjunction with learning management systems. Is there a way that a learning management system could help aid your evaluation in the effectiveness of individual lessons and units? Or do you think that the current way that you have of evaluating these is good enough?
Could you foresee any way in which a learning management system could hinder your ability to evaluate the effectiveness of individual lessons and units? If you'd like to take a little bit of time to think about these and how they impact your specific teaching, feel free to pause the video for just a moment.
Excellent. Now that we've reached the end of this lesson, you are able to reflect on the ways that using an LMS could benefit or challenge teaching and learning within your specific educational environment.
Before we end this lesson, I want to take just a moment to reflect upon these reflections. As you've looked at a number of different questions that you can ask yourself about developing instruction within a learning management system, what do you think is the hardest part about reflecting in your day to day educational experiences? Feel free to pause the video for a moment as you think about your answer to this question.
Now to dive a little deeper and learn how to apply this information, be sure to check out the Additional Resources section associated with this video. This is where you'll find links targeted toward helping you discover more ways to apply this course material. That's all we have for right now, but I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.
(00:00-00:54) Intro
(00:55-01:05) Objectives
(01:06-02:48) Reflection Question 1
(02:49-04:25) Reflection Question 2
(04:26-06:22) Reflection Using Marzano
(06:23-06:38) Review
(06:39-07:29) Reflection
Improving Ed-Tech Purchasing
This article by Phil Martin and Steve Pines reviews how to improve the thoughtful selection and purchase of educational technology. Scroll down to download a very useful tool for identifying the key obstacles and possible solutions for the discovery and acquisition of K-12 personalized learning tools.
http://www.digitalpromise.org/blog/entry/improving-ed-tech-purchasing
Digital Learning Now: Smart Series Guide to EdTech Procurement
This comprehensive report takes educators through a 12 step process in making decisions about procuring educational technology. It emphasizes that decisions should connect back to personalizing instruction and meeting educational goals and objectives. The section "The Buyers Are Not the Users" offers important thinking and talking points in collaborating around decision making.
http://learningaccelerator.org/media/c0601d62/DLNSS-EdTechProcumentGuide-FINALCC_Jan2014%20(1).pdf
Montgomery County Public Schools: 10 Basic Quality Tools for The Classroom
Scroll down to the "Plus Delta" section to find an overview of using the tool, why to use the tool, and how the tool impacts practice. In addition, this site offers images of the Plus Delta in action in real classrooms and educational environments.
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/baldrige/staff/qualitytools.shtm