Summary of “Implementing a Unit of Study that Leverages the Use of Technology"

Video Transcription

Welcome to a summary for the unit, Implementing a Unit of Study that Leverages the Use of Technology. Congratulations, you've completed all of the lessons in this unit. Let's summarize all of the ideas that we explored together in this unit. We started off the unit by discussing how essential it is for our students to have opportunities to learn in a way that works best for them. This looks different and unique for each student at times, and we spend a good deal of our time differentiating and personalizing lessons in units as teachers.

Technology has come so far over the years, and there are so many tools and resources available to help us do this in our classrooms. One objective of this unit was to analyze personalization and differentiation strategies as they connect to the objectives developed for your unit of study. We defined personalization, creating lessons and units that are relevant, offer many resources, and consider learning styles and multiple intelligences.

And we considered differentiation, evaluating and making changes to content, process, products, and learning environment. We looked at each of these four individual areas, and I gave you examples and tools to use differentiating content, process, products, and learning environments.

The next objective of this unit was to develop a unit of study that integrates technology, pedagogy, and content, utilizing the theories, models, and frameworks presented throughout this course. We reviewed TPACK, where the knowledge domains of technology, pedagogy, and content, as well as the overlapping areas, are essential for us as teachers. We especially need to pay attention to that middle sweet spot where all three of these domains overlap and the TPACK-- Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge-- is created.

We also looked at Marzano's high-yield instructional strategies, the set of nine strategies that Marzano indicates we should have in our teaching. And we looked at the three principles for designing instruction and universal design for learning. The third objective of this unit was to deliver the unit of study using Sophia or a learning management system of your choice. Delivering this unit will help your students collaborate virtually and create and publish their work.

Here I showed you through a series of screenshots how to create a tutorial that includes lesson elements from the three stages of Understanding by Design. We walked through how to begin the process of using a learning management system to create lessons and units to be used so that students can set their own pace, slow down and revisit ideas, or move ahead. And we looked at the different sections of Sophia and the many options you have for creating differentiated instruction using this resource.

The final objective was to reflect on student/participant feedback to your newly implemented unit of study. How will you improve or refine this unit of study based upon this feedback? We looked at student feedback. What is it? What are the benefits to using it, and how can we gather it successfully? I walked you through tools for obtaining student feedback with different groups of students, tools like plus-minus-delta, written and verbal feedback from focus groups or interviews, which is a great tool for younger students, and consensograms.

We looked at how you can improve your feedback by gathering it frequently and being consistent to build trust with your students. We also looked at the importance of asking questions that are appropriate for your students, questions that they feel comfortable answering. The objectives of this unit were connected throughout. As you become more familiar with personalized learning and differentiation in your classroom, you'll develop the ability to develop units of study that integrate not only theories and models essential to teaching, but also technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge.

Having this strong base of knowledge in addition to learning how to use learning management systems like Sophia will offer you the ability to diversify learning opportunities for students. You'll use all three of these first objectives to learn how to gather, use, and reflect on student feedback. The objectives build on each other and are all essential to student engagement and achievement in your classroom. These ideas in the unit can be applied to any learning environment, classroom settings, work or professional development, and training.

We are now at the end of this unit. You should be able to answer the following questions. How can we personalize and differentiate our instruction in units of study? How can we develop a unit of study that integrates technology, pedagogy, and content while utilizing various theories, models, and frameworks? How can we deliver a unit of study using Sophia or a learning management system? And how can we reflect on student feedback and improve our units of study based on this feedback?

Again, thank you for joining me in this unit, Implementing a Unit of Study that Leverages the Use of Technology. I hope you enjoyed learning about these concepts as much as I've enjoyed exploring them with you. And I hope you're able to use your understanding of technology and how we can leverage this in the use of tools throughout the entire process of teaching in your own classroom.