678 Course Reflection

And just like that, I am one class away from completing this Technology Specialist endorsement program through the University of St. Francis. In the last 18 months, I have grown as an individual and educator, meeting the demands and challenges of this program with an open mind and a willing spirit. This course required a bit more work on my part in comparison to other USF courses, but the outcomes were beneficial and will definitely move me forward in my career.

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There are two takeaways from this course that I'd like to reflect on. The first relates to the importance of essential questions in driving course objectives. Essential questions are necessary and integral components of a unit's daily lessons. The students need to observe and understand the relatedness of each essential question as a unit progress from beginning to end. The essential questions also help to formulate assessment criteria when a unit wraps up. Good essential questions can drive the learning and be linked to quality instructional materials.

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The second takeaway relates to the first. Essential questions are the bones of a good project/problem-based learning (PBL) unit. With the aid of technology in the classroom, students have an opportunity to solve problems and generate educational materials that support their wonderings. PBL units also use the 4 Cs - creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking - to enhance a student's learning experience and develop the 21st-century skills needed to be a responsible digital consumer and citizen. This course has provided a wealth of research to support the use of PBL in education. As technology continues to advance, I'm certain PBL will be a common way of learning in classrooms, including mine.

678 Artifact Reflection #2

In Module 4, I reflected on the feedback that several of my classmates gave on my PBL unit ideas and ended up pursuing my third topic listed. My essential question for is “Why is all the ice on Earth melting?” I started to get some ideas about this topic in the last USF course (677) I was enrolled and the idea seemed plausible to pursue with my high school Earth science students. You can find my climate science PBL unit outline HERE.

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This is a science topic that requires considerable research and students can arrive at multiple “correct” answers to satisfy the essential question. Most of the technology listed in the unit outline I have used before with my students, with the exception of the infographic platforms. Because I want my students to create quality infographic posters as one of their end products, I expect that I will need to provide some instruction in order for them to use Canva, Piktochart, and/or Adobe Spark. I'm excited to see what my students create!

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I think that sharing information outside of the classroom is a powerful means to communicate with other people. Student-generated infographics about climate science not only show other teachers what’s going on in other departments but it validates the importance of this topic to other students who are not enrolled in the class. This type of project-based learning promotes student voice and choice; something they would readily admit they don’t have the opportunity to engage in very often in any of their classes. This should be a great opportunity for my students to show what they know in supporting the essential question “Why is all the ice on Earth melting?"

Once I try this PBL unit for the first time next school year, I'll be able to reflect on the pros, cons, and outcomes of the unit, collect student feedback, keep some of the infographics for future school years to show students, and use my experience to educate others in my building. I worked tirelessly on this unit and hope to find success with it next school year.