Tara Rowland

Boise State University

Educational Technology

M.E.T

Spring 2015

Rationale Paper

INTRODUCTION:

Great persistence, family support, and my career and goal­centered visions have carried

me through the Master’s of Educational Technology (EdTech) Program at Boise State

University. This program has transformed me as an alternative high school teacher and has

sharpened my skills as an educator as well as given me more tools in my educator’s toolbox to

share with my school, students, and colleagues. Although personal challenges had threatened my

path to graduation, I have persevered through it all; handling a reduction­in­force layoff from my

teaching position and getting hired back on, the death of my father, and welcomed with joy the

birth of my youngest child. These challenges have made me appreciate the hard work I have

been doing, the incredible family support given to me, and the skills I have gained from all of my

courses taken in the EdTech program.

The purpose of this paper is to provide its readers with a clear rationale for how the

EdTech Program has helped me meet standards set forth in 2012 by the Association of

Educational Communication and Technology (AECT). This paper outlines the AECT standards

and indicators (sub­standards) and how specific artifacts created by me in the EdTech program

align with each indicator to meet the AECT standard. Now four years after initially beginning

the M.E.T program, I have assembled a collection of artifacts to demonstrate how my

coursework has led to my professional development in educational technology. In general my

work within the M.E.T program and EdTech courses revolved around some key premises as also

discussed by Roblyer and Doering (2013), which are; that instructional technology should be

based in learning theory and teaching practice, technology should match specific learning and

teaching needs, and technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge is necessary for complete

integration of educational technology. The artifacts I have chosen range from different websites

created as class assignment, projects, to personal reflections, and final class writing assignments.

Many of my artifacts were designed around my current level of teaching and experience. I

currently teach science classes full­time in an online public high school and tried to align my

EdTech assignments with my current practice and students.

STANDARD 1: CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

Candidates demonstrate the knowledge necessary to create, use, assess, and manage theoretical

and practical applications of educational technologies and processes.

EDTECH 501: Final Synthesis Paper: The synthesis paper explores the importance for

integrating educational technology in public school classrooms.

EDTECH 501: Learning Log: This blog was created to hold reflections regarding educational

technology and implementation

EDTECH 501: Reflections on the new digital inequities: This is a reflection blog post on the

digital divide and digital inequities found within the public school system.

EDTECH 501: Technology use plan: This plan was developed as a means to create a school

technology improvement plan; complete with student and teacher needs assessments.

EDTECH 502: m­Learning Activity: This lesson activity was created in a mobile­learning

platform ­ for mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) to be the tool used by students.

EDTECH 502: Concept Map: Concept Map is an interactive website developed as a concept map

for students to use in learning key concepts in a lesson. The website lesson was developed and

interactive concept map designed using Dreamweaver and html coding

EDTECH 502: Virtual Field Trip: This lesson was developed using HTML coding and Adobe

Dreamweaver website builder. A virtual tour was built using multiple Web pages and

multimedia to guide learners through an online visit to a remote destination.

EDTECH 521: Asynchronous Lesson: A website was built to house this activity ­ an

asynchronous lesson teaching students dimensional analysis ­ a fundamental concept for high

school chemistry courses.

EDTECH 541: Spreadsheet Lesson: Using google docs ­ a lesson was developed around the use

of a shared spreadsheet for students in a class to collaborate on.

Indicators:

1. Creating ­ Candidates demonstrate the ability to create instructional materials and

learning environments using a variety of systems approaches. (p. 81)

The artifact that I chose for this indicator is the EdTech 502 Concept Map. Created as

part of my EdTech 502 class, this web page was designed through using Adobe Dreamweaver,

and the use of HTML and CSS pages. This website is set up as an online activity for students,

requiring them to interact with it to learn the pieces of the concept map and see how it goes

together to make the whole idea. This webpage demonstrates my use of computer­based

technologies to develop educational content.

Another artifact suitable for this indicator standard is the EdTech 541 Spreadsheet

Lesson. I created the EdTech 541 Spreadsheet Lesson to demonstrate using a different

instructional material ­ such as the school google apps for education account. Within the google

apps ­ google spreadsheet was utilized, allowing students to collaborate on the spreadsheet for

the activity. This is evidence of meeting the indicator of creating. In current practice I am using

google docs for collaboration and have set up a shared spreadsheet for students to record lab data

in groups. Google docs and google drive have led to a more blended approach in my online

classrooms; leading to collaboration and interaction among students. This has led to a more

authentic learning experience for my own students; which in turn has led to more engaged

students. Collaborative assignments such as the spreadsheet lesson highlight the move towards

schools in adopting google apps for education accounts and asking students and teachers to

collaborate. As noted in this article by Roger Nevin, “Supporting 21st Century Learning

Through Google Apps,” google apps for education is the tool to pursue and teach 21st century

skills such as, communication, collaboration, creating, and critical thinking. I will continue to

use and teach with the google apps for education account.

2. Using ­ Candidates demonstrate the ability to select and use technological resources

and processes to support student learning and to enhance their pedagogy. (p. 141)

To help develop student mastery of dimensional analysis in chemistry, an asynchronous

lesson was developed in EdTech 521. This lesson website supported student learning in the

classroom by providing a lesson for students at their own time away from the classroom hours,

defined as an asynchronous activity. A website was built to house the lesson and included

different technological processes to support student learning, such as a talking avatar, text to

speech reader, learning the website building templates and tools, specific learning objectives tied

to the lesson, embedded video screencasts, formative and summative assessments, and a

self­reflection survey.

My second artifact that demonstrates mastery of indicator two includes a virtual field trip

created in EdTech 502 course. This virtual field trip incorporates instructional technology

processes in development of an interactive lesson. The project was created to show colleagues at

my online high school how to create virtual field trips to a physical destination or a hard to reach

place­ such as a trip to LHC ­ the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland. A trip was

built, using Adobe Dreamweaver, HTML, and CSS pages to create the virtual field trip website.

According to authors Tuthill and Klemm several advantages to virtual field trips exist over

in­person field trips; increased student learner­centeredness, appropriate scheduling (field trip

can be scheduled at any time), multiple modes of learning, geographic independence, teaching

flexibility, and overall ease of use (2002). Another big advantage to virtual field trips is the

ability for virtual field trips to overcome human boundaries. The options for virtual field trips

are really beyond boundaries ­ students could for example shrink to see a microorganism or

blood cell or venture into space to explore the surface of Mars.

I will continue to use both of these artifacts in my current teaching practices. A virtual

field trip is an excellent way to incorporate technology resources and allow my online high

school students the chance to tour a far away place without leaving home. Developing

asynchronous lessons in a website is another tool I will continue to use ­ guiding my students

there as they need extra support after the online weekly live classroom lessons they have with

me. The technology resources and website tools I learned in creating the dimensional analysis

asynchronous lesson website are skills I can use in future synchronous lesson websites I develop.

3. Assessing/Evaluating ­ Candidates demonstrate the ability to assess and evaluate the

effective integration of appropriate technologies and instructional materials.

The final synthesis paper written for EdTech 501 course is the prime artifact that shows

competence in this indicator. This synthesis paper found that academic performance in

classrooms generally rise when teachers and students use technology as a tool to teach academic

content. Through this, students will find the connection between technology tools that they use

everyday and academic lessons for gaining knowledge. Schools that focus on teaching academics

alone, without teaching it through the applied use of educational technology, are failing to teach

the whole curriculum. I also applied my research and evaluated how the integration of

appropriate technologies can be applied to online or distance education, the environment in

which I currently teach. The quality of an online course or school program was found to hinge

on the development of highly trained staff members and teachers to use the educational

technology appropriately and for those staff members to update their skills regularly with

changing technology (Cavanaugh, 2009). In summary, I concluded that technology today must

be integrated into education and classroom learning in order for students to be academically

prepared to function and learn in the 21st century society and workplace. Classrooms that omit

the use of technology end up failing to teach students the technological literacy skills they need.

This absence of technological literacy is just as important as failing to teach a child how to read

or write.

4. Managing ­ Candidates demonstrate the ability to effectively manage people,

processes, physical infrastructures, and financial resources to achieve

predetermined goals. (p. 178)

This indicator is shown by the artifact of the mobile learning (m­learning) activity from

EdTech 502. In creating this activity, I learned that resources involved for mobile learning does

not mean schools have to purchase mobile devices; more and more schools are adopting a Bring

Your Own Device (BYOD) model which capitalizes on student’s having their own devices and

adapting the lesson to using the devices owned by each student. The EdTech 502 m­learing

activity is solely designed around students using their own smartphones or other mobile devices

like tablets. I intend to continue using this technology skill of creating and utilizing m­learning

as a way to engage students in my classes. Students will be welcome to bring their own devices

into the classroom for purposeful engagement of technology. Mobile devices have been shown

to be an effective tool in overall challenging and engaging students in class, along with reaching

specific student populations such as English Language Learners (Ullman, 2010).

Another suitable artifact for this indicator is my Technology Use Plan, developed in

EdTech 501. In the creation of this technology use plan for my high school, the objectives were

to make sure all teachers, students, and administration technologically literate in educational

technology over a 2 year planning and implementation process. I developed all of the pieces to

the school wide technology plan: the rationale, the vision statement, the overall tech plan goals

and objectives that specifically address the needs of teachers, students, and administrators. I

developed a student needs assessment, which includes specific technology requirements for them

to be successful at Washington Virtual Academy High School. Needs of teachers were also

addressed; a staff professional development plan was created with links to trainings, as well as a

faculty technology survey. The predetermined goals of a technologically literate online high

school can be met through the use of tech plan I developed in EdTech 501. Due to the nature of

technology, it is difficult to know what technology will be needed or available in five years,

however with a 2­3 year plan in place, movement can be made towards keeping an eye on

technology trends and systems to use.

5. Ethics ­ Candidates demonstrate the contemporary professional ethics of the field as

defined and developed by the Association for Educational Communications and

Technology. (p. 284)

The EdTech Learning Log, developed during EdTech 501 course, was a blog to which I

posted my thoughts and reflections regarding educational technology. One blog post specifically

discussed the concept of digital natives and the great digital inequities found in schools these

days. These two artifacts, the EdTech learning log and the blog reflection post regarding digital

inequities, demonstrates mastery of the ethics indicator for standard 1 because I explain

judgement and reason for my definition of the digital inequity and how it exists today. Blogs can

be utilized by teachers in classrooms to share information out to students. On the other hand,

students can use blogs in a classroom to share their own individual work with their classmates

and teachers.

Another artifact that meets the ethics indicator is the EdTech 501 Final Synthesis Paper; a

paper in which I research and explain the importance of fully integrating educational technology

in all classrooms. The synthesis paper was written ethically and in the best interests of teachers

to integrate technology. In particular I examine the need for teachers to view educational

technology as a tool and learn how to purposely and seamlessly integrate it into the classroom,

not to view educational technology as an added time­consuming venture or supplemental

material. Although computers are now quite commonplace in our lives and for many students,

complete integration of technology in classrooms is still not happening nationwide. As discussed

by Park and Ertmer (2007),although digital technologies have become common tools within our

lives, teachers have yet to embed them within their daily teaching practices (p.247). More

common now are the attitudes teachers and administrators have regarding technology that is the

real barrier. For example a survey that included 78 K­12 teachers, it was found that 80% of

teachers used computers primarily for e­mail, 65% never used computers for individual

enrichment for advanced students, and 95% never used computers to facilitate student­to­student

interaction (Park and Ertmer, 2007, p.247).

STANDARD 2: CONTENT PEDAGOGY

Candidates develop as reflective practitioners able to demonstrate effective implementation of

educational technologies and processes based on contemporary content and pedagogy.

EDTECH 501: Technology Use Plan: This plan was developed as a means to create a school

technology improvement plan; complete with student and teacher needs assessments

EDTECH 502: Webquest: This interactive webquest was designed on a website and gives

students different links and tasks to explore the question of whether creationism is a scientific

theory

EDTECH 502: Screen Reader Resources: This lesson has been created to assist educators,

administrators, and web designers about the use of screen readers and provides valuable

resources and links for support. Screen readers are a type of assistive technology tool for web

accessibility

EDTECH 521: Asynchronous Lesson: A website was built to house this activity ­ an

asynchronous lesson teaching students dimensional analysis ­ a fundamental concept for high

school chemistry courses.

EDTECH 521: Netiquette Scavenger Hunt: This activity was designed for students to investigate

and explore through a series of tasks, a scavenger hunt, what the netiquette expectations are for

my classroom.

EDTECH 541: Integrating the Internet Lesson: I created a website for my high school science

students to explore the periodic table through a webquest. Then on the websites students learn

more about the periodic table through an interactive periodic table and are asked to create a

collage to explain their knowledge about one element from the periodic table.

EDTECH 541: Virtual Field Trip: A website was designed and built to house a virtual field trip

for students to explore and understand what a computer network is and how it functions

EDTECH 541: Hypermedia Integration: A collection of multimedia resources along with a

lesson designed with multimedia and hypermedia included

EDTECH 541: Social Networking and Community Building Lesson: This activity showcases

community building in the classroom. A website is created for a group collaborative assignment,

students working together to submit their own group project to the virtual Google Science Fair

2015.

EDTECH 541: Adaptive / Assistive Technology Integration: This resource page holds lesson

integration strategies for working with students with cognitive, sensory, physical disabilities, as

well as strategies for teaching at­risk and gifted/highly talented students.

INDICATORS:

1. Creating ­ Candidates apply content pedagogy to create appropriate applications of

processes and technologies to improve learning and performance outcomes. (p. 1)

The first artifact chosen that supports this indicator is the webquest created in EdTech

502 class. This webquest showcases the application of technology and using website tools in

order to make the activity function correct. This is a higher­order thinking activity that integrates

online resources and class content. Multiple web pages, CSS menu,and images, are used to create

this website project. The website also contains an embedded grading rubric. Found by Kurtulus

and Ada (2012), webquests were shown to incorporate technology with educational concepts

through integrating online resources with student­centered and activity­based learning; which

engages students and in general, they complete the tasks assigned very well. I plan to continue

using this webquest skill with my high school students, building webquests around educational

concepts.

The second artifact that shows mastery of this indicator is the netiquette scavenger hunt

website created in EdTech 521. This activity was designed for students to investigate and explore

through a series of tasks, a scavenger hunt, what the netiquette expectations are for my

classroom. By building this scavenger hunt on a website; I am using technology to improve the

learning experience for students; letting them explore and find the conclusions to the netiquette

expectations in class.

2. Using ­ Candidates implement appropriate educational technologies and processes

based on appropriate content pedagogy. (p. 141)

Learning appropriate educational technologies and processes based on learned content

pedagogy is reflected in these two artifacts; integrating the internet lesson and a virtual field trip

activity created for EdTech 541. For both of these artifacts, I had to use my own content

pedagogy and figure out how to let students explore, learn, and understand this information. I set

up each website and activities for the students and applied my knowledge of content pedagogy

around elements and the periodic table for the internet lesson and my knowledge of computer

networks and how they function for the virtual field trip.

3. Assessing/Evaluating ­ Candidates demonstrate an inquiry process that assesses the

adequacy of learning and evaluates the instruction and implementation of

educational technologies and processes grounded in reflective practice. (p.116­117)

The technology use plan I developed for my online public high school as an assignment

for EdTech 501 required me to reflect on the current state of educational technology and

processed available and where the school was looking to be in two to three years. I created a

plan of action and timeline for implementation of a committee and updated technology

infrastructure for the school.

My hypermedia integration lesson developed for EdTech 541 is another artifact

that demonstrates competency in meeting this indicator. I examined several multimedia

presentations and videos to select a few that related best to my physical science classroom and

curriculum lesson on the laws of motion. A lesson was also developed for students to learn the

three laws of motion. In order to adequately determine my students learned the material, I built

in assessments to the website lesson and provided adaptations for learns with special needs.

4. Managing ­ Candidates manage appropriate technological processes and resources

to provide supportive learning communities, create flexible and diverse learning

environments, and develop and demonstrate appropriate content pedagogy. (p.

175­193)

To provide a flexible and support environment for my online science students, I create the

EdTech 521 asynchronous activity lesson as a means to engage my students and let them explore

asynchronously; away from being inside a set time in the classroom. The technological

processes and resources were designed to create a welcoming atmosphere for students to engage

in the online lesson and fully participate. An avatar with screen reader is set up on the first page,

and after students follow the steps of the lesson they are asked to reflect on the lesson and give

feedback.

Another way I welcomed diversity into the classroom was creating a lesson geared

towards students working in small groups, 2­3 students, to create and present a science

experiment to the Google Virtual Science Fair 2015. This group collaborative project

demonstrates a flexible and diverse learning environments for students to enjoy working within.

A website was developed to hold materials and resources links concerning the science fair

project, as well as creating a class science fair Facebook page to hold the latest news and class

announcements. As students prepare and work on science fair projects, they are also

demonstrating their own knowledge of the researched topics as well as utilizing technological

resources to submit their project to the Google Virtual Science Fair.

5. Ethics ­ Candidates design and select media, technology, and processes that

emphasize the diversity of our society as a multicultural community. (p. 296)

In designing activities and lessons in the EdTech courses geared towards my online students, I

tried to keep in mind the ADDIE model discussed by Bond and Lockee (2014). The ADDIE

model emphasizes five core elements of the design process; analyze, design, develop, emplement

and evaluate. As I designed and selected media, technology, and processes to best present the

lesson and activity, I also kept in mind how to reach the diversity of my students. The screen

reader resources activity from EdTech 502 and the adaptive/assistive technology integration

activity from EdTech 541 are artifacts that demonstrate how I met this diverse and multicultural

aspect. The screen reader resource assignment required a website to be created and embedded

with links to resources pertaining to the use of screen readers for people with disabilities. In the

adaptive/assistive technology integration assignment, I identified five target groups of students

and what their needs were involving specific technology tools to assist them. I will be able to

use these resources in the future when planning out assignments and teaching to my diverse

student population.

STANDARD 3: LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Candidates facilitate learning by creating, using, evaluating, and managing effective learning

environments.

EDTECH 501: Technology Use Plan: This plan was developed as a means to create a school

technology improvement plan; complete with student and teacher needs assessments.

EDTECH 503: ID Final Project: This instructional design final project consisted of a synthesis

paper, needs analysis survey, and development of the workshop for teachers centered around

learning and using Microsoft OneNote.

EDTECH 503: OneNote Teacher Training Workshop: I created a teacher professional

development workshop to learn how to use Microsoft OneNote

EDTECH 505: Evaluation Report: EdTech 505 is an evaluation course and in this assignment I

evaluated my high school truancy policy. The evaluation report is the final product, an

evaluation of the policy complete with data analysis, surveys, and final evaluation

recommendations.

EDTECH 523: Online Course Creation ­ Food Science: The creation of a fully functional online

course for high school science students, developed on a learning management system,

Brainhoney, unknown previously to me.

EDTECH 541: Integrating the Internet: This lesson pulls together students and the internet ­

asking them to use the internet and web 2.0 tools to research the development of the periodic

table. Students embark on a webquest, then use a virtual chemistry lab, and create an interactive

blog/collage to showcase an element from the periodic table.

EDTECH 541: Interactive Presentation: An activity lesson that turns a powerpoint into a true

interactive presentation. I built a gameshow using powerpoint, centered around concepts of

waves in a physical science class

EDTECH 541: Content Area Activity 3: A cross curricular science and math resource lesson that

reviews and discusses simulations, virtual labs, and resources to support math and science.

INDICATORS:

1. Creating ­ Candidates create instructional design products based on learning

principles and research­based best practices. (pp. 8, 243­245, 246)

This indicator is met by my creation of an online course in EdTech 521. My online food

science course is the artifact. The online course I developed on the Brainhoney learning

management system, was a high school level food science class. The concepts in the class were

devised as an alternative science class for students to take and learn chemistry and biochemistry

from food topics; rather than taking a typical high school level chemistry class. I set up the

online class using research based teaching strategies and practices for online education. The

layout of the online science class as well as asynchronous learning activities found within it were

all created from scratch. I had to learn a new learning management system, create content and

organize it according to best practices. In particular I created the lessons and activities as

student­centered, constructivist approaches. Rice (2012) explains that learners do not merely

receive information from a computer; as they do in a traditional transmission­of­knowledge

model; instead learning in an online classroom occurs through thinking, and thinking not

teachers or technology, mediates learning.

A second artifact that meets this indicator is the interactive presentation activity created

in EdTech 541. This lesson was built on a website and designed around game­based learning;

which is student­centered and can be highly engaging for students in a classroom. In fact,

according to Huizenga, Admiraal, Akkerman, and ten Dam, game­based learning may more

adequately address the manner in which youngsters learn nowadays and engage them more

successfully in meaningful learning than traditional learning (332). Game based learning then is

a best practice and research­based method in teaching.

2. Using ­ Candidates make professionally sound decisions in selecting appropriate

processes and resources to provide optimal conditions for learning (pp. 122, 169)

based on principles, theories, and effective practices. (pp. 8­9, 168­169, 246)

My ID (Instructional Design) Final Project created in EdTech 503 is the artifact that

shows mastery of this indicator. In this course I learned what instructional design meant, how to

become an instructional designer, and how to apply it to my teaching methodologies. In this

final instructional design project; I created a needs assessment to gauge whether or not there was

a need for my teaching staff to learn about Microsoft OneNote. To create this needs assessment, I

followed a problem based needs assessment model as discussed in Smith and Ragan (2005). I

analyzed the learners and created a needs analysis, analyzed the needs assessment data gathered,

created the learning task analysis, and planned and developed a training for my colleagues on

Microsoft OneNote. Along with developing the training, formative and summative assessment

materials were also developed. This complete project meets the indicator as I developed this

instructional designed project through appropriate processes and resources based on principles,

theories, and effective practices.

3. Assessing/Evaluating ­ Candidates use multiple assessment strategies (p. 53) to

collect data for informing decisions to improve instructional practice, learner

outcomes, and the learning environment. (pp. 5­6)

In EdTech 505, an Evaluation Project was created. This final project centered around the

evaluation of a process or policy; I chose to evaluate my online high school’s truancy policy. I

used multiple assessment strategies to identify the policy and used surveys to gather feedback

from students on the truancy policy. I also surveyed teachers as each teacher in my school is in

charge of attendance for a group of 30­35 students and their actions directly impact whether a

student is marked absent each week and if absent, was the absence excused or unexcused.

Weekly contact was also analyzed as weekly contact is the main way students are recorded as

attending school each week, making weekly contact with a two­way email or phone call or

attending a live web conference class that week. After analyzing teacher and homeroom student

surveys, my evaluation recommended clarifying absences in the school handbook; and defining

unexcused and excused absences at WAVA HS. The evaluation also recommended one central

point of contact to report a school absence; a school attendance secretary, to help streamline and

cut down on the potential recordkeeping mistakes made by individual teachers in the school.

4. Managing ­ Candidates establish mechanisms (p. 190) for maintaining the

technology infrastructure (p. 234) to improve learning and performance. (p. 238)

This indicator is supported by the development of the technology use plan in EdTech

501. I analyzed the current technology plan available at my online public school, and created a

technology plan for improvement over a 2­3 year time period. The plan also outlined the

creation of a technology committee to help oversee the implementation of the school wide

technology plan. Technology professional development ideas were also included. This overall

supports the indicator that calls for maintaining technology infrastructure to improve learning

and performance.

5. Ethics ­ Candidates foster a learning environment in which ethics guide practice

that promotes health, safety, best practice (p. 246), and respect for copyright, Fair

Use, and appropriate open access to resources. (p. 3)

To meet this ethics indicator, I created a copyright scavenger hunt activity in EdTech

502. This student activity utilized a website I built, including the use of Adobe Dreamweaver,

HTML, and CSS pages. The scavenger hunt learning activity included questions and linked

resources to teach fundamental issues of copyright and fair use to educators and students. This

activity promotes best practices and respect for copyright, Fair Use, and appropriate access to

resources.

6. Diversity of Learners ­ Candidates foster a learning community that empowers

learners with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities. (p.10)

I created a learning community in my original online food science class, created in

EdTech 523, from scratch on a learning management system that was new to me. In this

online high school food science class, I strove to build a student­centered learning

community that welcomed students from all backgrounds, experience, and abilities with

science. The overall goal of the class was to create a chemistry based science class that

revolved around food and food science/processes. An alternative class option to taking

traditional chemistry in high school. This idea came to me due to seeing students at my

online high school enroll to take chemistry as the only chemistry and algebra­based

science class that they would need in order to apply to a 4­year university after high

school. Unfortunately, many of these students were not ready for the abstract nature of

the chemistry class and needed a class that related more to their everyday lives. Thus the

idea of creating a chemistry­based food science lab online class was born. One

experiment for example asks students to blend up green peas to separate out and see the

DNA material. These types of lab activities would appeal to students from a wide

background of interests and abilities.

Another artifact that supports this indicator are the resources I found and virtual

labs and simulations reviewed in EdTech 541, content area activity 3. The activity was a

cross­curricular content lesson activity that involved reviewing different math and

science virtual simulations and labs and then listing out numerous resources to help math

and science teachers locate simulations and virtual labs that apply to high school science

teaching.

STANDARD 4: PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

Candidates design, develop, implement, and evaluate technology­rich learning environments

within a supportive community of practice.

EDTECH 502: Jigsaw Activity: An interactive online website jigsaw activity that teaches

students about five different atomic models.

EDTECH 503: Final ID Project: This instructional design final project consisted of a synthesis

paper, needs analysis survey, and development of the workshop for teachers centered around

learning and using Microsoft OneNote.

EDTECH 503: OneNote Teacher Training Workshop: A professional development training

organized and developed to teach colleagues on Microsoft OneNote in response to the final

instructional design project in EdTech 503.

EDTECH 505: Evaluation Report: EdTech 505 is an evaluation course and in this assignment I

evaluated my high school truancy policy. The evaluation report is the final product, an

evaluation of the policy complete with data analysis, surveys, and final evaluation

recommendations.

EDTECH 521: Skills Survey: Developed in EdTech 521­ this skills survey was created to be sent

out to all students in my science classes and homeroom/advisory class. By analyzing the skills

survey, I would get a better picture of the skills my students were coming to the classroom with.

I also shared out the skills survey to all teachers at my school.

EDTECH 521: Netiquette Scavenger Hunt: A scavenger hunt developed on a website for

students to use and explore netiquette and expectations about it for the classroom.

EDTECH 523: Online Course Creation ­ Food Science: The creation of a fully functional online

course for high school science students, developed on a learning management system,

Brainhoney, unknown previously to me.

INDICATORS:

1. Collaborative Practice ­ Candidates collaborate with their peers and subject matter

experts to analyze learners, develop and design instruction, and evaluate its impact

on learners.

As I worked through EdTech 505, an evaluation course, I collaborated with my peers,

subject matter experts, and administration, in identifying a school policy to evaluate. I chose the

truancy policy to evaluate, and with it, evaluated the effectiveness of how weekly contact is

recorded and whether or not there was a direct relationship between students who made weekly

contact and those who were more engaged and successful in classes. My final project in EdTech

505, my evaluation of the truancy policy was shared with my peers and administration. Further

improvements are in store for next school year to improve the truancy policy and as

recommended in my evaluation, to take it out of the hands of individual teachers and given over

to a smaller support team.

Another artifact that meets this indicator includes the skills survey I developed in EdTech

521. I created this skills survey after collaborating with teachers and subject matter experts at

my school. I wanted to develop a survey to share with students at the start of a school year, to

get a better sense of their technology skills and experiences. From the results of this survey, I

can tailor instruction and weekly live class lessons with my students as well as creating

additional help sessions to further connect with students who need to extra support on technology

skills. Too often teachers and administration assume the students who sign up for an online high

school already have fundamental computer skills but oftentimes these students have only the

awareness of using a smartphone or text messaging, not on how to attend six online classes as a

full­time student and also stay organized to work on school at home amid distractions. After

reading about a skills survey study given out to post­secondary online students, I plan to improve

the skills survey. According to van Dijk in this study, (2011) the term digital divide is a

metaphor that confuses people by suggesting that there are two complete groups divided by who

has access to the internet and technology and who does not; and instead, he proposes there are

four main gaps of access within the digital divide: material access, skills

access, usage access, and motivational access. After reading this and analyzing my student

responses to the skills survey and their activity in my online classrooms, I agree that my skills

survey at best was scratching the surface of how prepared they were. I was missing big

questions concerning internet speed access, how often they will even access the class, and

motivation.

2. Leadership ­ Candidates lead their peers in designing and implementing

technology­supported learning.

Artifacts chosen to show this indicator include the jigsaw learning activity created in

EdTech 502 and the online food science course developed in EdTech 523. Both of these

activities show my technology skills in different ways, to design and implement

technology­supported learning. In the jigsaw activity, I used HTML coding, CSS pages, and

Adobe Dreamweaver to completely create this interactive content activity website for students

from an empty page. In EdTech 523, I opened up a demo account on the learning management

system called Brainhoney, run by Agilix, and used the online course creation tools to build up an

online course completely from scratch ­ no template provided. From within my school, I am

always available to help my staff with technology questions regarding our systems and learning

management system (LMS) and how to integrate a lesson or technology piece into it.

3. Reflection on Practice ­ Candidates analyze and interpret data and artifacts and

reflect on the effectiveness of the design, development and implementation of

technology­supported instruction and learning to enhance their professional growth.

The whole EdTech 505 course revolved around learning how to evaluate a policy or

process, and what I accomplished in this course meets the indicator of reflection on practice. I

analyzed and interpreted data from my school’s truancy policy. I also met with stakeholders of

the policy and sampled students and teachers about their opinions on the policy and how it was

working. The truancy policy at my online school has a direct tie to the technology supported

instruction since students are marked truant if they do not make weekly contact with teachers,

not if they complete assignments for class. My final evaluation report was the culminating

project in EdTech 505 and the report contains the data I used, surveys sent out to teachers and

students, my analysis and final recommendations. My recommendations towards improving the

truancy policy directly improves the teaching and use of technology for instruction and the

technology infrastructure of my online school. This project also taught me how to evaluate a

program’s policy and I feel confident in my final assessment and recommendations about the

truancy policy that I shared with my administration.

4. Assessing/Evaluating ­ Candidates design and implement assessment and evaluation

plans that align with learning goals and instructional activities.

This indicator is met by the final ID (instructional design) project created in EdTech 503.

In this project, I assessed and evaluated teacher skills and a needs analysis regarding computer

skills and organization and how they manage computer organization regarding files for their

online classes. I aligned that with learning targets and goals and created a teacher professional

development workshop to teach them how to use Microsoft OneNote computer software

program. This professional development’s goal was to offer training to teachers on one

technology and instructional activity that could make their workday more efficient and overall

more organized.

5. Ethics ­ Candidates demonstrate ethical behavior within the applicable cultural

context during all aspects of their work and with respect for the diversity of learners

in each setting.

The Netiquette Rules website created in EdTech 521 is a prime artifact that meets this

indicator. Six lessons were built on the website, teaching students how to respect one another

and the expectations I hold for the class. This netiquette lesson activity also demonstrates

respect I have for all learners in my online classroom and the expectation that each student will

respect one another and respect the diversity in class. Though our online classrooms do not

allow personal interactions in a face to face classrooms, netiquette and respect is expected in all

email conversations, online discussion boards, and in our weekly live class webconferences.

STANDARD 5: RESEARCH

Candidates explore, evaluate, synthesize, and apply methods of inquiry to enhance learning and

improve performance.

EDTECH 503: Final ID Project

EDTECH 504: Synthesis Paper

EDTECH 504: Learning Theories Paper

EDTECH 505: Evaluation Report

EDTECH 521: Interview Tool

EDTECH 551: Grant Writing Final Paper

INDICATORS:

1. Theoretical Foundations ­ Candidates demonstrate foundational knowledge of the

contribution of research to the past and current theory of educational

communications and technology. (p. 242)

My final synthesis paper written in EdTech 504 demonstrate mastery of this indictor

through my own synthesis of educational theory and technology. I researched and learned about

different educational theories past and present in EdTech 504 and then applied my research. I

pursued how to integrate constructivism in online high schools to motivate and engage students.

The synthesis paper explores the constructivism theory in education and how it should be

purposely used in the instructional design of online high school courses to engage and motivate

students. Literature and research case studies are reviewed and synthesized to explain effective

online course design with purposely integrated constructivism. The paper includes findings from

studies that examine how online courses are too often designed with text­based content and

lecture which limits student interaction with others, and provides little variation in the modes of

content delivered. Specific topics are addressed for creating online courses embedded with the

constructivist approach to motivate and engage high school students. I found that constructivism

can be used in the purposeful instructional design of student centered online high school courses to

engage and motivate students, reducing the chances for dropping out. My synthesis paper outlined that

motivating and engaging high school students in online courses should involve the following

constructivist style embedded approaches; relevant, authentic engaging tasks, collaboration, reflection,

asynchronous and synchronous communication, and instructional and learner support (Majzub & Rais,

2010).

2. Method ­ Candidates apply research methodologies to solve problems and enhance

practice. (p. 243)

In my EdTech 504 class, I researched and wrote my final paper on learning theories;

specifically the zone of proximal development (ZPD). This paper serves as an artifact to meet

this indicator because I researched and read about different learning theories, picked zone of

proximal development, and analyzed it. Psychologist and social cognitive specialist, Lev

Vygotsky (1896­1934), is credited with the Zone of Proximal Development Theory; developed

from his belief that what the child is able to do in collaboration today he will be able to do

independently tomorrow (Ageyey, Gindis, Kozulin & Miller, 2003). I researched and presented

the major principle, the development of the theory, and how the zone of proximal development

learning theory can be applied in the classroom. Teachers can use ZPD with students to develop

understanding of increasingly complex tasks as well as using it in the classroom through the use

of assisted instruction, modeling, simplifying problems to a level that the student understands,

skill modeling, maintaining interest and motivation, and scaffolding. All of this leads to

enhancing the practices of teaching and learning in the classroom.

Another artifact that meets this indicator is my final grant paper written for EdTech 551.

During EdTech 551 I learned how to identify a problem and need and the grant writing process.

My EdTech 551 final grant writing paper I applied my needs analysis to solve a school problem

and applied for a grant to enhance the teaching and learning in the classroom.

3. Assessing/Evaluating ­ Candidates apply formal inquiry strategies in assessing and

evaluating processes and resources for learning and performance. (p. 203)

This indicator of the standard was met by two artifacts; EdTech 505 evaluation report and

the EdTech 521 interview tool I developed. In order to create my evaluation of a school policy

and publish a final report and recommendations; I evaluated processes and resources for learning

and performance in my school, which are the main parts of this indicator. The interview tool

developed in EdTech 521 assessed and evaluated incoming students. Their results would be

analyzed and used as a resource for teachers. Teachers would be able to get a better sense of

their students from the interview results and be able to tailor their communications and possibly

lessons with the students.

4. Ethics ­ Candidates conduct research and practice using accepted professional (p. 296)

and institutional (p. 297) guidelines and procedures.

Two artifacts meet and exceed this indicator involving ethics; my final evaluation report

written for EdTech 505 and the EdTech 503 final ID (instructional design) project. The final

evaluation report involved analyzing my school’s truancy policy and how effective it was. The

ID project was a needs analysis and recommendation for teachers to receive training on the use

of Microsoft OneNote for improved workplace efficiency. For both artifacts, I conducted

research and practice using professional and institutional guidelines and procedures. Any

surveys were set to take in responses anonymously and I did not pressure teachers or students

into participating. I analyzed results without preconceived biases towards the results I wanted to

received. I wrote up the final evaluation report and instructional design project with

recommendations for improvements.

CONCLUSION

This rational paper documents my mastery of the 2012 AECT standards. In presenting a

rationale for the selection of each artifact, I have connected with understanding to my knowledge

and skills gained in creating the content that aligns with these standards. As an alternative high

school science teacher, teaching in an online public school, I found many opportunities to link

my current teaching practices into my EdTech courses and assignments. Along with taking

courses that align with earning the Master’s of Educational Technology graduate degree, I have

also taken certain elective courses that align with achieving a Graduate Certificate in Online

Teaching. I have found many opportunities to design and develop instructional materials and

learning support resources that contribute to student learning, whole organizational and school

goal achievement in my online high school and classes. I find myself thinking outside the box

more about my lessons and how to better engage my online high school students. I have also

found many new ways to connect my student’s online learning to different strategies; such as a

virtual field trip I create, cross­curriculum lesson plans, or creating an interactive website

concept map. I have also grown professionally in gaining different perspectives, for example

evaluating my own school’s attendance policy, creating a school technology use plan, or a

professional development training for teachers. I look forward to using my educational

technology Master’s degree and specialization in online teaching to contribute to improving and

using educational technology skills with my students and fellow staff members.

REFERENCES

AECT 2012 Standards:

https://drive.google.com/a/u.boisestate.edu/file/d/0B0ekHJpwiFPQNzNKTzA4Z1J6RWM/view?

usp=sharing

Ageyey, V., Gindis, B., Kozulin, A., Miller, S. (2003). Vygotsky’s educational theory and practice in

cultural context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bond, A. M., & Lockee, B. B. (2014). Building virtual communities of practice for distance

educators.

Cavanaugh, C. (2009). Getting more students more learning time online. Washington D.C.:

Center for American Progress, 37(2), 35­38.

Dray, B., Lowenthal, P., Miszkiewicz, M., Ruiz­Primo, M., & Marczynski, K. (2011).

Developing an instrument to assess student readiness for online learning: a validation

study. Distance Education, 32(1), 29­47.

Huizenga, J., Admiraal, W., Akkerman, S., & Ten Dam, G. (2009). Mobile game­based learning

in secondary education: engagement, motivation and learning in a mobile city game.

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Kurtulus, A., & Ada, T. (2012). Webquest as conic sections as a learning tool for perspective

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9(1), 1036­1041.

Nevin, R. (2009). Supporting 21st Century Learning through Google Apps. Teacher Librarian,

37(2), 35­38.

Parenthetical page references by each indicator are referenced from: Educational Technology: A

Definition with Commentary (2008, A. Januszewski & M. Molenda, Eds., Lawrence

Erlbaum Assoc.)

Park, S., & Ertmer, P. (2007). Impact of problem­based learning (PBL) on teachers' beliefs

regarding technology use. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 40(2),

247­267.

Rice, K. (2012). Making the move to K­12 online teaching (pp. 1­11). Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

Education, Inc.

Roblyer, M. D., & Doering, A. H. (2013). Integrating educational technology into teaching (6th

ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc

Smith, Patricia L. & Ragan, Tillman J. (2005). Instructional Design. Hoboken, NJ: John

Wiley & Sons.

Tuthill, G., & Klemm, B. E. (2002). Virtual field trips; Alternatives to actual field trips.

International Journal of Instructional Media, 29(4), 453­468.

Ullman, E. (2010). Reaching ELLs with mobile devices. International Journal of Instructional

Media, 46(2), 18.