The Learner-Technology Assessment Tool

1. The Learner-Technology Assessment Tool By Jessica Curtis EDTE 506 July 2009

2. Introduction • LTAs provides instructors an insight to whether their learning group is willing and able to accept Web-based learning environments. • My hypothetical LTA is focused on the Explore Africa webquest and on the demographics of my previous students from 2008-09 school year. • LTA split into two parts and a conclusion.

3. Part 1: Determining the Suitability of the Web for the Content • Goal: • To accurately begin this assessment, I need to establish a goal to see if Web-based learning is the correct choice. • My goal is to have the students work in small groups to research an African tribe, create a mask of that tribe, and deliver an oral presentation in the Griot style.

4. Part 1: Question 1 • YES! • The Web is a necessary component for research. • Most thorough and up-to-date information • Can find pictures, video, audio, etc. • Some research could be done via libraries

5. Part 1: Question 2 • YES! • Much required information will be available via the Web. • Faster • More extensive • Example of Griot presentations?

6. Part 1: Question 3 • YES! • Currently taught as an individual research project • Can be modified to incorporate independent and collaborative aspects • More Web-based with guided research through the webquest and other sites like Classzone.com, SchoolWires.net, and Web2.0 servers • Includes multiple intelligences and learning styles even while being Web-based

7. Part 1: Question 4 • YES! • New skills can be practiced • Art of researching • Proper web searching • Filtering and Reading Comprehension • Recognizing credible vs. non-credible sources • Preparing research notes and Works Cited • Interactive Africa Map Quiz for knowledge of political geography of Africa

8. Part 1: Question 5 • YES! • Rubric to assess student participation and demonstration of gained knowledge • Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles • Individual and Collaborative aspects • Interactive online and off • Teamwork and Organization • Research is foundational to completing and understanding the project

9. Part 2: Determining the Acceptability of the Web in the Learning Environment For this next section, I will continue to use my previous 7th grade class as my group of learners, sometimes referred to as “employees” by Beer.

10. Part 2: Question 1 • Diverse teaching and learning • Sundry of strategies and activities, often simultaneously:

11. Part 2: Question 2 • EVERYONE! Administrators, parents, students, faculty • Affluent district  competitive • Technology is motivating and engaging • Helps provide Authentic Learning Experiences (OPUSD Moral Imperative and Teaching and Learning Goal) • Lessons become customizable and more enjoyable

12. Part 2: Question 3 • Detailed in Part 1 • Use for school-home-school communication • Helps students be more responsible for assignments and schedules • Less physical storage space needed in classroom for projects

13. Part 2: Question 4 • YES! • Students use technology and the Web every day a hundred times over! • Communication, Entertainment, Work/Learning, Research, File storing/sharing, etc. • Their knowledge is helpful in the classroom • Trouble shooting • Peer tutoring • Collaborative Cooperative Groups • Opportunity to help others and come out of their shells

14. Part 2: Question 5 • YES! • Technology is most students’ way of life! • Some lack of enthusiasm with “old” technologies • Students still used to seeing, interacting with, and learning with technology

15. Part 2: Question 6 • OPUSD Mission Statement: “The mission of the Oak Park Unified School District is to provide students with a strongfoundation for learning which meets the challenge of the present and of the FUTURE through a balanced education which includes academic achievement, personal growth, and social responsibility” (http://www.oakparkusd.org/).

16. Part 2: Question 6 Continued • OPUSD Moral Imperatives and Goals for Teaching and Learning: • Authentic Learning • “Technology is a tool that will be used to optimize authentic learning experiences.” • Goal: develop a “practical art program” in technology • Technology is CORNERSTONE to authentic learning and meeting present and future challenges.

17. Part 2: Question 7 • Lots of funding and SUPPORT for technology in OPUSD • Lots of exciting hardware and software for classroom use • However, MCMS is NOT a technology school! Still have the same subject matter content standards to cover like every other public school in California. • Need to continually strive to be innovative to effectively integrate tech into an already full program

18. Conclusion: Question 1 • YES! • By updating the project requirements and altering it to fit a web-based learning experience, the students can work cooperatively and still produce an authentic product.

19. Conclusion: Question 2 • List is too long to enumerate! • Website creation in class period • Research-based power points • Computer/online review game creation • Classzone.com and SchoolWires.net to study for tests, complete assignments, access schedules, emails • Web 2.0 server to access files • Internet is part of their daily lives!

20. Conclusion: Question 3 • Schools have to run to keep up with ever-changing technology and student familiarity with it. • For my seasoned 7th graders, technology and Web learning is second nature.

21. Conclusion: Question 3 Cont. • IMPACT: • Comfort level of virtual world and reality • Educators have supreme responsibility to utilize technology and the Web effectively and creatively. Show it’s more valuable than Facebook and gaming. • Effective integration of of the Web and technology is critical to the 21st Century student and teacher.

22. Results of LTA • The LTA fuels me with enough confidence to continue to stretch out into the realm of Web-based learning. • My learners can handle it. • My learners can contribute. • It continues to be my responsibility to provide my students with these types of authentic learning opportunities.