My Goals for the Course

I consider myself to be pretty skilled with technology, so I'm hoping to take this course as an opportunity to really drill down into why I should be using technology in my classroom, and how it will improve student learning. I do see it increasing efficiency for certain activities but it is hard to keep kids organized when they have multiple web accounts, untitled and "loose" Google Docs (i.e., docs that are not placed in folders), notebooks, and handouts to keep track of. I would like to explore ways to help kids improve their own organization, and perhaps help myself too. My Diigo bookmarks, for example, are using far too many tags. I need to simplify, and I need to help kids simplify!

For specifics, I'd like to learn more about Moodle, as a possible replacement for my Google Site. I'd like to branch out into technology that is more involved OR uncomfortable for me, including ways to flip the classroom. And I'd like to use technology more to have kids interacting with each other. I have students blogging this year, but I want them to read each other's blog. I need help figuring out the logistics to do that. Lastly, I use Evernote to save my lesson plans, but I want to explore whether it would be a good platform to share class notes with my students. It is possible that Moodle will obviate both my Google site and student notebooks in Evernote, though I won't know this until I try. I'm hoping to draw on the expertise of colleagues as I figure it all out.

Finally, I'd like to see students on task when their laptops are open because I have given them such a compelling assignment that they can't help but want to do it. Since not every student will be engaged in every lesson or activity, this may be somewhat of a pipe dream, but I am hopeful that students will use their laptops for learning, rather than gaming, shopping, or chatting with their friends during class. I think this course will guide me toward discovering new ways to engage students.