Beth Ottolini's Educational Technology Showcase
The primary focus of my Master's in Educational Technology was to learn ways to meaningfully integrate technology into my practice as a science teacher. This graduate showcase highlights examples of my work towards this end. For example, the page below shows work related to online teaching, trends in educational technology, screencasts & tutorials, digital storytelling, and web 2.0 tools. My master's work has shown me how to leverage instructional technologies to improve learning outcomes. The projects in this showcase illustrate my ability to reconcile effective teaching pedagogy with the affordances of current technologies.
Online Teaching:
Course Module in Blackboard CourseSites:
I created this online course module in Blackboard CourseSites for a fully-online biology course. Prior to creating the module, I researched the affordances of various learning management and content management systems. Eventually, I deemed CourseSites to be the most appropriate for a fully-online biology module. The topic of the course module is Mendelian Genetics, a unit mandated by most state curriculums and the Next Generation Science Standards. The four lessons in this course module make use of CourseSites features like wikipages and discussion boards. Additionally, I also included outside technologies in this module such as Google Apps and Padlet.com.
Wicked Problem - Reimagining Online Learning:
In this comprehensive group project, my group devised a potential solution for a wicked problem of practice in education. The wicked problem of focus in this project is how to reimagine online learning to improve student performance. My group's proposal was to reimagine online learning through a risk-reward analysis similar to that which is commonplace in the business world. Our solution to this wicked problem was presented through multiple different media including a Movie Maker mash-up, a whitepaper showcased on Google Docs, a Popplet.com concept map, and an infographic highlighting the risks and rewards for students participating in an online learning experience.
Trends in Educational Technology:
Gamification - Minecraft EDU Project:
One of the trends in educational technology that was mentioned frequently throughout my graduate coursework is gamification. Gamification is the learning strategy that employs video game design and game elements to motivate students. In this project, I devised a way by which Minecraft EDU can be used to teach students about the parts of the cell. Essentially, I have modified a project that I currently do with my biology students to help them learn the cell parts. Instead of making a paper model of a "cell school," in this re-vamped project students make a cell school inside of a minecraft world and compare their work with the work of their peers.
Maker Movement - Squishy Circuits Lesson:
A second trend in educational technology that was pervasive throughout my Master's coursework is the Maker Movement. The Maker Movement is a new instructional framework that involves students learning through a creation process. As inventors, students participate in a more active and engaging type of learning. In this project, I created a lesson in which students participate in an inquiry-based lab experience about the flow of electricity. In this lab, students create a closed circuit using the Squishy Circuits maker kit. The purpose of this is for the students to prove the direction of electron movement in a closed circuit while also learning how to approach a problem using the scientific method. After multiple revisions, the final lesson plan was also made accessible to all students by being consistent with the Universal Design for Learning framework.
Screencasts & Tutorials:
Networked Learning Project:
The purpose of the Networked Learning Project was to learn a new skill using online how-to videos and help forums. The performance task associated with this project was to create a screencast demonstrating mastery of the new skill. I chose to learn basic Russian solely through YouTube how-to videos. To narrow my focus, I learned the cyrillic alphabet and common greetings and phrases in Russian. To showcase my work, I created a screencast using BB Flashback Express. A unique element of my screencast was including footage from a Google Hangout that I did comparing my pronunciation of Russian phrases with a native Russian speaker.
Digital Storytelling:
Movie-Maker Storytelling:
Through this project, I learned how to use digital storytelling to create a unique online-learning experience for my colleagues. This is a skill that I now use routinely in my practice as an educator. The platform through which I created my digital storyboard was Microsoft Movie Maker. In this storyboard, I explained a lesson that used project-based inquiry science in combination with the basic tenets of Vygotsky's social constructivist theory to teach students the importance of water quality. Because this was a lesson sequence enacted over the course of two full weeks, it was necessary to use digital storytelling to fully describe the purpose and instructional strategies in the lesson sequence.
Audio Production:
This project was my first foray into the world of audio production. Similar to the movie-maker project explained above, digital storytelling through audio and visual media has the power to illuminate an extended learning experience more profoundly than a simple screencast. In this audio production created using Audible and produced on Soundcloud.com, I interview two of my colleagues about several misconceptions surrounding energy metabolism. These misconceptions are commonplace in my freshman biology classroom, and this audio production shows how they are just as common among well-educated adults. Through this experience, I learned how to edit audio clips for content and quality, and integrate music clips to enhance the production.
Web 2.0 Tools:
Web 2.0 Tool Infographic:
I created this infographic to provide secondary teachers with a quick reference for online tools that can be used to formatively assess students in the classroom. I chose to only highlight tools that can be accessed via mobile devices because most secondary schools are not yet implementing a 1:1 technology plan. The tools that I chose fall into three main categories: 1) Brainstorming Tools, 2) Polling Tools, and 3) Quizzing Tools. I have used all of these tools in my own classroom, and I felt well-equipped to share my expertise with other educators. This experience also showed me how to create an aesthetically-pleasing and concise infographic.
