IED 575 Practicum in Technology in Schools
Course professor: Dr. Cindy Emmans
Self-Progress
Report # 2
The main objective of my practicum has been the collection
and creation of GeoGebra investigations and demonstrations as well as on-line
videos to support them.
By now (April 8th, 2013) I have finished
with the practical part of the practicum, i.e the collection and creation of
GeoGebra investigations and demonstrations as well as the creation (and
collection) of some the on-line videos to support. These can all be accessed
from the blog I created for this purpose (www.practicum-technology.blogspot.ch)
and in the GeoGebra specific network (www.geogebratube.org/collection/show/id/2941).
I have used these activities will be used to teach
functions to secondary school students in different classroom situations. I used
them with my own students at LAS in Switzerland and I also forwarded them to
other teachers collaborating in the project.
Six other teachers collaborated in this project. Two
of them are Mathematics teachers from my own department. The third one is the
director of studies of my school, who volunteered to be my mentor. There were 3
other mathematic teachers from other international schools.
I have really enjoyed the work I have done for this
practicum, though I have encountered quite a few problems. The source of these
problems as I described them in my blog is the following:
A-
Time limitations: this practicum and its related
activities has taken more time that I predicted. I do not mind my own time, as
I have learned a great deal and I consider it a good investment in my career,
but I cannot force others to invest more of their time.
B-
Technical issues. Some of my students had problems
opening the set of dynamic GeoGebraworksheets. I have not managed to fully
understand the source of the problem, but I gathered that the change in the use
of other software (such as PowerSchool, used in the school to repport grades to
students and parents) and possibly a fault in the new image of the macbooks
provided by the school. GeoGebra users in my school now have to download the
Java Applet. And even though they know they can do that free of charge from
www.java.com, and the schools’ IT support has volunteered to help students do
this if necessary, this discourages students form doing it. Again time is an
important factor. Our students are also very limited by time (and effort
levels).
C-
Collaboration lines.
Within the objectives of the course, other teachers were invited to be
involved. It is easier to brainstorm ideas when many brains are involved.
However, I have found it very difficult to get feedback from collaborators as
they also had strict time limitations.
These little problems/ limitations/challenges have not stopped me
from working hard on this practicum and getting a lot from it.
Looking forward to my ongoing learning,
Alvaro Serra
Endicott College
IED 575 Practicum in Technology in Schools
Course professor: Dr. Cindy Emmans
----
"Who
dares to teach must never cease to learn."
-- John Cotton Dana--
Hi Alvaro,
ReplyDeleteI really like what you have done. I know it is difficult, especially coordinating everything. We all have busy schedules and sometimes it takes a while to get feedback. As you said it definitely makes it easier when you can actually sit down with your colleagues and talk about a project like that to implement it in a smooth way.
These projects always seem to take a lot more time then expected, they always come with bumps in the road, but I am glad you still had a good experience and will continue working on the project. Once people got the chance to try this out a bit more, I am sure it will be used on a different level.
Good luck!
Cheers, Muna