* Standard 3a – Managed student learning activities in a technology-enhanced environment.

By incorporating Power Point presentations in all of my courses I was able to stimulate more effective use of technology in early childhood teacher education. For example, Power Point presentations allowed me to create and to bring thought provoking digitized video clips and other visually and soundly effective classroom examples. When I use Power Point presentations in daily teaching, I was creating a model that teachers have to be both comfortable and confident with respect to the use of technology in their teaching. 

* Standard 2b – Used technology to support learner –centered strategies that addressed the diverse needs of students.

I designed several learning activities that require student teachers to integrate technology into their teaching. This incorporation takes place by: 1) creating children’s portfolios using the Power Point program, 2) identifying concepts using Inpiration software program, and 3) documenting children’s learning processes using many forms of technology such as digital camera, scanner, and video capture card. The purposes of these assignments are to develop child-centered curriculum to meet the individual and diverse needs of the learners. Through these assignments, student teachers gain a new insight on how children learn and develop. These assignments also provide student teachers with an image of a professional teacher as a researcher.

* Standard 3c – Applied technology to develop students’ higher order skills and creativity.

      Developing concept webs and conducting a project using software likeInspiration and Kid Pix requires high-level thinking skills on the part of both the   student teachers and the children they teach. Reviewing video footage to find out the children’s true intent and theories requires high-level thinking of content areas and deductive reasoning. For the children, representing one concept using many media provoked problem solving opportunities require them to use high-level thinking skills.

* Standard 4b – used technology resources to collect and analyze data, interpret results, and communicate findings to improve instructional practice and maximize student learning 

Two ways in which student teachers use technology is to assess and evaluate the children they teach. Student teachers created a developmental checklist using the Microsoft Access program. They also collected the children’s work and interpreted and evaluated the children’s learning processes by creating developmental portfolios. By doing this, project student teachers learned about how fast young children develop and how to meet their needs through curriculum planning.

How Technology Supported My Professional Development in Project II:

*Achievement of NET Standard 5a – Used technology resources to engage in

      ongoing professional development and lifelong learning.

I conducted a research on Instant Video Revisiting With Children to Enhance Their Learning: Video Frames as Learning Tools. This research idea was inspired by  IMovie clips. Using these clips to promote reflective thinking for both young children and student teachers was the next step in the idea. The purpose of this research was to find out how instant video revisiting increased reflective thinking, helping children and teachers to step outside their experience to deepen their understanding and move into a new perspective.  I presented the result of this study in the annual constructivist conference at Houston, Texas on October 18, 2002.  My presentation promoted lots of discussion and excellent feedback from the constructivist teaching community. By using a Power Point presentation, I also demonstrated to my colleagues the importance of understanding and use of technology in scholarship. After the conference I wrote a paper on technology to enhance learning that is currently under the reviewing process for publishing. This research made me realize how technology works as a tool for knowledge construction.

*Achievement of NET Standard 5d- Use technology to communicate and collaborate with peers, parents, and the larger community in order to nurture student learning.

This research project was broadened when one of my old colleagues working at the University of Massachusetts wanted to conduct similar research in a different developmental area. My research focus was reflection on children’s social conflict through IVR. My old colleague’s research focus was IVR and story construction.  The success of IVR in these two studies suggests the need to research the use of IVR as a tool for scaffolding in other areas of the early childhood classroom that include mathematical and scientific reasoning. While we were conducting and communicating the process of research, the use of technology enhanced our research in many ways. The presentation at the Constructivist Conference shared the use of technology with hundreds of other teacher educators. The conference participants were impressed about our research and expressed their approval to facilitate this research in their classrooms.

How Incorporation of Technology Promoted Reflection of My Teaching and Professional Development in Project III:

* Achievement of NET Standards 1a- Demonstrate introductory knowledge, skills, and understanding of concepts related to technology.

I have attended many technology workshops and was able to incorporate what I learned from them into my teaching.  I found that integrating technology into my classroom had effective results. As a method instructor, the biggest challenge is the effective use of technology. Student teachers saw technology modeled and practiced using it from my method classes to incorporate it into their own styles.

*Achievement of NET Standard 5b –Continually evaluate and reflect on   professional practice to make informed decisions regarding the use of technology in support of student learning.

Being a Mitten Participant I found myself constantly thinking about the ways technology could enhance teaching and how my students learn. Now I am more aware of adult learning theory. There seem to be phases that learners go through in order to understand.  Even highly motivated teachers require substantial amounts of time before they feel fully versatile with a complicated new technology and are able to implement it to fit their particular teaching goals.

My research project concerning how instant video revisiting increases reflective thinking made me realize that the effective use of technology is a tool for reflection. The affordance of technology allowed visualization and reflection on both children’s and teacher’s thinking. From this research I learned that the technology must be taught in situation-specific contexts. I see many ways that the computer can extend the classroom experience and enrich it for my students.

* Achievement of NET Standards 6b-apply technology resources to enable and empower learners with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities

Studies show that only 7 percent of our learning comes from spoken words while more than 90 percent come from visual cues.  Use of enhanced lecture through Power Point and digitized video clips make any lecture more interactive than traditional lectures. If I use visually appealing graphics and movements to draw student attention, understanding will increase. Student teachers are also more motivated to incorporate technology into their assignments. I found that students turn in more elegant and thoughtful documents when they use technology.

*Achievement of NET Standard 5a- Use technology resources to engage in ongoing professional development and lifelong learning.

I wrote two papers regarding the use of technology to enhance curriculum development that are currently in peer-review journals. As a method course instructor, I need to understand what aspects of technology contribute towards student learning and what benefits and barriers emerge from incorporating technology into pedagogical reasons.  These types of research enhance my teaching and understanding and motivate me to become a life long learner.

* Achievement of NET Standards 5d- Use technology to communicate and collaborate with peers, parents, and the larger community in order to nurture student learning

Student teachers create documentation panels to communicate and celebrate children’s learning with children, peers and parents. Documentation panel making is a time consuming process without the proper technology to support it, but with the proper technology like a digital camera, computer, and a video recorder, the process can be rewarding. The future documentation panel website will share all the documentation panel information to a larger learning community.

* Achievement of NET Standards 3d- Manage student learning activities in a technology-enhanced environment.

When the online course through the VLT system is finally completed, it will provide a technology-enhanced environment to all student teachers. The VLT system offers many possibilities to create student projects and to monitor collaborative work among students and the instructor. I will have the students submit their papers through the course web site.  By doing so, I can then check their papers and send them back to the students with my comments online. This process will make it easier and faster to collect and return papers to the students. I look forward to using this process next semester.