EDT 530 Hypermedia

Self-Evaluation
In Hypermedia class I learned not to be a snob when it comes to technology. If we are
closed-minded about some of the technology tools out there, we are likely to miss out on
an opportunity to infuse some great uses of technology in our classrooms.
During the first week of class we were introduced to the ISTE-NETS Standards in a
different way. We learned How to Unpack a Standard and what this might look like in the
classroom. Unpacking a standard is the process of identifying what students will know
and be able to do when they have mastered the standard. Unpacking standards provides
teachers and students an opportunity to dissect the standard by asking, what exactly
does the standard say? How can we determine what proficiency looks like and what are
the necessary steps to demonstrating proficiency? We use prior knowledge to match
essential questions with outcomes and make a scoring guide together. It is helpful to
define what the standard is actually asking the students to know or accomplish and then
have students rewrite the standard based on their own definitions.
I chose the NETS-A to unpack, because most of my work is as an administrator.
Unpacking the NETS-A forced me to take a closer look at our vision for technology in the
district and ask these essential questions, Are administrators & budget in support of
promoting an educational & digital environment that is engaging to ALL students? Are
teachers and students using technology WELL? Are we providing access to digital-age
tools and professional development opportunities? How are we making the best use of
our resources to continuously improve the technology in the district? And most
importantly, how are we convincing the major stakeholders to buy into this vision and
how do we make this vision a reality?
The most enlightening thing about unpacking the NETS-A was the list of action verbs.
There are times when I feel discouraged and hopeless at my job and wonder if I was put
on this earth to reset passwords for forgetful staff and students. Unpacking these
standards was enlightening for me. I ; I inspire, envision, demonstrate, manage,
recruit, establish, implement, research, collect, interpret, lead, understand,
develop, promote, protect, facilitate, maximize, communicate, advocate,
create, model, provide, participate, infuse, empower, enhance, allocate,
stimulate, nurture, seek, foster, evaluate and improve the technology at RLRS.
These are ALL powerful actions and I do ALL of these EVERY day and that makes me
feel good.
I used bubbl.us to unpack the NETS-A and in the process, I learned many more ways to
use Concept Maps in a K-12 setting. I have shared different ways to use concept maps
with staff and students. Some of my favorites are: 1. Presentations - This is a great
tool for comparing and organizing thought. If your audience has a short attention span,
or they are primarily visual learners, having the ability to organize the facts on one page
is helpful in getting the point across before their attention is lost. Nobody wants to be
bored with pages of lengthy text. 2. Summarize Responses to a Survey - There is a
template using OmniGraffle that has a little speech balloon (bubble). I generally put the

question or topic in the center and surround it with everyones responses. 3. For
Preschool Ideas to help children to organize and relate ideas and information about a
topic. This can help them literally visualize the relationships between things and
remember concepts more clearly. It shows them another way to recognize and
communicate what they already know. At first preschool students will not be able to
complete these on their own, but the process can start with them observing the teacher
making it as they contribute what they know. This can be done using one of the mind
mapping apps on the preschool students iPads. The Pre K teacher can start with pretty
much anything topical. If we start with SNOW, they can add what they know; it is WHITE,
WET & COLD. Concept maps will allow children to revisit and add to the map as their
knowledge expands on the topic. 4. Students Map Instructions: 4-5 year-olds build
their own concept maps about the process of making paper mache. Using object
manipulation, conversation and drawings, this concept map can then act as a clearly
written set of instructions for them to physically complete the project. 5. Project for K-8
Students to Study Weather: Concept maps help students see the connections
between words and ideas. Ask students to read a short science passage. When they
finish, ask them for one big idea from the passage. Use this idea to begin a concept map
on a board or flipchart, by putting the idea into a circle or box. Use lines to show the
relationships between the ideas or concepts in the boxes or circles in the map. With
practice, students could create their own concept maps for science ideas.
I had very little experience with coding before taking this class. It makes sense to
me that we would want to introduce children to challenges like coding early on in
their education. Much like the comparison with learning a foreign language, fresh
little brains are sponges and can learn things without the same barriers that adults
have. We have issued iPads to each of our Kindergarten students and they have
made amazing leaps this year. I have begun teaching iPad sessions with the
preschools. It seems like the age that students are being introduced to these
technologies is getting younger and younger. Our school participated in the Hour
of Code this year. I was glad to have had the opportunity to work with students on
this. I am anxious to try the Google app inventor
program http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/support.html with students at RLRS.
I was first introduced to Scratch during week 12 of Hypermedia class. I had heard
of Scratch, but had no prior experience using this tool. I had thought of Scratch as
a game builder and struggled to understand how this might become a valuable tool
in the average classroom. After researching many Scratch projects, created by
both students and adults, I can see how this program could be useful for a studentpaced, project-based assignment on just about anything. I liked the idea of
creating our own rubrics to represent our individual learning goals, much like I read
in HyperLearning. We were provided an open forum to ask each other questions
and learn from one another. This gave more advanced students an opportunity to
share with students who were still developing skills.
My favorite use of Scratch is for storytelling. Students could write a story about
themselves, their summer vacation, their dream house, a famous artist, inventor,
or historian, etc I thought it would be fun to create an About Me scratch script
to show my interests and philosophy of teaching in an interactive way. I plan on

posting this Autobiography to the RLRS website. I hope students, parents, school
board members and the Rangeley community see that there is more to me than
just being their Technology Director. My hope is that my Scratch project will act as
a model for MS students as they prepare to complete their self-reflections using
Scratch. This project will also act as a model for grades 3-5 as they prepare to
complete their If I had a Million Dollars project which has been done using PPT in
the past. Scratch will make an interesting alternative for these students to create
their presentation in. By the time my final Scratch project was completed, I gained
enough Scratch skills & resources to hold a mini workshop for staff and students on
the basics of Scratch.
At RLRS, most of our classes are focused on curriculum content. Historically,
teachers have worked hard to pass lots of information on to their students. Now
that there is more information than we know what to do with, at the tip of our
fingers, it is really important that we change focus and teach our students
techniques that help them determine which information is valid and useful to them
in their learning and understanding of the big picture. Information is not the power
in the digital age. Power is what can be done with the information. Students learn
what we think is important by what we allow them to do. Students learn what they
have the opportunity to learn. (Papert 1996)
As a result of this class, I have taken another look at what it means to be literate in
the 21st Century. Literacy has been the ability to continue learning, exploring, and
communicating in communities of other learners. Literacy must now include
knowledge of how to access information, navigate hypertext as readers and as
writers, exercise selectivity and evaluate the reliability of information. Digital age
literacy should also include reading, learning and creating meanings with all of the
sign systems (icons, video, graphics, drama, animation) that the world affords and
in all combinations. Before I took a closer look this semester, I would have paid
more attention to the content (outcome) rather than the search itself. I hope I can
teach my teachers and students the value of a quality search rather than searching
for a quantity of information.
I would like for our students to be given the responsibility to design real artifacts
that they can use to teach others powerful ideas. They learn through doing and not
through listening and technology provides the media and materials for creating
these artifacts & performances and technology also provides students access to
information when they need it-not when the curriculum says they need it. (Papert
1996)
One of the most powerful, practical and efficient skills I learned this semester is
how to effectively use PowerPoint and Keynote as Hypermedia. We all have been
using MS Office and iWorks software for years, but I was able to take this to the
next level and create an interactive lesson for young children. My idea for a topic
for this project was an interactive weather lesson. This lesson targeted young
children from the age of Preschool to Grade 2. Because the weather plays such an
important role in our students daily routine at school, I think it is important that
we start out each day with clear expectations of the day to come. My lesson starts
each morning with students identifying what the current weather is. Once they

determine what kind of day it is they can choose the appropriate clothing and
activities for the temperature and weather conditions. My reason for creating this
lesson and targeting this young age group is all about expectations and students
being mentally prepared for any variation in their normal routine for the day. I
know from experience that most students are transported to school in a vehicle
that has been warmed up or (air conditioned) and they dont fully understand the
hazards involved with exposure to temps like we have been subjected to this
winter. Many children dont understand the role the wind plays in the temperature
and how Ski Tuesday could be cancelled when it looks so SUNNY outside. I also
think it is important that children know the clothing items that are needed to
participate in outdoor activities at school, in all kinds of weather. As a parent and a
teacher, I know there is nothing worse than then forgetting the ski pants at home. I
also know from experience that as parents, we cant wait for our children to be
independent enough to dress themselves, including wrestling their own ski pants
and boots.
This project is being used in the mornings in some homerooms to prepare for the
day and become conscious of the impact of the weather on the days events. I
hope this project is used in the local Preschool environment and in the K-2
classrooms at RLRS. In using this interactive weather project/game with young
children, I hope to stay one step ahead of them and curb some of the weather
related meltdowns that occur when a young childs routine is challenged.
In completing this assignment, I learned about the importance of accessibility,
access & understanding for all and the power of audience. I had a limited use of
this software and I was able to broaden my knowledge skills enough to offer staff
and students a fun and engaging new way to utilize tools that we already have.
Through taking this course I realized that at RLRS, we are still getting caught up in the
use of technology for its own sake. It is written throughout Wilhelm & Friedmanns book
that as educators, we dont need to know everything about technology to use it in our
classrooms. All we need are willingness to learn and an attitude of inquiry. Technology
will always be full of new challenges. If we take the challenges head on, with our
students, we are learning new skills and working through the problems and figuring out
how to overcome them with our students. Much like in the real world, but using
technology as an extension of natural human abilities.