My Video Bio

I very recently made this as my application to the Apple Distinguished Educator 2011 (which I was successful in!).

I think it sums up what I'm about professionally and what I specialize in (elementary school technology integration).
I'm not the type of person who likes to shout from the rooftops about how great I am so making this self-lauding proclamation was a bit unsettling for me. But I had the core creative idea in my head since the movie Inception came out last Summer so I knew exactly what I needed to do.

The password to view it is in our Video bio thread in the discussion forums of CEP812 (I have not got all permissions from parents of the students that appear in it).


ADE 2011 Application from Colin Gallagher on Vimeo.

A Funny Thing Happened With Technology

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Funny Thing Podcast

CEP 811 Reflections

photo © 2009 George Eastman House | more info (via: Wylio)


1.
What are some things that you have learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology?

Everything needs to tie in with traditional teaching strategies. Sure our goal may be to transform our teaching with technology but the foundations of teaching must be adhered to.

Discussions
Lectures
Questioning (and Answering)
Explaining
Demonstrating
Group work (collaboration)

All of the above can be transformed by using technology but we must make sure we don't transform it so much that we lose the vision and the pedagogical processes that teaching and learning is founded on.

2.

How did integrating web-based technologies help you think about and evaluate uses of technology?

The use of web based technologies have blossomed over the last few years. No more dodgy educational software on CDs that you have to install on every single student computer. It is a testament to the amount of web based software out there that the images that we create for our students have fewer and fewer software titles installed on them.
We are going towards the "cloud" more and more. You can edit videos, create music, create maps, create mind-maps, edit pictures and design objects all online now. I rarely give educational software a second look now if it's on CD only. In fact, music software we had to install recently for some African Drumming compositions was the most buggy software I (and the students) have had the displeasure of using.

I think Web first, offline second in relation to integrating technology.

3.

How have you met your own personal goals for learning about technology integration?

The major thing I've taken away from CEP 811 is basing any technology integration ideas on the "traditional" strategies of teaching and evolving it from there. Everything I introduce into my school tends to do it by default but it is very useful for me now to think a little deeper about what we are actually changing, why we need to change it and what is the added value in changing it.
My goals remain the same always. To always learn, and to always learn from others; students and teachers. And as I have mentioned above to think a little more about what we are doing and how it changes and adds value to the teacher and the student..

4.

Do you have any new goals? What are your plans for reaching your new goals and your long-term goals after this course is over?

I'm constantly looking at what I'm doing in my profession and looking for ways to improve. If I didn't have something new to improve upon or learn I would feel weird! Especially in this profession. I've been thinking a lot about how I express myself within my professional social circles. I definitely realize that I am a better writer than speaker. If given the time to prepare I can make a killer presentation but in a very immediate and instantaneous environment I know I don't come across as well as I should (or I'm just paranoid!). As I've recently been accepted into the ADE class of 2011 I am aware that this aspect of my character needs to be worked on. I am going to look into the different ways I can approach this.

Online Learning

Using this document, I'm going to choose Wikis as an online learning experience that our students could use.

What content could this help you teach?


I haven't had the opportunity to use Wikis with elementary school students yet but I hope to sooner rather than later. At the recent Flat Classroom conference in Beijing the word "wiki" was used more than any other platform for use in global collaborative projects.
Wikis could be used in a number of different subjects and the ideas are endless. Some examples include collaborative storytelling, student e-portfolios or global projects.
I'm in the initial planning stages of connecting our classes with other schools to create a reading group wiki where our students read the same books and discuss and take part in activities on a wiki.


What type of pedagogical strategies might you use with your students?

With the use of wikis the natural pedagogical strategies that occur are cooperative learning. Students will naturally join in group discussions and group planning throughout the course of activities on the wiki. It is also a great introduction to distance learning for our young students whose future may involve more distance learning than we ever faces in ours.
Working with other students on the wiki on global projects also creates a scope for cross-disciplinary teaching on themes as they tend to be problem based projects that require a wide range of learning and investigating.

What technologies do you think would be harder to use with your students? Why?

As I'm involved with elementary school students the use of a career planning tool would not be appropriate or effective to use even with upper primary. The majority of the tools on the document above can easily be used with elementary students. The career planning tool would be very effective for seniors though. Students in elementary could get into this style of activity by starting an e-portfolio to keep evidence of their learning.