For my course 5 final project my students had the opportunity of getting to learn about biodiversity through the use of numerous applications such as Google maps, Google Earth, and Google+. They pieced together a deeper understanding of biodiversity through communicating online, collaborating in class, sharing information through Google documents and posting their thoughts through the online class community.
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Below are examples of the students’ screencasts:
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With regards to the SAMR model, I think that this unit falls between the modification and redefinition levels. Through the use of technology, students were able to go beyond the walls of the classroom and share their thoughts through the Google+ community. With the help of Google maps and Google Earth, the students were able to take a 3D tour of various biodiversity hotspots around the world – allowing them to learn more about numerous endangered species that they may have never known existed or may have never had the opportunity of seeing in real life.
With this in mind, if I were to do this unit again with my students or a new set of students, I think I would change the sequence of events and start the unit off with exploring a number of different locations through Google Earth. I would have them determine the characteristics of each of these locations that helps define the location as being “environmentally in danger”. I would then have students do further research and share their thoughts and ideas via the Google+ community.
I feel that my greatest learning in the COETAIL program has come from the opportunity of personally being able to use the different applications both for COETAIL and in the classroom with my students. If it wasn’t for COETAIL, I would probably have not found out how helpful having a Google+ community for my environmental science class would be. Through our online community, my students and I have been able to share, discuss and analyze current environmental issues taking place around the world. Our online community brought along the chance to collaborate outside of the classroom 24/7. Through COETAIL I have now adapted the use of the flipped classroom model in my chemistry course. This has opened up the opportunity for me to work more closely with each of my students during class time rather than having them struggle at home to problem solve. Because of COETAIL I feel that I have been able to build my personal learning network through communicating and collaborating with my colleagues, whether they teach at the same school or if they are half way around the world. Applications like Zite have helped me keep up to date with my areas of interest and I have been able share this through Twitter, Google+ and Facebook.
I plan on continuing to expand my PLN and look forward to further implementation of the different ideas, techniques and technologies that we have explored through COETAIL in my future teaching.
