Reflection and Rationale

 

During this course we were required to review several software and applications that could be used to integrate computational thinking into academic curricula. This was my first time using many of these, as well as learning how to code. I first had to become familiar with coding, take the time to learn how to use each application, and then review its usefulness in a classroom. I focused mostly on high school classrooms as that is the age level I currently teach. Furthermore, rather than using a software such as Camtasia to make this video, I chose to use Adobe Spark. Thus, giving me the opportunity to try yet another technology that I could possibly use in my teaching. I found that Adobe Spark is much easier to use compared to Camtasia for my purpose of making a quick short video.

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In the last part of the video, I discuss an example of how Sphero can be used to teach computational thinking in a physics classroom. Before making the video, I first planned out how Sphero could be used in a physics lesson, and then tried it with my students at the time. Hence allowing me to evaluate its effectiveness on student learning. I believe that the knowledge and skills I gained in this class on assessing the technological resources demonstrates my proficiency in AECT’s Standard 2.3 which states “candidates demonstrate an inquiry process that assesses the adequacy of learning and evaluates the instruction and implementation of educational technologies and processes grounded in reflective practice.”