Reflection 1

Since I believed my lesson to be at the redefinition level, I decided to work backways, and as I worked backwards, the lesson went from a student-focus plan to a teacher-focus plan. The students were losing the use of technology in the classroom. At the modification level, students could collaborate through GoogleDocs to create alliterations; however, they wouldn’t be taking the presentation the step further through the use of Canva. As the lesson stepped down to the augmentation level, it meant that students weren’t using technology as the technology used was a presentation with videos within to enhance the direct instruction. Then substitution took that step backwards even more by simply having that presentation. The technology throughout is clearly changing, but the instructional decisions would also change. Students would be relying on the teacher more, instead of taking control of a creation process.

Reflection
 While the content may be familiar as far as the teacher is concerned, one has to be strategic and purposeful regarding the nature of TPACK/SAMR integration in order for the technology integration not to look mundane. As part of the strategic thinking, the teacher needs to look at the technological tools that are first available within the school or classroom framework and select the ones that students or various categories of students (if we are using groups) would be comfortable using as well as find one that would enhance the overall learning experience or the slave trade lesson in particular. The three circles (Venn Diagram) serves as a guide to help teachers connect the aspects of the three focal areas of technology, methodology and actual content. If the teacher has previous knowledge of the technological devices and their uses it is so helpful. The Indiana standards for this project emphasize the reflection on the topic’s impact; it is however helpful to teach students how to research for the right materials using google search engine and be able to put together the relevant images and documents for their presentation. For the uninitiated teacher it is helpful to first and foremost write down the normal lesson plan and then think through how this can be enhanced and connected using the TPACK AND SAMR models. The focus is usually on the teacher at the beginning as the scene is set for the project and the various class groups are put together and therefore thorough planning is critical. If students have access to canvas or google docs it should be possible for students to collaborate. The highlights for me in the SAMR process is the transition from the Substitution to the Redefinition stage as students present their collages, videos and transmit their work onto social media. Some students might not be familiar with some of the software for the digital collage or the video making process or may not even have social media accounts and may need to be guided. The focus eventually shifts to the students as they master the technology and do their final presentations. Overall technology transforms the learning process in a positive way by bringing it to life.

Going through the SAMR levels each level becomes more student-led and student engaging. Each level calls for students to take more control of their actual learning so that they start thinking on levels deeper than what a lecture styled class would give. So the closer to R the student gets the more they are taking control of their learning and the more the teacher is becoming a resource/facilitator. Teachers become the person students go to for technological help and guidance when they get stumped.

The established lesson plans for Medical Records Administration are purely lecture-based. In the past, I enhanced the lesson by using PowerPoint to display screenshots of the various medical systems used to create a patient medical record. Now, incorporating technology of a higher level, I Substituted the pictures in the student texts with the actual records system brought up on an overhead projector connected to my PC.

I Augmented the lesson by navigating to different areas for these systems as students asked questions regarding functions not covered by their texts. This is a great benefit as their questions could not only be answered by teacher expertise, but by seeing their answer within the system.

The course is now Modified to be more student-centric rather than teacher-centric, as the lesson moves from the expo-demo format to students creating their own medical records using the actual systems at their desktop through laptops provided by the schoolhouse. This enhances learning as students take the opportunity to get creative (and funny) in their "dummy" patient names, diseases/injuries, and other medical documentation.

The technology used in the lesson now has Redefined student outcomes. Instead of learning the terminology and steps to create a record, I can now task the students with scenario or project-based learning by having them look up patients, navigate to sections within the systems that were otherwise not possible. I can provide the students with medical documentation and have them digitally load them into a patient's record. These are tasks they would not otherwise get to practice until they reach their actual job. Students now arrive at their new work centers with a working knowledge of records management.

As I went through the various SAMR levels the lesson became less teacher centered and more student centered.  The lesson became less focused on the teacher and the lecture, and more on the students and how they could constructively use this information.  I think that this could be used really well even without looking at technology in education.  Perhaps looking at the way the students can use information instead of how they can learn it, and focusing on lasting skills and understandings would be beneficial.  In terms of roles, the student went from a passive learner to an active learning, and the teacher from simply a distributer of information to a observer and guide to that learning.  

At the substitution level, we could just use a Smart board to display the content to the class. At application level, students could watch videos on a Nearpod to share new ideas with each other. I think the my lesson is at modification. At this level, we are using VR headsets to explore the solar system. If we wanted to bump it, we could have the students get involved and interview an astronaut about space!

At the substitution level, the overall lesson is still teacher centered, and technology is simply substituted into the lesson. So, I thought that substituting in a Smartboard instead of a white board would keep the lesson still teacher centered, but would start to integrate technology into the lesson.

With augmentation, the lesson is still teacher centered, but the substituted technology adds functionality that improves the lesson.  So, by using Geogebra to demonstrate real world examples, it creates a different way to look at and interact with real world problems as opposed to just looking at examples on paper. 

Modification occurs when technology allows for an overall change in the lesson. Also in modification, the lesson starts to become more student centered. In order to account for both changes, I thought that having the students use Geogebra to start discovering how different geometric models, as well as concepts related to density, relate to real world examples would accomplish this. This causes the lesson to be student centered, as well as changes the lesson as a whole by using technology in order to learn the material.

Redefinition occurs when technology allows for tasks to be done that couldn't have been done without technology. The lesson is also student centered at this stage as well. Having students work collaboratively on a Google Doc to start investigating how different geometric models can describe real world things, as well as using Geogebra themselves, allows for this redefinition of the lesson. This also keeps the lesson student centered. 

At the Substitution level of SAMR, I decided to have the teacher use a direct lecture with PowerPoint.  I also had the students type a response and submit it online after the lecture.  In the next level of SAMR, Augmentation, this is where I decided to put my lesson.  This would be a teacher-centered PowerPoint lecture.  Then after the lecture, the students would give a written response on a discussion board post, discussing what the teacher taught.  
The lesson associated with the Modification level of the SAMR is a collaborative Google Docs where the students are at the center.  The students have to come up and discuss amongst themselves in groups and write a response to the lecture that will then be submitted.  The most student-centered activity is in the Redefinition level of SAMR.  For this lesson, the students themselves create a video about the electoral college and then will post it onto the class website so that viewers of the website can learn about the electoral college.

At each level as SAMR it almost becomes more difficult as you go up the ladder. Not only because it involves a new level of technology, but because it goes from teacher-oriented to student-oriented. It is really easy to substitute a video lesson with a lecture, but it is harder to find a way to redefine a lesson. When choosing what technology to use, a person has to think of all the different ways and the different levels that technology could work on. Some choices of technology are better than others in terms of having room to grow from teacher-oriented to student-oriented. Although it is also dependent on the lesson, I believe that the ability to go to the level of redefinition is largely reliant on the form of technology you choose to use.