While you are waiting … 1. set up your audio

3. Feel free to let others know what you can see out your window usingthe chat option

2. Use the microphone and camera buttons to enable voice and webcam. Let us all see and hear you

Remember … professional don’t name schools or individuals

Your experiences observing

• What have you seen that has worked well for other teachers?

• What have you seen other teachers doing that has surprised you?

• What parts of teachers work had you not considered before you went out on teaching placement?

Your experiences teaching

• What have you tried that has worked really well?

• What did you plan to do that ‘looked’ different in the classroom?

• What are you being asked to teach in the next few weeks?

Evaluating software

What software has worked well in your placement school?

How do you know it is working well?

Why should we invest ourselves in software evaluation?

There are a number of obvious reasons:

• We need to justify an expense, such as build an argument for a budget• We want to best match our needs and goals, such as learning outcomes, with the right product• We want to be able to demonstrate accountability procedures

There is also another reason which is related to the above but has a slightly different focus:

We want to have a good understanding of the software so that we can best use to achieve our goals.

Understanding software strengths and weaknesses, content limitations and biases, pedagogical foundations, interface design, and what support and resources are available in using this application are all valuable leverage points in using the software. For instance, a software package that asks students to resolve chemical problems by dragging chemical elements onto the screen to make up the compound is tapping into visual and kinaesthetic learning however the software may be limited in the variety of and complexity of problems. Students may also be picking up on other stimuli and it will be necessary, as in most behaviourist software applications, for us to create opportunities for students to use their skills in a variety of other contexts, such as being given the chemical elements and having to write the compound.

The key issue here is that software evaluation is not just about deciding if an application is appropriate but also coming to an understanding of how the software could be used.

10 possible questions to ask before investing in classroom technology

Theories considering technology adoption

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Theories of Adoption and Diffusion

“Recent studies on technology have shifted from the emphasis on technology skills alone to integrating pedagogy and content with technology”

(Tee & Lee, 2011, p. 89)

• Mishra and Koehler (2006)

• What do teachers need to know about technology?

• How can teachers acquire this knowledge?

Integrating pedagogy and content with technology

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Mishra and Koehler (2008)