On this page, I share a few of the projects and products that have come out of my study and professional practice of educational technology. In the first section, I present four projects which elaborate on how I have envisioned the use of educational technology and how my progress as a learner has also lead to an evolution into being an educational technology leader. The second section focuses on my use, and advocacy, of one particular model for incorporating technology in teaching called WebQuests. In that section, you can find two examples of WebQuest sites that I have made and used in my teaching. You can also access a paper and a presentation in support of using this model, representative of my maturing into an edtech advocate and coach. I believe the artifacts available here are concrete representations of some of the gain in knowledge and skills which I have achieved in recent years.
Learning and Applying Technology Examples of how I have conceptualized educational technology and the learning and sharing of these skills.
The first thing I would like to share here is a Google slide presentation on my passion and curiosity for education. I originally created it in 2014 to help show what I aim to do as an educator and as a learner, and how technology does and can support these aims. Clickhere or on the image to begin viewing the show.
I would like to share another Google slide show with you here. These slides show my progression from exploring ed tech to being able to teach about it. They were created for a half-day, face to face educational technology professional development session that I designed in partnership with a classmate in the Master of Arts in Educational Technology program, Whitney Fox. Even though we teach in very different contexts, we found we shared objectives and could create something useful in either setting. A key idea is to give teachers tools and confidence in managing their own skill development and technology adoption when and as they see it as most beneficial. For the session, we expect participants to bring a laptop, tablet, or other device and have an internet connection so that they can participate in developing their own PLN. After using it in the session, this slide presentation will also be made available to participants so they can refer back to what they learned. Clickhereor on the image to access the show directly.
Here I share with you one another Google slide show. This one outlines a group project related to advocating project-based learning to solve some of the challenges of modern education. This project was done by a group of educators in 2014 and involved synchronous and asynchronous collaboration across multiple time zones and continents. There are clickable resources, including videos of our process and a white paper, within this slide show. You can see both my growth in thinking about how to use technology as well as my own application of it. Pleaseclick here or on the image to access the show directly.
Click image for Tech Infused Classroom PDF
Linked here is one paper I have written regarding educational technology, describing an ideal technology-infused classroom, which I would like to share. Here is the introduction: When I first started brainstorming an ideal tech-infused classroom, I took as my starting point my current teaching context and started thinking of what changes I would make to the physical environment to facilitate language learning and teaching. As I was brainstorming a list of things, I also drew a quick sketch and started thinking about what I would have on each of the four sides of the room, among my other ideas. Then I set that aside and went away for the weekend to the Japan Association for Language Teaching 2015 International Conference and a bit of serendipity happened. One of the presenters told us about a TED talk presented by an architect, Takaharu Tezuka: The best kindergarten you've ever seen (Tezuka, 2014). Tezuka describes a kindergarten which is circular, with a central courtyard and the roof as areas for play, exploration and so on. Suddenly, my whole concept of the physical space changed, I no longer wanted to limit my ideal space to a square box. Here, I first describe my current teaching context, and then my ideal space for language learners in that context, including how technology can enrich and extend that space. Click the diagram orhere to read the whole paper.
WebQuests Examples of my work with one particular model of applying educational technology.
One way in which I have actually incorporated both technology and project-based, or task-based, learning is through the use of WebQuests. Click on the images or buttons below to link to the websites of ones that I have created for use in reading classes and in Business English courses. These sites also show my growing ability to design and manage online educational resources.
I have also presented about, and advocated the development and use of, WebQuests in language teaching. Here you can read a previouslyunpublished paper outlining one of my workshops, which was given at the 2014 Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) International Conference, and you can view the slides below for another presentation which was given at an English Teachers in Japan (ETJ) Expo in 2015.
I hope that you found useful and informative items on this page. If you are looking for recent presentation slides or papers that I have shared, please go here. Feel free to contact me via mycontact page for any further information or with comments.
Photos on this site by T. E. Bieri & A. Kanda. Not for use without permission.