Action Plan

Here at the Junior school our teachers have adopted laptop carts, iPads in the classroom and various other online tools to enhance the teaching experience. (Coming from a rented church several years ago, those are BIG steps in the right direction.) One of the these “online tools” that we recently purchased was VoiceThread.

VoiceThread is a online digital media album in the cloud that allows users to collaborate online. Just upload a photo, video or document online and have others comment on it by text, microphone, video or telephone.

Also this is the first year the Junior School has a had a dedicated “Technology Integrator” (me). As Shane Heyes mentioned in his post it almost seemed that integration of tech was seamless at the other building up the street and we here had “one offs” when it came to technology. But why can’t it be seamless here as well ? It can be if we leverage the tools that we have effectively and stay the course by having full engagement from our faculty. Which brings me to my Action Plan topic: VoiceThreads.

My Action is going to revolve around on how do we leverage VoiceThread in the Junior School ?

Research:

a) How can I use VoiceThread as an assessment tool ?
b) How can I use it as a tool to share information ?
c) Can it be used to start a discussion ? or receive feedback ? or simply just tell a story by narrating ?
d) Is this the tool that get’s the teachers interested in integrating technology in the classroom ?

While researching the above questions I will also investigate best practices around the world and within our CIS community as well. My plan is to share my findings every week by updating my blog and tweeting out articles on my findings.

Evidence of Learning:

In addition to documenting my progress online through my blog and twitter account I will create a VoiceThread or Video to demonstrate what I’ve learned. My final product will include my findings along with feedback from faculty and students on my topic.