Theoretical knowledge
in the field

example 1: staff training in digital citizenship

Description
For a class in online learning environments (IT 532), I worked with a team to prepare a proposal for an online course. We had to decide on our target audience, course content, and course length.

Rationale
The course proposal shows my understanding of pedagogical knowledge in the field of instructional technology. Our team's strategy outlined an instructional design plan for professional development to meet the instructional technology training needs of a high school faculty. In our design plan proposal, we incorporated instructivist and constructivist learning theories and approaches that emphasized social presence in order to support our target learners in reaching their training outcomes.

Alignment to Career Goals and Professional Standards
  • ISTE Standard 3: Digital Age Learning Environments
  • ISTE Standard 4: Professional Development & Program Evaluation
  • ISTE Standard 6: Content Knowledge and Professional Growth
The exercise of designing professional development enabled me to examine in depth how to "coach teachers in and model use of online and blended learning, digital content, and collaborative learning networks to support and extend student learning as well as expand opportunities and choices for online professional development for teachers and administrators" (ISTE, 2011, standard 3.c).
Supporting documents
Project reflection
Presentation slides

example 2: achievement motivation instructional unit

Description
I designed and delivered an instructional unit for a class in theories of learning in applied educational psychology (EDPY 572).  I created a formal syllabus and lesson plan that outlined learning objectives, my overall approach to the unit, and class agenda for a 45 minute lesson.

Rationale
The document demonstrates how I planned to deliver a short unit of instruction geared toward adult learners who met synchronously online. For my synchronous lesson, I took a constructivist approach where I acted as a facilitator of my peers' learning by planning activities where they had to do the cognitive work of constructing their own understanding of my lesson’s topic of achievement motivation.

Alignment to Career Goals and Professional Standards
  • ISTE Standard 3: Digital Age Learning Environments
  • ISTE Standard 4: Professional Development & Program Evaluation
  • ISTE Standard 6: Content Knowledge and Professional Growth)
Whether I'm a classroom teacher or an instructional technology coach, it is important for me to have a strong background in pedagogy. This project allowed me to practice building those skills in a synchronous online setting with adult learners, which allowed me to "design, develop, and implement technology-rich professional learning programs that model principles of adult learning and promote digital age best practices in teaching, learning, and assessment" (ISTE, 2011, standard 4.b).
Supporting document
Presentation slides
Reference
International Society for Technology in Education (2011). ISTE Standards for Coaches. Retrieved from www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards/standards-for-coaches