Craig+R.

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flat   **linkedin name:** Craig Rogers **twitter:** rogerscr1 **Skype id:** crogers33

=1. Introduction: =

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My name is Craig Rogers, I am a teacher at McGee Middle School in Berlin, CT. I grew up in Wallingford, CT and attended Sheehan High School. After graduating, I began working as a CNC Programmer while attending Naugatuck Valley Community College. There, he majored in Automated Manufacturing Engineering. By the age of nineteen, I realized that he had to make a move to better my life. I began taking classes at CCSU with the intent of becoming a Technology Education teacher. After fives years of teaching I have now just started my Masters degree last year in Educational Technology to promote and integrate technology into my every day curriculum in order to help students learn 21st century skills. =====

= 2. Reflective essay 1: = What I do know and what I don't know about research. I have not written a research paper or done hard research since my undergraduate program. I have read online and read things about research studies that have been done through some of the professional development at my building. I can remember doing a research project concerning biodiesel. This research was purely self led. looking back I wonder how valid everything was that I searched and read about. After being a teacher now for five years and telling my students to check their sources and be sure the information they are reading is valid makes me concerned with how I did research when I was in school. Now returning to my masters program I hope that I can become a skilled researcher, data collector and share my results in a professional manner. This will be completely new to me as have not do so before. At the end of this class I hope that I will be very comfortable reading through research reports and really understanding the main focus of the data collected. I would like to know by the end some good sites for students to use for researching at the middle school level that have 100% valid information. Some of my units require students to do individual research based presentations and it is difficult to come up with one very good source for them to use. I think if they had a handful of sources that they can learn well, with a wide range of information that they can relate to would be very helpful. I would like to be able to teach them what great research is and how to validate all of their information.

=3. Partner Work:= My partner for our research is Matt Hall. We both joined LinkedIn and connected with each other. We are in the process of narrowing down our research to a specific aspect of using the -pad in the classroom. With cost being a large issue. I researched ways around buying everyone an i-pad and that is to link it to your computer which in turns links it to the smart board allowing for more students to use the i-pad. One of the links I found to be helpful with this is which is the app that you can use your i-pad with your projector [] http://www.zdnet.com/debate/an-ipad-for-every-child-inevitable-or-impossible/6342389 This article that I have found from a source on moodle through one of the people that Dr. Sponder follows, discusses how I-pads may or not be in every back pack of children. It goes on through many posts of people agreeing that every should have an Ipad in the class or should they have a different type of tablet. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18327263 http://jfarm.posterous.com/social-media-for-administrators

=4. Research Summary:= For

=5. Inquiry Plan:= For my research plan I was looking into setting up a plan similar to the lady who used technology to use protractors. Instead of protractors I want to do one dealing with use of rulers. I have found that there are so may students that cannot read a standard ruler.

=6. You tube links= media type="youtube" key="EV8M6P9st9Q" height="315" width="560"

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media type="youtube" key="Ffc1wxnXKSs" height="315" width="560" = = =7. Homework= 1.How does this assignment address issues of cultural sensitivity? the assignment in general 2. How would you describe the learning experience presented? I think the experience for the students is great. To be able to speak to more than one professional about a topic is great. Also to have students 3. What other assessment tool might you use to determine if student outcomes have been met? this used a survey. They can also compare and contr4ast using an interview prior to this experiment and after. 4. Why do you think self-efficacy was the primary focus of the assessment of this project? I think that because in order to do an interview with a professional over the computer one needs to be confident and gain confidence and be comfortable asking questions and interviewing. Some of the conversation between professionals and students does not happen anymore. 5. If you were unable to have access to Skype in your school, what other types of conferencing tools might you be able to use and where could you go to find out about other conferencing tools? I would go to my linkedin account. Try to connect with professionals

=8. Podcast / Blog= I watched Tech news today with Tom Merritt. I liked the initial part of this podcast. It was called seven minutes of terror. This is where they ran down the latest articles for tech users. I thought it was a great idea to highlight all the important parts of what is new on the world of technology. This was a quick and simple way to get the info needed and keep up with the fast pace of changing technology. As an educational experience I think that the podcast was done very professionally. It was done in what seems to be a studio. Nothing in the background was distracting and the three gentlemen spoke very clear and were easy to understand.

My blog I posted about was grading with voice. It initially caught my interest because grading is the most difficult part for me. I think that this way of grading gives teachers and students a great way to communicate about assignments without taking up huge chunks of class time to reach out to every student. It will also help students understand what mistakes or praises the teacher commented on. I will definitely be passing this on to my colleagues.

=9. Reflective Essay 2:=

After taking this course a lot of my questions have been answered. When I first started I had no clue about action research and reading research reports. Although some of them were difficult reads the information stated was very informational and important to education. After reading all of our reports during class I have become more comfortable reading this type of research. I have also learned that I should not believe everything that I read. After reading about the Hawthorne effect I wonder now whether or not most of these studies are a true reflection to what is happening in the study. I think the real way to research and read research is to gather as much data as possible. I need become aware of what as many people out there are doing and what is working and what is not working. I also learned not to be afraid of taking a risk in my class to find out if there is some piece of technology that works for the objective I am trying to teach. I am excited to put my research inquiry into effect so I can see for myself what my thoughts are and how students achievement will change. I have found some great resources for research for future projects. Going through Central's library has also led me to great articles. My question of what good research is and how do you do good research has been answered after writing and reading the assignments.

=10. Inquiry Plan:=