5.WEEK - THE RICHER INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENT AND COURSERA

Greetings, and welcome to my inaugural blog post! In this entry, I'll be sharing insights from the first five weeks of my ED201 course and providing a brief overview of my experience with Coursera.

FIRST WEEK

• Our initial class involved introductions with both classmates and our instructor.
• Classroom discussions delved into the Typology of Free Web-Based Learning Technologies.
• Strategies for capturing students' attention during lessons were explored.

SECOND WEEK

• Instructional technologies were revisited through a comprehensive slide review.
• The teacher fostered an interactive learning environment by posing questions and encouraging student participation.
• Historical perspectives on technological tools were discussed.

THIRD WEEK

• The Educational Technology - Big Picture slide was thoroughly examined during the lesson.
• Introduction to Coursera took place, with students logging in and commencing their coursework.
• I initiated the course, completing the first week and gaining insights into distinctions between WEB1 and WEB2, along with exposure to various Web 2 tools.
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FOURTH WEEK

• A detailed overview of instructional software for twenty-first-century teaching was covered.
• Concepts such as Drill and Practice, Tutorials, Simulations, Instructional Games, Problem Solving, and Integrated Learning Systems were explored.
• Progressing in Coursera, I completed the second week, focusing on collaboration tools like Podomatic, Survey, Blog, Email, Skype, VoiceThread, and Padlet.
• Group formation for the final project was facilitated.

FIFTH WEEK

• Project parameters were defined, centering on the topic of sixth-grade Sets. A constructivist approach will guide our lesson plan development.
• The objective is to enable students to apply learned clusters in real-life scenarios.
• Computational Thinking Skills were discussed, and multimedia design tools like Canva were explored.

In conclusion, my application of computational thinking skills—decomposition, pattern recognition, and algorithmic thinking—will streamline the complex process of crafting a lesson plan. Breaking down intricate tasks into manageable sub-tasks, ensuring proper adjustments, and identifying location-specific similarities and differences will be crucial in this endeavor.