Artifact 1

CONTEXT: I participated in the Modern Fashion and Invention activity during the Integrating Media and Technology course at Appalachian State University, which was supervised by Jeff Goodman.

IMPACT: Upon completing the Modern Fashion and Invention activity, I created a web page that will serve as a model that illustrates the final product of the activity. I am now more familiar with the procedures and can better aid students with the completion of their own project. I have the knowledge and technical skills needed to assist students in effectively producing descriptive articles, taking digital photos, and creating web pages to showcase the material.

ALIGNMENT: The Modern Fashion and Invention activity matches the goals IIE, IIIA, IIIC, IVA, IVC, and VIA of the National Technology Standards for Teachers an the INTASC standards II, IV, and VIII. Students will be given opportunities to use their critical thinking skills for creating new uses for odd gadgets. I will be managing student learning in a technology-enhanced environment (IIE) by encouraging students to apply reasoning skills in order to decide the purposes for odd gadgets. Engaging students in this activity will meet quite a few NC curriculum objectives including Language Arts, Information Skills, and Computer Technology Skills. Students will use technology to communicate information through application of listening, reading, writing, and viewing skills, form connections between language, media, and technology, and use grammar as well as language skills when creating written and visual material (IIIA). Students will use higher-order thinking skills and creativity when writing descriptive articles about the odd gadgets, and when designing web pages (IIIC). When I communicate comments, suggestions, and final grades to students via e-mail, I will be demonstrating the use of technology as an assessment tool (IVA). I also created a rubric for grading the activity that reveals how students will be judged on their use of technology (IVC). On my web pages, I included tips and examples for students to refer to when citing images copied from the web. This will enable students to better understand the importance of legal and ethical practices as they cite borrowed information (VIA). This activity allows students to be more self-directed and actively engaged in the learning experience. By letting them work in small groups, they are learning to work cooperatively as they collaborate on brainstorming ideas for the articles (INTASC II). This activity also integrates the use of a variety of instructional strategies as they use critical thinking and reasoning skills when creating new uses for the odd gadgets, writing creative articles, and designing web pages to showcase their work (INTASC IV). Formal and informal assessments are used to evaluate and give feedback for student development. This includes the rubric for teacher grading and the communication via e-mail. The latter should be done regularly in order to show the students any strengths and weaknesses, as well as to allow them to make changes before submitting the final project.