Brian Deyo's Professional Portfolio
Reflection for Standard 2 Technical
2. Technical - Use software and other tools appropriate to the task.
671 Microsoft Word Standard Toobar Tutorial in Spanish
Reflection on Technical Work Product
At the time of this project, I was enrolled in EDTEC 671 with Dr. Hoffman and just starting a full-time position as an adult school computer applications teacher. I had made a change in the direction of my career from helping the children to helping their parents. The purpose of this project was to provide a comprehensive orientation for my newly enrolled adult students while still servicing the needs of the rest of my students. After a week or two as a classroom teacher, I noticed a problem with open enrollment. New students were constantly arriving at my classroom. Each new student required at least 15 to 20 minutes of orientation to best acclimate them to the structure, rules, and procedures of the class. Being that I taught 23 computer-related subjects on a mostly individual instructional basis, I needed to be moving about the classroom answering student questions as they arose. At the same time, the newly arriving student needed this 15 to 20 minute block of instruction.
This large block of instruction conflicted greatly with the needs of the rest of the students. I had to devise a series of assignments that the new students could do relatively independently while I answered the individual questions of the rest of the students. Within the first 30 minutes of class, the new student would go through three or four activities and I would check in with these students every 3 to 5 minutes to make sure they were progressing. In between the 3 to 5 minute “check-ins,” I would be able to service the others students. Since the vast majority of my students were new computer users that were also native Spanish speakers, I devised this particular activity in Spanish with most of the interaction via mouse movement.
The EDTEC standard I am demonstrating with this project involves technical development and the use of software and other tools that are appropriate to the task. The software I used to create this project was Macromedia Captivate. To make my project available to my students, I also had to work with Flash Player and Dreamweaver. This was my first project with Captivate and I had to learn the software in the short time of 30 days due to the fact that I only had access to the 30-day trial version of the software. I noticed that Captivate was between PowerPoint and Flash on the software spectrum. I have always felt very comfortable using PowerPoint and very uncomfortable using Flash. So this experience with Captivate has helped gain confidence with Flash.
I feel that this work demonstrated my ability to incorporate system constraints into my final tutorial product. The skills I gained by doing this project transferred to other projects as I went through the EDTEC program. The awareness to recognize system constraints helped anchor my approach to the various projects I faced in my later classes. I learned to look for innovative solutions that could overcome system constraints. Also, I learned that I could design lessons for people whose technical proficiency is far lower than my own. I could approach lessons from their perspective and successfully incorporate their perspective into my solutions. This project also gave me confidence that I could overcome high levels of student anxiety and low levels of student confidence by presenting appropriately designed tutorials.