Tim Wilson Blog ePortfolio

Current Event Paper Background The article What is virtual reality’s role in education?: An interview with Nearpod cofounder Filipe Sommer, written by Blake Montgomery and posted by www.edsurge.com on February 24, 2016, discusses a new addition to the Nearpod educational toolbox.  Nearpod is a web-based presentation tool that pushes the presentation directly to the students’ devices allowing for the teacher to pose questions and set tasks for the students to respond to within the presentation.  The presentation can be given in a live session or sent as homework in a flipped classroom setting.  Nearpod presentations can include text, audio, video, weblinks, polls, quizzes, and drawing content.  Nearpod allows teachers to create their own content as well as provides numerous pre-created model lessons for teacher to use.    Summary The article is an interview with Nearpod cofounder Filipe Sommer about the company’s latest release on February 17th o...

Personal Technology Reflection I use technology almost constantly in my home life as well as my educational life.  I have always been someone who takes to new software and advancements in technology quite quickly.  I credit my father for always buying an Apple computer every time the version was released.  He was always excited to see what the new computer could do that for the lay person was not possible before, even if those advancements had no practical value.  I think that may be the difference between teachers who integrate technology into their classroom easily and those who are resistant to change.  It’s the difference in mindset from ‘If I’m going to use this technology, it better make my life way easier.’ and ‘Wow, let’s see what this piece of science can do!’ As far as using technology in my educational setting goes, I don’t really have a choice.  Using technology is the facet of my educational setting that I fill.  I am the Educational...

Lewin’s work on change theory states that for real sustained change to occur three areas must be adhered to.  The three areas are creating a safe environment that supports the desired change, involving all stakeholders in the planning of the desired change, and then re-educating the stakeholders to understanding of the desired change. (Calabrese) A leader can create a safe environment to support change in several ways.  By listening to opposing points of view without showing judgement, laying out in manageable steps how the organization means to achieve the change, provide training and coaching to individuals who need help with the knowledge.  In creating this supportive environment the leader is seeking to reduce, as much as possible, the anxiety that naturally comes along with change in any situation. (Schein) For change to be lasting, the constituents who will be affected by the change, must be involved in the planning of how the proposed change will be implemen...