Demonstrates ability to read and understand educational literature related to Educational Technology

Artifact: “Supporting Long Term English Learners with Technology,” Final paper for EDCI 513, Foundations of LD&T.

Entering this program brought an unexpected benefit: access to the Purdue library. I have to admit that a few papers took longer than necessary to write because I was sidetracked by some interesting research thread, but I did have fantastic opportunities to streamline my research process, use the library tools efficiently, and select articles that answered my research questions.

In the attached artifact, I reviewed literature related to the use of educational technology to support long-term English learners, defined as students who have not made adequate language fluency progress.  This topic is relevant to my current position as a Language Arts teacher in a district with a large number of English learners.

My reference list includes fifteen citations from a wide variety of sources, and I consulted many more articles in the writing process. Because I understood the educational literature, it was clear that I needed to step outside the university library to supplement the literature with relevant documents, including information and research from the state department of education.  The review of literature ends with a logical and relevant call to action that would not be possible without the ability to read and understand literature related to Educational Technology.

Demonstrates ability to describe fundamental theories of human learning, 

Artifact: “Constructivist Principles in Educational Video Games,” for EDCI 531, Learning Psychology

In this paper, I described the elements of the Cognitive Information Processing theory that could be addressed to support 8th grade students in a debate project.  I focused on selective attention and chunking, rehearsal and encoding specificity, and automaticity and pattern recognition. For each element, I made specific suggestions that would improve the debate process and allow all students, including those who struggle with anxiety, to experience success.

Applies knowledge of human learning, diversity, and effective pedagogy to solution of problems

Artifact: Modified and Original English Language Arts Midterms

Several of my 6th grade students have learning disabilities and struggle to complete exams. In order to help them succeed, I applied the Cognitive Information Processing theory, specifically the concept of reducing the cognitive load and selective attention.  The artifacts show how I used sentence frames, allowing the students to focus their attention, and reduced the number of questions and options, minimizing the cognitive load.  I use similar techniques on every homework assignment and exam with excellent results.