Reflections

The GAME plan really is a guide to developing self-directed learners (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). By putting the GAME plan into practice as I developed skills and confidence in incorporating digital tools into my lessons and helped my students become digital citizens, I better recognize the benefits of using the plan and now feel comfortable using it with my students. To guide my students on a path of becoming self-directed learners, it helps to have structure in place; the GAME plan can be that structure. As the focus is on the process, the GAME plan can be used to support any goal students may have once they learn how to use it (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). It can help turn goals into realities with actions, monitoring and evaluations to support the goals.

For my own GAME plan, one of my goals was to integrate technology to support student learning of content in a meaningful way. I have since discovered numerous ways to use technology tools to support content. It is easy to set goals, but the GAME plan provided the roadmap for me to integrate tools such as podcasts, PowerPoints, and streaming clips to support my students’ learning of content. The monitoring and evaluation steps encouraged reflection on which tools were most effective for each lesson. One of the most significant things I have learned is to first identify the content objective and then select the technology tool that will support student learning of the content (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). This ensures that the content is the focus and the technology tools provide the learning experiences or assessments.

As I used the GAME plan to create a classroom of digital citizens I realized that my students knew very little about their responsibilities with digital resources. Through the pre-assessment I created as part of the action step, I discovered my students needed to develop skills in two areas: citing resources and making information their own. Both of these will be ongoing areas to work on. As I monitored their progress, I realized they needed awareness, tools to use to support them such as websites like http://citationmachine.net/, graphic organizers to assist in organizing the research information and modeling from me.

My biggest “aha” moment centered on online social and learning networks. This is the area where I will make the most significant adjustment to support student learning with technology. After recognizing the way the discussion boards have positively affected my learning, and studying the variety of ways they can be integrated, I realized it is time to have my students engage in this kind of activity. I plan to start with an online discussion board. I like the idea that Vicki Davis brings to light that everyone has a chance to participate (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). The students who shine in traditional class discussions often are confident answering orally, strong auditory learners, and fast processers. The format of the online discussion board levels the playing field and gives each student the time and opportunity to participate in a meaningful way. The asynchronous format will enable all of my students to engage in discussion, even if they attend the resource program on different days and have never met (Laureate Education Inc. 2009). Students will be able to clarify and extend their learning and take their thinking about the content information to a deeper level through the discussions. I plan to use the GAME plan to bring this new goal to reality.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Cennamo, K.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Davis, V.