To App or Not to App: An innovative instructional approach to preparing preservice teachers to critically evaluate educational applications for teaching and learning.
Academic Year:
2016 - 2017 (June 1, 2016 through May 31, 2017)
Funding Requested:
$10,000.00
Project Dates:
-
Overview of the Project:
We are proposing a unique instructional approach in our teacher preparation program, where UM students engage in authentic professional collaboration. This project will improve teaching and learning at the School of Education by situating student learning in an authentic context. The United States Department of Education clearly stated in the 2016 National Education Technology Plan that preservice teachers must be able to use digital technologies effectively to leverage learning in classrooms today. Towards preparing preserve teachers, then, in EDUC 444, we will have them critically analyze educationally-oriented mobile apps that are being used in classrooms, asking if those apps are meeting specified learning outcomes. Still further, those analyses will serve as the focus of collaborative conversations supported by eHallway, a professional, social network used by industry professionals and inservice teachers. This is an approach to instruction that to our knowledge has never been done before in teacher education and will give UM student teachers a truly engaged learning experience. And, by design, our approach in 444, then aligns well with the UM Provost’s call for instructional methods to include more engage, authentic, learning experiences.