This week we had to examine one area of technology for the organization we are analyzing and complete a brick for that area. The brick examines applications that need to be replaced or improved. The brick outlines the applications (or processes within the application) that need to be eliminated, ones that should be tracked to see if they would be a better fit for the organization, and ones that would be integrated within the next 2 or 5 years to improve overall functionality of the organization. This same process can be used in my practice as a teacher because I can examine the technology tools that I am currently using in my classroom and determine which ones are ineffective and look for better options. For example, I currently use Google Classroom to post information and assignments for my students to access, but Google Classroom’s functionality can be limited. Students have to scroll excessively to find older assignments, it’s difficult for students to share certain documents, and the activity feed does not automatically update. These problems are not overwhelming so I have not tried to find another application that could replace Google Classroom. However, completing a brick for this area of a course management system could potentially help me find a better resource to use. This brick activity can also be used for other instructional tools. Teachers are constantly looking for video tutorials to share with students to support learning, so looking for a credible, reliable video tutorial bank would also be another way to use the brick activity. Basically, you can use the brick activity with any area that teachers think they would like to improve. It’s a dissection of current practices to determine what is already being used and then it is an examination of possible future practices to replace the ineffective ones. I can see that the brick activity is very similar to Enterprise Architecture, but in a much more detailed and specific view. Enterprise Architecture examines the current state of technology within an organization and then outlines the future state that the organization would like to move towards. The brick activity does the same thing but only looks at one specific area of technology or application at a time. This activity would be beneficial for all teachers to use to improve their practices.
|
ANDREA JACOBSFifth Grade Teacher Archives
April 2016
Categories |