As I read this chapter I related it to Chapter 2 in the Williamson book called, "Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences." The chapter in Jacobs book deals with helping teachers to upgrade their curriculum to match that of what students experience today. Technology is a big part of that and so this chapter deals with helping teachers begin this process.
Jacob's suggestion is that they start small and focus on one aspect. The one aspect she suggests is assessment in the curriculum and this is where they began. In order to make teachers more comfortable about this process, they simply target assessments and gradually worked the change into the curriculum. The plan from here was to move on to content reviews and then replace them followed by connecting the upgrades to the assessments and content and applying them to the skills. The main focus of this chapter was focused on upgrading the assessment process. It further defined the different assessments it was referring to. Jacob's gives a step by step process which can be followed in making these chances so that teachers are trained in the use of these assessments and understand how they are to be used. It is a gradual change so that all the teachers can feel comfortable with it and not like it was just dump on them. This system makes it more a partnership among the teachers implementing the changes rather than an individual undertaking that may seem overwhelming to some teachers.
This procedure would benefit me greatly because I am one of those who am not over technologically literate. I would be overwhelmed trying to make these changes myself because I would not even know where to begin. Having some straight forward guidelines and instruction on how to make they changes and implement them from others who work with technology better and understand how to use it would help me not to resist the change so much.
Thanks!
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