Lesson Plan Reflection

         Throughout the planning and implementation of this lesson plan, I have truly learned a lot about the learning of my "students" and my own learning as well. The purpose of this lesson was to teach teachers how to effectively and efficiently manage over 500 iPads within our school. The purpose of these iPads is to assist students with special needs with communication, comprehension, creativity and much more. With that being said, the goal was to teach the faculty how to use an application called Apple Configurator. In order to achieve this goal, I conducted a training session where teachers had to first watch a 20-30 minute tutorial on the use of Apple Configurator and then perform hands-on practice with me. While watching the video, faculty was provided with an instructional guide on how to use the application this way they could take notes and refer back to it when needed.
         Some explicit assumptions were that these faculty members had little to no experience of using a Mac computer or an iPad device. It would've been very beneficial for teachers to have some knowledge on a Mac operating system before coming into this training session. Mac terminology was often used and it would have been helpful if more teachers were familiar with it. However, since most of them did not know much about Macs, I ensured to include a section within my training called "Mac Tips & Tricks." This was very helpful in demonstrating some differences between a Mac operating system and a Windows operating system. One of the implicit assumptions was that these faculty members understood most of technology terminology. I also assumed that most of them knew how to do something basic as log onto a computer.


            The advantages of using a Camtasia video for my lesson plan is that it gave the teachers a visual on exactly how to work the application.  This was helpful because then they knew what to expect before having to perform hands-on practice, which follows the stages of observational learning. Since most these teachers did not know much about Macs, by viewing the video they will were able to watch and imitate what they observed. It also allowed time for teachers to take notes, ask questions and embrace what was being taught. I also had a chance to pause and address certain misconceptions that arose. Some constraints about a Camtasia video is not everyone learns at the same pace. Even though I paused and commented throughout the tutorial when necessary, it was difficult for some viewers to process what was going on through the video. Sometimes listening and watching at the same time can be overwhelming. This is an important difference among learners that I will need to take into account for the next training.


During this training session, learning takes place within multiple activities. The first being a 20-30 minute video tutorial, then hands-on practice and an additional document that could be used as a guide to using the Apple Configurator program. I think most of the learning took place during hands-on practice. Although the video tutorial is very informative and provides a lot of helpful information, it is during the hands-on practice that the faculty takes what they have learned and apply it. This idea of modeling and imitation exemplifies instructional scaffolding and observational learning. The Social Learning Theory is demonstrated through my training session with observational learning. The faculty implements the attention, retention, reproduction and motivation stages through video modeling and hands-on practice.


   After the training session, I had the faculty complete a survey that not only provided me with feedback of my teaching, but also feedback of faculty understanding. Although this wasn't a "test," it was definitely a formative assessment that just had some questions regarding the use of Apple Configurator. I used this to assess their knowledge of the tutorial and how to use certain controls within the application. I was really excited to see that most of the teachers got all the questions correct. The overall 'final' assessment was their ability to deploy the iPads in an efficient matter. For the past three weeks, iPad deployment within the schools has been running very smoothly and without any problems. With that being said, I can say that my training session was very effective and has truly led my faculty to lead a successful iPad Program within our schools.