TCH 401

Before you begin: Consider what is meant by an epiphany of learning: An Epiphany of Learning is a leap of understanding in the process of learning. It is an “ah-ha moment” or an aesthetic experience that leads to your own personal growth and broadening of horizons. Reflect upon your learning in this course and identify the most important epiphany that has occurred to you. The "epiphany" should reflect not only on what you have learned and why it has been so impactful for you, but it should also serve as a critical examination of how this new insight will benefit you and your students. ​

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Identify a tool you have NEVER used before that will be an effective way to share your epiphany with the class--and perhaps a larger audience in your PLN. You may choose to respond in video form (Powtoon, Moovly, Biteable, AdobeSpark, iMovie, or MovieMaker), as an eText (Smore, emaze,or Flipsnack), as a storyboard (Storyboard That, or Vyond (formerly Go!Animate), or as an audio podcast (Pod-o-Matic, Vocaroo, Anchor, or Soundcloud).

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In the moment: Using the new tool you selected, create your epiphany. As your are sharing your epiphany, be sure to include:

• An answer to this essential question of our course: ​How do I effectively use technologies to enhance my teaching & students’ learning?

• A discussion of how it connects to at least one of the 5 Core Propositions of NBPTS
• Why you chose this as your epiphany. Why is it important to you?​

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As you are designing, make sure you have an audience in mind. Beyond finishing an assignment, who would benefit from hearing or celebrating your "ah-ha"?

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Complete the challenge: Create a Teacher as Professional post on your blog. Link your epiphany to this post. Then, consider how you might share with your PLN! A PLN is really a network of relationship, not just resources. This means that there is more than just a take...there is also a give. In your blog post be sure to  

1. Include a conversation of what two new to you tools you explored for this challenge.   What was your experience with each tool? Would you use it again? Why/How? What helped you make a decision about what you ultimately chose? 

2. Talk about your plan to share your Epiphany. 

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NEW To You tools: We are all entering this course with a different set of tech tools that we regularly use. The idea in this course is to move beyond those that are familiar, and try tools you are not familiar with. Not only will that help you widen your tool box, it will also give you time to play and the opportunity to get the "new user" experience that your students might have when using new tools. Each tool is bringing with it affordances and obstacles that impact teaching and learning. Being able to recognize those helps you to know what tool is best. For each challenge I will ask that you ALWAYS explore at least TWO new tools for each challenge. You will describe these in your "complete the challenge" blog post. Hopefully you will use one of those tools in the challenge, but if those tools will not work for what you are trying to accomplish, and you discuss that you are free to use the tool that would work best in your classroom. This should be more rare than not. Please do not plan to rely on only the Google Suite throughout the course.