Course Reflection

It is time to reflect on the last seven weeks and what I have learned that will make me a better teacher. The course I am finishing is titled, “Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society.” I have affectionately referred to it as “Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts: Oh My!” The assignments and discussions have literally pulled me into the 21st-century. Sometimes, I was kicking and screaming, but most of the time, I enjoyed the ride.

This course helped develop my technology skills as a professional teacher by encouraging our class to explore 21st-century tools. The first tool we practiced with was a blog. “Blogging represents one of many tools that pioneering teachers are using to empower students to take more responsibility for managing their own work and adding value to the world” (November, 2008).

Next, we added wikis to our repertoire. Wikis allow students and teachers to communicate concepts and ideas to each other, even outside of school. They encourage collaboration in a way that is comfortable for students.

By creating our own podcasts, we learned about the power of this tool. For me, podcasts had the steepest learning curve. It took a while to figure out how to create and post an audio file, but when I finally finished, it was worth it. Right away, it was obvious that podcasts would certainly capture my students’ attention.

The process of learning to use these tools greatly enhanced my technology skills. Even though I am a digital immigrant (Prensky, 2001), I feel like I have lost some of my accent. I have taken a step closer to learning the language of a digital native. “…the single biggest problem facing education today is that our Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language” (Prensky, 2001, p. 3). This course helped us learn the language.

The course has transformed my knowledge of the teaching and learning process. During the first week, we were introduced to the distinction between doing different things and doing things differently (Thornburg, 2008). I have been using the technology available to me to do different things. My mindset is changing. I now understand that I need to be creative in applying new technologies to education. I cannot be the “Great and Mighty Oz” imparting my knowledge to the masses. My new role is to facilitate the learning of my students. “We have the capacity to use technology to transform educational practice in ways that were impossible twenty years ago” (Thornburg, 2004). My students need to learn to work collaboratively. It is the teacher’s job to create those opportunities.

Even though this course is coming to an end, I will continue to expand my knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology with the aim of increasing student achievement. I have already created a wiki for my classroom. My students are beginning to use the wiki and other technologies to explore math concepts in my room. Often, they are teaching me how to use the technology. However, in the process of teaching, they are learning, too. I have subscribed to several educational technology blogs by using an RSS aggregator. I will visit those sites often in order to expand my knowledge in this area.

One goal for transforming my classroom environment into a 21st-century learning environment is to get technology into every students’ hands on a more frequent and regular basis. It really does not matter how technologically advanced the classroom is if the students cannot use the equipment. This goal is hampered by the fact that technology is expensive. I plan to utilize the computers in the media center as much as possible. I will also look into grant funding opportunities for tools such as iPads for students.

A second long-term goal is to create an environment that encourages collaboration, decision making, critical thinking, communication skills, and all of the other foundational 21st -century skills (Thornburg, 2008). The barrier for this goal is building a new mindset about how students learn. I can no longer just “cover material” (Prensky, 2008, p. 44). I need to prepare my students for the future they are entering. I plan to meet this goal by giving the students more responsibility for their learning. I am going to step away from the front of the class and let them help teach themselves and each other with me guiding and encouraging them.

At the beginning of the course, we completed a checklist to assess our skills and practices regarding integrating technology in the classroom. I only checked “often” on six statements. Eight were checked “sometimes” and one checkmark for “rarely.” After just seven weeks, I can move most of the check marks to “often.” I have not finished learning about technology. As a matter of fact, I have only just begun. However, now I have a clear vision of the path I need to take to be technologically literate, and I have taken the first steps.








References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). The Emergence of Educational Technology. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Skills for the 21st – Century. Baltimore: Author.

November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Prensky, M. (2001a). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5).

Prensky, M. (2008). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40–45.

Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and education: Expectations, not options. (Executive Briefing No. 401). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf

Sixth Grade Technology Survey Results

The students in my graduate studies class have been learning about digital natives and digital immigrants this week. A digital native is a person who grew up surrounded by technology. A digital immigrant is someone who did not have the advantage of a lifetime of technology immersion and is trying to catch up (Thornburg, 2008). I am a digital immigrant. I suspect that many of my students are digital natives. What do you think? Do digital natives and digital immigrants exist? How do these categories affect learning styles and preferences? Do digital natives have an advantage over digital immigrants?

I surveyed some of my students about technology - how they access and use technology at home and at school. The results were interesting, yet not surprising. Check out the podcast below to hear the responses from a few of my students.