Final Reflection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Part One

 

i was able to meet course objective number one, which is to design meaningful and authentic digitally based learning experiences with multiple and varied assessments, by producing a digital story through animoto and a webquest through weebly. Completing these projects helped me realize that students can learn can learn about a subject matter in different ways, through visuals, videos, music, and conducting their own research. Before taking this class, I did not realize how important it is to teach students using approaches that appeal to different learning styles. However, while working on my projects, I found myself trying to use strategies that appeal to different learning styles. I soon realized that my future students would be looking for that one approach that appeals to their own learning style. When they find it, they will pay more attention to my presentation, and as a result, they will learn the material I am presenting to them better.
    While designing my webquest and digital story, I looked for standards to follow, as I realized these are essential to use while conducting school presentations. However, I also realized these are vital for me to follow in order to help me organize the material I am presenting and to ensure that I am teaching students age/grade level appropriate material. Thus, designing these projects helped me realize course objective four which is to illustrate through application how state and national standards are implemented within the curriculum (e.g., Common Core, NH Curriculum Frameworks, ISTE (NETS-Teacher/NETS-Student) and NH-ICT Literacy Standards for K-12 Students (Ed 306.42)). Before taking this course, I did not realize that state standards can not only act as a guideline to use when planning a lesson but can also help a teacher create a lesson. By reading the Common Core Standards for eight grade social study students, I realized that I wanted part of my lesson for my webquest focus on the just causes of war. As a result, through reading the Common Core Standards for eigth grade social study students, I was able to create an activity that correlated with one of those standards.   
   By conducting research on various tools such as haiku decks, padlets, tagxedo, and prezi, I was able to gain an understanding of them. This helped prepare me to achieve course objective number five which is to demonstrate an understanding of the use of assistive and adaptive technologies and other digital resources to personalize and differentiate learning activities for every student. Before taking this course, I did not realize that there existed so many tools which can assist in personalizing and differentiating learning. However, by studying how to construct surveys on the internet, how to do different presentations, and how to create a word cloud, I found ways to differentiate and personalize learning.
    Finally, my interview with Professor Sullivan helped me achieve the final course objective which is to turn theory into practice by completing 5 hours of related field experience. By interviewing Patti, I realized there are challenges of teaching technology to school children,especially teaching them digital ettiquette and teaching tools which are not too easy or difficult for students to learn. Yet, I realized that these obstacles can be overcome with patience, dilligence, and a positive attitude from the technology teacher. 

 

 Part Two

Why is it important for all teachers to integrate technology into the lessons they teach, regardless the age of the students or genre that they teach? Or is it?

I think it is important for all teachers to integrate technology into their lessons because technology is becoming more and more prevalent in our society.One of the reason I think technology is so prevalent in our society is because it helps us become independent learners. As the author of the article 10 Reasons Why Educators Should Encourage Independent Learning mentions, students become real learners when they can solve problems for themselves. Thus, education should encourage students to go beyond simply memorizing facts and instead help them to become problem solvers, Technology helps students to achieve this goal by presenting them with tools that challenge their critical abilities. A big challenge for integrating technology into the classroom is alluded to in the article Shaping Technology in the Classroom. Teachers accustomed to more traditional or conservative ways of educating children might not be open to the types of lessons technology offers to students. They might be uncomfortable with the fact that technology encourages students to become independent learners. However, as the blog A Principal's Reflection states the goal of education should be to encourage students to become active learners, so they can develop practical skills that will help them cope with the challenges of the outside world.

Discuss what may be barriers to technology integration and how you as the teacher can overcome them.

I think the biggest barrier is helping teachers and other educators realize that technology is not a threat to their teaching practices. As author of the blog post  What does technology integration mean? states, technology is a tool which supports the content of the class. Therefore, the teacher can use technology to help teach the content but that does not mean that he or she has to abandon traditional teaching practices. An area of concern that this article focuses on is the problem of knowing what skill level their students are at in regards to technology. By conducting pre-assessments or surveys, teachers will have a strong idea of what their students skill levels are and what areas of technology they can focus on to assist with their learning. Image Source

Part Three

In this course, I started to create my own Personal Learning Network by communicating my ideas and reflections of technologies through blogs. Blogs helped me to reflect and form my own ideas about various issues regarding technology. However, they also served as a tool where my classmates could comment on my ideas and reflections and help me gain other perspectives regarding technology. I also benefited from reading other students blogs. Even though the blogs primarily consisted of writing doen my reflections and ideas, I also learned about technology through finding images, recording my voice on audioboo, and producing a digital story. These were reflections that were done by using another medium (different from writing), but I believe they were effective for precisely that medium. They helped challenge my insights. Also, since I put them on my blogs, I was able to gain valuable feedback and insights from my classmates. I also from reviewing their own work. As a result, I think I was able to create my own Personal Learning Network by being encouraged to reflect on issues regarding technology by my teacher. Using blogs to write down and record my experiences helped me organize my thoughts. What was equally important for me as a learner was to share my ideas with my classmates and to read, hear, and see their own ideas. Through this process of sharing, I was able to expand my horizons as a a learner and this greatly developed/enhanced my own Personal Learning Network.
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