Reflective Post

By GotCredit on Flickr

It is common knowledge for anyone who knows me that I have a love-hate relationship with technology, I have a fear that society is moving towards no personal interaction and towards digital only. This class has helped me understand that technology within the classroom is not and should not be avoided. The important aspect that educators must remember is technology is not the teacher, it is merely a tool that can help facilitate learning for students, the same as using a worksheet or textbook. The biggest difference between a textbook and technology is students in school today are fully integrated into the digital world we live in and by using technology in class we a basically speaking their language as a teacher.

By Candace M on YouTube

The learning objective that I am the most grateful for accomplishing is being able to evaluate and critique websites, software and hardware for use in the classroom. It is way too simple to find a random program and implement it without doing an evaluation but if that is how the technology is introduced into the classroom then the students can lose valuable learning opportunities. This evaluation of online material was useful during the collaborative lesson plan. The group I worked with found a few worksheets to compliment the lesson plan we were creating however as the lesson plan evolved and changed to be a more effective plan the worksheets did not work as well as they had in the beginning. It would have been easy to leave them as they were and pretend that they worked, but instead we evaluated them and ultimately decided to create a new worksheet that worked for us using a creative commons picture in order to stay within the copyright laws and still deliver a fantastic lesson plan.

By Laurie Sullivan on Flickr

I enjoyed almost every activity and lesson that we accomplished this semester, with the exception of the wiki page. I think that this assignment was one of the most difficult and not based on the content of the lesson. This was a collaborative assignment that required very little interaction and encouragement of more interaction may have helped this assignment go a little more smoothly. I have more issues with collaborative assignments when the course is online only verses in class because in a physical classroom I can see the people in the group I am assigned to in person rather than trying to create times and ways to communicate in an effective way. In the end these assignments turned out well for me, however I always feel anxious if I cannot contact someone that I am working with, so it would be helpful if there was a way to have a more stream-lined communication method via Canvas.


I am very grateful that I was able to take this class and learn as much as I did. I feel much more comfortable with technology being in the classroom and not only in my future class but in my children’s current classrooms. I can now create online based lessons and a website that can help with communication with parents and students. I now look at everything online with a critical and analytical eye to ensure accuracy and relevance. I am now able to find photos and videos online that I can share and know that I am not violating copyright laws, even having a decent knowledge of technology I did not know anything about creative commons prior to this course. I have learned much and my thoughts have been transformed, with these two aspects I am confident that I will be a better educator thanks to this class.


I created a crossword puzzle on PuzzleFast using vocabulary words from our textbook "Transforming Learning with New Technologies". The embedded code unfortunately did not work, but the link will take you directly to it. Enjoy!

Technology in Teaching Crossword

References

GotCredit. (2015, March 16). Learn. Retrieved from Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/rECgUF

M, C. (2015, February 26). Technology in Education . Retrieved from YouTube: https://youtu.be/5QR6BrCYf20

Maloy, V.-O. E. (2014). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.

PuzzleFast. (2016). Technology in Teaching. Retrieved from PuzzleFast:  http://www.puzzlefast.com/en/puzzles/20160425445785

Sullivan, L. (2014, September 18). P1000641. Retrieved from Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/pgUXuF

 

Digital Blog Post #F

The more I have learned about the use of technology in the classroom the more I would like to see how each aspect could be brought to life in education. One of the technological aspects that I had never even thought about being possible is a virtual field trip for the class. I always equated field trips as a way to take students to a place other than school to attempt to teach, but at least for my classes as a child mostly to have fun and explore on our own. A perfect example that relates to something I have actually done is in fifth grade I remember going to Williamsburg, VA to explore and learn about Colonial Williamsburg and growing up in Virginia Beach it was only about an hour drive. The problem that occurred was that some students could not go, either due to lack of parental funds, issues with heat, or a medical issue that did not allow prolonged outside time. If computers were more readily available we could have done a virtual field trip that allowed each and every student to participate. I believe that when I become a teacher I will try to work in virtual field trips, especially here in Florida where the heat can be terrible, to include every student in class, not just a few that are able to go. 
 

Something that I have seen more frequently, especially with middle and high school students, is each student has their own laptop that they are able to bring home to work on school work and have in class to aid the learning process. Prior to this class I thought it was a terrible idea because surely the students would not care about the laptop, mainly because they did not buy it themselves. After taking this and other education classes I have realized that students, in general, will take care of the equipment because it helps them understand what they are learning better if their teachers encourage them to be responsible digital learners. I have also come to realize that many more students than I previously imagined might not be able to have a computer in their home and without one they have the risk of falling behind their peers. It makes me wonder if there were a way to help every family in the country to have a computer of some sort, and then eventually internet access that was affordable. Would this type of program help students connect to one another in meaningful ways earlier in life or would it be shown to not have any relationship to future success?

By: Kevin Jarrett on Flickr 

When reading about involving students with technology choices and changes I had a difficult time coming to terms with this kind of practice. I am not against students taking an interest and having a say in how they learn to a certain point, however when it comes to new technology that can be very expensive I am not sure how I feel about a student being too involved with the decision. Students do have the ability to be more technologically savvy than some teachers out there, but ultimately it is up to the teacher, administration, school board and district to make these kinds of decisions. I am not sure that the “higher” levels of the schools would be interested in what students have to say. I am a little jaded on subjects such as this, I have a strong though process that in most cases people who hold the most power tend to forget who they are making choices for and often know very little about the individuals that their choices will affect. This is the main reason that I am on the fence regarding students helping to make technology choices. There could be a teaching lesson involved, where a class or school creates a petition for a certain type of technology however beyond that I am not sure how much I would want my students to get their hopes up only to be let down.

   

 By: Rachel Caruso created using web search (technology) and Delicious User ID

References

Caruso, R. (2016, April 15). FinalWordCloud. Fort Myers, FL.

Foundation, T. C. (2016, April 15). Tour the Town. Retrieved from History.org: http://www.history.org/almanack/tourTheTown/index.cfm

Jerrett, K. (2016, April 13). Level Up Village. Retrieved from Flickr: http://www.history.org/almanack/tourTheTown/index.cfm

Maloy, V.-O. E. (2014). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.