Seven Weeks Past and Now I Reflect...

What I accomplished in the course, Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society is initially different then what I thought I was going to accomplish.  In this reflection I will be focusing on a few different questions.

 First, this course has helped me develop my own technology skills as a professional teacher.  In these past seven weeks, I have explored a few new technology skills that I have heard of but never really took the intuitive to explore and learn how to use until now.  I have enjoyed this course as I learned how to use a few different tools, such as how to set up blogs, podcasts and wikis, and I have learned ways on how educators could use these strategies in a classroom.  In my county, blogs and wikis are not approved to be used.  However, I do use a website called EDMODO, which is like Facebook but it is a social network for school that I posted about back in September. 

Secondly, my knowledge has deepened for teaching and the learning process.  My eyes have opened and I have come to learn the importance of meeting my students’ needs and interests as I plan my lessons to ensure their success in learning the material.  I feel it is important that teachers continually learn and stay up-to-date with the new technologies, so we can help our students learn these new skills.

Next, I have always been an advocate for a learner-centered environment.  I believe it is important to be a facilitator and guide students to be active learners.  If learning activities are structured to support student-to-student interactions or group interactions then students are required to explain concepts and contribute to the work.  That being said, this environment gives me the opportunity to gauge what my students have learned as they work with partners or in groups.

Furthermore I will continue to expand my knowledge of learning, teaching and leading with technology with the aim of increasing student achievement.  I will continue to explore, learn and stay up-to-date with the new technologies to help my student’s intellectual growth.  I will continually self-reflect and be part of the educational social network. 

Another thing this course has allowed me to do is set two long-term goals to transform my classroom environment.  My first goal is to create audio podcasts, and learn to create video podcasts as well. Within the next two years, I hope to incorporate these simple podcasts with my elementary students.  I would like to start with a simple video direction that students can watch as they accomplish a task.  The second goal I have established is to try to get all the elementary teachers to use EDMODO in their classroom, and help guide students how to use this as a reflection journal.  I am going to continue to help train our teachers with a few different technology skills.  During professional developments, I have the opportunity to show expose my colleagues to different technological skills that they can use to make things easier for not only planning but teaching the students.  This past professional development, I demonstrated to a group of teachers how to use MS Excel and how to use PowerPoint.

Finally, in completing this course, my knowledge on blogs, wikis and podcasts have evolved.  I have not mastered this new knowledge, but this course has led me in the right direction.  I am moving forward and learning new technology skills that I can introduce to my students to engage them in learning!