Final Reflective Blog

Final Reflective Blog

            My journey in ‘Intro to Technology for Educators’ was really fun. I really enjoyed all the lessons we covered this semester; learning more about technology and especially learning how to create blogs, wiki’s, Web Pages, and new ways to cite resources. I have always used technology since I’ve been growing up along with it, but actually learning how to create different types of web items was completely new to me. Since I’ve only created things like Face book or Twitter; which were already created and I was just joining. I realized how fun and important it is to create my own websites and blogs from scratch. I also see how important it is to give credit to others work that I use and cite it on my pages and I will continue to do so in my future. I know there is still so much to learn with technology and I’m excited to continue my learning and my future as a tech-savvy educator.

            I really liked reading the chapters in the textbook and learning all that each chapter had to talk about and learning the correct terms to all the technology items we discussed and learned about; what they’re used for and what they bring to the classroom. The discussions in our course were a little bit different in this course than in other courses I’ve taken. I usually just talk about a certain topic and then receive a grade on if I understood the content. This course was way more interactive and enjoyable then past online courses I’ve taken. In the past I’ve taken courses where it’s just a discussion topic and exam. In this course we got to take a stance on the discussions and back them up with facts we found and then discuss our opinions with our classmates’ opinions to receive full credit, it definitely made it more interactive.

            The only problem I found myself in with this course was the last assignment and it was mostly due to time I got to spend on the assignment itself, due to other circumstances. If I had applied more time to the assignment I would have had done a better job, I think.

            My favorite assignment we did in this course was the group lesson plan, I found that to be the best group experience I have ever done in college. My classmates completed their parts of the lesson timely and efficiently and helped each other out throughout the duration of the assignment.

            I would for sure tell people to take this course if they’re interested in teaching as a profession. It seems like a difficult class when you first begin, but the second week in I realized that if I just read the instructed chapters in the textbook and participated in all the discussions, group work, and creating the websites and blogs, I can come out more knowledgeable and satisfied with what I learned in this course. I liked the way this course was set up; it was way more involved than most of the other online courses I’ve been a part of; from the discussions to the website creations. I will take a lot of what I’ve learned in this class with me throughout my educational career into my profession.

 

References 

Hurley, B (December 9th, 2015) Technology Has Inspired created with Piktochart

 

www.YouTube.com; 'The Advantages of Online Education', 2011; https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=advantages+of+online+education

 

Digital Blog Post L

Chapter 12 Digital Blog Post L

            After finally being able to read over this chapter I found out some really interesting things about technology in the classroom and creating change as teachers once I get to that point.

            The section I was most intrigued by in this chapter spoke about a title I’ve never heard of before; it was ‘Inclusion and Infusion of Technology’. This section spoke about inclusion being computers and other information that technology is used for to help practice and develop educational skills. Infusion means the computers and other information technologies are connected into the daily lives of the student. This was really interesting to me because it shows how much technology has adapted into our classrooms and into the students daily life. This should provide more opportunities for the students to have every possible advantage to learn and control his or hers schoolwork throughout the year.

            The second concept I enjoyed from this chapter was about technology being inter-graded into the classroom in all types of ways. My favorite idea would be to use digital textbooks in the classroom. Though, this type of learning may be expensive because the type of equipment isn’t cheap. I think it would provide the students with an excellent visual aid while they are reading; allowing them to stop and just tap a video to explain what they read more personally at the tap of a button just makes the learning process so much more groundbreaking. They would also be able to share what they read with their peers and interact in conversation easier. Along with being able to do fun interactive games to help them understand what they’re learning, I just wish I had that kind of technology growing up.

            The last concept I enjoyed was about laptop computing in our school system. What I understood from this was that every student would be given a school issued laptop or tablet to allow them to complete their homework, daily assignments, and communicate with teachers and their peers for discussions and projects. This sounded so cool to me, as a student I would have dreamed for it. To have all your needs at the grasp of your hands, you could have all your work easily accessible and all done in a timely manner, there wouldn’t be any excuse for it. Drawbacks would obviously be breaking them or having them be stolen or lost, it seems like a great idea, but maybe a little ways down the road.

Resources:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

www.YouTube.com//SmartClass.Interactive.Classroom.Managment/MichaelShowham.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGZ9hMm_5-0