Understanding
the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society
When I began this course back in
January, I really didn’t know what to expect.
I am not new to technology; therefore, I was familiar with most of the
tools that we were going to use throughout this course. Even though I was not new to these forms of
technology, I have never taken the time out to look deep into their development
and there benefits to education. Now
that I am finishing up my last week of this course I can easily say that I now
know enough about these tools to implement them into my classroom. This course also allowed me to be reacquainted
with the 21st century skills which my students will need in order to
be successful in the future. You might
be wondering what type of tools I am referring to, so let me cut to the chase, this
course introduced me to Wikis, Weblogs, and Podcast.
Before
this course, I had no interest in having a blog of my own, however, I did
subscribe to the blogs of few of my friends, so I knew it was used to relay
information, and facilitate communication.
So after completing the required reading for week 2, and learning of all the positive impact blogs
have on students learning and the professional collaboration it allows for
educators, I was more than ready to make my own professional blog. The best part about using my blog, was the
feedback I received from my classmates, so I knew this would be a hit with my
students.
By the time
week three came around, I was required to develop a group Wiki with the members
of my PLC. Before now, I stayed away from Wiki’s of all forms, this was all due to my
ignorance, never had I taken the time to investigate the benefits associated with Wikis, I also figured that
wiki’s were not trust worthy, therefore, I avoided them. This
course offered me the opportunity to see the benefits of using a wiki,
firsthand. Using a Wiki in my classroom will definitely
benefit my students, “they will become better
learners-----namely, collaboration and negotiation skills” (Richardson, 2010) .
Week four offered me the opportunity to do
something completely outside of my comfort zone, not only did I have to
interview and record my students, but I also had to upload to my personal blog. Of all the assignments I thought this to be
the most difficult since I had a HARD time uploading my podcast. With utilizing these different tools, I was
able to see my teaching in a different light, I am now able to introduce my
students to a whole new way of learning, which will definitely offer engagement.
This course really allowed me to rethink my way of work in
the classroom; it allowed me to see ways in which I can improve my teaching
style to reach all my students. Since my
students are required to learn 21st century skills I realize that I
have to find the teachable moments to implement these skills into my lesson or
class. This course also reminded me that
my students are not like me, they are from the digital era therefore, and I
need to teach them with that thought in mind.
The teaching strategies that worked for me “back in the days” will not
work for my students.
This year I have actually moved from lecturing four days a
week to two, with this changed I have moved my classroom from teacher-centered
to student-centered. I have also
introduced more engaging activities and project-based learning. In doing this I noticed that I have more
student participation, and student’s grades have definitely increased
dramatically. I think that with the
change to student-centered classes I have placed my students learning in their
own hands, they are now responsible for their own learning. I must also say, I like my role as facilitator.
I will continue to expand my knowledge of learning, teaching,
and leading with technology with the aim of increasing student achievement by
becoming involved in different PLC at school, gaining membership to different educational
technology organization, and subscribing to different educational technology magazines. In order for me to continue to grow I must
keep learning.
My two long-term goals for transforming my classroom
environment to overcome institutional and systematic obstacles are; 1) become
more of a facilitator rather than a lecturer, I will accomplish this by
providing my students with more inquiry based, engaging scenarios with the use
of collaboration. Students will work
more in cooperative groups rather than individually, 2) to have a running
classroom blog, for students to use for collaboration, assistance and
communication. To accomplish this I plan
on first talking to our administrators and getting permission to begin this
task. I will then send home parent
letters, to get permission from parents to involve their students in this
process. Once all the red tape is
eliminated, I will then set up a classroom blog for each of my five classes,
and use this for collaboration. By year
two all my students will be required to have their own blogs.
Looking back to my Check list, few of my answers have
changed since the first week of class. I
would like to be able to collaborate with my students on new and emerging
technology tools; I would also like to work on designing more collaborative
learning experience.
Reference
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts,
and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks:
Corwin.
