I continue to realize that to use technology effectively it needs to be smoothly integrated into the curriculum. The TPaCK webquest gave great examples of how to incorporate technology into a lesson - and gave good examples of how not to do it. As I prepare for this up coming school year and I'm looking for ways to incorporate more technology, I'm keeping in mind to find a balance between technology, pedagogy and content.
I've used technologies such as Google Docs in both my professional and classroom lives and I'm excited about the ways in which others have incorporated and look forward to borrowing their ideas. One new piece of technology that I haven't used in my classroom before are Wikis. I'm not sure how I'll use them yet, but I'm leaning towards having my forensics classes use them for evidence collected in our crime scenes. I think these will allow students to easily share their information in their groups and with their peers. My goal is also for the students to have a collection of data from throughout the school year when they get to their final project crime scene. I think a wiki will be easier for my students to work with to make sure they focus on the crime scene data instead of getting stuck on using the technology.
Looking back at the goals I wrote down at the beginning of the summer for CEP 810 one goal in particular stands out - "Explore the technology used in this class rather than simply watching a video and assuming I know what I'm doing". I really enjoyed that both of my CEP courses this summer required me to use and demonstrate my knowledge of technology. While I started off know a little about a lot of technology, I enjoyed that my courses had me focus on practical applications of the technology and looking at ways to incorporate the technology into my classroom. I think I've begun to touch on many of my goals set forth in my Personal Growth Plan and I will continue to work towards those goals as I head back to school this fall. I haven't set any new goals at this time. I don't think I've met all of my goals that I set for myself 8 weeks ago and I want to continue working towards them without losing focus on what is important to me in terms of technology and my classroom. My major long-term goal is to incorporate technology into my courses. I expect this to become a life-term goal as the technology we know and use today will continue to change and as a teacher I will have to continue to grow and change with it.
I think it is impossible to meet all our goals when it comes to technology. There is always an update and something new on the horizon. It is best to choose a couple things to concentrate on and have them work well in your classroom. Then keep adding. You don't want to do technology just to do it for technology's sake.
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