Its been a whirlwind the last 8 weeks. Between life, classes and work I sometimes wonder how I got it all done. Over the last couple of weeks I've actually seen technology making my work life easier and more organized and I'm looking forward to incorporating more technology into my teaching.
Over the last 8 weeks I've learned that integrating technology should be smooth and not distracter from the content of the class. Technology should be able to help the students in their learning. Sometime the technology used is a major part of the class and sometimes it is a little piece, but every use of technology should be meaningful. I've learned that technology should be used when it has a purpose - not just to say you've used technology. Technology can help all of us become more successful teachers if we approach it in that way. Technology can help us reach all of our students and allow them to express their opinions and ideas in new and creative ways.
Through my learning I am in love the idea of Web 2.0 - the internet as an evolving tool. The fact that teachers can share so much is amazing! In this day and age you can simply type in a topic to Google and it comes back with hundreds to thousands of webpages. As a teacher if you get stuck on teaching about DNA or need an activity for your students - there they are, hundreds of ideas just waiting to be read and used. At the same time you begin to wonder about the ease of this process. How are these ideas "approved" to be put out there for everyone to explore. The answer is simple, they aren't. Someone has an idea and they can immediately put it out there for everyone, but that doesn't mean it is exemplary. It could be far from it in fact. We as teachers have to be careful about how we use the Internet as a resource. I think that my experiences in this class have given me the ability to really understand the importance of technology in my classroom. I think I am also walking away with a greater understanding of exemplary uses of technology in education.
Good teaching with technology can be seen in my PLN assignment. This was a great example of incorporating technology to allow students to share their ideas in an organized way. By using technology to demonstrate my learning network I had to think harder about how I used my technology. The use of technology aided my project but did not become the focus, I still had to think about what my learning network means to me. The technology was present and helped make the assignment easier and more visually pleasing, but it did not overshadow the goal of the assignment. To me good teaching with technology means using technology to aid the assignment, not become the focus.
Looking back at the goals I set at the beginning of the summer 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 my CEP 810 (and 811!) courses 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.
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