I entered this course expecting to learn some new ways to
include technology into teaching. Over the course of the semester I created blog posts, evaluated a website, created a Webquest, collaborated on a lesson
plan, created a wiki, an e-Portfolio, and a PowerPoint. I knew once I saw the
assignment descriptions that I would not have trouble with the how-to of the assignments.
I feel the majority of my generation has grown up with our lives so immersed in
technology that we know a lot, and are
able to quickly figure out the things we don’t. Using technology is not what I
took from this class.
What I did learn was that I had to open up my mind about how
it can be used in the classroom. I had never heard of a Webquest before, and
now see the possibilities it can bring to learning. I found the format to be
desperately in need of an update and explored a new possibility for that. I
learned how a website should be evaluated using certain guidelines, not just my
own experience with them.
The book was the most frustrating part of this course for
me. I found that for a book written for an education course, it must not have
been written by educators. It read like long a college research essay. The
language was very formal, the format bland, and the way the information was
presented did not hold you attention.
What I liked best about this course was accepting that what
I experienced as a student, an education where technology was viewed with
suspicion and only just tolerated by the administration, is slowly changing as
my generation are becoming the teachers. We have to embrace powerful technology in
order to allow children to be taught using todays tools, instead of learning
tools of the past. Our goal is produce productive working members of society,
and the ability to use technology is a requirement for membership in that
group.
Works
Cited
Maloy, Robert
W.. Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn
and Bacon, 2011. Print.
It will be harder and harder to ignore the impact of technology in our educational institutions. Your comment about "my generations are becoming the teachers" is interesting though as I find resistance for technology use not limited by generation or age. One would think that having used smartphones or computers while growing up would mean that they are more tech savvy - and, indeed, they most often are, but they are also often limited to social and 'googling' use, so there are definitely challenges in modeling and using technology for transforming education, but at least it is being considered these days! :)
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