Looking back & forward

The first day of opening the syllabus and course overview of, Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society was more than a little overwhelming. I considered myself to be a fairly adept educator at using technology, I use my laptop daily, project PowerPoints, take my students to computer labs. I remember as I read through the description, I saw more and more terms that I had no knowledge of using or knowing how to access many of the activities. As I filled out the self assessment survey at the beginning of the course I found that I had a few often and many more sometimes when I reflected on my use of technology in the classroom. I have gained many valuable skills during the past 8 weeks that will be incredibly beneficial to me in my classroom in the future. I have learned how to create a blog, use a RSS account, create a podcast, and utilize a wiki to work collaboratively in a 21st century classroom.

One item that has made a huge impression on my teaching philosophy and use of technology was an early discussion by Dr. Thornburg (2004) that asked if we are doing different things or doing things differently. I think that caught my attention first because I had considered myself as using technology well in my classroom but when I truly analyzed my activities, I found that most of the activities were really just doing things differently not different things. I continue as this year begins to work on incorporating new technology in my classroom and to focus more on the process of "doing things differently" (Thornburg, 2004). I am looking forward to incorporating more technology based activities where students will need to work collaboratively to solve a problem or create a product that is up to the student to design. Thornburg & Davidson (2008) discussed that we must meet the needs of the digital natives, to involve them in learning that they are able to interact with in the classroom. Students are learning more but are not necessarily needing to memorize all that they learn. This requires a switch of mindset for most educators, including myself, who often feel that students must "know" something and of course our state assessments often require this element so we can not totally neglect it either.

I am interested in using podcasting and blogging in my classroom, not in the next two years, but this year in my classes and to continue to expand to the use of wikis as well. I had a lot of difficulty in getting the blogging portion approved due to restrictions on Internet access and the policies in place in my district. I was just able to get this approved to have a class blog for my class this year as long as I as the teacher control access to only class members, assign user names that are not identifying of the student and I moderate each post and approve all comments before they are published. I have started the process of implementing this by explaining the process on my syllabus (so that parents are expecting it), setting up an account with a classroom blog site and I have began the process of registering my 100 students for this blog. I am really looking forward to the more student centered approach to discussion that this will give my class. My plan is to begin with a weekly discussion question and to gradually expand that to a multiple times a week response to class discussion. I am looking forward to seeing student responses and interaction in a blogging environment.

I am continuing to learn how I can incorporate more technology and about the aspects of Web 2. 0 that are available to students today. I did not know what an RSS feed was at the beginning of this quarter and honestly could not imagine myself creating or using a podcast but I am planning on recording one to post on my homework site next week. I think I will continue to use more technology more effectively. My goals for this year is to utilize technology more effectively and to use the blog for classroom discussion. In the next two years I would also like to be able to use wikis for group collaboration but that will be harder to accomplish as every address that I have tried thus far that links to a wiki has been blocked by a system filter. The blog was complicated enough to get approved (multiple steps were necessary) I do not know if I will be able to achieve the wiki this year (maybe next year). I think both the blogging & podcasting that I plan on doing (we are going to do "radio show" with call in clients for different religions) and the class discussion will give my students more exposure to 21st century technology and the ways to use the technology correctly. When I am able to access the wikis that will give students the opportunity to work collaboratively and to create a finished product that is cohesive and incorporates the work of multiple thinkers and perspectives.

I truly have learned so much this quarter, I have grown from being overwhelmed at the beginning of the course to becoming closer to a 21st century educator. As a 21st century educator I am now prepared to assist students in gaining the skills and knowledge they will need to be successful not only in my class but in the workplaces of the future. I look forward to continuing to learn and grow as an educator. It is essential that we gain knowledge or we will be even more out of touch than our students imagine us to be already.


References
Thornburg, D. (2004). Technolgy and Education: Expectation, not options. (Executive
Briefing No. 401) Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf

Thornburg, D. & Davidson, H. (2008). Digital natives vs. digital immigrants, letters to the
editor. [Letter to the editor]. OnCue, 30(2), 8-9.