Reflection: Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society.
In what ways has this course helped you to develop your own technology skills as a professional teacher?
During this course, I learned how to create and use blogs, wikis and podcasts. Learning to create a blog and then subscribe to my classmates blogs and read them through an RSS readers was new to me and certainly a cool way to quickly access information. The ease of using blogs has helped me with demonstrating how I can use them in my web design course starting next semester.
Using the wiki as a group assignment was new as well. I can certainly use this concept in my web design course by grouping my students and providing them prompts that they will have to address through a wiki site. I foresee great use with this technology resource, and will be a great collaborative environment for my students.
In what ways have you deepened your knowledge of the teaching and learning process?
I have gained new knowledge about how impactful technology can be on students and teachers. Using technology as a teaching and learning tool will bring my students up to date with some of the latest trends in technology and how certain technology can be used in the classroom and in the outside world. I believe that by staying current with technology and using when appropriate for classroom instruction will help me deliver 21st-century skills to my students.
In what ways have you changed your perspective from being teacher-centered to learner-centered?
I do not really think that I was ever a teacher-centered professional. I have always taught in a lab environment where I model assignments and concepts, and then group my students and allow them to work at a comfortable pace to finish their tasks. I monitor my classes and offer suggestions, feedback, comments, etc. while they are working on their projects. I feel that my classroom environment is already a learner-centered one and will continue to be one. With the use of technology and providing group projects, my students will benefit from each other, learn to work as teams, and develop better social skills that will help them in the working world.
In what ways can you continue to expand your knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology with the aim of increasing student achievement?
Getting the necessary training and staff development on different technologies and how to implement them into classroom instruction will help me teach the technology to my students. By using digital resources and interactive technology, student achievement should increase in the classroom. Having my students research, explore, find new and creative ways to accomplish task by using technology will hopefully broaden their experiences and keep them more engaged with using technology.
I am going to set two long term goals that will help to ensure that I am meeting the needs of my students with using 21st-century skills. One goal is to write a grant to get at least 12 macbook pro laptops for my video production lab. Our district has an exclusive contract with IBM, and unfortunately, for my lab environment, the IBM machines simply can not handle the work load and speed that a macbook pro can handle when working with video files. This will be difficult to overcome, because some teachers in my district have tried this in the past and were not successful. Another goal I am going to tackle and hope to accomplish, is to have in place a permanent monitoring system such as NetSupport for my lab. We have had this in the past, but the district removed the software. By having the software in place, I will be able to control and monitor all the student workstations to maximize efficient use of class time and instruction. Funding always seems to be the issue when trying to get these things in place, but hopefully I can find a way to get it back in my lab.
