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I have learned to relax and ride the technology wave in my Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society class. My focus has been on teaching informational literacy this year. I now know to speak to Online Safety regularly in the class and I have focused on basic research skills and PowerPoint this year. Instead of assigning the students a state to present on, as I have done in the past, I have opened it up to open-ended inquiry based on each child’s interests. I think it is important for students to enjoy creating a multi-media project in third grade but this year I am more comfortable with having the students lead the topic choices with a more open-ended learning and sharing because I now know that student choice and self-direction are critical to the process. Deciphering what internet tools work best for which kids is an ongoing process and I am still learning how to evaluate these. I am in a good habit of adding my essential sites to my webpage and have the kids use it in class to get them in the habit for home use.
It is important to me that the students have a sense of healthy skepticism about information and people online. I see the need to make sure that they are exposed to the idea that information needs to be verified. I had my third graders look up the “tree octopus” which led some to realize that the animal is a hoax, despite the beautiful webpage and links. I feel that this class has confirmed for me the need to embrace and be an advocate for making technology a high priority in education. Speedy access, shared lesson plans, and updated equipment are necessary.
I now know that the student should be at the center of the learning process and this is made easier with the level of engagement and individualization that is possible with the vast resources including games, videos, and blog expression that can increase the learning. My class has been a big reminder that kids thrive in creativity and expression and technology has immense possibilities for both.
My perspective on this learning process is changing as I am still learning with my class as I continue to experiment with new technologies and modes of expression with them.
Technology can be a big piece of the puzzle in providing an unlimited knowledge base as well as a chance to be a critical thinker, a creative thinker, and have fun all in one fell swoop. I have gone from being intimidated by the idea of making a podcast to popping out a g-cast in a moment’s notice! My overarching goal is to be a facilitator of learning to adults- by finding and sharing new applications with co teachers and by creating and contributing to professional wikis. I also want to give my primary age students the foundations for informational literacy and making learning relevant and fun with the tools available to us. One goal I want to commit to is to continue to take advantage of training and exposure to quality technology tools, contacts, and opportunities. Our state of South Carolina is lucky to have many initiatives and resources for technology and one is ETV, our public television and radio endowment. In addition to many webpages with standards-based links and games and streaming video on thousands of topics, they offer free training for teachers on a variety of technology applications and I plan to attend the next one on March 17th. I am also thrilled to continue working on my master’s degree through Walden. My favorite thing I learned to do in this class, subscribing to reader feeds, has transformed the way I gather new websites, games, and activities for my class and school. Now I get new ideas and premium sites delivered to me. This makes it so much more efficient and I have been able to share many ideas with all types of teachers from the school- from ESOL to literacy, science, and math coaches.
My primary long-term goal for transforming my classroom into a student-centered, tech-savvy classroom is to incorporate blogging and webpages into the lives of each student. Although I have utilized Thinkquest.org in the past and it was a wonderful tool, I am going to make it a goal to use this site on a deeper level. I want to interact with students online, allow them to take surveys they have created, and post work that they choose that is important to them. I am going to allot more class time for this and emphasize student expression online.
Through the readings and videos of this class, I have realized the potential of Web 2.0 for increasing the individuality and creativity of the students’ work. Courses like the one I am completing now have pushed me to try many new things like wiki’s and podcasting that I would have been reticent to try otherwise. I will now work to incorporate these tools into my classroom and make them easily accessible to all teachers in my district. Fortunately, our district allows Teachertube, Blogspot, and access to wikis. We also have websites for each teacher to blog and share information. I plan to begin utilizing all of these resources to the best of my ability while continuing to reflect and adjust on my teaching students to use these tools in the most effective manner. I will begin to make utilizing these tools a weekly habit.
While comparing my answers at the end of the course to my initial checklist, I noticed some evolution in my level of understanding and reflection about how to gradually hand the responsibility of learning over to the student. I have begun to use technology to create an environment that in inquiry-based, creative, and interactive with the use of new Web 2.0 capabilities. I am excited to continue and expand my efforts in this area and create an exciting and relevant classroom environment for my students.
Seven Mind Mapping Tools to Try This Year
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