Stepping into this virtual classroom seven weeks ago, I came as a tabula rasa or “blank slate.” I knew that no matter what, I was going to leave with some very beneficial knowledge and most importantly, how to incorporate it in my future classroom. I was not disappointed, through weekly “meetings” I was provided with information on some new (at least, to me) technology, how to find it and how to use it; then, through discussions with my fellow classmates, I was provided with ways to effectively introduce them into the classroom so that my students would get the most benefit from them. Given the time constraints of this class (8 weeks) as well as the others in this series, I don’t we could’ve effectively or efficiently put more on our platter. I liked that we were given a tool, say the RSS feed, and allowed to play around with it for a week, finding our likes and dislikes and then having to set one up. This is important because as we learned with learning styles, no two students learn alike. Providing multiple options allows for greater success, lecture, reading, exploring and hands-on experience gives us the student, several avenues in which to find our learning “comfort zone.”
When integrating technology we, as teachers, must accommodate our students’ diverse learning styles. It is too much, I believe, to try and adjust our teaching style to all of our students. However, it is important to at least find a few that most can adapt to, especially hands-on learning and then perhaps, allow the students a variety of ways to assess their learning. That way, even if they learn just enough, they would be given more than one way to show what they learned. Also, teachers shouldn’t replace effective teaching with technology just for the sake of it. They should integrate technology to be a support for what they are learning, a means to show what they’ve learned and a way to demonstrate their knowledge. I think integrating the internet helped show us how valuable a tool technology can become. Especially when considering social media and its reliance on the internet to be effective. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all rely on the internet to connect their subscribers. Blogs are also an effective way to disseminate information, allowing discourse from as many people as you want to have; these discussions ranging from educational theory to book reviews, and even, to cake recipes.
I believe that, for me, all our assignments represented good teaching with technology. None really stood out from the others and I believe that is a reflection of good teaching within the course. I believe this because I feel that each assignment built on the one prior and that with each new assignment, we were given multiple options on how we could present our work. For me, I had heard about RSS feeds but I didn’t know what they were or how, if used properly, important they could become in a classroom setting. Creating a blog, using Twitter, using various other available social media allowed me to expand my knowledge base and provide me with ways to incorporate these tools into the classroom.
I believe that I have surpassed most, if not all, of my learning goals for this class. Knowing that I was coming in with very little knowledge made it all the easier for me to meet my goals. I learned about new technology, social media and how it can be used successfully in the classroom and further cemented my opinion that effective teaching can be supported with technology and that its use as well as social media, will make the world a lot easier to bring into our classrooms. Do I have any new goals? Yes, I do. I would love to continue to explore ways in which social media can be used in the classroom. I would love to learn about developing a class website that is safe, secure and available for my students and their parents. I would to learn how to use technology to create my own illustrations or models, for example: using tech to create a model animal cell, instead of having to rely on internet provided materials alone. Perhaps, another way to put it is to be able to technology to make myself more self reliant and able to create my own work. These are goals that I have for myself. I plan to continue my technological learning with continuing education classes, seminars and workshops once I have completed these classes. I believe that to be important because technology improves at such increasing rates, that if you don’t keep up, you’ll get left behind, quickly.
