Recently I completed a Master’s course related to using educational technology in the classroom. This course helped me not only learn more about educational technology, but to develop my own technology skills as well. I had the opportunity to create this blog and post comments to my classmate’s blogs. This was a new experience for me, but was very simple and taught me how easy a weblog can allow students to communicate with others around the world. In addition, I enjoyed the process of creating my first ever podcast. This audio podcast required me to record my students’ voices and edit their comments with software, thus giving me first-hand experience into the world of podcasting. Finally, I participated in a wiki to complete a class project. This assignment let me see how easy it is to collaborate with someone who I have never met. Participating in these three experiences helped me expand my technology skills as a professional teacher. By working with these useful tools, I better “understand the pedagogical implications for the classroom” (Richardson, 2010, p. 9).
Through this course, I have deepened my knowledge of the teaching and learning process. A teacher’s role needs to shift from a lecturer to one who facilitates instruction (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010d). This creates a classroom that is student-centered. With this set-up, an effective educator guides class discussions and provides opportunities for students to solve problems and manage their own learning (Keengwe, Onchwari, & Wachira, 2008). In this situation, a teacher can learn alongside their student and it gives students opportunities to develop 21st century skills (Partnership, n.d.). Another characteristic of a student-centered classroom is one that is individualized for each student. At first I thought accomplishing this was a daunting task, but technology helps educators “personalize, differentiate, and deliver a more flexible” curriculum (Trilling, 2005). Technology reaches all learning styles and can be employed in a variety of ways. The learning process has changed because teachers are no longer boring students in front of the classroom, but student are becoming engaged and in control of the material and making their own connections (Laureate Education, Inc. 2010a).
Although I learned more than expected through this course, there are a few ways to expand my knowledge of integrating technology into the classroom. In this class, my peers provided me with various links to websites and blogs related to educational technology. I am in the process of subscribing to the RSS feeds of these sites to help me stay updated on current ideas and trends (Richardson, 2010). After receiving this information, I can decide what works best for my third grade classroom. Secondly, I am majoring in Educational Technology and further courses will provide me with additional insights into becoming a better educator and incorporating technology into the classroom. Lastly, is my own process of leading with technology. To accomplish this task, I want to try using different resources available and to teach others how to use them. Just as Richardson (2010) mentions “it wasn’t until I fully understood how these technologies could facilitate global connections..., and how they could help me create powerful learning networks and communities that I was able to see what needed to change” (p. 8-9). Some of my colleagues are unaware of the tools available and it will be easy to show and discuss with them what I have learned. Through these three tasks, I believe my knowledge of teaching, learning, and leading with technology will expand greatly.
Based upon my new knowledge, I have decided to set two long-term goals related to transforming my classroom environment. My first goal centers on using more digital tools in the classroom. I personally believe that we are teaching a new type of learner that uses technology often at home. Teachers need to “allow students to use these tools to find information” while they are at school (Prensky, 2008, p. 45). I think of how much my third graders benefit from looking up words in a dictionary during writing time, but how they struggle with finding the words due to small print. A teacher at my school has an electronic dictionary for each of her students. They can type the word into the device and immediately receive its definition and synonyms. This is just one example of how teachers can “adapt materials to the language of Digital Natives” (Prensky, 2001, p. 5). Acquiring tools like the above is difficult with the current state budget cuts of Arizona, but with outside funding it could be possible. I plan to apply for a grant which will help me attain various tools like the above.
My other long-term goal may be more challenging to accomplish although it is free. My school district has recently implemented a strong internet filter that blocks quite a few websites. Although I know that the internet has inappropriate content, this strong filter blocks appropriate websites that are beneficial to my students and me. It can be difficult to integrate technology into the classroom when blogging and communication websites are blocked (Richardson, 2010). I would like to set-up a way for teachers to get websites unblocked if they can justify the reason for their use in the classroom. This may be difficult to accomplish as some district personnel may think the bad on the internet outweighs the good. To support my position, I would like there to be a standard internet safety course taught by the media specialists at the beginning of the school year. This way every teacher and student will have the same expectations for what is allowed and what someone should do if they come across material that is inappropriate. Hopefully, I can accomplish this goal within the next school year so my students and I have access to more beneficial websites than we do now.
During the first week of my Master’s course, I completed a self-assessment checklist (2010) about my teaching practices in regards to technology. Some of my answers have changed during the eight weeks of this course. For example, I originally marked that sometimes I select and share new tools with others in my workplace yet this response has already improved. Just yesterday I spent time showing my grade level team what a wiki was and how I plan to implement it into my classroom. They immediately saw the benefits and were so appreciative that I shared this tool with them. This has motivated me to continue to share resources and to be open to suggestions from others as well.
Another one of my responses that changed on the assessment checklist (2010) was requiring student collaboration. I rarely have students work together, but Dr. Dede discussed that collaboration has changed in regards to whom and how we communicate (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010c). Having students work with others does not always require noisy group work at desks in the classroom where some students may not be doing their share. 21st century collaboration can be online and with people from all over the world (Richardson, 2010). I already plan on introducing blogs to my students and letting them use wikis. Both these tools will allow my students to collaborate with others without the classroom getting too noisy and letting my easily keep track of who is doing their part of an assignment.
Finally, my initial response about students sharing and presenting information in multiple ways was rarely. Usually my students would talk in front of the room or have a Microsoft PowerPoint to present. Dr. Thornburg stated that we need to stop doing things differently and start doing different things (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010b). My students should not continually make slide shows, but they can start sharing and presenting with podcasts. They can also share ideas through class blog postings and wiki discussions. Recently, I came across a website called Prezi (http://prezi.com/) that lets students create moving presentations online. There are numerous multimedia tools available and I need to make my students aware of them and give opportunities for my class to share and present with these different tools.
References
Keengwe, J., Onchwari, G., & Wachira, P. (2008). The use of computer tools to support meaningful learning. AACE Journal, 16(1), 77–92.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Program number 23: Bringing the fun into teaching with technology [DVD]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Author
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Program number 1: Emergence of educational technology [DVD]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Author
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Program number 11: Skills for the 21st century [DVD]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Author
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Program number 22: The changing role of the classroom teacher: Part 2 [DVD]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Author
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/downloads/P21_Report.pdf
Prensky, M. (2001a). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5).
Prensky, M. (2008). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40–45.
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Self-assessment checklist [Lecture notes]. (2010). Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/56607/CRS-CW-4769808/Artifacts/6710_Techchecklist.pdf
Trilling, B. (2005). Towards learning societies and the global challenges for learning with ICT. TechForum. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/techlearning/pdf/events/techforum/ny05/Toward_Learning_Societies.pdf
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