Winding Down

When this course began I was really excited to learn more about what technology could do to help me in education. I had a notion that I knew what the class was going to be about. I was also excited to see that there were no test. I was concerned that the class ran through Thanksgiving. This is a time where I actually get to spend with my family. Little to my knowledge we had a super assignment that would take two weeks to complete and time with the family was lost. I really wanted to get deep into this class but I had trouble connecting with the material. We spent many days listening and reading about what we need to do to educate the 21st century learner. I agree that education is changing and we need to change with it. My personal problem is that we never talked about how this was going to be paid for. We can have great ideas on paper or in a blog but in the end somebody has to pay for it. I do feel that you are able to educate better when technology is available to you in your school. This class also opened my eyes to notice more technology that was being used at other districts. I went to a private school and looked at their GIS training materials. I also recently interviewed for a job where the teachers provided the students with podcast in case they missed something in class. I did feel that this class was a bit more of a grind than previous classes. I think this was because of the amount of reading and discussions that we were required to do. I did get much information from many of my classmates. It was just a little time consuming. I also had never blogged before in my life. Truth be told I don't think that I ever would. I always viewed blogs as an outlet for people who didn't have anybody to talk to. I have learned that blogs can be used for a variety of things. I felt that the assignment were easy and did not take to much to do. I did have a little problem getting some of my stuff added to my blog page but the instructor helped me out on that. I feel that blogs if put in the right setting would be beneficial to the 21st century learner. Students like things that they know how to use. I would have a problem doing this at my school with all of our students because most of them come from poor families and the only time that they use a computer is at school . I am still a little hesitant about having my students blog about their work. I would need to look further into the policies that the district has set up before I took that extra step. I will however probably create a blog for my powerlifting team. We will add pictures and video from our meets and I will write about how they are doing and our personal success. I have already recruited a girl to video the meets and to take pictures for us. This course did teach me a lot about myself as well. I learned that I am able to do and apply some of the most modern technology to my classroom to educate the 21st century learner. I also feel that I was more prepared to educate students with a background in technology than I had thought. Overall what I gathered about this course is that technology will continue to be a driving force in our world. We as educators must do what we can to make sure that they are successful in that world. We must change our habits and grow with the children and yes we will have to take a couple chances as well.