Reflection
Understanding
the Impact of Technology on Education, Work and Society
is a graduate course that I have been taking at Walden University. This course
has helped me develop various technology skills for my teaching career. I have
gained many insights and learned many ways of integrating Web 2.0 technology
within the classroom. The book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful
Web Tools for Classrooms by Will
Richardson gave me knowledge about how to use these types of technologies. The
book was informative and explained ways to get started with these technologies
and how to incorporate them within the classroom.
Throughout this
course I have been able to deepen my
knowledge of teaching and learning and how both can be done through the use of
technology. Tools that are available to teachers to use within the classroom
today are fantastic. Teachers must be flexible and willing to change their
classrooms by adapting new technologies within their lessons. In this course I
was able to watch many video podcast’s by Dr. David Thornburg who spoke about
the importance of technology and 21st century skills. The skills outlined by Dr. Thornburg include critical thinking, problem solving, communication,
teamwork and collaboration, information technology and leadership. (Laureate,
2011) These skills can be taught by incorporating technology like blogs,
wiki's, podcasts and any other technologies that will develop in the future.
There are many
ways that the classroom can shift from a teacher-centered to a learner-centered
environment. As mentioned by Marc
Prensky and David Thornburg today's teachers need to be facilitators in the
classroom. They should allow students to explore the technology and the
information available. Being a facilitator enables students to work together
and get the information through exploration, instead of the teacher. This type
of learning also gives students more power within the classroom. Technology
will allow for a learner-centered classroom because the students will be
gathering the information themselves and working on projects together through
collaboration. It will no longer be a teacher-centered environment where the
students wait for the teacher to give them all of the information. The
classroom in the 21st century has been and will continue to change because of
technology.
As an educator I plan to continue to expand my knowledge
of various technologies. I want to continue learning and being able to teach
with new technologies. I plan to continue taking technology courses at Walden.
I also plan to explore different blogs that I have found about technology and
see what other teachers are doing and how they are using technologies. Having a
great support system at work will also enable me to collaborate with other
teachers and discuss what we can do as grade level teams.
After being exposed to the various ways in which I could
use blogs, wikis, and even podcasts in the classroom I was inspired to incorporate
some of these in my classroom. Therefore, I have set up two long terms goals of
integrating and using technology with my students. One long term goal I have is to transform
myself and my classroom from the 20th century to the 21st century mindset
through the incorporation and usage of new technologies such as blogs. I want
to incorporate the technologies that I learned about in this course and many
others that will surface in the future to facilitate student learning. Another
goal that I have is being able to essentially go paperless. My goal would be to
use technologies available online that would allow students to post all of
their homework and even class work online. Current programs like Drop Box allow
for many to access files, edit them, and see them anytime and anywhere. This
way I will have access to student work and I will be able to grade it and send
back my corrections or suggestions to the students quickly.
In the beginning of this course I completed a checklist
about practices that support 21st century skills. After completing this course
I find that my responses to the questions listed on the checklist will continue
to change. Instead of rarely developing or integrating technology into my
lessons I will be doing it more often. I will also be looking for support
networks that will allow me to learn more about integration of technology. My
ultimate goal is to be able to create a successful 21st century classroom.
References
Laureate
Education, Inc. (2011). Skills for the
21st Century. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_549906_1%26url%3D
Prensky, M. (2008, March). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership,
65 (6), pp. 40-45.
Richardson,
W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for
classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin
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