Reflection on Learning

    I had previously started this course in a previous semester but was unable to complete it because of health issues in my family. I had already completed some of the work but as I was again doing the work, I was able to learn different things. It was very eye opening to see the difference that a few semesters can make. It wasn’t exactly easy doing all the reading and research while on multiple vacations, but I made it through. The biggest challenge was trying to do so much in such a small amount of time. It is a class that is normally done in 16 weeks so to complete it in 8 weeks was a lot more challenging. It took a lot more self-discipline to sit and read required reading instead of leisure reading. There were other personal challenges within my family. This semester my parents moved out of state to take care of my grandmother leaving me to be a caregiver for my brother. He ended up in critical condition in the hospital with heart problems for more than a week. With the support of people around me taking turns to make sure he was taken care of, I was able to complete the course.

    Having previously taken this course like I previously mentioned helped me to understand the concepts of the readings a little bit more. I wouldn’t recommend that everyone do the same, but that is what helped me the most. The reading of numerous articles was, albeit time consuming, was fairly easy to read. I found most of them to be very informative and interesting, but there were some that extremely long and a little dull but those are also the articles that I found to be the most helpful to me and how to structure my classroom technology more effectively.

    After reading all the articles on the digital divide and digital inequality, we were asked to make a presentation to discuss what we had learned. In my opinion, this was by far the best assignment for the class. This is where I had the most eye opening experience and gained a greater respect for the technology that we have here in America and more specifically for what I have access to. This is also the artifact that I feel was my best overall. As I read the numerous articles about the digital divide and digital inequality, I wanted to know what others thought as well. Just for fun I took some of the information and made a survey using Google Forms to see what they thought about technology use. The results were what I had thought prior to reading the information. Once I told those surveyed the actual answer, they were just as amazed as I was. Taking all of this information into account, I knew that I had to create a presentation to help others with the misconception that we as American’s have about technology, its uses, and availability. I created a PowerPoint presentation provide the information with dictation recorded. The PowerPoint was then made into a video and published on YouTube. It wasn’t an easy task creating the PowerPoint, adding the dictation, then pushing forward to make it into a video. I had never done this before and didn’t know it could be done until I started trying to figure things out. I spent the most time and energy on this artifact because it was something that became very real to me, personally.

    As a result of reading the digital divide and digital inequality and later in the class reading about tech trends, I want to make better use of the technology that we do have at my school and more specifically my classroom. 1st grade students aren’t the best at following directions when it comes to technology, but that is where they can learn the most. I want to create an environment in my classroom and the school where students are able to use multiple technological devices in the most efficient and effective ways. I feel it is important to expose students to all types of devices because they will be the future leaders of America. With that being said, not having much technology will bring its own challenges. I have already discussed the lack of technology in the school with our new administration, and they are on board with figuring out ways to get more technology into the hands of our students. They agree that the students need more exposure to technology. With the administration on board with getting more technology and using technology in better ways, I think that I, along with the rest of the staff and administration, can use technology to better our students, the future leaders of America.

School Evaluation Summary

Over the past four years, I have been at three different schools. I have had the opportunity to see technology uses in many different ways. I have seen how different administrators expect technology to be used in the class. I have been able to talk with them about their reasons and respect their opinions as the administration over the school. As I went through the survey, I had to stop a few times to think about my current location and not the district as a whole. I did add input about the district as I saw that it would fit.

When I sat and thought about the technology at my current school, I was a little shocked. None of my other schools have had computer labs, but we did have other technological devices for students to use in the classroom. One of the schools had a computer for every student to use. It was a very small rural school. Technology had not previously been used so as more technology was given to the school with Title 1 funds it made it easy to use computers in the curriculum. The other school didn't have a lab, but the school was built to have 4 pods in it. In each of the pods were about 15 computers for the eight classes in the pod to share. We have access to iPods, SmartBoards, Promethean Boards, iClickers, and a few iPads, to go along with the teacher computers and laptops. That school was very well versed in their technology use. My current school, Niles Benedict Elementary School only has a computer lab with about 35 computers and a 10 iPads. It showed me that there is a digital divide within the school district and that not all schools are treated equally. It also showed that when you have the resources to purchase technology that the curriculum can become so much more enriched. From my own experiences, I have seen that when the students have the opportunity to use any technology, they step up their game and do better in their schoolwork.

Before this class, I had never thought about and looked at the reasons why some students are able to use technology in school while others don't use hardly anything. I will make a more conscious effort to incorporate more technology into the curriculum to help make up the lack of technology at the school.

Evaluation Survey
Evaluation Summary

Tech Trends

After reading the Horizon Report, it was so hard for me to choose just one topic to further research. I had more questions about all of the topics but definitely don't currently have the time to research all of them. For this assignment I chose to research Cloud Computing.  Out of the six technologies or trends discussed, it was one that I have recently discovered and thought our district might be interested in using. I am currently looking and searching to see if our district has a Technology adoption committee that I would be able to present some of this information to. In our district we don't have access to Google accounts log-in but with this information, I think there could be some changes, at least for teachers.


Tech Trends Report

Tech Trends Presentation

EDTECH Research

For the EDTECH Research project, we had to use Google Scholar or Google Research within a Google Doc to find 5 articles that related to technology in the classroom. Using the five articles we had to analyze how they did or didn't fit our objectives for technology in our own classroom.

First, I didn't know that Google Scholar or Google Research even existed. It left me wondering what else Google has to offer that I didn't know about. Throughout reading the articles and analyzing them, I found that many of the things I have thought about technology in the classroom or technology instruction for educators has been validated. I knew that educators weren't being educated enough about technology uses, but I didn't know why it wasn't being done. I knew that technology is great to enhance student achievement but didn't know exactly why. It was a long project to complete but very worthwhile project as well. I learned more of the reasons why things were the way they were.

One fascinating thing that I discovered reading the different articles was that 20 years ago they were trying to overcome these same issues just with different technology at the time. There was a digital divide and digital inequality even back then.

I now feel that I would be prepared to discuss topics about technology in the classroom. If I had questions or I needed to find information, I know now where I can go to find the information. It was a great way to explore what technology does have to offer.

EDTECH Research

RSS in Education

RSS can be very useful. It gives a person the ability to go to one site to get updates from websites that they frequent. It becomes a useful tool to save time and energy from having to go to multiple websites in order to get all your updates. It can be extremely useful in the classroom as well.

Some of the ways in which I would find using RSS in education would be to build a website for parents to become more involved in their child’s education. I would update the website weekly in order for the parents to be updated weekly on the happenings of the classroom. It would be a great way to go green and limit the amount of paper being sent home on the weekly happenings in the classroom.

Another way I would use RSS in education would be more for intermediate elementary students, middle, and high school students. I think it would be a great way to post assignments, homework, project information, etc. to a calendar on the website. Each time the website would be updated it would show up in their feed.

The third way that I would incorporate RSS into education would be subscribing to feeds myself in order to help guide and plan my instruction. I know there are so many websites that help teachers come up with new and innovative ways of teaching the same standards that I may not yet have thought about. Even though I am not the only one teaching my grade level at my school, we discuss things but we have the same curriculum to base our instruction on. It is great to look and read about what other teachers do in order to teach the same standard. It gives me ideas on how I can better teach the standards and take it back to my team in order to have better results achieved.

RSS in education can be a very useful tool if it is used correctly. It makes more efficient use of time and because time is being more efficiently used it gives you more time for actual instruction in the classroom.