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.