Reflections from Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society

In the beginning of this course, I thought to myself, “By not taking any technology classes for the past 3 years,” “Have I been left in the dust?” “What happened?” I now know what happened, Web 2.0 applications have changed technology integration in the classroom. With this being said, I found this class to be challenging, time-consuming, and extremely beneficial. I just told someone the other day I have never learned so much in an 8 week time frame in my life! This fact proves that if professional teachers do not keep up with technology, in a few short years, what one knows about technology is outdated. This course has helped me understand what is new in technology, the benefits of using technology in the classroom, and how to become an avid user of Web 2.0 technology.

My knowledge of teaching and learning has been expanded by integrating Web 2.0 technology. I had no idea what the term Web 2.0 meant. I especially never thought about technology and its relationship with 21st century skills. By learning about these skills, I can now bring my lessons to a new level. Sometimes in third grade, just having a conversation about technology and its relationship to the workplace is all that it takes to make that connection with my students.

I have always been more of a learner-centered type of teacher. I use many project based activities in my classroom. I enjoy motivating my students to explore and discover new things on their own. I like being the guide on the side. It was interesting to read the research that proves student-centered classrooms create a better classroom learning environment, and students spend more time on task which equals greater learning.

The ways I can continue to expand my knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology is to continue pursuing the Integrating Technology in the Classroom Masters' Program, keeping up with reading the professional blogs, and continuing using Web 2.0 technology. The more comfortable I become with using Web 2.0 applications, the easier it will be to incorporate them into my lessons. Increasing student achievement is always on top of my list of important things to accomplish as a teacher. The tricky part is to incorporate technology in a way that helps my third grade students prepare for the “non technology - non 21st century’’ state test. My students are very motivated to learn when I teach my lessons in the computer lab. This motivation increases learning. I will continue researching ways to combine the two; using technology to improve student achievement on the state test.

In the next two years I plan to incorporate more technology into my classroom. I will include these goals in my Professional Improvement Plan. This plan is submitted to our Principal and goals have to be met. My first goal will be to use the lap top cart, and the smart board that has been purchased, but is not ready for classroom use right now. I will volunteer to use these technologies in my classroom to increase motivation, learning, student achievement, and allow me to do something different with the use of technology. Having these goals as my Professional Improvement Plan will help to bring technology to my classroom. This class has provided me with the knowledge I need to fulfill my PIP objective. I will use my experience in teaching, my creativity, and the curriculum to guide me in incorporating technology daily into my lessons. It will be my goal to use technology to do something different. I will record and reflect each week on my lessons. This will enable me to monitor and adjust my teaching to make the most effective use of technology. I am hopeful that by incorporating technology in a small way each day, at the end of two years, there will only be a few lessons in my classroom without the incorporation of technology, not the other way around.

My First Technology Podcast

http://julieannebudd.podomatic.com/entry/2009-10-14T06_08_37-07_00
My first podcast took a long time to create. I used audacity to record the sound. This was the easy step. The problem was converting the wav file to an mp3 file without the proper programs loaded on my school computer. There are firewalls that prevent a lot of downloads. Needless to say, I am proud that I finally was able to publish my podcast. I learned a lot about “audio” files. I feel that podcasting is a very motivating Web 2.0 application. My third graders love to hear their voice. As I work out the technology issues with the conversion of audio files I am hopeful that I can have my third graders record a podcast too. I have attached my podcast’s URL. I hope you enjoying listening to the results of my third grade technology survey.