5306Reflection+-+Introduction+to+Educational+Technology

I was not sure exactly what to expect when I began this course, but I assumed that this course would be a basic overview of the types of things that would be learned in this masters program. So, in that regard, the outcomes that I envisioned was that of receiving a basic understanding of what I would be learning throughout the next year and a half. I believe that these outcomes were definitely achieved. In beginning this class, I was a bit nervous and apprehensive. However, I am no longer nervous about this program, and believe that it will be a very enjoyable experience for me.  The outcomes surpassed what I had envisioned. I feel that I have learned so much that I can take back to work next school year and implement in my own classroom. Learning from other classmates as well as from these articles and the videos is a perfect set up for how I learn. 

What I have learned is very relevant to what I do in my school. I teach at an alternative high school campus where students work on a self-paced computer program. Because of this, technology is very important and relevant to our campus. There are several areas that I believe that I can implement some of what we have discussed in class. Wikis and Blogs, I believe, can be very helpful in staying in touch with parents, as well as in teaching strategies. Though I do not direct teach content, I do a direct teach TAKS preparation for students who are getting ready to take the Exit level tests. I think that setting up something online for that can be very helpful.  I also believe that, just the overall knowledge of how technology should be taught and used in a classroom is something that every teacher should have. I also appreciated that these articles gave several different viewpoints of how to best use a technology, and how to best implement it, etc., which is a very rare find.

To my knowledge, the only outcomes that were not achieved were my own fault. I would have liked to have had a better outcome with my midterm exam. While I felt much better about my final exam, I have never been a good test taker. But even so, I really was not prepared for it, and my grade suffered because of this. Also, my colleagues not joining my wiki also hurt my grade. I have big hopes that it is still possible to scrape together an A for this course.  Other than the reasons for my two poor grades, I believe the rest of my expected outcomes were achieved. I expected the class to be interesting, but I could not believe just how intriguing this class really was. I really learned a lot of very valuable information from this class that I will put into practice in my own teaching. It has seemed to be a very short five weeks, and a very good class.   I believe I did well with what I was able to do. The only thing that held me back was my wiki. I invited my colleagues to join, however not one of them did. I work in a very small school in which there are only 8 total faculty members, including myself. Therefore, I did not have a large group to choose from in inviting to the wiki. Also, the other 7 will be the first to tell you they shy away from new technologies.  It also did not help that it is summer. I talked to a few of my colleagues and directly asked them to join the wiki, and said they would, but I was discouraged to find that they apparently had gone home and forgotten all about it. On our week four assignment, I tried to fill in some posts in how I thought some of them would answer my questions, but that was as good as I could do. I really would have liked to make that wiki work for us, because it is something that I believe, as a faculty, could be very useful.  <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">About myself, I learned that I // can // do this. I was a bit doubtful of my own ability to do post-graduate studies before we began, but as the class has gone on, I really began having fun! I have found that I really enjoy working with these technologies, and that, if put in a technology leadership role, I will have the skills to excel in it. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Concerning my attitudes, however, I learned that I am not quite as gung-ho on changing education as I once believed that I was. After reading several of these articles, particularly Marc Prensky’s, I have come to the realization that there are those out there who wish to change absolutely everything about our current classroom setting. I realize that while change is needed, some aspects of our current classroom structure will still be necessary, as Betsy Price described. I do not believe that it is wise to completely throw away everything that we have ever done in the past as teachers, and start over from scratch.