Reflection: Final Blog Posting

The course “Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society” at Walden University has helped me to develop my own technology skills as a professional teacher in many ways. I have become familiar with several types of technology that I did not understand prior to the course. Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts were all things that I had never used before, or at least I thought. I have used Wikipedia before this course, but did not truly understand its potential. I have not yet implemented Podcasts into my teaching, but I have used Blogs. I now have a better understanding of tools that students are using on a daily basis.

I have had the opportunity to rethink my methods of teaching and continue to try and find ways to make learning student centered. Technology provides many tools that allow students to be a more active part in their learning. It can also put ideas into a framework that is easier for some students to understand.

I have always thought that it is more productive for students to solve problems and learn things on their own than it is for them to “sit and get.” My knowledge of new technologies has given me the opportunity to act upon this belief.

I continue to learn more about technology and teaching. I do not expect that this will ever change. As new technology emerges it will provide even greater potential to provide learning opportunities for students. Student achievement is directly correlated with the amount of productive effort they put into learning. Motivating students can be challenging, but many of the new technologies get some of the hardest to motivate excited about learning.

Within two years I plan to have a website where students can go to find class materials and links to technologies that we will use in the class. I also plan on having each student create a blog. These blogs can be used for simple things such as simple class discussions and can also be a way in which to discuss highly debated issues in science. One of the biggest obstacles that I see with achieving these goals is a lack of quality computers in the school. It is difficult to find computers for the kids to work on a regular basis. One of the ways that I plan to overcome this obstacle is to push one-to-one computing in our school.