Reflective Post

Intro to Tech for Educators (EME2040) has been an interesting class to say the least. Unfortunately, I did not give my 100% in this class and I have no one else to blame but myself. I treated this class as something to check-off on a list because it is one of the requirements to get into the Education program at FSW. No one can be more disappointed in me than me. Even though I did not give my all, I still learned quite a bit.

In this class I learned different ways to use technology for internet based projects by creating a teacher website and collaborative lesson plan. Unfortunately, I did not do the Webquest project. I might do one on my own for fun, so I know how to create one and implement in the future in my classroom. The website review that we had to do was actually pretty fun and taught me how to look for a website that is credible. The discussion board we did in module 3, I think it was, on Legal and Ethical issues was quite an eye-opener. I think this discussion board may have been my favorite because I found it so interesting. My favorite assignment was the Instructional Wiki, by far. We were separated into groups for this project. I think the reason I liked it so much was because as a group we had great communication. The group bounced ideas off of each other and were quick to respond back to one another. I did have a least favorite project and that was collaborative lesson plan. Again, we broken up in to groups for this project with different students. The reason I didn't like this project was because a teammate didn't really pull their weight. That is just personal, there is nothing wrong with that student, she is actually really sweet. Like Professor Coleman told me that's life. I know that, it was just annoying to me at the time, I got over it. Other than that little mishap the project was actually fun. It gave me insight into what I will be doing when I become a teacher.
   
We covered a lot throughout the textbook, but I think Chapter 8: Communicating and Collaborating with Social Media is my favorite.I really loved the ideas of having classroom websites and having blog. These provide another way for the teacher to communicate with the students and their families. We live in such a technology age that having these would be beneficial. The textbook also said that blogging includes microblogging and an example of that is Twitter (Maloy, Verock-O'Loughlin, Edwards, & Woolf, 2014). On Twitter a teacher can send out a quick short blurb of something important that got missed in the blog or the classroom website. When I am a teacher I really would like to implement these.

I found a video on YouTube about blending technology and classroom learning. The lecture was given by Jessie Woolley-Wilson at a TED conference. The video was actually really  interesting. One of the things she says about adaptive learning is "it isn't meant to replace great teaching, but to support great teaching".

Another video from the TED conference on YouTube called "Can Technology Change Education?" by Raj Dhingra was great. He says, "when we change our thinking we can actually change the solution".

These videos I found interesting because we need this kind of stuff in our schools today! I found them helpful for a future or current teacher. (Another thing I learned from this class is how to embed videos! I never knew how to do that before.)

Honestly, Professor Coleman did a great job organizing the course (and no I am not saying this earn brownie points). Personally, I would like there to be more discussion boards. I like the feedback from classmates on the discussions, it is encouraging and gives you a glimpse of other's opinions. Other than that there is nothing I would change about this class.

Resources:
Maloy, R., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Park Woolf, B. (2014). Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

YouTube. (n.d.). Retrieved August 8, 2014.