Reflection on Technology and it's use in the Classroom

I think the first and most important and significant part of what I learned in this course has to do with shedding light on the way in which our students, the students of the 21 st century learn. I believe it was Dr. Dede who pointed out that there are now three types of thinkers; linear, web, and gaming (Dr. Dede 2008). That piece of information has caused me to adjust the thought process that takes place when I design a lesson. And when doing so I need to take into consideration the change in how our students learn. Understanding my student’s habits of mind and changing my own is a necessary step that has to be taken to be able to provide my students with the tools they will need in the 21 st century.

I have just scratched the surface of developing my skills in the use of technology. Before beginning this course I had heard about blogging but didn’t really understand how to do it, or the significance and impact it has had and will continue to have on education, from sharing ideas with other teaching professionals, to student communicating ideas and discovering new way to do thing and to do different things (Thornburg 2008). I knew of Wikipedia but again did not realize the significance of the tool when applied to education, learning and student research. The most interesting and productive application of technology as an educational tool in the classroom, encountered in this course was podcasting. I have thought of applying the creation of podcasts for math education by developing instructional mathematics lessons that my students participate in and can access from home.

At the level of math that I teach, 8th grade Pre-Algebra, I am having a difficult time understanding how to changing from a teacher-centered approach to a student-centered approach to teaching. I say this because at this level of teaching there still some basic skill development that needs to take place. There is the possibility of using games specifically designed for skill development, but I think a significant amount of research on my part needs to be done to find those games that can be adapted to my curriculum.

By completing the ITC program at Walden and possibly taking additional technology classes I will be developing the necessary tools needed to prepare my students for the 21 st century job market. I can also continue to increase my knowledge of the use of technology in he classroom by participating in educational blogs that deal with my content area. At some point in the future I am sure I will be able to introduce my students to the use of classroom blogging and researching for information on the web, but first I have to become familiar and comfortable with the use of technology in the classroom.

The first long term goal I have set for myself is to ask administration to get the sixty computers the school has ready for use with the school network. Once that is accomplished then I need to get the computers in my classroom for my students to use. I have also begun developing lessons for the students using power point presentations. That may seem like doing things differently but I have taken it one step further. I have included audio with the presentations and downloaded the presentation to my schools remote desk top. This has two purposes one of which is so the student can access the presentations if they need to refresh their memory of the class presentation. The second, is for those students who have been absent, they now have access to what was done in the classroom. Finally, the second goal is to have students work collaboratively on math projects that have real life applications that may or may not involve research on the web. Once the projects have been completed the students can then post the final artifact on the classroom blog.