As the Course Draws to an End

So with the last seven weeks of my current masters course behind me, I get to look back and take inventory.  Well for starters, I’ve had the great opportunity of being exposed to types of technology that I had very little prior experience with.  Things like wikis, blogs, and podcasts can be an incredibly useful learning resource.  From using them as a student myself, I came up ideas on how to use them as an educator.  Alongside those ideas, I also have the ideas and advice on their usage that I gained from my classmates.  

I’ve also gotten a glimpse of what life is like for students both outside of school, now, and how the workforce looks for them in their future.  This has forced me to take a look at how we educate kids.  Outdated are the days of text books and lecture.  We’re being forced to evolve to meet the needs of students who are already high on the learning curve for technology at a very early age. 

So much of what I do in science is based in discovery.  The use of technology fits in to this very well.  In doing research, the students should have opportunities to access all of the information that is available.  The internet is a valuable resource for this, and also, using it for research gives us the opportunity to teach what sites offer reputable information.  Also, this usage of the internet allows students to publish their results and findings from projects and open it up to discussion with others who they could not have met in a typical classroom setting and keeps the dialogue going after the unit is done in the classroom.

I plan to continue to expand my usage of technology in my classroom as much as possible.  I already have taken advantage of a set of net books that I found out were available to me a day prior to usage.  The kids have really taken to them, just as we have been shown throughout this course.  Also, I will definitely take advantage of any technology based professional development courses that may come up.  These will prove to be valuable resources moving forward in finding new uses for old technology and making best use of brand new technology.

My long term goals for technology in my classroom.

-  Within the next two years, I would like to see my usage of paper decrease by half due to an increase in my use of technology.  I would like to make more of my assignments digitally based (wikis, podcasts, blogs, word documents, slide shows, or other assignments that can be emailed).

- Within the next two years, I would like to do at least one unit project based in the types of technology (podcast, blog, wiki) discussed and used in this course.

As for my answers on our checklist from week one, I can say that some of them have been bumped up because of my burgeoning use of technology in the classroom.  As I mentioned before, I began using the now available net books to start some research projects in my classroom.  And my current use of them has spurned a fellow fifth grade teacher to begin using them herself.