Course Reflection

help me in my day to day life, at school and at home. I have a Blackberry, laptop, navigation system, etc. What more is there? So my goals for this course were to learn about new different tools that I could use that might benefit my personal and professional life. I wanted to learn how to encourage students through the tools they already use or have the brains that are ready to use. What I have discovered through this course is that I use technology only to a certain extent. I know now that I am a digital immigrant. I use technology every day but I am not as savvy as I once considered myself. I can do so much more now with a power point. Being a blogger now has educational implications now. As I created a blog, used the discussion board, read about wiki spaces, Google desk top and scanners, I realized that I need to take more time to learn about devices, programs, and ideas that can make my life a lot easier. Moreover, I need to take what I know and use it to transfer knowledge to my students. I found it so powerful to try some of the lessons I normally did in the classroom, in the computer lab. The students were so engaged and excited, I wondered why I hadn’t thought of the idea sooner.


I envisioned sailing through this course with very little effort. However, I learned a great deal about myself as a technology user, I have new questions about the technology I want to use or acquire, and I feel much more comfortable with blogs and wiki and plan to use them in my current teaching assignment. I plan to create a class blog to keep parents informed on the happenings in my class. Here I can post work, pictures of activities, and keep in contact with the stakeholders in my classroom. Obviously, I have the same concerns as most with blogs, privacy and security issues and teaching the students cyber ethics. Being informed that these dangers exist will make me diligent in teaching students to be safe and providing a safe environment for them to explore. I think I can make a difference using them and by making the blog “private” only users I know and allow may access the blog. The benefits of information sharing and the learning that will take place far outweigh the concerns I have.

A setback I experienced was not having the tools I needed. I only have two student computers so in order to really teach a lesson where students can actively apply learning instead of watching me do, has to be done in the computer lab. As you can imagine, time there is extremely limited. My campus has eight hundred and eighty seven students. All of these students share a lad of thirty computers. I have all this new learning and excitement to sustain it. But I have to wait until Mondays at 2:00 to teach it!

In order to keep my parents up to date with the happenings of my children I keep a blog and post pictures weekly. However, before this course I had only used a blog as a way to share pictures. Being able to create a blog and utilize it to share information has been very valuable to me because I had never thought of using them in this way. Now I see the many possibilities I can use a blog for within my classroom. I was also able to create a PowerPoint during this course. I fall into the trap of doing the same old thing, the same old way. I use PowerPoint at school but I only use a few of the tools and don’t use it to its potential. Through the creation of the PowerPoint, I started to think of the implications for using it as an administrator and using it more effectively in my classroom. I was also forced to use a new version (2007) which I had previously shied away from because I was so used to using the version my school district uses (2003). While I found it difficult, the lesson it taught me was that I shouldn’t shy away, I just need to take the time to experience new tools and try them.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with the learning I have done in this course. While I feel I know less, I actually know more now than when I started. Now I am encouraged to continue learning and try new things. I know that I cannot be the expert at everything. This course has taught me to seek new learning and surround myself with a team that can be my experts. Together, with that team, I will be able to acomplish great things.