Previous Thoughts About This Course...
Introduction to Technology for Educators was not a class I was looking forward to taking. I honestly thought it would be a waste of my time. I know technology pretty well, so I did not see the point in having to take a class that focused on using technology in order to teach. I also plan on being a math teacher, so again, the only technology I planned on really using was a calculator, and even that would barely be used.
Textbook
Transforming Learning with New Technologies by Maloy was a very easy to read textbook. It has many images and is formatted in a way that allows for easy navigation. It is very straightforward, which made using it for assignments very simple. It was not an interesting read, however. I found the text very dreary overall, and found very little of it actually thought inspiring. It made good points however and covered all the "need to knows" for this course.
Discussions
The five discussions that we had throughout the duration of the course gave us the chance to express our own ideas and reflect on other students' opinions. I enjoyed discussing the given topics with my fellow classmates, however I feel that there should have been more thought provoking questions that we should tackle within the discussion. At times I was struggling just to meet the minimum word requirement.
Activities and Assignments
Throughout the course, to be honest, I did not learn much given the activities we were assigned. I already knew PowerPoint, WikiSpace, and GoogleDocs. I enjoyed learning how to do the WebPortfolio, however. I had never made a website before, and I found it quite interesting. I personally used Weebly, which was very easy to use and was in fact an educational experience. This assignment I found the most useful as far as good technology resources for teachers to use. In creating our own website, we can interact with our students on a closer level and it also organizes class so much better. This assignment definitely helped us reach our syllabus goal of creating a "portfolio with samples reflecting ways technology can support classroom management, administration, and teaching in a K-12 classroom."
Our weekly journal post assignments were a nice way to keep our heads in the class. I enjoyed learning how to incorporate links, images, and videos into a blog post. I especially like being able to incorporate videos. Videos help to keep the page interesting. Such as this random video about quicksand:
Ah, Bill Nye the Science Guy. That's an easy way to keep kids interested! The blog posts also forced me to look at the book a bit more closely, which I have to admit, I may not have done so otherwise.
After thoughts...
Now that the class has ended, I am very happy. I enjoyed some of the work and dreaded some of it as well. Bits and pieces I found useful, as mentioned above, while other parts I felt to be a bother. Overall, however, I did enjoy the class and feel I am walking away having learned some valuable information.
Resources
Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2011). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN:10 0-13-159611-X, ISBN:13 978-0-13-159611-5Bill Nye the Science Guy: Quicksand. (23 June 2007). Web. 22 April 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU7t5bVfY4E.
It is always challenging to try to meet the needs of all students, especially when it is a required (and often dreaded!) class. I'm sure you will have your share of that as well as a future math teacher. The points you make are valid and will be reviewed when the course is updated - thank you!
ReplyDeleteA point for consideration though is that the course is not really about the technology, it is about how technology transforms teaching and learning. I think that will become more evident as the technology in our world becomes more ubiquitous in the educational institutions. Good luck to you in your future endeavors!