reflective post

Reflective writing is often viewed as an easy process because people just assume the only parameters regarding reflective writing center around spewing out information on what you believe and how you feel about a topic being covered. I totally disagree. In fact, American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey expressed it best when he explained that “We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.”

    

As such, my reflection on this course, EME 2040 Introduction to Technology for Educators, focuses a little deeper than merely what I feel about three components: what I liked about the course, what I can take away from the course, and finally, how the course structure can be improved upon to make the experience better for another group of learners.

Firstly, I think this class was filled with a host of positive elements. The best being the actual book, Transforming Learning with New Technologies. It was a great resource. The format of the chapters were easy to understand and they linearly progressed in a method that made sense for a future teacher to follow in their new journey to becoming an experienced teacher. For example, chapter one starts out exploring what it means to becoming a twenty-first century teacher; whereas in juxtaposition, the last chapter, chapter twelve, takes all the knowledge gained throughout the book and explore how to use it in order to create change as a teacher who leads in integrating technology into the classroom. Also, within each chapter in the book there are tech tools and web resources that focus on the chapters’ concept. Chapter nine, was by far the most useful. I found many tools that I can use as a physical education teacher versus other tools outlined in other chapters that pertained mostly to other academic concentrations. I think the lightbulb finally went off in this chapter and I understood that “…there is an educational advantage to using multimedia…” (Malloy) Additionally, I liked the actual set up of the online component of the course. The consistent due dates, the assignment rubrics, and the tutorial videos all aided in making the class assignments easy to navigate. Knowing exactly what was expected and having the ability to self-assess my work as I progressed through it, left the guess work out of knowing what it took to be successful. The use of rubrics used to outline all of the course assignments and assigning a project where a rubric had to be made, placed student learners on both sides of the equation in experiencing just how beneficial rubrics are. Independently, I thumb nailed the site iRubric because it was one of the better sites that offered access to hundreds of pre-made and blank rubric templates.  Lastly, the aspect of the discussion board was great because it offered varying viewpoints on different subject matters. Specifically, I found solace in many of Richard’s responses as they often mimicked my own train of thought. However, even more gratifying was that I learned, if not even more, from discussion posts from group members like Jamie’s whose perspectives sometimes differed from what I initially thought. Being able to dive into the different viewpoints while experiencing an atmosphere of respect, was refreshing. All of these components contributed greatly to what I loved about the class.

Secondly, experiencing a multitude of different tools during this course has allowed me to walk away with a lot of different resources I can use in my future career as a teacher. First of all, I cannot say enough about how I feel far more comfortable navigating tech tools as opposed to when I first experienced them. By feeling more comfortable, I will be able to better share the benefits of these tech tools with my students in the future. I am no longer limited. Who knew that there were countless ways to access mastery of concepts beyond the use of paper and pencil? Moreover, I am definitely going to be able to walk away with a little bit more knowledge about the downsides to technology integration into the classroom. In actuality, chapter 5, Teaching Information Literacy and Digital Citizenship, provided powerful knowledge necessary to make technology a positive instrument to use because it should readers that even if teachers learn a million and one tools to integrate technology into their classrooms, if they are not aware of how to keep safety and relevance into learning concepts, the integration of technology becomes mute. As such, teachers must familiarize themselves with strategies of success. One such article I will keep pinned near me to reference was written in the Learning & Leading with Technology journal entitled Digital Citizenship: Addressing Appropriate Technology Behavior. This is a great reference article to help streamline success with the usage of technology in the classroom.

Finally, true reflection cannot fully happen if the reflection does not take a look at things that can be improved upon. For me, a point of frustration and minimal learning happened during the process of the Instructional Strategy Wiki group project. Having so many people responsible for so many different components of an assignment proved frustration and in that frustration my only goal was not to learn anything, but to get done as quickly as possible and rid myself of the headache. The lack of communication and the varied work ethics from different members only took away from the overall objective of the assignment. Additionally, not having check points for the teacher to stay abreast with the progression of all members, left participants who cared about their grades in an uncomfortable position where they had to either “tattle” to the instructor or pick up the slack. So, as I reflect on this problem, I must offer up a solution because for me, reflection is only successful when we can use it to make changes based upon what you’ve learned. Thus, without ironing out all the details, I believe that the Wiki project should be an individual assignment. In this process one or two students can be given a topic to construct. Then each individual construction can be pooled together into an overall class Wiki page. With that, students are able to practice the assignments goals, contribute to a larger assignment as a whole, and not be slated for the downfalls of others. Lastly, I think that the repetitious approach to the group discussion posts could be improved upon. Although I loved reading through varying ideas, sometimes it became automatic to find the person(s) you share ideologies with and respond to them. Too easy, I thought! My solution would be to look at implementing one of the two methods: assigned pairing or teacher lead response. With assigned pairing, the instructor could change up weekly mini groups of 3 or 4 people and have students reflect only on the discussions of the members within their mini group for that particular week. Similarly, the discussions can be changed up a little through the use of a teacher lead discussions. My train of though is that the professor could use one of the response requirements to post a thought, question, quote, situation, etc., regarding the required reading of that week and let everyone respond to that specific post. With this, participants would be able to see everyone’s thoughts on a particular concept as opposed to migrating to posts that closely mimic their own. When all is said in done, it is important for me to clarify that neither of these areas of dissension overpowered the benefits of the course. In the end, the class was well structured, the atmosphere was professional and the information was unbelievably beneficial.

Resources

ERIC - Digital Citizenship: Addressing Appropriate Technology Behavior, Learning & Leading with Technology, 2004-Sep. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2016, from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ695788

IRubric home. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2016, from http://www.rcampus.com/indexrubric.cfm

Life-imprisonment Cartoons and Comics. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2016, from https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/l/life-imprisonment.asp

Maloy, Robert W. Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd ed. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.