I just recently completed my work for a class in my graduate school program. The class was called understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and study and in it we discussed how technology has been able to completely change the way we approach any job or task in today’s society. I can not tell you how unbelievable this class was. I loved every assignment and every resource that we went over. I think that since this course’s content was so intriguing to me I will never really tech the same way again.
The course helped me to grow in my own use of technology by requiring me to use web 2.0 applications. With what I learned from this course I am now able to create my own Blogs, Podcasts, and Wikis.
I have also grown in my understanding of the learning process. Through our discussions on 21 century skills I have learned that effective teachers who utilize technology provide opportunities for the students to collaborate, increase information literacy, use critical thinking, and develop self-direction responsibilities. I also discovered that I do not have to be the only source of knowledge, but rather I can operate as a facilitator. I can arrange assignments which require my students to find the information through the internet. The only issue is that I need to make sure that my students are checking their sources to see if the information is accurate. This shift allows me the freedom to become less focused on my routine lecture performances and place that focus where it belongs, the students.
Because technology affords me the ability to be experimental and spontaneous in the classroom I want to make sure that my students are engaging in the most cutting edge as well as pedagogically sound activities. The biggest means for me to accomplish this task is to stay connected to other educators who are also using technology. Simply put I must stay networked with these educators through blogs, online articles, podcasts, and wikis. Thankfully, setting up subscriptions, bookmarks, and rss feeds will keep me in the know in the most convenient ways.
With technology there is no limit to what my students will be able to experience. I can now begin to dream of bigger and better things for my classroom. One of these dreams is to apply for a grant to purchase the Yamaha keyboard lab for my music room. With this interface my students will each get their own keyboard work station where they will be able to create freely and get a more interactive hands-on approach to music. Another goal of mine is to create an online classroom where the students will be able to go and watch video casts of myself or themselves about certain topics we discussed in class. It will be an environment where they are absolutely no time restraints. It will also allow my students to never have to leave my music class. They may be 26 years old and still participate in Mr. Tanner’s music class. This goal will be a little more challenging to accomplish because it will require maintenance. I have decided that when I finish my graduate program and have just a little more time I will publish a wiki or a blog which will be have the capabilities to achieve this dream.
If any of these ideas interest you I strongly recommend that you look up any thing by Dr. David Thornburg, Mr. Hall Davidson, or Dr. Chris Dede. They are phenomenal contributers to the emergence of technology in the classroom.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)