This has been the most beneficial course I have taken thus far for my master’s degree. I really appreciated the hands-on aspect of it and the fact that we were able to work with 21st century technologies rather than simply reading and writing about them. Prior to this course, I had created a blog at one point that was used simply for posting homework. I enjoyed creating this blog for the purpose of this class, though, and learned more about using blogs for student use. I am eager to implement blogs in this way within my classroom, and plan to incorporate blogging into my classroom so that students can blog on their own, and also respond to their classmates’ blogs.
Prior to this course, I had no experience with podcasting and most likely would not have attempted to use it had it not been a requirement of this course. Creating my own podcast was one of the best learning experiences of this course. I learned that it is not overly complicated and if I can create a podcast, my students certainly can as well. This is another technology I will be using in the near future. I already have a number of ideas of ways I can incorporate podcasts into my lessons.
From the time I began teaching just four years ago up to today, my perspective has changed a great deal and I have continually tried to find ways to make my classroom more learner-centered. I have found new and better ways to implement cooperative learning. In addition, I have tried to improve my projects to promote further collaboration and communication amongst my students. I have also learned that allowing student choices in how they display their learning motivates them. Education is changing and the roles of teachers and students are evolving. As Richardson (2010) stated, “unlike the traditional student-teacher relationship, the student no longer just consumes the content provided by the teacher.” Again, learning must be centered on collaboration, and the incredible technologies now available to us make that more possible than ever before. I hope to now use my knowledge of 21st century technologies such as wikis and podcasts to further engage my students.
One of the most beneficial discoveries I have made during this course is that there are tremendous internet resources available for educators. I found numerous blogs that have already led me to discover new social studies and technology resources that I may never have known about otherwise. The internet not only increases our access to content, but also to other teachers and other experts in our field (Richardson, 2010). Blogs are also terrific for garnering feedback from other educators not only from the United States, but across the world. In order to teach using blogs, podcasts, and other 21st century technologies, I must learn to use theses technologies effectively and will continue to explore the many possibilities they offer I will also continue to take advantage of all professional development opportunities that come along so I remain abreast of new technologies and pedagogy.
I have high hopes for my classroom in the coming years in terms of technology. Technology is motivating and, as Thornburg (2010) asserted, can actually be fun for both teachers and students. My first goal is to establish a class blog to be utilized throughout the school year for discussions relating to the content we are studying. More specifically, for each unit or civilization we study, I will find current event articles, supplemental websites, etc., and post them to our classroom blog. Then, throughout the unit, students will explore these materials, post their reactions to them, and respond to one another. I feel strongly that this is a way to increase their interest in the content we cover and will promote higher level thinking. I continually find very interesting articles and websites that relate to our content, but have not yet found a successful way to share these with students. I have noticed that when I do share them, my students are extremely eager to discuss these topics. This will be a perfect opportunity to encourage discussion and collaboration and will also be simple to do. Students can access blogs either from school or home, so all students will be able to participate.
My second goal is to incorporate a 21st century technology into each unit I teach throughout the year. For example, when we study China, students might be assigned the task of creating a podcast. During our study of Greece, students could use a wiki to collaborate with one another on a project. My students could even utilize blogging in a different way from what I described earlier—perhaps they could create a product, post it to our blog, and then provide feedback to one another via the blog. This is an important goal for me because it is realistic. Each unit lasts a few weeks, so I can easily incorporate at least one technology per unit. One difficulty I will face is lack of technology availability at my school. There simply are not enough computers for the very large number of students in my building. Most students have access to computers at home, but I will have to take in to consideration the fact that some students will have to work at school to complete an assignment involving a podcast, for example. I will begin slowly and work my way toward incorporating one of these technologies in each unit.
In reflecting back on the survey I took in week one of this course, my answers have not changed drastically yet. However, I am confident going forward that I will incorporate technology more often and will continue to learn more about the new technologies I explored during this course. Teachers need to become collaborators with each other and their students (Richardson, 2010). I am looking forward to using the new tools and ideas I acquired over the last seven weeks and am eager learn even more about 21st century skills to ensure that my classroom is a place where collaboration and communication via technology are commonplace.
References
Richardson W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. (3rd. ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press
Thornburg, D. (2010). " Bringing the fun into teaching with technology". Laureate Education.
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