Reflection

When we began this semester, I thought that I knew a lot about technology and its integration in the classroom.  More specifically, I thought I knew a lot about the failure of technology in the classroom.  Like most of the other students in the classroom, I had seen a lot of PowerPoint presentations that bored me to tears, but seemed to be what teachers thought was "educational technology."  Throughout the course, I've learned to expand my definition of educational technology.  I probably never would have thought to incorporate a classroom blog or a classroom web-page in my future classroom if I had not experienced how efficient they were in this class.  Also, I have begun to look at educational technology differently.  While I always knew that Assistive Technology could help students with disabilities, I never thought that incorporating different assistive technologies, like UDL technologies, could help typical students.

As the semester is coming to a close, I hope to continue to learn more about technologies that can support the different learning styles of my students.  In addition, I hope to learn more about the current and emerging technologies that may be particularly helpful in the classroom.  Finally, I hope that I will learn about the technologies that my students are using and be able to either incorporate them in the classroom, or be able to make comparisons between educational technologies and everyday technologies to highlight the application of educational technology features in the real world.

Final Blog

Like most students my experiences with technology in school haven't been the best. I have had teachers who have tried to use technology in the classroom without really knowing what they were doing. It is very frustrating as a student to have teachers who are inexperienced with the technology they are attempting to use. Through this course we have learned a lot about using technology in the classroom. I have learned about how to use it (technology), when it is appropriate to use, and about different technologies I can use in the classroom. By taking this course I hope not to be one of those inexperienced teachers I talked about. I will try my best to remember what I have learned in this class and apply it to my lesson plans when I become a teacher. In my opinion, one of the best things I have learned through this course is about the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). I think that using technology in the classroom is a great was to engage all types of learners. When I begin to teach one of my main goals will be to use technology effectively in the classroom, so that the curriculum that I am teaching appeals to all types of learners. I would like to keep learning about technology while I move further towards my teaching career. I would like to keep learning about different and new types of instructional technology. I think that it is very important for teachers, especially new teachers, to be educated in using technology in the classroom. This is because todays' students are known as the 'technology generation', by knowing how to use technology in the classroom we will be able to appeal to this young generation.
Kathlyn K.

Yellow Group

At first thought, I don’t tend to think of things such as – cell phones, video games, You Tube, social network sites, etc., - as technologies that should be incorporated into teaching. Thinking about it a little deeper, I realize that some of these things could in fact be very useful in the classroom. I think the reason I don’t tend to think about incorporating them into teaching is because I often view them as forms of entertainment. I do see the value of using them in the classroom. Social networking sites can be used to communicate, just like how we use the discussion board on blackboard. Certain video games can be used such as Math Blaster, which teaches students how to solve math problems. When I think of video games, I tend to forget that they have ones specifically designed for an educational purpose. You Tube is absolutely one piece of technology that I think can be very useful in teaching. I have already seen teachers incorporate video clips from You Tube into their lessons. I think as generations advance we will see more of the technologies we use every day outside the classroom being used inside the classroom as well.

John Wagner

Yellow Group

There are a lot of technologies that would be appropriate for in classroom use and for outside the classroom use such as for homework and projects. We learned about different technologies during the Software Evaluation projects. These software are very useful for review of what was learned in class.
I think that technologies we use everyday should not be incorporated into the classroom. There are some exceptions such as students exchanging cell phone numbers for homework or help needed after class, facebook groups to discuss projects or homework, and email addresses to also discuss homework and/or projects.

Yellow Group

When asked to create a list of technologies that would be incorporated into classroom use, I'm not surprised that everyday technologies like Facebook, blogs, Twitter, video games, and You Tube do not come to mind immediately.  While some of these technologies may be useful for instruction, I think that there are many reasons why teachers should be careful to integrate them into the classroom for instructional purposes.  First, the "everyday technologies" of teachers, like Facebook and blogs, are also the "everyday technologies" of students, especially students at the secondary level.  Because many of these technologies include personal information about teachers' and students' private lives, not to mention their personal opinions about non-academic material, it is important to respect the privacy of and private spaces created by teachers and students alike outside of the classroom.  Second, "everyday technologies" are often harder to filter for content-appropriateness.  For example, because sites like blogs and You Tube are user-driven, students may stumble upon inappropriate videos or blogs.  In addition, students may use these technologies to search for non-academic materials which may create distractions in the learning environment.  Third, some parents may not feel comfortable with their children using open technologies like blogs or technologies that show personal information, like Facebook.

Those these concerns are all valid, "everyday technologies" could still be used effectively as a supplement to the classroom.  For example, teachers may have students swap AIM screen names and email addresses in order to find out about make-up assignments or to communicate outside of school for group projects.  Also, teachers might set up discussion boards for the class to access outside of school to study collaboratively before a major exam.  Though these technologies may not be entirely appropriate for whole-class, in-school use, they may facilitate learning outside of the classroom and foster a community of learning in a digital space.

Question:
In the technology integration scenarios that you’ve worked on in class, I haven’t seen many examples that incorporate technologies that you probably use every day – cell phones, video games, You Tube, social network sites, maybe Twitter, blogs… (what else am I missing?). Why do you think that you don’t tend to think of those technologies when you’re asked to incorporate technology? Do you think they might in fact be useful, or do you see a disconnect between your personal technology use, and technologies you’d consider using in your teaching? If so, why?


It's not that I do not believe that we should leave the technologies we use every day out of our integration, but that they are harder to monitor and filter. Some content may not be suitable for use in a classroom, and teachers need to be aware of that. These types of technologies may be useful in the classroom, but there is also a line that needs to be drawn, some things such as Facebook and Twitter are more personal and in my opinion have less of a place in the classroom. I'm not familiar at all with using a cell phone as classroom technology (other than our text messaging system here at Towson), but would be willing to use it given the proper information on how to incorporate it. Also, for sites such as facebook and twitter, they may be useful for certiain age groups (I'm thinkking more like high school and college) to be used for discussion and even something like a "buddy system" for missed notes and assignments.
~Stacey Rogers

Green Group

I would not typically incorporate these types of personal technologies into the classroom because I feel like they could easily be a distraction. If a student were assigned to use YouTube, a social networking site, or even a cell phone, there are very many options accessible to the student that would keep the from staying on task. From my own personal experience, being on the Internet alone was enough of a distraction. I was easily capable of surfing other websites instead of completing the assignment. By students actually being on one of the websites students most likely use during their free time, they will be even more tempted to wander off task.

In certain situations, I do think this technology could be useful. I think that by incorporating blogs can make it easy for students to share ideas with their classmates and read about their peers' perspectives on different topics. I also think social networking sites can be useful in group projects in which students have to work outside of class. However, other than what I listed above, I do not see how many of the other personal technologies can be incorporated in the classroom and be beneficial to the students' learning. As I mentioned in my examples, I think that these types of personal technologies would best be incorporated outside of the classroom. Clearly, staying in contact with students is sometimes necessary outside of class and these types of technologies would provide an easy means to do so. However, actually incorporating them in in-class activities would only provide distraction. When students are in school, there are many times the students are looking for ways to have fun and pass time. If they have the opportunity to use websites that they could find some type of enjoyment out of in school, they would most likely take advantage of the situation. Therefore, I think it is necessary for educators to use their best judgment in choosing the technologies they use in their classrooms. I know when I become a teach, my incorporation of personal technologies will be scarce and will only be used in appropriate situations.