Reflection

This course, “Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work and Society”, has helped me develop not only my technology skills but also as an educator. I have been introduced to and successfully tried several new forms of technology. As an educator, I have been exposed to many ways to use technology in my classroom to help my students gain the 21st Century Skills they need to be successful.

The technology introduced and used in this course can be valuable in the classroom. Blogs are a great way to open communication between students, teachers and parents. Wikis are a tool that allows participants to be contributors toward a final product like an on-line math textbook or resource page. Podcasting is a tool that will allow students to create ways to help other students learn and allow teachers to create audio and video files of instruction that can be posted for student access. Blogs, wikis, and podcasts are valuable tools for educators to include as part of their instructional strategies.

My vision is to make my classroom have not only a physical presence in my schools building but to also have a virtual presence on the web. A virtual presence will break down the walls of a classroom and allow access from people outside the school building to see what takes place in a classroom. To make this virtual presence a reality, there are several steps to make. First, my classroom needs to be equipped with the necessary equipment. I currently have a laptop, SMART Board, and an LCD projector. My hope is to acquire a document camera and a microphone mounted overhead to record class discussion and interactions. While obtaining the additional equipment, I will continue to use what I have. My second goal is to begin a class blog in the 2010 – 2011 school year. The blog will allow students, teacher, and parents to communicate but also provide links to available internet resources. Thirdly, I plan to begin recording my instruction in order to post it to the class blog or an additional site for student access. This will benefit the students who are absent or students who need instruction repeated. Ultimately, my dream is to have a school moodle that allows students to access not only my course information but also other teachers courses as well. My hope is that by having both a physical and virtual classroom, students can receive the support they need to be successful in leaning the math course content and learning 21st Century skills for their future.