EdTech 650
Dr. Clausen
Reflection
Although this summer course has been fast and furious, I have
learned a great deal about incorporating educational technology into my teaching practices. I consider myself to be
very good at using the technology available to me in my teaching, but I still learned a great deal. I’ve learned
a little bit about digital storytelling before this class, but had never used
it. I was hesitant to use it with kindergarten students because of the huge workload
it seemed to be. I am so glad I ventured out of my comfort zone to make a
digital storytelling unit. I learned so much about the technology, and what my
students really COULD do.
I always consider the discussion board to be my favorite part of
BSU’s distance education courses, because of the interaction with my peers. I
always find the interaction to be a great learning experience. However, in this
course, I didn’t learn so much from my peer as I did from my own research. This
course had a vast amount of information that was not only interesting to me,
but also applicable to my teaching at the moment. One post in particular got me to start thinking about adaptations when using technology. I had never before had a student who needed any adaptations, but I know I will in the future. It was a great experience for me to start thinking about different things I can do with these children.
I felt I learned more
in this class than in others, and because my interest was peaked, I put a lot
of effort into my learning in this course. I’m sure every students works harder
with items they are more interested in, and I am no different. The Grabe & Grabe text is one I will keep with me for a long time. The only thing I wish was different about the course, was the learning environment assignment. I absolutely loved this assignment, but I wish it would have been at the END of the course, instead at the beginning. After reading the different textbooks and articles, I would have changed a few things and added some different graphics to the project.
The biggest theme I saw from the discussion posts was simply looking at our own teaching practices, and seeing how we could make technology more effective. It was interesting to be participating in the discussion posts WHILE doing the planning for my project, because I made changes and additions to the project as I went along. Having my peer's input and ideas available to me the entire time was very beneficial. Although summer school is over and I cannot try out my project until the next school year starts, I look forward to trying it out and learning what works for them.
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