REFLECTION ON THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY

 

Many of the activities in this course have helped me reexamine how I use technology in the classroom and have given me new ideas for technology use. Using a blog or a wiki in my class had never even occurred to me before, but now I have gotten the chance to use a wiki with my class, and I will continue to examine how I can use both again in the future. I appreciated this course’s emphasis on putting students in the role of creatore. Will Richardson talks about how transformation is not about what technology we introduce into the classroom, but instead about empowering students to learn freely, getting rid of some of antiquated and restraining aspects of the traditional structures of school (Richardson, 2010, p.23-24).

One Web 2.0 tool that I am open to using, but have not used yet is blogging. I think it would be very powerful to use as a tool for teaching writing. The knowledge that someone else will read your work and publishing something in a more official way has power to up the ante for students as they write. 

I would like to set a SMART goal around incorporating blogging in my class. Over the next two years I want to find an area of my writing curriculum to incorporate blogging, maybe just for free writing or possibly reflecting on learning in some way. By the end of next school year I want my students to have written at least three posts on a blog they have created, and have commented on another student’s blog at least once.

Another SMART goal I would like to set is to have my students create a podcast using WeVideo, since that is a platform they already use. Two years from now I want my students to have made at least one podcast for an assignment. 

Using technology in the classroom is also critical to make sure students have the skills they need for a 21st century work environment. Too often the structure of school teaches students outdated skills, how to sit still, be quiet, and memorize facts. These three skills, in particular the last one, will be of little use to students in their future careers. Two of the biggest skills they will need, that schools should shift their focus to, is collaborating and creating over technology. Richardson gives the example of Wikipedia as the type of collaborative digital creation students have instored for themselves in the future (Richardson, 2010, p.55-57). Wikipedia could never have been created individually, but through digital collaboration a massive project like this was completed and continues to grow. Richardson gives the example of using Quadblogging to help introduce your students to this type of digital collaboration, where students from four different schools can interact and share with each other (Richardson, 2010, p.44). It is this type of digital collaboration we must continue to push for in the classroom. 

References

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd

ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Richardson, W. (2015). From master teacher to master learner. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree

Press.