I truthfully enjoyed this course. There are so many resources that we discussed that are available to teachers that I had never heard of and I bet there are a ton more.
Here are my 3 biggest takeaways from this course:
- Technology can transform your lessons. In my K-12 education most of the lessons taught were notes, copy examples, then I try examples. I do, we do, you do. That is alright, it is not my preference when learning or teaching. Adding different technologies and resources to the lessons can really make lessons interactive and more enjoyable. Also, technology allows people to ‘visit’ places that they normally would not be able to such as virtual museums, google earth, and virtual aquariums.
- Technology can take the pressure off of teachers for grading. Using online assessment platforms can save paper and time. Questions can easily be shuffled, and answer choices can be changed making it less likely for students to cheat off of each other. However, there is still the opportunity for students to use the computer to cheat, but that takes more monitoring. This allows teachers to have more time to prepare more productive and engaging lessons rather than be bogged down with grading.
- Technology can make students more productive members of society. We are in an era where things are more technology based and by including technology in the classroom, we can teach students on how to be safe and appropriate users of technology. This is very important because not all students have access to computers or internet at home and if they do not get exposure at school, they will be behind when they begin in the workforce. Additionally, students are born with technology as a part of their lives. Since this is the case, we need to ensure that they understand the risks and can take care of themselves.
- I had to add a 4th one, to me this is the most important. Technology can level the playing field for all students! There are so many resources out there to assist students it is insane. For students who struggle handwriting papers, they can type them. For students who cannot write out their work, there are programs that can allow them to speak their thoughts and ideas. For students who do not like speaking in front of the class, they can make a video, a screencast, or participate in online class discussion to share their thoughts. Technology can easily differentiate learning by tiering work or allowing students to work on different platforms. Students who miss school for various reasons can have access to an online classroom, so they are not behind. There is a difference between equality and equity. Technology can aid in equity for all students.
My favorite activity that we worked on was the video production. I really enjoying learning how to piece together a video and love watching classmates’ videos. The video I created was one of my son, but after watching classmates videos I realized the opportunity there is in video creation. Creating a video can easily explain classroom rules, procedures, or introduce yourself to parents and students.
In the future, I definitely plan on using technology in my classroom. I hope to be able to have access to computers for all students in the future, but I am not sure how realistic that is. I really am hoping that with school closures the schools look more into providing devices to all students. I would love to be at a 1 to 1 ratio.
The technology I intend to implement in my classroom in the future includes:
- NearPod. After I was able to explore and experiment more with NearPod I have learned to love it. Given the proper resources it can be interactive and engaging for the students. By allowing the teacher to decide if they want the student to proceed at their own pace or for the class to stay together gives the teacher more control. It can also increase participation because you can create anonymous questions where the students can type their answers. Students are more inclined to participate because there is no pressure to speak in front of their peers. I plan to include this by having lessons that I can pace during the class period. This will break up the monotony of taking notes and practicing problems. I plan to include interactive slides such as tile match and polls to assess student understanding as the lesson is going on. I love that it is instant feedback, so you do not have to wait until the end of the lesson for an exit slip to see if the students understood.
- I want to incorporate Google Classroom into my teaching. I hate how I will print out papers, quizzes, and tests and have them end up on the floor or in the trash. Google Classroom is a more ecofriendly way to approach school. Also, students can’t say that they lost their document because I know it is online 😊. More seriously, I really enjoy how everything is in one area and there are so many resources with google suite. Collaboration is much more simple on the google platform. Also, I can keep instructions readily available so that students can reread the instructions. I think it will take time to properly establish my Google Classroom, the ones we had for the rest of this semester were kind of rushed and I never had time to make it mine.
I really look forward to how I can implement technology in my classroom and hope the students are receptive to it.
