Reflection for Walden Technology in the Classroom Course

In the final week of my Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society class I am looking back at what I've learned, but more importantly, what I'm taking away. When I entered the class I thought I had a good grasp on educational technology from my own active interest in the subject, but in the proceeding weeks I learned about many new technologies and how I can use them in my own class. The things I've learned are more than educational theory or facts, I've learned about tools and technology that have real world application value that I can use. When you take a class, especially as a teacher, you hope that the things you learn can actually be put into practice.

A big part of this class was focused on understanding the 21st century student. By understanding this change in the skills students will need to be successful, I have really deepened my knowledge of the teaching and learning process by looking at what students need and then understanding how we can use 21st century tools to teach them.

Before this class I came in with a constructivist approach to teaching, but after this class I have a heightened appreciation for creating lessons where students create their own learning. When students are the ones creating their learning and the teacher is facilitating this experience the lessons make a bigger impact and really stay with the students.

I can continue to expand my knowledge of learning, leading, and teaching with technology by putting the things I've learned into practice and keeping up on expanding that knowledge by collaborating with other teachers in classrooms that are also striving to create 21st century learners. Many of the blogs I've been introduced to with this class or updated regularly and continue to add new ideas that I can use in my class.

I have 2 goals for the next 2 years, my first is to switch my role from being a mainstream classroom teacher to a tech advisor. The district I want to apply for in San Antonio has a team of tech advisors who work at 2 schools each and organize tech related lessons and help teachers implement technology in their classroom. The challenge is showing that I am well suited for this position by showing that I am a leader in technology in my own class now by implementing the strategies I am learning from my masters program. My other goal is to implement a program for myself and other teachers in the school to have access to the sets of laptops in my school so every student in one class can be on a laptop connected to the internet at the same time. The challenge with this is getting approval from administration to set up a program where teachers can share there classroom sets. The plan sounds simple enough, but I see many challenges in also getting all teachers on schedules to share and pick up laptop sets from other rooms. My hope is that teachers will create lessons that have all students connected to the internet at the same time.

In conclusion, I am very excited to put the things I've picked up from this class. I feel like I've gained many skills to bring me into the future of education. I see my students blogging, podcasting, and creating wikis to gain skills to become 21st century learners as I continue learning new teaching skills to be a 21st century teacher.