After taking a thorough look at the last seven weeks of course work for Walden, I am extremely excited at all of the new possibilities and doors that have opened. Up until this point, this has been the most productive and enlightening course I have been a part of within my graduate work. I have been exposed to technologies I had heard of but never really been a part of; web 2.0 tools such as blogging, wikis, twitter and pod casts to name a few. Before this class, these were purely "out of school" internet tools that I was unsure of how to utilize. This course has entirely changed my perspective and now I realize just how beneficial they can be in the classroom...not to mention just how powerful a teaching tool and "real world", 21st century learner tool they are! On my own personal time, I have joined a few blogs about things I enjoy and also subscribe to golf pod casts, so not only have I learned about this new technology, I am using them outside of the classroom.
A note I feel I should add to my blog is that I was aware of the lack of technology in the district I teach in, but I was ignorant as to just how lacking we truly are. There is nobody to blame, budgets are failing, schools are running out of money, teachers are being released, the education system is struggling but I really feel like the students will be the ones to suffer from the systems lack of funding to educate students for what they will encounter once in the real world (21st century learners).
I was raised in a teacher centered classroom where the teacher spoke, we were quiet and did the work assigned. Today's learner, and classroom for that matter, should be much more student based where the students work toward finding the information. A huge positive for the students will be a key word known as collaboration. Collaboration is something students will be doing once they enter the work force and when is there a better time than to practice but in the classroom while learning. This task is somewhat already in the works as I have always been somewhere in the middle of teacher based and student based learning. Learning about technology will undoubtedly make the transition to a complete learner based classroom much easier.
Being that I am somewhat young in the grand scheme of education, I feel it is relatively easy to stay on top of new technology and learn about the existing technology. It seems as if most of my friends use blogs and podcasts already and we all know some people that play with every new gadget and toy that comes out, so I really just have to pay more attention to what is trending and what people are using. Another excellent tool that I use will be my graduate work. The course at Walden U is so far excellent and something I look forward to furthering my education base regarding technology and how to utilize it in the classroom. All of these resources combined should be more than enough to stay on top of current and up-and-coming technology.
A goal of mine is without question bringing more technology in my classroom. Up until this point, my use of technology was very limited (some fault due to the district's financial situation, some fault in my own ignorance), but that will change with this new influx of information at my fingertips. Another goal I have set for myself is being more in tune with modern day technology. Up until this point, I have been somewhat slow in engaging everything available. I use the internet for very few reasons, I use my phone purely for phone calls and to text (I do not have a "smart phone"), I had no clue what a pod cast or blog was, and I definitely was lacking in my knowledge of the world of twitter. Being a young guy, this is somewhat embarrassing and in some ways, unacceptable for my line of work. I was almost doing an injustice to the students by my personal ignorance of technology. Those two goals I have set should turn my classroom into one full of 21st century learners technology where students are using the tools they will need on a daily basis when they enter the real world.
As an educator, it is solely our responsibility to teach our students the knowledge and tools needed to be successful in modern day times. The coursework at Walden U is giving me the knowledge and power to pass along to each and every student that comes through the door of my classroom.
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