Final Reflection

Obviously, I love using technology in my classroom.  I find that my students learn more and are more engaged with the material.  Starting new on something technology related can be challenging, and when it does not go right the first time, disheartening.  Taking this course really helped me be able to see other people's views on technology, especially those who are just starting out or struggle with technology.  It can be difficult understanding my fellow teachers views on technology because using technology has become second nature for me.  This course allowed me to not only see where others are coming from in their use of technology, but also allowed me to help them learn as well.

Technology is something that will not go away in education, yet, just like thousands of other tools, technology is a tool nothing more.  It cannot replace effective classroom management and proper pedagogy in the classroom.  I think often people see technology as a replacement for the above and become frustrated when it is challenging to use in the classroom.  This culminates with them just ignoring technology or using it improperly in the classroom.  The advice I always have for people is find one or two things you like and go with that.  Make your students understand it really well.  So, for instance if you really love Prezi, then use it a lot in your classroom.  Try to avoid the "one and done" aspect of technology.  Because if you do, then students never really attempt to master a form of technology for their learning because they think it will never come back again in the classroom.  In order to not overwhelm yourself and your students start small and stay there until you are comfortable.

This class allowed me to try a number of new things.  Some I may use, others I may not.  Overall, it was nice interacting with my fellow teachers on the subject of technology and I found blogger to be a great blogging platform that I plan on using in the future.