Lessons Learned 9/23

Today I got a better understanding of how the digital divide presents itself in our society. Ten years ago the divide was largest between socio-economic groups, however, today it is much more prevalent between age groups (the elderly being less likely to own and use different types of digital technology). I always assumed that lower income households would be less likely to own digital technology, but today it seems that technology is becoming increasingly more affordable. This trend means that more and more people have access to the Internet regularly. It's safe to say that I had some misconceptions about the widespread availability of digital technology that was corrected during today's class.

Chapter 2: Understanding Educational Technology Issues and Trends

Chapters 1 and 2 focused mostly on justifying the use of technology within the classroom. They looked into the pedagogical, theoretical, and practical reasons that technology is beneficial to learners and educators alike.

"Technology can expand the curriculum to include the world beyond the classroom." Today's society is regularly referred to as a global community. Every region of the Earth is easily communicated with via the Internet. Borders dissolve online. Incorporating digital technology into the classroom allows for students to experience this time of society in an educational setting. I'm currently student teaching and today I sat in on a grade-wide professional development meeting. One of the teachers was discussing how she had signed her class up to be apart of an online group learning experience. Her class and another second grade class from Vermont will be reading the same books and regularly communicating through email and Skype in order to discuss the books. This use of technology is allowing her students, and the students in the other class, to hear different viewpoints from around the world. The students in rural Vermont will almost certainly look at the stories in a different light then those in Queens. However, it is likely that they will also develop similar thoughts about the stories. Through technology, these students will be able to gain an understanding of diversity and how different people from different places can be so similar. This experience would be much more difficult, if not entirely impossible without the use of digital technology.

I think it is important that modern technology be incorporated into the classroom in ways that are innovative, educational, and fun. Denying students access to technology that is becoming a part of everyday life does them no favors. If the technology can be incorporated in a way that is beneficial and safe, why not include it? Technology provides everyone with easy access to information and all different kinds of information. It changes the way people view information. Assessing reliability of information is even more important now and instills a sense of responsibility in learners to have accurate data.

Digital technology makes learning fun. It's exciting to get to use something that works so immediately it almost seems impossible. Learning should be fun and if digital technology helps to make it fun, then I'm all for it. I want to make education fun so that my students want to learn and want to continue to learn throughout their lives.


Questions:
1. What are some strategies that can be taken to instill a code of online ethics in students?
2. How can we reconcile the trend towards increased use in technology and parent wishes to limit their children's daily use of digital technology?
3. How would your educational experience have differed had today's technology been available to you?

Lessons Learned 9/16

Today's class got me thinking about policy changes in education and how important it is for me, as a future educator, to remain informed about the role politics plays in educational reform. Especially during this upcoming election. It will take a conscious effort to be continuously up to date on what is happening.

The slide show we viewed made me consider the accessibility of education to the general population. In many of the early pictures we only saw men, or white people. Even though public education is now available to all people of all different backgrounds, it still remains important to consider whether or not the information and resources being presented is accessible to all students. Are students with disabilities able to access this information as easily as there non-disabled peers? Are students from lower socio-economic statuses able to receive the same resources as their more affluent peers? Education needs to remain accessible to everyone and accommodating to all manner of diverse needs.

Personal Learning Goals

       Over the past year I've become much more comfortable with using technology professionally. The past few months have provided me with multiple opportunities to develop audition videos for coworkers, create digital projects for my college courses, and use a variety of programs to support a newfound managerial position. I found that most Internet technologies can be easily used by most people because they are designed in a way which allows people of all abilities to succeed. I have no knowledge of coding or engineering, but today's programs are built so that the average user does not need to have extensive knowledge Internet programming. I believe this is an important message to pass on to my students, and I hope to do that. By putting in the effort to produce something you are proud of and paying attention to instructions, anyone can use technology professionally. Technological resources are beneficial to everyone and can be mastered by anyone.

       As a teacher, I hope to instill a sense of digital responsibility, ethics, and appreciation. I hope to learn new and innovative ways to include various forms of technology in my classroom both instructionally and professionally. My most important goal is to leave my students with a sense of personal achievement and an eagerness to learn more about how they can use technology in the future.