Final Thoughts on Integrating Technology

Hello Readers,
 
Here are my most outstanding, memorable, take-forever moments from EME5050.  Perhaps some of you all can agree:

1. Online courses do not always equate to EASY, and easy is not always what makes us learn. 

I was forced into a challenge with this class, and I think it has paid off.  I have learned so many new techniques, technologies, and ideas to bring into the classroom...to better my classroom.  And I don't think I would have had to dive in as deep (and learn as much) if the class were easy.

2. Technology is here to stay, and here to evolve. 

 And it should be.  I've learned so many ways to enhance the classroom with it--not to mention make the teacher more efficient and effective.  So what's next?

3.  Reading other educators' blogs is much more enlivening, enriching, and inspiring than reading text about microprocessors and hypertext transfer protocol. 

 So let's take this lesson to heart, and to our classrooms.

4.  Creative Commons is still confusing.

Every time I use a picture I still feel the potential to be sued :) 

5.  Working and interacting with all of you was great. 

Thank you for helping me learn more than I could have on my own.   

Making learning a page-turner

 

As stated by Connie Yowell in the following video by Nic Askew,

 

"How do you create a need to know in a child?"

 

 

 

 Retrieved November 19, 2012 from http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/videos

 

 

 

The video "Engaged" presents so many questions about our purpose and effectiveness as educators.

 

In her interview, Connie Yowell says: 

 

"We don't make room for curiosity"

Are you able to kindle your students' curiosity for learning amidst the pressures to cover content?

 

Learning is..."decontextualized because we are focused on outcomes" and not the Experience.

Are you committed to providing authentic learning experiences to your students? 

Do you feel that your class' learning suffers because of demands to perform to "outcomes" such as standardized testing?  Do you provide experiences where students can "try, fail, and come back to the failures to do again?"

 

To paraphrase Connie Yowell, ulimately, we want our students to view their learning experience as a "page-turner."  Are your students engaged and anxiously anticipating what comes next in their learning experience?

 

***

 

 

 References

 

McCleod, Scott. (2012). Dangerously Irrelevent. Retrieved November 19, 2012 from

      http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/videos

Digital Storytelling Example: Dental Health

Teacher-Created Digital Storytelling Example: Dental Health on Prezi

What Criteria Makes Technology Educationally Useful?

These days, technology is most often educationally useful... and if not, there is probably a means to make it so!

However, I grapple with how useful certain technologies are for students in my arena of experience: the Early Childhood Classroom. 

I concluded that digital media authoring is not educationally appropriate for 4 year olds, and I jumped into a ficticious scenario for students a few years older than I am used to teaching.  I estimated that by the First Grade, students working in groups could benefit from researching a curriculum page about Dental Health and creating a simple Prezi to share with the class.

Please view the type of digital presentation I expect from my [fictitious] First Graders: 

Teacher-Created Digital Story Example

Are my expectations for First Graders to work together and author a digital presentation realistic?

Would this be educationally useful--and further--beneficial for students in the First gGrade?

Any other tips / feedback?

Thank you!