Relection 1 (for C&I 579)

It has been a crazy almost four weeks and a lot has changed on the educational technology for this guy. I just finished a book review (for an course incomplete) on a book by Rowen & Bigum (Eds.) that looks at new points of view for using educational technology to address growing student diversity in our rapidly changing society. Lucky for me a lot of the ideas in it make it a perfect fit with this class, so sorry in advance for quoting it a lot.

I noted in an earlier post (Amusing Ourselves to Death?) that I felt overwhelmed with the vast amount of information coming in while following blogs and through Twitter, let alone things for this class and that Dr. T shares. I like to read through things thoroughly, but I have had to develop the skill of skimming to deal with the time I have available. Additionally, I have developed an new attitude, that of realizing that I can’t do all of the things I read about, so I have to just pick one or two and go from there. Big concept in terms of changing how I teach? It has, “much more to do with pedagogy than with the technology itself” (Cummings, Brown & Sayers (2007), “p. 91). Of course I plan to leverage the technology.

One thing I’ve learned that I’m sure I will not forget is that this technology-mediated learning requires a lot of planning and organization, nothing worse than a, “it’s due when?” moment. ;-)

I like things in one location, but I am adjusting.

I am looking to find ways in which I can have my students do more of the knowledge creation with me on the side. I want to use my Universal Reading Questions in a new way to have students use the technology they will have to find the information and make the connections. I think students today are good at finding information, connections…I think not, but the jury is still out. Hopefully I can guide them in the future by having them research the information versus me telling them and making connections for them. The connection will last longer if they make it themselves.

I also plan to try and find ways to connect to students and parents in ways that are outside traditional / formal school channels, ways that more closely resemble their technology use and communication outside of school. Currently I am playing with My Big Campus—our school is thinking about using it next year. I will probably do my final project using it instead of Wikispaces; it might end up being a pilot for the school for next year.

We are going with a 1:1 program for ALL our students next year and calling it a pilot, technology hasn’t been bought yet and available software / programs are up in the air (like MBC). I am also looking at Edmodo and will even open very limited Facebook account to see how the two interface. (Hey, I did two-person control of nuclear weapons in the army; I can be VERY confidentiality conscious.)

Hey, I’ll try to with the flow. I do think I’m getting individual tables and chairs for my classroom that can be grouped so hopefully I can try some Stanford d-school-like ideas.

Cummings, J., Brown, K., & Sayers, D. (2007). Literacy, technology, and diversity. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Rowen, L., & Bigum, C. (Eds.), (2012). Transformative approaches to new technology and student diversity in futures oriented classrooms: Future proofing education. Dordrecht, Germany: Springer.