Thoughtful+Analysis

Looking back on all the classes we have had in Educational Media and Technology, I have found that I have learned a great deal of information about various technology devices and how they can be incorporated into the classroom. Upon reflection, I have also found that, as with any other class, that I had areas of strengths and areas of weaknesses. In my opinion, my strengths in the assignments given in this course has been my creativity and the effort that I have put into my assignments. These qualities have been my greatest assets for this class. Overall, I have had a lot of difficulty with this course, because working with technology has never been a strength of mine. Because I have always struggled with technology, I knew that this course was going to be challenging for me. It was often difficult for me to keep up with class when we were working on our assignments in the lab, because often times, I would be several steps behind the class as directions were being given. Because of this, I would often have to ask for help from a peer or from Professor Pesavento. Despite all my difficulties, I was able to complete all of the assignments successfully because of the help I had received from others and because of my hard work and creativity.

Although I have definitely struggled with this class, I have also really enjoyed learning about various technology that can be used as tools to enhance learning in the classroom. In my opinion, the most interesting aspects of technology that we learned about were the blog, the video conference, Google Docs, the podcast, Poll Everywhere, and the CPS device. Even though I had known about blogs before, I had never really thought of them as a tool that could be used to engage students in learning, and I feel that blogs are versatile and flexible enough that they can therefore be used in various ways to teach many different types of lessons in the classroom. I can definitely see myself using a blog in my future classroom. As for video conferences, I think that students of all ages would love to participate in one, because they are so entertaining to be a part of. Whether or not I will use a video conference in my classroom depends on if my future school has the correct technology and personnel available to make one possible, but ideally, I would like my class to experience a video conference for themselves. With Google Docs, I was literally amazed from the minute I found out that you could see the other group members working on the document. This is definitely something I can envision myself using with my class because I think it is a very useful tool and I also feel that I will be capable of teaching students how to use Google Docs since it is pretty simple to use. When we used podcast in class, I was impressed with how everything worked, but realistically, I cannot see myself using this type of technology as a teacher because I had a lot of difficulty with creating a podcast. With Poll Everywhere and the CPS device, I was blown away by the fact that technology could register and gather the information so quickly from the sources. In my opinion, it would be amazing to use this type of technology in the classroom, but whether or not I will be able to depends on if my students have cell phones to use for Poll Everywhere, which I believe will be unlikely since I intend to teach students in elementary school, and whether or not the school I work at has a CPS device or the money to be able to purchase one. Because of this course, I will definitely be able to walk into a classroom more well versed in various technology devices and how they can be used in the classroom, and I will make sure that I will put this information to good use when I become a teacher.

The main concept that I have learned from Educational Media and Technology is that technology needs to be incorporated in education as much as possible. Technology will definitely have a larger impact on society in the years to come, so it is imperative that the students of future generations be able to know how to use it properly. Additionally, since technology is becoming a larger and larger part of society's every-day life, children will be brought up using more and more of it. In order for teachers to be able to capture the attention of these children who have been immersed in a life surrounded by technology, teachers are going to have to use technology to be able to engage their students in learning.