Class Reflection

The outcomes that I had envisioned for this course was to create a blog, become an educational technology leader on my campus, and learn how to create an action plan. I did achieve these outcomes by creating a blog for the class and I decided to create a blog from my 8th grade science classroom in which the students enjoyed participating in for class assignments. In the article called “Blogging and RSS-The what's it? And how to of powerful new web tools for educators stated that "teachers use blogs as classroom portals, where they archive handouts, post homework assignments, and field questions virtually" (Richardson, 13). I have learned about what needs to be accomplished when technology is involved and what is needed to become an educational technology leader. I feel that in education that we need to be proactive in lesson planning for the subjects that we teach and be willing to utilize technology that is available to our campuses. Students are willing to learn and enjoy using technology in classroom lessons and students view my science educational blog to see what I have posted that is new. "Blogs are one of the many new disruptive technologies that are transforming the world. They are creating a richer, more dynamic, more interactive Web where participation is the rule rather than the exception" (Richardson, 26). I have also learned how to create an action plan involving technology and preparing an agenda that will help teachers utilize the technology that is available on their campus. By having teachers and students fill out surveys on what teachers would like to learn and how the technology can be used in their core subject areas. The major concern that they had was that the technology trainings that are offered are not intended for them and sit through the training already thinking that the training doesn’t apply to them in their subject area. The actual outcomes that I have envisioned have actually become a reality in the classroom from learning new technology skills from this class.

The outcomes that I have seen on my campus from implementing new technology have become a reality and have a great impact on the students and their parents. All of the outcomes that I wanted to achieve during this class have been achieved. I have created a blogs, action plan, and I have worked on including more science lessons with science interactive lessons and technology. As I had stated earlier, students have a positive reaction to the implementation of technology in the classroom.

I was able to carry out all of the class assignments and discovered that there were challenges in gaining the knowledge to implement these current technological techniques to make this class a successful one. I did find a challenge in creating the blog at first but, as we continued to work on this during our class I began to increase my knowledge in this new technological age that our students are experiencing. My attitude changed about using technology in the classroom and I have been really trying to maximize all of the technology that is available on my campus. I had previously thought using technology in my classroom would be enough but my attitude changed dramatically and incorporate technology on a daily basis with lessons that are being taught for the day. Blogging is an important way for us to merge in becoming the 21st century learner. I feel that blogging is very important for communication between the teacher and the students and their parents. Blogging would also be a great way to communicate with the community stakeholders in which they can be informed about the current events of the school and they are able to reply back in a timely manner instead of making appointments for information that can be shared by blogging.

The concerns with blogging are the student’s safety as they are on-line and need to be taught about etiquette and rules using the internet responsibly. “Beyond safety, middle level students must learn about conducting themselves responsibly while online. The Internet has its own rules of etiquette" (Adelman, 20). I do agree that our middle school students must act is a respectful and responsible manner while they have privileges to be on-line on any school campus. Of course, we are assuming that they are safe but, we can never be too careful. Students also continue to use computer technology at home and students need to be educated about cyber bullying which occurs more often than we think. Responsible use of the internet is very important for our students to learn in our technological society today.