Week 3 Course Reflection: Teaching with Technology

This week’s assignments and requirements were very difficult for me. I am not impressed with the structure and immense amount of work that was required. There was so much information presented, that I found it very challenging to absorb it all. When asked to read so many different texts and view various different videos and complete an extremely time consuming assignment, it is nearly impossible to feel comfortable saying this week was a time of true learning. With that being said, I will now discuss some of the concepts that I was able to acquire.

Choice of Video:

The video that made the most impact for me was “Welcome to the Digital Generation”. The video helped reinforce why my current role as an Instructional Technologist is so important. When I visit classrooms where teachers are still trapped in the “old way of teaching”, I am reminded of how slighted the students are who are the receivers of this teaching style. The concept that “kids don’t look at instruction manuals, they just learn” speaks volumes (np). Students do not want to be lectured to, they want to discover, create and collaborate. The real task now is to find and offer ways for all educators to understand and practice the “new way of teaching” to today’s students.

Choice of Reading:

One reading that I related to the most was a section in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works titled “Classroom Response Systems”. My district has recently contracted with a company called Promethean in order to purchase many different types of interactive equipment. One type of device that many of our teachers utilize is called ActivExpression clickers. These devices allow students to answer teacher provided questions simultaneously. This system also provides data that can exported into a spreadsheet to analyze and store for documentation. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski encourage teachers to use student response systems in order to start discussions with students, inviting individuals to defend their answers (2007). This is a way to use these devices that I never thought to use. I plan on suggesting this information to the teachers that I train.


Shawntee’ Cowan

References

Edutopia.org (nd). Welcome to the digital generation. Retrieved on Mar. 13, 2011 from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-project-overview-video

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development