The college course that I am presently completing has been very enriching in my development of technology and 21st century skills as a professional teacher. Prior to this course, my experience with
blogging was limited, and did not know how to create a wiki or podcast. Through this course I learned how to create and manage blogs, wikis, and podcasts for a school and professional environment. As we have all witnessed, anyone can publish anything, good or bad, on the internet. This is an area of concern for administrators and teachers when using the internet for school activities. I think we all have stories we could share about this. This course instructed us how to institute and manage blogs and wikis in a fashion where this area of concern can be minimized or eliminated.
Today’s students were brought up with computers and other technologies that many teachers, such as myself, were not. Dr. Thornburg brings up a good point, as teachers we need to naturally incorporate these technology tools into our classrooms and lessons (Laureate Education, Inc. [LEI], 2011a). This has made me stop and think of ways to enrich my lessons using technology tools that students enjoy. In doing so, we create an atmosphere that students are familiar to, thus naturally enhancing their learning.
I am in a different position than most teachers; I receive a new group of students every thirty days. Due to this fact and the curriculum, it limits changes that can be made. However, as a direct result of this class I have instituted two changes: submitting work electronically, and a wiki. I teach in a middle school and there are issues of concern posting student’s work on a blog that anyone can view on the internet. Do other teachers share this concern? I do agree with Dr. Thornburg and Hall Davidson that when students post their work on the internet they realize they will be writing for an audience and it will improve their work as peers can view it (Laureate Educational, Inc. [LEI], 2011b). In the future my plans are to create a blog and limit who can view. Is anyone doing this and if so what are your thoughts?
I feel the recent introduction of the wiki in my class has shifted the class from teacher-centered to learner-centered. The wiki was a success in the research, collaboration, and design sections of the student’s projects. It shifted the problem-based learning from teacher-centered to learner-centered. During this section of the project I transformed from a teacher to more of a facilitator. The students collaborated with each other in the designing of their projects. I stepped in when I noticed major problems, however, I did not present solutions, I suggested that they brainstorm and redesign. The students are essentially learning on their own with me monitoring.
My two goals for the future are: setting up an educational blog for students and teachers, and having students submit all assignments electronically. I am somewhat reluctant with the blog due to the fact that I will have to monitor all posts. It has been established that if a blog is set up in our middle school the teacher must monitor the posts.
As I review our checklist from week one I notice that I have made the biggest change in these two areas, “Use a variety of digital tools to collaborate and communicate with students, parents, colleagues, and community stakeholders” and “Work to promote best practices in technology integration by researching, evaluating, selecting and sharing new tools for classroom instruction”. This past month 99% of the communications with parents have been via e-mail. Also this past week I gave students the option of submitting assignments via e-mail. The next step would be creating at posting on a blog. The worthiest change was introducing a wiki to the students. Students individually e-mailed me links they located on the internet pertaining to their projects. I created a wiki that listed all the links. The students reviewed the links, collaborated, and designed their projects in groups. In the past this was done analyzing information on paper. I noticed by using the wiki the students were viewing more information and it was all at their fingertips. There were more questions and conversations with this group of students during the design phase of the project. I am also observing more diversity in the designs than in the past. Employing these 21st century skills has improved student learning. The link for the wiki is http://mrkuztechnologyclasses.wikispaces.com/ .
References
Laureate Educational, Inc. (Producer). (2011b). Transforming the Classroom with Technology: Part 2 [DVD]. Available from Walden University.
