Reflection #2

So, we are nearing the end of the Educational Technology course I am taking. I have learned a lot – way more than I had anticipated. For me, personally, the best thing that I think I can take away from this course is a more open attitude towards technology. I have somewhat been afraid of technology in the past – afraid that I won’t understand it, afraid that it won’t work when I need it, and afraid to get out on the internet because of a fear of exposing myself to others. That fear of exposure has definitely been lightened by taking this class. I even tried to post something on You Tube, but it would not let me. Instead, I posted it on screencast.com, which was a big step for me! I still have more to learn about sharing online, but I feel like I got a great start in this class.

Something that I learned in this class that I will not forget tomorrow is that I need to be utilizing technology to learn from others. We had to go to a website that had all of the presentations from the Global Education Conference in 2010 and 2011. I had no idea that all of these presentations were available to anyone! Wow – think of all that can be learned from listening to these! I will also continue to grow my PLN and will not forget about that.

As far as applying what I have learned, I will just say that I am excited for the new school year! I know that there will be bumps in the road and that time will not always be on my side, but I really am looking forward to using VoiceThread with my students and just introducing them to some of the technology I have learned. I really want to try my final project idea with my classes this year and I hope that I have the time and technology available to do that. I have attached a link to the video of my final project in case you are curious – but it entails students creating an instructional video for math. Even if I do not have enough time to utilize everything I learned in this class during my teaching, I can at least use some of it in my other doctorate classes that I will be taking. Last semester I would see everyone presenting in cool new ways, so maybe now I can be one of those presenters by using something I learned in this class. I am very grateful for this class and have definitely learned a lot about technology and its many uses!

~Michelle

http://www.screencast.com/t/MddicfJzGWup