As I look back on everything I have done in a course I
recently took called ‘Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education,
Work, and Society,’ I am amazed at how much I have learned about technology and
how this technology can be used to help build the skills students need to be
successful in the 21st century.
This course provided me with new resources that I had not
used before. It forced me to step out of
my comfort zone and try new things. I
have let students work collaboratively in the past on labs and STEM projects in
science class but had not built in a technology component to the lessons. I had never created or even written on a blog
before, I had never worked collaboratively on a wiki, I had never created a
podcast, and I had never done something as simple as sign up for an RSS
Feed. I am looking forward to teaching
and using all of these skills with my students in the near future.
My knowledge of teaching and learning processes has changed
especially after watching a few videos and reading in the course. Dr. David Thornburg in the video “Technology
and Society” made me realize how different the world is today than it was when
I was in school by his statement that today’s portable devices “allow for the
true anywhere, anyhow learning experience.”
Dr. Chris Dede mentions, “thinking has become distributed” in the video
“The Changing Work Environment Part II.”
He also brings up the fact that the “teacher used to be the source of
knowledge” and we are now “preparing students for a knowledge based global
economy instead of a national industrial economy,” in the video “ The Changing Role
of the Classroom Teacher.” I have also
been convinced that today’s students have different learning processes after
reading Marc Prensky’s writings. In
“Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,” he mentions that “the brain changes and
organizes itself differently, based on the inputs it receives.” In the same article he also mentions
experiments that show the “brain maintains plasticity for life.” I am also now a firm believer in the “Seven
Cs- 21st Century Lifelong Skills” as described by Bernie Trilling in
the article “Toward Learning Societies.”
The following are the “Seven C’s” skills he describes will be needed for
society’s future work force:
- · Critical Thinking and Doing
- · Creativity
- · Collaboration
- · Cross-cultural Understanding
- · Communication
- · Computing
- · Career & Learning Self-reliance
I have slowly, over the past few years, been trying to make
my classes learner-centered rather than teacher-centered. I teach science and I am the STEM coordinator
at my school. I have successfully
created many STEM activities in most of my lessons. I think with my new technology skills I have
learned in this class I will be able to make my classroom even more
learner-centered.
I will continue to expand my knowledge of learning,
teaching, and leading with technology to increase student achievement by
participating and signing up for all professional development workshops my
school district offers that has to do with technology. I have already been doing this throughout
this year. I even went to one this past
Friday and was introduced to another technology that is an iPad table in which up to six students can work collaboratively on almost anything (see
picture below). They are very expensive
but it is something I can write another grant for and strive to get into my
school and classroom. I will also be
conducting my own research on new technologies.
For instance, I found an article in the journal “The Science Teacher”
called “The Way They Want To Learn” that is about using technology to build
literacy across all science disciplines.
With my newfound knowledge from this course I have some
goals that I would like to accomplish to transform my classroom into an
environment that will engage and make “education relevant to students lives and
truly prepare kids for the future” (Prensky, 2008). One is I would like to make my classroom as
paperless as possible. Another is to
create a completely learner-centered environment. The last goal I have is to integrate as much
technology into my classroom as possible and this includes finding ways to use
the student’s portable devices that they already have as well. In order to accomplish these goals I will
continue to write and apply for any grants I can get my hands on. With the current state of the educational
budget in the state I teach in, this seems like the only way I will be able to
reach these goals for now.
Laureate Education,
Inc. (Producer). (2008). Technology and Society [DVD]. Understanding the Impact
of Technology on Education, Work, and Society. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education,
Inc. (Producer). (2008). The Changing Work Environment Part II [DVD].
Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society.
Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education,
Inc. (Producer). (2008). The Changing Role of the Classroom Teacher Part I
[DVD]. Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society.
Baltimore, MD: Author.
Prensky, M. (2001).
Digital natives, digital immigrants, part II: Do they really think differently?
On the Horizon, 9(6).
Prensky,
M. (2008, March). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6),
40–45.
Trilling,
B. (2005). Towards learning societies and the global challenges for
learning with ICT. TechForum.
