Reflection: A Steep Learning Curve

In his book Web Literacy for Educators, Alan November (2008), in referring to the powerful communication tools available to today’s youth, poses the question: “Who should teach them how to manage the power of these tools?” (p.83). The answer, of course, is that we, the teachers, administrators, and schools that make up the educational system, must take responsibility for this important task. But how? Well, the first step, as Richardson (2009) asserts, is to become adept and passionate users of today’s technologies ourselves, thereby transforming our own learning practice and better understanding the exciting pedagogical implications of these technologies for our students and classrooms.

During this course, I have taken the first steps into a world that I had previously only observed from the outside, whose complexity overwhelmed and intimidated me, and whose potential for improving student learning I had not fully grasped. Over the last eight weeks I have come to understand how to use and set up a blog, quickly access information through an RSS feed, collaborate through a wiki, and create and publish a podcast. Today, I feel capable of and in the position to begin integrating these technologies into my instructional practice. Not only that, I find that I have become much more confident in my use of technology in general; today I am more likely to troubleshoot solutions to any technological problems that come up than I was before the course. Whereas in the past, I would have asked my husband for help, today he comes to me for assistance! Basically, I’m more comfortable with the technological tools that I use and I feel that I can go on to learn how to use the plethora of tools that are out there just as well as anyone. The veil surrounding the mystery of technology has been lifted!

Now that I have made the initial steps, I intend to continue developing my knowledge and skills by building on the base that I have attained in this course. I will continue to expand my use of collaborative tools such as social networks, blogs, skype, and podcasts in my personal life, and work to create my own Personal Learning Network. I also intend to begin using other tools, such as twitter and social bookmarking, which I have yet to try. Most importantly in our quickly changing technological landscape, I will keep my feelers out there for new and exciting technologies and applications by visiting sites such as Classroom 2.0 and The Teacher’s Podcast regularly.

I have two goals for integrating technology into my instructional practice over the coming two years. Both goals aim to have an innovating rather than an automating influence on classroom learning (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008) and to meet the “educational needs of young people entering a dynamic workforce where lifelong learning and creativity are among the few certainties for success” (Thornburg, 2004, p. 11).

My first goal is to develop and use a classroom blog to provide space for reflection and journaling, extend the classroom conversation, and post links, assignments, and the like. Aside from helping with course management and thereby encouraging student responsibility and self-direction, a classroom blog will provide students with an authentic audience for their work, which is a powerful motivator. Most importantly, blogging allows us to move away from the traditional teacher-centered classroom, where the teacher is the sole judge of student work which has been produced for the sole purpose of pleasing that judge, and move towards a student-centered classroom in which student writing is made available to other students, who in turn can respond with comments. In this sense, integrating a blog into the classroom environment can help establish a social, collaborative atmosphere in which meaningful dialogue takes place outside of the confines of the physical classroom.

My second goal is to integrate podcasts and/or wikis into the classroom as a way for students to consolidate their learning and present their work to a larger audience. This kind of presentation not only requires a whole different level of student ownership of work, it is also great fun. Publishing meaningful content on the Web is what November (2008) describes as “probably the most powerful opportunity the Internet can provide – the ability to communicate within a global forum, build knowledge content as a community, and publish writing to an authentic audience” (p. 80). I’m looking forward to facilitating a classroom experience in which students are encouraged to ask questions, seek answers, and work creatively to convey what they have learned to others. In short, I want to enable them to become collaborators in the co-construction of meaningful knowledge.

In meeting these goals, I hope to shrink the gap between the information rich, collaborative, and creative technological landscape my students inhabit in their personal lives, and the way learning is approached in school. I hope to create a classroom reflective of the realities of what Trilling (2005) calls the “Knowledge Age” and engage my students in the acquisition of 21st century skills such as collaboration, self-direction, media literacy, communication, and creativity. By incorporating technology into my instructional practice in this way, I also hope to get on board with what Richardson (2009) refers to as the “two unstoppable trends” of contributing to the flow of content being made available online, and creating that content in collaborative ways.


Resources:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008b). Program Two. Evolution of Technology and Pedagogy. [Motion picture]. The emergence of educational technology. Baltimore: Author.

November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wiks, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press
Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and Education: Expectations, not Options. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from Thornburg Center Podcasts and More: http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf

Trilling, B. (2005). Towards learning societies and the global challenges for learning with ICT. TechForum. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/techlearning/pdf/events/techforum/ny05/Toward_Learning_Societies.pdf