Reflecting... 6711

Upon entering this course I had a very basic knowledge of how learning occurred. I knew that students learned but did not take it as for as how their brains processed their learning. I thought that every student should just learn through seeing and taking notes and then practicing. I knew that there were certain strategies out there but did not know how to enhance those strategies with technology.

Coming out of this course I now know that technology can do nothing but soar learning to a new level. Learning comes from different ways of teaching. Learning is a forever process that can take place in many different ways each day. Before this course I never thought about the behaviorist learning theory or constructivism. I have now learned about these theories and have realized that I do indeed use them, but not to their full potential. But that reminds me, do we as teachers ever use things to their full potential? Do we use technology to its full potential? Most likely not, and this is not because we don’t try to, we definitely do. It is because technology is always changing and we do not always know about things that could maximize its potential. I did not know about Voice Stream or Webspiration before this class. I did not know that children need to be exposed to something about twenty-four times before it is mastered (Pitler, et. al., 2007).

I now challenge myself to use the tools of webspiration, voice stream, excel, and word to a better potential in my room. I have already integrated wiki’s as part of the class system and have started to be successful. I challenge myself to use more virtual field trips and WebQuests. I want to have the students do more learning and not rely on me as much. It is like Dr. Orey discussed in the final video of this course, instructional tools help the teacher, learning tools are what the students can do alone (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). To help me meet my challenge I plan to include one activity each week. I am hoping over time I can make this once a week thing turn into once a day. I plan to use my weekly lesson plan as a way to make sure I have one activity included whether it is a WebQuest that takes a few days or a voice stream to start a lesson. I hope this changes the learning of my classroom. I want students to take ownership of their learning and I feel technology really allows for them to learn on their own.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program thirteen. Technology: Instructional tool vs. learning tool [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.