EDLD+5364+Course+Reflection

Teaching with Technology Course Reflection

I’ve greatly enjoyed my learning throughout the course “Teaching with Technology.” This course seems the most aligned with what I had in mind to learn about throughout this degree program. Although I have valued all of my courses so far, this one is relevant to my job right now and I am anxious to use it in my Kindergarten classrrom.

One of the my favorite parts of the course was our textbook, “Using Technology with Instruction that Works.” I look forward to referencing it throughout my career as an educational technology instructor and facilitator. The author poses four important questions to educators when using technology within their lessons (Pitler, 2007 p. 11):

1. What will students learn? 2. Which strategies will provide evidence of student learning? 3. Which strategies will help students acquire and integrate learning? 4. Which strategies will help students practice, review, and apply learning?

These questions were an important resource for my group and me as we completed our group project throughout this course. Throughout this course we learned about three different theories in learing. Of the three, I liked the constructivist theory the best. This theory promoted project-based learning, which allows students to be more active in their learning. Throughout the lesson they are sharing ideas, asking questions, discussing concepts, and revising their ideas and misconceptions (Dede, 1999).

I also greatly enjoyed the videos assigned to us each week. These videos were always engaging to me and were a nice break from a regular reading assignment. One of my favorite videos of the course was the video “Big Thinkers: James Paul Gee on Grading with Games.” Gee points out that games are nothing more than a series of assessments. He states that in games, if you succeed you move on; if not, you fail and try again. (Edutopia.org, nd) If school could be more like video games, solving problems through immediate feedback and assessment, students would indeed be more motivated and interested in their lessons. And how perfect would that be for our students of today? Students who spend most of their evenings, weekends, and summers in front of video games and television shows.

This video reinforced our use of CAST’s UDL template for our learning project. The UDL reinforces different teaching techniques for all levels and styles of learning and emphasizes the use of technology within these lessons. The use of the UDL made the task of creating differentiated instruction much simpler and clearer than it’s ever been for me. This site also provided us with a wonderful tool in it’s eBook Builder. This book creator provided us with an easy to use instrument to create simple lessons for students with learning disabilities.

Our group utilized Google Docs for our online collaborations and planning. It is an amazing tool that allowed us to communicate, share ideas, and ask questions throughout our project.

As you can see, this course has provided me with many permanent resources to use in teaching others about the importance of technology in the classroom. It’s also taught me to remember that education comes first and that technology is a wonderful tool helping students to reach their educational goals.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoslki, K. (2007). //Using technology with classroom instruction that works.// Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Sprague, D. & Dede, C. (1999). If I teach this way, am I doing my job; Constructivism in the classroom. //Leading and Learning.// 27(1). Retrieved March 25, 2011 from the International Society for Technology in Education at []

Edutopia.org (nd). //Big thinkers: James Paul Gee on grading with games//. Retrieved on April 1, 2012 from [].