Reflections on Technology in the Classroom

While I am pretty competent with technology, this course has definitely improved my ability to use technology in the classroom. For one, it opened my eyes to the way blogs can be used in my language arts classes. Blogging is a great way for students to have interactive discussions about literature, and it can also be used as a forum to peer-edit and revise essays. As Alan November (2008) notes, “blogging represents one of many tools that pioneering teachers are using to empower students and to take more responsibility of managing their own work and adding value to the world” (p. 81)
Another tool I gained from this course was how to use wiki-spaces. Before this class I had never heard of a wiki. Collaborating with my group to create a wiki-space showed me what a great educational tool this can be. What I particularly like about the wiki is that the teacher can check how much work each individual has done by checking the wiki history space. Like blogging, the wiki creates a forum for the students to discuss and collaborate, and extends the classroom to the world beyond.
Within the next two years I would like to make blogging a regular classroom activity that is done at least once a marking period. It can be something as simple as a single discussion, to something more elaborate like peer-editing essays. I would also like to have my students create a wiki-space as a project for one of the works of literature we read.
I think the following quote from Nussbaum-Beach (2008) perfectly illustrates the importance of integrating technology into the classroom: “If we want to remain relevant in the lives of students, then we must use strategies and materials—such as global networking—that fit the learning styles of the digital native. Classrooms in the 21st century need to be collaborative spaces where student-centered knowledge development and risk taking are accepted as the norm and where an ecology of learning develops and thrives.”

References

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

Nussbaum-Beach, S. (2008). No limits. Technology & Learning, 28(7), 14–18. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/8466

Podcast

This is a podcast with students discussing their use of technology in and out of school: http://podcastmachine.com/podcasts/4461