Personal Learning Reflection

Based on my Personal Growth Plan, I will be assessing my own learning in this class. I will include areas of growth and what supported that growth. I will also indicate areas where I would have liked to learn and grow more than I did, along with anything that limited my learning and growth. I will also be making plans for my future goals for integrating technology.

There are several things that I have learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating technology. One thing that was discussed in class tonight was the pitfall with technology is that sometimes there will be the "solution without the problem". Sometimes districts will make decisions about technology and teaching without really thinking it through. Another idea that I learned about effective teaching strategies when integrating was the idea of "wholeness", which came from the mini-lecture on 'TPACK'. (Technological Pedagalogical Content Knowledge). Below is a figure created by Punya Mishra and Matthew Koehler which represents the idea of the use of technology in the educational setting. This picture was copied and pasted from Session 5 of CEP 810.
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The area that teachers want to aim for when integrating technology is the center part where all three areas overlap. I agree that this idea makes sense, as long with the notion of having a sense of playfulness when integrating technology in education.

Integrating the Internet in this course helped me to think about and evaluate the use of technology. I learned many new capabilities of the Internet such as creating a blog, creating a RSS reader page, using a Google calendar that was then synched to my email, creating a Flickr account to share pictures, downloading free software such as Jing to do a screen capture, using creative commons to copyright and share images, using Google documents to share and edit with my SIG group our group presentation as well as our proposal. (On a side note, I remember how surprised I was when I was editing and adding on to our proposal and then a cursor popped up and text was changing when Dawn was in the document at the same time!) I plan on creating a classroom blog, as well as keeping my RSS reader page.

An assignment that I turned in that exemplifies good teaching with technology, is the SIG group presentation.  Actually, to me it exemplifies the potential of good teaching with technology. I like the collaborative nature of the assignment, the open-ended manner of creating a product, and having to communicate and present infront of peers. It was interesting to see and evaluate what other SIG groups created. I think that this is a type of assignment that I could adapt for my students in my language arts class.

I feel that I have met my goals established in my Personal Growth Plan. I learned new applications for technology, gained hands-on experience, and have reflected on how I can apply those appications to my classroom, as well as ways to collaborate with other teachers.

I do have a new goal of continuing with the courses in educational technology. I plan on taking CEP 811 in the spring and CEP 812 in the summer. Long-term goals include continuing with technology professional development that my district offers as well as continuing with masters coursework in educational technology. I want to stay current with technology, as well as exploring methods and the pedagogy to best integrate technology in the classroom.