My Experiences in "Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work and Society"

As this course is coming to an end, I am realizing how much I have learned.  Through this course, I have been required to jump head first into new pieces of technology that I have not experienced before.  For example, I have played around with blogs in my classroom before, but I now have my own blog.  I learned a little bit about podcasting at a conference, but never created one until now.  I even used a wiki in a way that I have not done before and learned how to do things on it that I did not know before.  I truly have gained quite a bit of technology experience over these last seven weeks.  Through these experiences, I have tried new things in my classroom.  I have been experimenting with blogging a little bit more, and my students are excited about using it.  All of my students have worked together to record how their group solved a math problem and uploaded it to their group blog.  I am excited to how this course has pushed me so that I can push my students.

Not only have I learned about technology resources, but I have also learned about the 21st century student.  Education should be changing more drastically to meet the needs and future of our students.  Students need to be more comfortable with technology and how to use it.  Students need to become problem solvers and critical thinkers.  Realizing all of these things has helped me to think about how I teach my students and how I can change it.  I have already started to think about what I can do differently.  For example, in the next science unit I teach, I am going to have my students create a simple machines wiki where each group of students has to research a simple machine and add to their page of the wiki.  I feel this is a better way of teaching about simple machines instead of the class reading a book and answering questions about what they read.  They also may take it more seriously since it will be on the internet and other people will read it.

I would like to continue to research new technology tools and resources so that I can offer more experiences for my students.  I would like to follow a few blogs I have found to keep up on these things.  I have two long term goals for myself.  I would like to continue to teach social studies and science in different ways.  I want to start to incorporate a more student-centered way of learning in all subjects, but I want to start in social studies and science.  I feel these two subject areas will be the easiest place to start changing.  I want it to be less about textbooks and science kits, and more about what our students can get out of it.  I would be interesting if after each lab experiment we complete, the students could get on a blog and write about what they learned from that experiment.  After they have completed a unit, they can use their blog to help them to create a final project to represent what they have learned throughout the unit.  In social studies, I want my students to be provided with more resources and be able to combine what they have learned from a multitude of resources, instead of just the textbook.  I want them to be able to create projects to teach their classmates about what they have learned.  Some of our social studies units are easier to do this with than others.  I know that if these are my two goals to accomplish over the next few years, I can do it one unit at a time.

My First Podcast

I have finally finished my first podcast.  I wanted to play around with different effects with Audacity so that I could see what it can do.  I have to say it is a fabulous tool to use and I love the amount of editing that it allows you to do.  I can't wait to have my students playing on it and trying to make their own podcasts.

http://podcastmachine.com/podcasts/12178/episodes/59861

21st Century Skills

As the world changes, we all need to change with it.  The technology advances are having a bigger effect on everyday life than I think most people thought.  It is changing the workforce and the education system.  Students need to learn more than just reading, writing and math.  Students need to learn skills that are going to help them be successful in their future.  They need to learn how to collaborate and problem solve.  The students of today, the future of our society, have to prepare for a world that may be completely different from the world we live in today.  This is where The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (http://www.p21.org/) comes into the picture.  They are working towards collaboration between businesses, education and the government to help move students towards being ready for their life in the 21st century workforce.

This image can help you to see the framework for 21st century learning created by The Partnership for 21st Century Skills.  The core subjects such as reading, writing, mathematics, science, government, etc. is just the foundation of the rainbow.  On top of that foundation are the life and career skills, learning and innovation skills, and technology skills.  It is like we need to continue to build the foundation for our students, but we need to take it a step farther to extend their knowledge.  The skills and learning that needs to take place in the school system has become more than what it has ever been.

I like the visual they have created.  It can show in a split second how much the education system is changing.  Then you can read about it farther to learn its implications.  As I continue to learn about the skills that my students will be required to possess to be successful in their "college, career and life", I hope to learn more about what I can do to help them become successful.

Reference:
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2011). Partnership for 21st Century Skills. In A Framework for 21st Century Learning. Retrieved November 22, 2011, from http://www.p21.org/index.php.

Wikis in the Classroom

My classroom website that I use as a resource page is a wiki.  I like how easy it is to add resources, although at times I do have difficulty editing my page when the site does crazy things with my formatting.  Overall, I am very pleased with the resource as a whole.  When using the wiki to create a group project, at least while using wikispaces, it is important to note that more than one person cannot edit one page at a time.  If this happens, someone's work will be lost.  I found this to be highly frustrating while completing our group wiki.  We are adults, so we can deal with it and move on.  However, this is an important piece of information to pass along to your students.  They will not be as understanding if their work is lost.  When you have your students work together to create a wiki, make sure you plan it so they do not lose their hard work!

Blogs in the Classroom

I teach all subject areas in third grade. I have experimented with blogs in my classroom for the last three years.  I think I am still figuring out the best way to use them.  One of the presentations at a conference I attended was all about technology tools in the classroom.  One of the presenters used blogs in his room as a writing portfolio.  He did not even go through and correct their spelling or require a certain length.  It was interesting to see how much these students grew over the course of their blog.  I do believe their blogs were over a few years which helps to show growth.  I like how easy blogs make it to read other students' works and be able to comment and conversations among students.  I did a literature circle with my top readers in my class.  They are currently writing a summary and whether or not they would recommend that story for others to read.  I want them to type these up on their blogs and be able to read each other's work.  Writing is going to become a big focus for the third grade team this year.  I would like for their blogs to be a type of writing portfolio because I know they would be proud of what they have created.  I also know that they would be excited to know that all their classmates can read what they have written.  The only downside to blogs is that it takes so much longer for students to write a blog post because they do not know how to type.  It takes them three times as long to type a post as it would to write it on paper.  I think that is the biggest sacrifice for me as a teacher.  My students have already started to write their posts.  I will have to revisit and let you know how it goes.

My New Blog

This is not my first blog, but it is my first blog with Blogger.  My previous blogs have been through edublogs, but I did not find it very user-friendly.  I found that most of my time was spent trying to navigate through the site.  So far, this one seems to be easier.  I am creating this blog primarily for my college course that I am taking through Walden University.  I hope that I become addicted to blogging in the process so that I begin to blog on a regular basis and after this course is completed.  A couple of my friends blog and I do enjoy reading their thoughts.