Impact of Technology on Education,
Work and Society – A Reflection
By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. ~Confucius
In what ways has this
course helped you to develop your own technology skills as a professional
teacher?
This course has allowed me to change from a
user of podcasts, wikis and blogs, to a creator! It’s been a wonderful journey, learning how
to start and upkeep a blog, collaborate on a wiki, and tweak a podcast.
I use Google Reader constantly now, and have
RSS subscriptions to all of my favorite websites and blogs. Looking back to 8 weeks ago, I can’t believe
how much time I now save when looking for something to read.
I have been trying to share this knowledge
with as many of my teacher friends as possible.
It has also made me realize how few teachers are using these types of
technology in their classrooms. I have
started getting them onto Google Reader, as a first step, in hopes that they
will become more comfortable with technology.
I have plans on running a PD at my school for this too. I believe that subscribing to educational
sites is such an easy and effective way to retrieve new information about
teaching, and better yourself as an educator.
In what ways have you deepened your
knowledge of the teaching and learning process?
I am not sure just how I have deepened my knowledge
of the teaching and learning process. I
know that I have definitely realized that it’s important for me as an educator
to explore new ideas to bring to the classroom.
This course has cemented that rational.
As interested as I am in operating this technology for personal use, I
always thought that it might be difficult to bring into the classroom. How much time would it take to teach how to
use? Will I have the resources? Will I have the support? Would there be enough
interest?
After completing my podcast, I realized the
answers to most of the above questions.
The students I interviewed all spent between 1-4 hours a night on the
Internet. They will be able to use all 3
tech 2.0 applications from the comfort of their homes, all the while using
Skype as the collaborative medium tool to help each other (Laureate, 2010).
In what ways have you
changed your perspective from being teacher-centered to learner-centered?
The definition of teacher is shifting. We are
no the sole providers of information. We
are the explainers, the context providers, the meaning makers and the
evaluators of information that kids find on their own (Prensky, 2008) I think
this shift is an exciting one. As we
know, students are already bombarded with information that needs to be
critically examined. It excites me that
as a teacher I will get to help them sort out the good from the bad, and learn
how to critically think about the information and its sources. Developing students Informational Literacy
(Laureate, 2010) and the 21st Century Skills that come with it
should now be a teacher’s main priority. Helping them to develop their problem solving
skills, work and collaborate with a team and foster their creative and
innovative thinking. In fact, Thornburg
(2010) stated that students would benefit form the power of personal learning
when they take ownership of their own learning, and can create artifacts with
these 2.0 tools.
I consistently come back to Dede’s (Laureate,
2010) interfaces. After I read these, I
realized my interface was that of an Augmented Reality. I use my smartphone everyday to answer
questions that arise. For example, on my
way to work, I can be Google searching (why do Chinese people walk and jog
backwards, what is the air quality today or why are my taxi drivers fingernails
always so long?), can be ‘whatsapp’ ing (http://www.whatsapp.com/)
my friends and family from home, and following directions from Google
Maps. It’s funny, as I am on the cusp of
being a digital native (Laureate, 2010) that I too can multitask on a similar
level to that of my students.
In what ways can you
continue to expand your knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with
technology with the aim of increasing student achievement?
I intend to use my Google Reader feed as a
catalyst to finding out new information and applications that I can use in my
class. As stated above, I am already
receiving a wealth of information that I can personally use, or I send along to
my friends if it relates to their subject.
This course has made me realize that even though I am on the internet
extensively, I had not been nearly as efficient as I could be. There is still so much out there that I can
learn to make my life easier, and my teaching more engaging. I have learned that many others have the same
frustrations, questions and solutions, and that there are ways to link us all,
so we as teachers can collaboratively solve the problems that plague us. This
is turn teaches us the importance of working with others, so we can best
instruct our students to do so.
A
Couple of Long Term Goals
In the next 2 years, I would like to have
these goals completed:
1.
Have students be responsible in the collaborative planning and
construction of a wiki page dedicated to personal fitness. I want them to be able
to compile activities and exercise that will be needed to help them maintain a
high level of fitness. There will be a
couple of institutional and systemic obstacles to this. Firstly, I will have to instruct the students
on the basics of personal fitness.
Second, I will need to show them how I to utilize a wiki page. This could prove to be difficult, because I
do not want to use a PE period for technology instruction. I will more then likely have to do this,
because time is a very valuable commodity here.
Lastly, I want the students to be able to share their work, so I will
have to show them how they can post their work on the Schools Sports Website
(See number 2).
2.
I want to be using an interactive blog and website to share
information to parents and students. Our school currently doesn’t have one. My goal is to create one where I can post
match reports and pictures as well as game and practice times. In order to do this, I will need to overcome
a very large systemic obstacle. Because
my school is a federation of schools, if one school adds something, they all
must. I have met with my coordinators,
ICT teacher and Principal in order to get this going. My coordinator has just told me that there will
be a pilot team assembled in order to start to implement this new website, in
which I will get to be involved. Very exciting news, but it’s still early, and
nothing has really be completely cemented, and I imagine it may take a while to
get this off the ground.
After reviewing the checklist I completed
during the first week of class, I noticed a couple of differences. I had done collaborative work before in my
classes, but I am now taking steps to digitize this work, and utilize new
technology. Second, I am now actively involved
in developing a vision for technological integration across scholastic
areas. I also have sought of professionals
in my school and online who can better assist me to obtain the knowledge I
want.
The impact of technology on education, work and society has been
wonderful to examine. I find myself
wondering though, what is the next step?
What will happen when these so called Digital Natives become the ones
who generate and implement new policies?
References:
Laureate
Education, Inc. (2010). Understanding the impact of technology on education,
work,
and
society. Baltimore, MD:
Dede.
Laureate
Education, Inc. (2010). Understanding the impact of technology on education,
work,
and
society. Baltimore, MD:
Thornburg.
Laureate
Education, Inc. (2010). Skills for the 21st Century. Baltimore,
MD: Thornburg.
Prensky,
M. (2008, March). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6),
40–45.