My Reaction to this Class

I feel like I have learned a lot of useful information from just these 10 weeks in an educational studies classroom.  I found many useful articles involving the best ways to implement technology directly into a classroom setting, and this will allow me to plan my lessons a little bit easier. Also I had the opportunity to learn about all of the presentation websites and tools available such as prezi and narrable. The blog was also a great experience and way to get all of my thoughts out in creative ways. After all which student wouldn’t enjoying searching the internet for gifs and funny pictures that turn out to be educational.

My teacher Jeff McCabe was also someone that has made this class memorable. He made sure to make all of the assignments entertaining while also keeping the atmosphere of the classroom fun and exciting. He did everything he could to get to know us and figure out our best learning styles in order to teach us to the best of his ability. I would definitely recommend Jeff to any other students and I would love to have another class with him.

How Technology has affected my Schooling

Technology has always been a big fancy of mine all throughout my years in school, but it never was really implemented. In elementary school I think the only computers in the schools were the teachers and a few in the library. Then again that’s what you get when you live out in a country area. In classes the highest amount of technology that would be used would be the old fashioned light overhead projectors. They would use a light, mirrors, and a clear plastic sheet to project any ink pictures drawn onto it. The only time I was able to use computers was at my own home on fast and fancy dial-up connections.

When I hit middle school we were immersed into a world of hormones and online gaming. “Runescape” was a MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) that every middle school boy had to get into. Every day at lunch time the computers in the library were filled with students signing into their accounts to kill goblins and earn treasure.  We did have moments outside of our medieval world where computers were actually used for education, but this was mainly for tests. This then gave us a poor view on computers and started that split between fun on computers and boring things on computers.

High school was the time that technology truly exploded. Classes were filled with many more computers, projectors, and desk cameras then we had ever seen. Teachers had started using the library’s computers for research projects and writing papers, but there were no major advancements in teaching methods. It wasn't really until college that I would truly use a computer for its full potential in education to keep me connected to my classes and projects.

As you can see technology wasn't utilized for many reasons: money, teacher knowledge, and not enough advancement in the right about of time.  I still wonder today how it could have been best used in the classroom, but I guess that is up to me to figure out how I can use it best when I get to that same position.

Post-it Pages

A Narrable  about education articles and how technology ideas can be used in a class without the resources needed for computers. Caution some awkwardness...

Sources:

• Barclay, J. (2013, Sept 10). No more excuses: Teaching 21st-century skills in a low-tech setting. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2013/09/10/fp_barclay_skills.html?tkn=OUTF+UoU17lZBAKUA7aGOSAgqKM8qv+P2B8Y&cmp=ENL-TU-NEWS2