EDTECH 501 Reflections

In entering the EDTECH program I knew I was going to be challenged and I wasn't sure if the material taught would offer practical application for my classroom. I've sat through many classes over the years and found that most courses don't blend theory, methods, and application, but instead focus on hypothetical situations or scenarios. What I appreciate so much about this course is that we were exposed to a variety of methodologies, but required to experience them first hand. Expertise is cultivated through experience where trial and error is embraced. Without it we simply make assumptions that hold little credibility.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for me was adjusting to the use of APA formatting. Throughout my undergraduate degree I was required to use MLA and my school site requires that we teach MLA. It was a difficult adjustment making the transition. I often caught myself confusing the two and mixing up the distinctions that exist. It meant more time on the Purdue Owl website which at times was frustrating. Even though I thought I had the format down there were plenty of times where I had to back track and fix my errors. I felt the sample papers posted were a fabulous resource. I didn't just copy the formatted material, but rather looked at the example for guidance and used the Owl website to be sure I was following the correct format. I am also very thankful for the feedback of my small group.They graciously provided me with constructive criticism and encouragement. Their words were crucial in assuring that I felt an assignment was complete and done correctly. The whole process of using APA gave me insight into what my students must feel when they experience MLA for the first time. It humbled me in that it helped expose the struggles my students might face when I teach them about citations and parenthetical documentation. It has influenced the way I intend to teach MLA formatting this upcoming school year to best assist my students.

Despite the struggles I believe my favorite artifact was my school evaluation summary. All the other assignments were valuable as they exposed me to new technologies and offered opportunities for practice. However, the evaluation gave me a better understanding of what I can expect from my district and school site in terms of technology support, both short and long term. I also felt this was the assignment where I had to do the most digging. I talked with various members of my district to be sure I had first hand knowledge. This assignment also took the most amount of time because I was passionate about finding the most accurate information to be assessed. I didn't just want to do the assignment, but I wanted it to be meaningful and useful for my school site. I think because of my passion and desire to evaluate my school's level of technology integration I produced my best work.

While I intend to share my findings from the evaluation summary with my administrators, I also see myself using just about every tool from this class over the course of the next year. Everything from feedly to VoiceThread to Blogger to GoogleSlides. I was hoping that this course would teach me how to maximize the potential use of the technology I do have available at my school site. I intend to take the resources introduced in this course and slowly embed them into my course curriculum. For example, Socratic Seminars are already an integral part of my classroom structure. For every seminar students must come to class with an article related to the topic. I plan to introduce feedly as a means of accessing news sources and helping students find credible evidence. I will also utilize Blogger so students can develop digital portfolios. My other intention is to share these resources with my colleagues in hopes that we can begin embedding diverse technologies into the curriculum across the grade levels. There are endless possibilities of how I will use what I learned in this course throughout the school year.