Personal Learning Reflection

CEP 810 has helped me learn a lot about technology that I can incorporate into my teaching. I have learned about RSS feeds, and although it is not something that I like to use, I have envisioned some uses for it in the classroom. For example, it can help students create a list of credible sources for different topics. I also really liked learning how to embed a Google Calendar into a blog or website! I like to give my students as much notice as possible about upcoming and future assignments; I realize that they have a lot going on in theirs lives (much like me) and sometimes need more advanced notice of assignments, tests, and projects. Even though our SIG project wasn't exactly what was expected, I learned a ton about Google and all the possibilities that Google can be used for in a classroom! I had no idea about Google Scholar and Google Docs and Forms; it really opened my eyes. Using a bookmarking tool was genius, so I could find information easily. The last thing that really struck me was doing the Creative Commons Lab and making sure that I register media that is put on the Internet. I thought that was very informative. Everything that has been taught in this course is great because it can all be used from the Internet, and I don't need certain programs to run them on school computers. Making specific requests for school computers is a hassle because sometimes software isn't free or it's blocked or any number of excuses why teachers can't have it. This course allowed me to see how a number of things can be done on the Internet without dealing with those problems.

I'm very proud of the lesson that I devised for teaching Osmosis in collaboration with my sister's biology class in a different school. This lesson combined a lot of what I hope to accomplish with technology. I want to encourage students to collaborate with others, but I don't want them to be limited. I want them to think broader and I hope that working with students from Chicago while we're in Germany will help them think big! It really showed that technology can unite people.

I feel that I have accomplished some of my goals. I learned how to integrate more technology in my class. I used Google Docs to have students collaborate on projects with people in other time zones. I embedded a Google Calendar into my class website. There are a few goals I have not accomplished. The big one is that I wanted to learn how to create a site where I could have each student log in and create their own blog on a universal class site. It's all right, though; you can't win them all. I'll get to this eventually.

Newer goals, for me, just mean thinking bigger! How can I get more computers in my classroom? How can my school increase the bandwidth so we don't have as many Internet problems? When will I have time to develop that class blogging website? How can I reach out to teachers all over the world to try to skype or facetime with them and create new global lessons? I will accomplish these goals by talking to people. It's amazing what can be learned or done when one simply talks to people. People have great ideas, and I need to draw from them all.