Reflection
Why did I embark upon getting a Masters in Educational Technology? The reason has to do with my work with teachers who are striving to improve teaching and learning of mathematics in their classrooms. I was looking for new ways to support and to document this work that could supplement the face-to-face work I do. I wanted to find technology that allowed meaningful work with teachers situated in the context of their classrooms, to provide them support as they wrestled with implementing professional learning ideas. I dreamt that perhaps using video, websites, blogging, and other newer technology would assist with this.
So what have I learned?
Research: I have learned ways to document and study professional development with teachers and learning with students—ways to make the case for the professional development. This will help in the future design of professional learning programs.
Technology: I have learned and done things I didn’t dream I would. (Before this program, I didn’t even own a smart phone.) I was very happy to learn that website creation has progressed to the point that one doesn’t have to learn code, which allowed me to focus on principles of construction for that. I learned how to: capture digital movies; create video projects; collaborate on Google Presentation; start a Google hangout on air; use Adobe Connect instead; find free photos online (which takes an inordinate amount of time); study exemplars to get ideas for projects; create quizzes using Socrative and cell phones, use Explain Everything to annotate and record, make a screencast to navigate a website…and more!
Ingenuity of my classmates: One of the richest resources of this program were my classmates. Our varied backgrounds provided many perspectives and made for interesting discussions both face-to-face and online. Sharing new apps and websites and technology was also very useful. The size of the group was also just right, enough for lots of ideas, but not too large to feel as though you didn’t know some folks. Even though group projects were a challenge, they did provide a way to collaborate and learn from each other.
So the program has given me some new tools, some new resources, and some new ideas about how I might use technology both to provide professional learning opportunities for teachers, and to study their impact. And, I still don’t own a smart phone!
So what have I learned?
Research: I have learned ways to document and study professional development with teachers and learning with students—ways to make the case for the professional development. This will help in the future design of professional learning programs.
Technology: I have learned and done things I didn’t dream I would. (Before this program, I didn’t even own a smart phone.) I was very happy to learn that website creation has progressed to the point that one doesn’t have to learn code, which allowed me to focus on principles of construction for that. I learned how to: capture digital movies; create video projects; collaborate on Google Presentation; start a Google hangout on air; use Adobe Connect instead; find free photos online (which takes an inordinate amount of time); study exemplars to get ideas for projects; create quizzes using Socrative and cell phones, use Explain Everything to annotate and record, make a screencast to navigate a website…and more!
Ingenuity of my classmates: One of the richest resources of this program were my classmates. Our varied backgrounds provided many perspectives and made for interesting discussions both face-to-face and online. Sharing new apps and websites and technology was also very useful. The size of the group was also just right, enough for lots of ideas, but not too large to feel as though you didn’t know some folks. Even though group projects were a challenge, they did provide a way to collaborate and learn from each other.
So the program has given me some new tools, some new resources, and some new ideas about how I might use technology both to provide professional learning opportunities for teachers, and to study their impact. And, I still don’t own a smart phone!