Field_Based_Activities_Report

Fundamentals of Educational Technology was a very informative course. When starting I was not sure what to expect or how much I would learn that would be related to my day to day work environment. I have learned so much, I am having trouble implementing all of it in my day to day operations. We started with learning about the national and district technology standards. I learned that for one we are behind world wide with technology in education. I also learned that my school district is behind on implementing our technology plan. They have done a lot, but there are several items in the plan that have not been completed. I realized it is up to teachers to be creative with how to include technology into their lessons because districts are budget crunched. As one of the articles stated, “You represent the community's best hope for its children's future.” (Cassey, 2005) Whether we are a technology facilitator or a teacher we need to work to get our children using more technology in their school work.

As we went further on in the class I was introduced to Blogs, Wiki’s, and RSS Feeds. These are great tools that can be used to communicate and keep students involved in class. For example rather then type up a reading report, students can use a blog. Group projects can be collaborated on wiki’s and as a teacher I can use an RSS Feed to keep track when sites are updated. As teachers we are constantly trying to keep our students attention. One author stated, “… the single biggest problem facing education today is that our Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language.” (Prensky, 2001) By this the author meant that the old methods of teaching do not work anymore. We need to use the same digital mediums our students are using to teach them. Learning about Blogs, Wiki’s, and RSS feeds can help us do that. During this class I also read the book “The World is Flat: A brief history of the 21st century.” The main point of this book is that because of how connected we are through technology the world is becoming a level playing field for all countries. Hence the title “The World is Flat”. The author talks about where the world is going with technology and called the latest technologies such as smart phones and iPads, steroids. He states, “I call certain new technologies the steroids because they are amplifying and turbo charging all the other flatteners.” (Friedman, 2006) By flatteners he means technologies making the world “flat”.

Overall the course had very good information. There are two items on my mind that I am leaving with. The first is that we are getting behind in the world in educating our children with technology, but how can we afford to keep up? Schools are broke and technology cost money. What can we do? The other item is how do I keep all this great information fresh in my mind without forgetting about it when I get busy with my next course. There are a ton of ideas I have had during this course and I do not want to forget them. By saving all of the information in Microsoft Word hopefully that last item will not be a problem.

Friedman, Thomas L., The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants: Part 1. // On The Horizon, //9(5), 1-6

Cassey, J M. (2005). Practitioners Guide to Creating a Shared Vision. // Leadership, 35(1), 26-29 //