REFLECTION
To be honest I have actually
found myself a little perplexed at times during this unit of study. It has
taken me several weeks, listening to collaborate sessions and others’ blogs to
see my way around this. I am at a point now, where I see the ‘light’ at the end
of the tunnel. I am out of the darkness and into the light. As I heave a sigh
of relief (still with a little trepidation) I can now actually reflect on the learning and
discoveries I have made thus far.
With lots of Google searches
(thank goodness for Google) I have been able to find my way round using a Blog
and adding in ‘bits and pieces’ in the forms of audio, images and video. I feel
like I need to explain again how excited I am by the use of Blogs in my
classroom. Since starting the course my students have started Blogging. It is
exciting as a teacher to see their ideas and explanations come to life. To see
how they progress in their learning and how they are starting to expose
themselves to their peers. A lot of learning has taken place in a small amount
of time for my students and myself.
Blogs are a modern way of
learning very real and relevant to how students today should learn. I have
actually found that looking at the ideas of others’ blogs and reading posts has
enlightened me to some new ways and extended my own learning. Listening to the
Blackboard sessions has assisted my learning but I feel that being unable to be
a part of it hinders that learning as well. To not be able to add comment to
discussion, or ask a question that is not being asked, is at times frustrating.
However, with this frustration I am seeing exactly how important social
interaction when learning is. I wish I could box up what I have learnt by being
unable to participate in collaborate sessions and show this to teachers whose
classrooms are forever silent!
There are a plethora of ‘ideas’
out there to use images, audio and video in learning. I find that I need to
look for what I require in my own learning and with my students. I had
previously used audacity in my class to create a story with groups of students
about global warming (connected to some pictures) that we eventually made a
movie out of. I find it easy to use and manipulate and as my students got using
it they worked just as well with it, (perhaps even a little better than me).
This is just an example of how technology supports learning. How this quite
simple exploration can transform how we all teach and learn.
I believe that my pedagogy as a
teacher is still and will always be forming and expect the more learning I do
myself the more it will evolve. I believe that learning online has really
impacted how I want to teach. Web 2.0 has definitively changed the way I teach
and learn. It has made learning social, interactive and exciting. However, it
does not do this just by being there. As teachers we must look at the
affordances of the technology we use, the programs and the software we use. It
is only by doing this that we can completely and wholly take learning into the
21st Century.
As I come to the end of this
reflection, I start piecing and putting together exactly what I have learnt; exactly
what it means to me. Technology supports learning and teaching. Technology does
not make you smarter or your students’ ability to think critically develop
overnight. The use of technology in the classroom must be integrated correctly
and supported sufficiently. We must let ourselves as learners and our students
discover information. We must all create, build and share.
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