Personal Learning Reflection

Looking back on the past two months, I have learned a lot. I came into this experierence having heard of some of the Web 2.0 terms, but had no idea what they were. I can now speak on what Web 2.0 means and how it can be used. Before I took this course, my integration of technology into teaching was to have the students use word processing and had just started to use Moodle. The technology I integrate into my classes needs to educationally appropriate and useful to the students.

The way I was educated and learned to educate was with the lecture learn method. The teacher stood in front of the class and lectured, students took notes, read the textbook, and took a test at the end of the unit. This class has shown me a new way to teach and keep the students engaged. While there is still a place for the teacher lecture, some students learn that way, different techniques need to be imployed to improve learning for all students. The TPACK system we learned about has the teacher use their pedegogy, content knowledge and technology together to help the students learn and advance in a technically advanced socitey. Also, the integration of different technologies will allow different learning styles to be accomendated. Teaching one way only restricts the learning enviornment. Allowing the students to do research, create different types of projects like Prezis, Glogsters, Podcasts and Screencasts, will give the students a sense of ownership in the class and material and allow them to do some of the teaching in class.

The Internet has become a very powerful tool in education. I have used it in my class for research purposes and not much else. I know the students probably have a wider range of knowledge of the type of tools and games available on the Internet. My knowledge of what is available on the Internet has increased with this class and has helped to ease some of the fears I had about it's use in the classroom. Using the Internet in the classroom requires the use of expensive machines, and I believe that the more I use them, the more at ease I will feel letting the students use them. Technology and the Internet are here to stay and I am planning ways to integrate both into my teaching and making sure the students are being productive in a safe environment. One of the main advantages and disadvantages of the Internet is the available information for research. It is very plentiful, but provides opportunities for people to steal materials and use them as their own. The digital citizenship is a very important aspect to teach to the students.

In my personal growth plan and my technology plan, I want to learn how to use the new technologies available to me, along with some that are not currently available to me due to funding. In the course of this class, I have become familiar with cloud computing, social bookmarking, digital citizenship, blogging, and wikis. I feel confident in my abilities to use these technologies and to integrate them into my teaching. I do not know everything yet, but I am going to keep learning. The SIG group project help me to see how a collaborative assignment can work and allowed me to explore how to make physical education and health more relevant and engaging for the students. I was able to explore the topics of active gaming and heart rate monitors that will play a huge role in physical education in the future. This type of group project is what I envision for possibly both physical education and health.

My goals will remain the same as outlined in the personal growth plan and technology plan. I want to keep exploring ways to integrate technology into my classes, which means I have to keep using them to learn their capabilities. Also, my personal learning network has grown with the advent of the social networks and RSS feeds. What a great resource for learning and sharing ideas. The main goal I want to add is to become better at teaching digital citizenship. It is too easy for students to take someone else's work and claim it for their own. I plan on teaching that topic at the beginning of classes to help solve this problem.

I want to keep learning and evolving as a teacher. This will involve me learning and integrating technologies, following my PLN, and finding ways to fund new programs for technology. This course has enlightened me to the future of education and I just want to keep learning.