Skip to main content

Reflecting on EDU 776

Final thoughts

Technology in Education 


I have always believed that technology in education is so important. Many districts, including my own, actually rely on it and expect that teachers and students are using it for a variety of things. This course just enhanced my belief by showing me (and reminding me) of all the beneficial things that technology can do for us and our students in the classroom. This includes things like incorporating active learning techniques into my lessons, using accessibility tools with my students, and like most recently, using AI to enhance my classroom. 


I think this course made me think about how to be more purposeful with technology. A lot of times as teachers we use technology because it is something our district or school requires us to use. However, in this course, I was exposed to so many cool tools that will be beneficial to me and/or my students. Those are the types of technology resources we should be using in our classrooms. 


I do think I have become more open to using different technology in my learning space. Especially when learning more about AI. There are so many cool tools out there to use as the teachers and even some my students can utilize as well like with MagicSchool AI. I want to start using them immediately! 


Eye Opening


There were so many interesting topics that we covered this course. One that really stood out to me was learning about our digital footprint. This concept was not new to me as I have learned about it in other classes. However, using the many different websites to find information about myself was eye opening. I am still shocked that I was able to find my full address and phone number just on the internet for anyone to find. It makes me really, truly realize that anything you put on the internet is out there forever. Even if you didn’t put it there, it can be out there for others to find. It made me think about how as educators we need to do a better job of teaching our students this starting at an early age. I don’t think they understand that. My fourth graders have Snapchat, Tik Tok, and who knows what else. But they post and share things thatI am sure they won’t be happy with when they are older, look back and see. 


GIF Check In 


Source: democrats.org
At the beginning of this course, I used a gif that showed some excitement but nervousness. I used this gif in the beginning because this was the start of the last course for my Masters degree. I couldn’t believe my last class was finally here, but I was nervous for what was to come. I always feel this way at the start of a new class. Now that the class is over, I decided to use a new gif to show how I am feeling. I am so excited to be done with my final class! It is a huge relief lifted off my shoulders. This time of year has been extremely busy for me with wedding planning, purchasing a home, and personal matters. Therefore, I do feel relief that is over. I am also so excited to be earning my Masters degree and graduating this winter. Like I mentioned before, I am the first in my family to earn a Master's degree so everyone cannot wait to celebrate with me come December. It is such a big accomplishment. However, I am going to lie - I love school . Hence why I became a teacher. Therefore I will miss it. However a break before I even think about taking any more classes is much needed!


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AI In Education

  AI in Education  AI in education is becoming a bigger thing. AI is Artificial Intelligence. AI can complete human-like tasks, more so that are technology related. It is everywhere nowadays. Teachers are using AI to help support their lessons and students. However, there are so many different websites and tools that educators can use with AI that it can be overwhelming. I myself haven't used AI too much. I understand many things have AI built into it now. Such as Instagram with their “Meta AI”, but that’s about it. I would love to learn about more tools I can use in the classroom to support my planning and students' learning. With that being said, I took some time to explore three different AI tools for educators and I am going to share with you my thoughts! MagicSchool AI  Last school year, one of my colleagues presented on MagicSchool AI . She highlighted so many cool and fascinating things that it could do. I couldn’t wait to use it! I book marked the website right th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Accessibility in the Classroom

  What is Accessibility?  Accessibility is something that is available to help technology users use the technology more easily. This is not just something available for students. All sorts of technology has accessibility features. Even the Iphone you use has accessibility features. Simple things such as increasing your font size or what the side buttons on your phone do are accessibility features that you may not even realize you use.  Accessibility for Students Students need to have access to a variety of tools that will make them successful in the classroom. Majority of students today have a device they use daily. Within the device there are things called accessibility features that allow students to access technology conveniently. All technology has accessibility features, it is up to the user (or in education sometimes the teacher) to turn these features on.  Majority of my teaching career (in my old district) I used Apple products. My students had iPads and I ...
4 comments
Read more

Educational Technology Research

Show Me the Research! It is so important for teachers to stay up to date on educational research. As educators we need to know what the latest trends are and how to best meet the needs of our students. Without staying up to date on research, it is kind of like going into your classroom blind. Research gives us such a deeper understanding of what our students need and why.  What Are the Stats Saying? There are so many things that influence our students and how they learn in the classroom. According to McCrindle , “ Almost half of Gen Z turn to TikTok (48%) and Instagram (46%) to teach themselves new things daily” (McCrindle, 2023). This statistic spoke to me for a variety of reasons. The first being that that the stat is showing almost half of this generation uses these apps to teach themselves things. It makes me wonder what else are they using to learn things? What is the other 52% using to teach themselves things? Another reason this statistics spoke to me is it is focused on Gen...
5 comments
Read more