Reflections on Technology

As I stated in an earlier paper learning needs to include certain elements. First, learning needs to be primed. Unless we are aware of a situation it is very difficult to learn. It is possible to learn things unconsciously but this process is rare and often times involves items that are not specifically content oriented. Secondly, learning needs to include observation and experience. Seeing other people perform is not enough. In order to have true learning we need to see examples and then put these examples to practice. Lastly, for meaningful learning to take place an expert is needed. Since everyone has a voice with the capabalities of the Internet and various communication devices it is extremely important that the models we observe are ones that are of high quality.

My immediate concern is that the activities that I assign for my students become more student centered and not a way for me to take a "breather". I want to ensure that the activities that I assign are meaningful, dynamic, and impactful on their lives. Meeting this goal means that the resources used should be ones that my students are going to use later in their education or professional careers. This would include resources such as blogs, wikis, and other social networking resources (as much as that pains me) like Linked In.

Thinking long term, I would like to get to the point where my class is as paperless as possible. This would entail switching journal entries to blog entries. Since most of the papers and homework assignments are already created in word processors it is easy to have my students submit their work via email. I already have a website that provides notes, extension activities, resources, homework assignments, and other tools. These are minor adjustments but ones that will have a major impact on the management of the course. Another long term goal is to change my presentations to include many more engaging activities and visuals and ones that address more of the multiple intelligences. I have traditionally focused on the simple tools like PowerPoint and showing already made websites. I want to shift to using Web 2.0 resources for the presentations and other programs that aid in the creation of more dynamic presentations.