Course Reflections
Before I began the course, I was not sure if the program would be a good fit for me because I am not a public school teacher. Because I was allowed into the program, I assumed that the assignments would not necessarily be centered around public school activities. I had hoped to learn about new software and equipment and the Web 2.0 tools that I had been hearing about. As I began to review the syllabus and course materials, I was a bit overwhelmed. Most of the terms and school acronyms were unfamiliar to me. I thought right away that I would have to enlist the help of my wife, a public school teacher, and her school friends just to understand the terminology. I hoped that after completing this first course that I would have a better understanding of how technology is used in public schools and how I could use this new knowledge to benefit my adult students in the fire academy. After completing the course, I feel more comfortable with the terminology, and can converse with colleagues about subjects such as TEKS, Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology, ISTE, and NETS – all of which were completely foreign to me before taking the course. To some extent, the course did fulfill some of my expectations. I was thrilled to add some technology tools to my toolbox, i.e., creating blogs, wikis and word clouds.
I was already familiar with online environments from my experience as an instructor with the fire academy. We use a blended learning environment with Moodle online weekly assignments and bi-monthly hands-on skills classes. The Epic courseware that Lamar uses has given me some ideas about course design that I can use to make our Moodle courses more user friendly and effective. After the first two weeks, I realized that each week’s materials and assignments followed a standard format and that, for the most part, I could anticipate the types of assignments and the amount of time that I would need to spend to complete them. The coursework itself, in spite of being geared toward public schools, is helping me to prepare more engaging activities for my own students. For example, I plan to introduce wikis to help make the fire academy assignments more interactive between the students. In my experience with just this one class, I can already see how interacting with my classmates will help me to learn more than just from the course material itself.
Although the outcomes that I had expected prior to beginning the course were not fully realized, I do feel that the outcomes were aligned with the course goals as described in Ms. Borel’s introductory message. I do understand how the TEKS provide a framework for integrating technology into curriculum, and how the components of the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology help to create a shared vision for improving student achievement. From the lectures and readings, I have a better grasp of the challenges that educators face as we work to create learning experiences for students that prepare them for living and working in the 21st century. Having almost completed this course, I understand that the outcomes I had expected to achieve will be realized throughout the course of the entire program. There is simply a lot of material that I have not been exposed to that I am sure we will cover along the way.
For the most part, I was successful with completing all of the assignments. Initially, I found it difficult to navigate the courseware in order to find the most up-to-date instructions for the assignments. I learned very quickly that it is important to read the announcements because there could be changes to assignments and/or due dates. For example, I missed participating in a web conference because the date was changed, and I did not read the announcement until the day that the web conference was originally scheduled. Also, I found that the “To Do List” published in the courseware did not reflect all of the required assignments. An example is that web conferences are not listed in the “To Do List”. It would be more helpful if all required work was listed in one place, but I now know how important it is to check announcements, read any overviews provided, and participate in all web conferences, if possible. Participation in web conferences was, and will continue to be, difficult because of my obligations with the fire department. As an executive staff member of the city, I am required to be present at all city council meetings. As an emergency responder, it is often difficult to adhere to structured schedules. I will make every attempt to read any conference reflections from other students’ blog posts if I am unable to participate in a conference.
I learned that while adept at many technology tasks, I am really a digital immigrant. The technology skills that my students have naturally are skills that I have had to learn and develop. The idea of using a telephone to look up information and collaborate with others, as well as to communicate verbally, was completely foreign to me in my youth. For today’s students who have grown up with cell phones and computers, this is a natural progression that requires little more than learning a few new button clicks. I realize that in order to be an effective educator, I must embrace the students’ electronic “buddies” and use them as educational tools, rather than ban them from the classroom. I also realize that I can be a technology leader and not have all of the answers. I can learn from my students, and I need to constantly stay current on the latest technologies and their classroom applications. I will do this by subscribing to technology journals, attending workshops and conferences such as service center training and TCEA, and observing other teachers and instructional technologists as opportunities arise.
