CEP810 Final Reflection

As our 6 week journey through CEP 810 draws to a close, I would like to take a moment to reflect on how I have grown as an educator and as a learner. People always used to ask me about my MAET major: what does educational technology mean? What do you do? My answers were unknowingly naive. I assumed that there existed technologies with the purpose of educating learners. As an elementary teacher, I was determined to unlock the secrets of educational technology and implement them into my classroom. After all, this course is titled, “Teach Understanding with Technology”. All of our weekly experiences lead to a single definition that I discovered through learning using only online resources and by writing/studying 21st century lesson plans and yet Punya Mishra described it so beautifully at the 21st Century Learning Conference. Punya Mishra states: “There is no such thing as educational technology. Teachers re-purpose technology in order to enhance student learning”. I had to link the video because it was a powerful moment in my learning and I am hoping others reading my blog will find it equally as powerful even without going through the same experiences I have been lucky to have gone through.

Before I could make this ultimately make this change in how I understood teaching with technology, I had to put myself in the shoes of my learners. I needed to study how learners make connections and use prior knowledge in order to build schema before adding technology into the equation. During our first week together, we read Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni. Fish is Fish allowed me to see that we internalize new knowledge by figuring out how we can use what we already know to better understand it. Even once we have experienced something for ourselves, we never really see it the exact same way someone else does. This makes all learners unique. As an instructor, I need to build upon the preexisting knowledge of my learners in ways that help them reach a more mature understanding. If I fail to acknowledge their initial beliefs, the understandings that my students develop could be drastically different than what I intended (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking). In addition, I learned there are two different types of learners: novice and experts. Expert learners see patterns while novice learners observe disconnected facts and try to make sense of them. Making the shift from novice learner to expert takes hundreds of hours. Even as I began my own study as a novice learner in cooking with essential oils and spent hours over the course of 4 weeks researching a variety of internet resources on how to do it, I still do not feel comfortable labeling myself as an expert. However, I have started to see some patterns such as when adding oils less is more. While I was the one doing to learning, I have found what works and does not work for individuals during an online learning experience. Online learning is most beneficial when we are able to engage with the expert, see a variety of perspectives that allow us to chunk the information, show and tell at a pace that we can control, and can connect to the ISTE Standards.

All of this has impacted how my professional practice will change. I will place a heavier emphasis on how I can use re-purpose technology as a tool to give my students more authentic experiences that will build upon their prior knowledge allowing for deeper understanding. This is different from my past view where I was more focused on finding the dream application that did all of the teaching and connection making for me. As a teacher, we need to let student achievement be the vision, rather than the use of technology. I will also start paying closer attention to the ISTE Standards that I did not even know existed! These standards place an emphasis on critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, communication, creativity, and innovation. I feel like as an educator I have been lacking in those areas. My use of technology was used in more superficial ways taking what could already be done with a pencil and paper and digitizing it. I understand this is problematic because they are not allowing my students opportunities to engage in those standards when those standards are what employers are now looking at when hiring new employees. I was depriving students of those opportunities unknowingly before but will do that no more. This is a big wake up to many other educators who are also finding themselves doing the same thing because they have not been taught otherwise.

This course has raised new questions for me while leaving others unanswered. While we have explored many new types of digital tools, such as Wunderlist, RSS feeds, Popplet, Evernote, Piktochart, and more, I do not fully understand when we are supposed to take the time to teach students how to use these tools so that they can use them in meaningful ways. Are we supposed to let students explore each type for a week just in computer lab for fun before trying to use them during a lesson? Do we sacrifice a day of lesson teaching just to focus on each of the resources? I believe, once understood, they will make a great impact on the child’s Personal Learning Network, I just do not know exactly where to begin. I would also like more input on what resources have been found to be successful with each age group. As a Second Grade teacher, some of the resources may be too wordy or complex since I have children who are not yet strong readers.  I suppose more research or taking the time to play around with it with my students next year will give me a better idea. I also would like to give my students more opportunities to share out their learning in order to create a more authentic purpose behind their designing. I know some platforms are student friendly while others are not. I am hoping I will be able to discover some resources that will give my children the opportunity to share out their work and allow the outside community to engage with their display of knowledge. Please comment below if you have any suggestions :-).

As I continue to grow beyond this course, I intend on using what I have learned about Creative Commons Licensing in order to share my work with other learners. I am hopeful that by sharing my findings through a now much larger PLN, others will take my findings and add onto it and share it out again. The more we push the barriers of holding knowledge hostage for ourselves, the stronger experiences we can build for our students. Let’s work smarter…not harder!

Just check out how much my PLN has grown in four short weeks:

 

References:

Bransford, J., Brown, A.L. & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.), How people learn: Brain, mind, experience and school (pp. 3-27). Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309070368.

ISTE Standards. (n.d.). Retrieved June 27, 2016, from http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/iste-standards