Technology Reflection

Throughout the course of the semester we have used several different types of technology. A lot of the technology we have used I was completely unaware of or have never used before in my life. Some technology such as email and Sakai I use on a regular basis for my other courses and general Bradley information. However, most of the technology used within this course was completely unfamiliar to me and I learned a great deal from. First, we used Wiki, which is something I had never heard of before in my life. Since we did use it towards the beginning of the semester, and only a couple times, I still need to become familiar with it but it will definitely be something I will further investigate. We also used Prezis and Jing videos throughout the semester, which I had never heard of or used before either. I will be using one of these forms to make a video for my portfolio which will be the true test if I indeed learned how to make a video properly. I had never made a video for a class before, and I found them to be extremely beneficial. They re-iterate the purpose of the assignment in a visual way. Videos are important to make when we are teaching if we have students that are visual learners. I can also see it being beneficial as a teacher if we are absent and can put our lessons onto a video, or if a student is absent we can do the same thing. Throughout the semester, we have been using Blogger to write blogs about various things. I had never had a blog before, but I found it extremely easy to create and use throughout the semester, with a few mishaps here and there. I think blogs can be useful within the classroom to keep students and parents updated. Now that I know how easy it is to make and use, I can see myself using a blog to keeps parents informed of classroom activities. I think using Blogger is more appropriate to communicate through versus a social website such as Facebook. We also used Smart Board every day, almost, to sign into class. I have heard of teachers using SmartBoard for this purpose but have never seen it done, I was glad to get the experience in using SmartBoard for this purpose. Overall, I think we used more types of technology within this class that I have in all of my college courses combined. Although at times it was frustrating, since technology can be somewhat unreliable, I found it extremely beneficial. By being experienced with all of these various types of technology, I will be able to use them within my own classroom. It is important as teachers to remain current in the education trends, which will always be involved with technology. Technology is a major part of education today and it is going to be essential as a teacher to remain current and know how to incorporate technology within the classroom.