EdTech 504 - Final Thoughts

I know that this coming school year will be one of change in my classroom because of the things I learned in this class. The course provided me with a definite foundation of theories on which to design and implement instruction. In addition, it will help me become a better guide in my perceptions and actions in daily classroom activity. However, exploring ideas from age old to brand new and emerging has developed my desire to make an impact on the world using this knowledge.

My family, wife and two kids, are not planning on staying in the area we live (and I grew up) for an extended time period of time. Our ideas of the future possibly involve living outside the United States teaching in an international school and/or becoming involved in education in another city or town in the country. Options seem wide open right now. Education has become my passion and heartbeat in the last 10 years of my life. I find a depth of rewards in teaching and the inherent learning that goes on in the process. I feel this program, and especially this class has transported my learning by leaps and bounds ahead the knowledge from experience that taught me so much in my first 5 years of practice. In conversations with my wife this summer I have been talking about how I could apply these things in my class this next year, but also in our future goals as educators.

As I said in the last post, I hold to the idea that what I believe will naturally flow out of my words and actions as an educator. I feel my beliefs have changed in many ways as I look back on my reflections from the past 7 weeks.

I now better understand:

• Knowledge and the ways of gaining knowledge in a totally different light
• Behaviorism as a helpful tool to understand learning and providing some instruction
• The importance of helping students form cognitive connections in learning
• The need to highly support students need in constructing their own knowledge and considerations to take in instructional design
• The application of research-based motivation in classroom practices
• An application for the interconnectedness of many different learning theories and an openness to more theories than previous beliefs
• How to critically analyze work that is above my head in an annotated bibliography
• How to cite papers in correct APA format (hopefully!)
• And much more...

I do not know what the future has in store, but I know that I will look back on this class as a real foundation to my idea of educational technology. When I started this program in the summer of 2008 I was ready to learn about Web 2.0 tools, web design, and ways to get my kids to use computers more in the learning process. I am now leaving this program with so much more than a better understanding of “computers and kids.” The process of providing effective, efficient learning has a potential to serve so many people by improving learning and providing a better quality of life. This is even if technology tools are not considered in design and implementation of instruction. The addition of access and consideration of technology tools in design opens exciting and seemingly endless possibilities in instruction. Education promotes change. If I am able to apply the things I learn in this class in a way that improves the quality of life of even one person I believe I will find satisfaction in goals. My hope, however, is to impact many more.