Reflection on Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society

In the past couple of months I have been working on my latest class for my masters: Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society. The class was the best one I have taken through Walden University. The reason why I liked the class so much was that I actually learned things that I can easily apply to my classroom. For instance, I had to create a lesson plan where my students created a blog, wiki or podcast. I decided to make a wiki assignment for my Human Conflicts class. In the assignment a group of students have to create a wiki page with information on a conflict that they have chosen. Before the class I had never done anything with wikis but now I can use this new technology to assess my students and give them another creative way of expressing themselves. This class and this one assignment are not the end of my integration of technology into my classroom. I also learned through the class how important it is for us teachers to have the students collaborate with each other to create something digitally. In a previous post I shared about the Partnership for 21st Century Schools. The partnership and Walden have showed me that we need to make workers for the future of our nation and they need to know how to use technology and work with others. Therefore in the future I will continue to come up with new ways to teach my students and prepare them for the future.
Over the next two years I really want to embrace the ideas that I have just shared with you from my class. In the next two years I want to have two digital projects where the students have to work together to create the assignment for every class I teach. Each class I teach is 8 weeks long so ever month I want to challenge my students with something cool digitally. I look forward to developing these projects and seeing how the students respond. The second goal I have for my classroom is that I focus on teaching the students how to work together. Any teacher and student knows that group projects always have flaws. That is why I have stayed away from doing group projects in my classes. However I know what to teach the students how to work together more so they can succeed not only on projects in my class but on projects in the real world. I think in the next two years if I can accomplish these goals I can really help my students.

The Partnership for 21st Century Schools

I recently went to this website: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php
I greatly appreciate other individuals out there that are working towards the same goals I am. This group is hoping to accomplish the same things as me so I support their work in any way I can. The one issue that I do have with The Partnership is that they work on the administrative and district levels where as I work on the teacher level. Teachers always have lots of say in eduction so if we can educate them in the need for new technologically advanced skills then they can pass it on and work towards getting support. The Partnership tries to teach districts mostly on the need for new skills and that can change schools too. We have the same goals in mind but different ways of promoting them.
I am mostly impressed with The Partnership in how they have corporate support. If you look at their board it is all people from the corporate world. Teachers and the corporate world need each other. We need their support and they need use to provide them with educated workers. It is the same effective partnership that recently started a new charter school here in Colorado. Story at: http://coloradocharters.blogspot.com/2009/11/douglas-county-school-board-hears-stem.html
IF you look over the goals and tools on the website you will find some great stuff. The Partnership I believe is truly working towards a great thing. Again most of the resources are more at the administrative and district levels but it is still good stuff. Please everyone contact The Partnership and ask them to start doing their initiatives here in Colorado because they will be a great ally.

How can blogging help in the classroom?

Blogging just like most technology out there can be used for educational purposes. I think the greatest way to use blogging in the classroom is use it for communication of ideas. Students love to be able to share what they think and the few that are shy should be taught how to share ideas. Sharing ideas goes a long way for our society because the greater transmission of ideas allows our society to find the greatest ideas out there and then use them. When we communicate we can all learn from each other. In the classroom it is the same way. If as a class we can all share our ideas then we can learn from each other. Many peoples ideas are much better than just the teachers sharing his/her ideas. Blogs can be set up by the teacher and then commented on by the students or the students can create their own blogs and then comments on each others. A great example of a school that has embraced blogging in education is a local high school. Here is the link to their blogging page:
http://arapahoe.littletonpublicschools.net/LEARNINGNETWORK/tabid/959/Default.aspx

Why is technology important to the classroom?

Think of technology ten years ago? What pieces of technology were in common use?
Here is what I think of: Nintendo 64, Gameboy, Dot Matrix Printers, and 56k Internet.
Haven't we come a long way?
Technology in the classroom to me is utterly important because we have to prepare our student for the future. Math is used everyday by adults so we teach math. Social Studies is important because it helps people understand their world better. Technology is important because our students will use it hours and hours a day. Even today we can't go about our normal routine without touching technology every hour or so. Therefore we need to teach technology all the time. The world of academics has always changed as the world has changed and integrating technology into every classroom is the next step.
Another reason to use technology in the classroom is to engage the students. Students today use technology as much as all of us. Students love the stimulation that technology gives and as teachers we can use that to our advantage. I know in my classroom when I can show my students a new piece of technology they all pay close attention. Shouldn't teach in a way that engages our students and in a way that they are used too? That is why I think we must use technology in the classroom.