The time has come to embrace the use of
technology both personally and professionally. Recently, I began coursework
for my newest class, CED501 Successful Online Learning through Cardinal Stritch
University. I have always been the one to become excited, but yet I let my
nerves get the best of me and got easily flustered. I was extremely nervous
during my first session and felt frustrated when a few minor things were not
working. As the time went by, I found my
excitement growing as I began seeing many new opportunities and experiences
open up online.
I am surrounded by technology personally
because of what my husband does for a living as the Director of Technology
Instruction at a high school in Kenosha County, and as well as professionally,
for example, when I read an e-mail about being a part of my school district's
Next Generation of Learners team for the next school year. Again, the same
feelings came around, excitement and frustration. I am excited because I know
through this course I will be exposed to new informational sites like this blog
(first timer here!) as well as many new collaborating skills that are essential
to online learning. I do worry about the frustration part of it and how I will
find the time to get through it. At times in my school when I can actually get
a hold of laptop carts, it takes a lot of patience and time for my students to
get logged on, to deal with forgotten passwords, laptops that were not charged
or broken, and to help students know where to save their documents. I then must have a successful lesson through
technology in under 41 minutes of class time! Yikes!
In particular, I am concerned about engaging my students. The video that I have attached to this blog really makes me think and ponder the same questions the students in the video have. I want to engage them and if they are surrounded by their own technology, cell phones, text messages, e-mail, gaming sites, Facebook, Twitter (I can go on and it is overwhelming), how will I keep them engaged in my classroom?
However, I am a willing participant and open to learning, trying, and practicing through learning technological opportunities offered in this class. I am confident that I will reach out to my own next generation of learners. I have already seen some examples in my current profession by the success of apps or sites I have already been using such as Edmodo, Evernote, Google Sites and Documents, Remind101, and PollEverywhere.com. I hope to find ways to put them all together with what I will learn from this course.
In particular, I am concerned about engaging my students. The video that I have attached to this blog really makes me think and ponder the same questions the students in the video have. I want to engage them and if they are surrounded by their own technology, cell phones, text messages, e-mail, gaming sites, Facebook, Twitter (I can go on and it is overwhelming), how will I keep them engaged in my classroom?
Source: YouTube
However, I am a willing participant and open to learning, trying, and practicing through learning technological opportunities offered in this class. I am confident that I will reach out to my own next generation of learners. I have already seen some examples in my current profession by the success of apps or sites I have already been using such as Edmodo, Evernote, Google Sites and Documents, Remind101, and PollEverywhere.com. I hope to find ways to put them all together with what I will learn from this course.
I will end my first blog with the intention
that I am open and ready to learn from all my colleagues. I am a team player
and open to suggestions, comments, and feedback (or FIGGYBACK which was
inspired from a fond nickname of mine growing up). During this course, I look
forward to incorporating what I have learned into my classroom (perhaps
becoming an online teacher) as well as learning from others how they find the
balance of using technology with content, such as my favorite subject, Social
Studies. Thank you!!
Hi Carrie! Great job on your blog. I am so impressed with all the blogs that everyone created in this class. I can relate to your apprehension the first night of our online class. I too was a nervous wreck...wondering if I would be able to log on, get the microphone to work..... Its nice to know that I wasn't the only one stressing out about it. And I also agree, as time went on I felt much more comfortable with how the online class works. I can understand the frustration for classroom teachers to keep their students engaged with all the various types of technology available to them. One of my biggest concerns is with all the technology available to students, are they losing the ability to be social in a face to face or group setting. I see groups of kids sitting at a table, none of them talking or looking at each but texting on their phones. Their is a lot of good that comes with technology but unfortunately their are drawbacks too.
ReplyDeleteI am so impressed with this blog!!! The poll on the side is a great interactive tool and I want to go figure out how to do that now. How frustrating it is to have such boundaries on technology learning such as broken lap tops and disastrous carts! Despite that, you persevere and continue to try to integrate technology skills across the board with Edmodo, Google, Evernote, Remind101, etc. You never back down from a challenge and you are always will to what you learn. So please share with me how you did that poll....hehehehe!
ReplyDeleteCarrie, I completely share your concern about engaging students by using the technology in an appropriate way. My biggest concern as well is the nearly 100% access to non-academic distractions students find online. I am not convinced that this is a "best practice." Businesses/workplaces set guidelines and deadlines for completing projects, yet we can't set parameters for control of what our students do with iPads? It seems irresponsible to give students such a powerful tool with no limitations before teaching them how to use it appropriately, or further, without a plan to take them away when they are abused.
ReplyDeleteI believe you'll be astounded by the number of different items that are available for social studies. From virtual field trips, to collaborative uses of wikis, to the steady stream of news that comes across from different resources on the web. Like anything, I believe the more you do, the better you will become at it. What area do you feel you want to enhance the most within your social studies curriculum?
ReplyDeleteHi Louis! In response to your question, I would like to enhance the inquiry aspect. Where students can make connections to our curriculum with current events or even take a topic and find a related article, site, etc. and comment about it. Even getting them to ask more questions from those discoveries would be wonderful. Do have a recommendation for the steady news stream mentioned? Thank you!
ReplyDelete