Educause - Chapter 8

This chapter seemed to focus on the idea that all forms of "old teaching strategies" do not need to be discontinued, but newer tools need to be added in order to keep the attention and pace of Net Geners.

I really liked and agree with the comment made by a faculty member, "Technology is a giant mirror reflecting back to you your own deepest issues. It challenges you to clarify what you value, to rediscover why you went into teaching in the first place, and to be honest about whether your original hopes have been realized. It also sheds light on how we interact with our students and how they respond to our courses, and [it] forces us to think about the real meaning of community and what it is that a group of people assembled in a single physical space experience and how that compares to what a group of people in cyberspace might experience."

Since the beginning of this class I have been analyzing and re-analyzing my ideas, fears and biases about using technology in the classroom.  I feel that teachers that are unwilling to do this are committing a critical error in judgment that may potentially stunt the intellectual growth of the students in their classrooms.

This class was given to me as one of the 1st 2 classes that I was enrolled in for my graduate work.  I was told that this is typically one of the last courses assigned to Education students, and I am so thankful to have had this course so early in my coursework.  Without this course, and my introduction into so many new technology tools and systems I believe I would have fallen into a routine of running a classroom the way the teachers I had in school ran their rooms.  There was no technology to be found in the classrooms I attended.

I would definitely survey students to find out what types of technology they use on a regular basis so I would know if there was a mode of communication that could be easily utilized throughout our course.  I would also want to know what types of technology they had become familiar with through other classes they attended - I would want to know what type of pace I should expect to keep with a group of students.

 The most important thing for a teacher to know is that one course is not going to get them up to date with technology, and keep them there.  This will need to be an on-going process of learning new sources of technology in order to keep up with the pace and interest level of students in the classroom.