Reflection - The Use of Technology in the Classroom

This course has helped me to develop my skills in technology vastly. Before this course, I had never created a blog, wiki, or podcast. Now I have done all three and had some great fun doing so. Music technology has come a long way, and now we can start sharing the creative process with a much larger (global) audience due to my increased understanding of the technological processes.
My knowledge of the teaching and learning process has grown through a perspective change. Thornburg (2008a) and Dede (2008b) heavily discuss the shift from teachers as generators of knowledge to teachers as mentors and facilitators of instruction instead. I am used to delivering instruction after researching topics of interest for my classes. Now, with the vast amount of technology available to my students, there should be more emphasis on student involvement regarding learning.
I have always believed that learning should be student-centered, although I have been guilty of following established curriculum at times in my career. It is truly amazing to think of the amount of available technology and information in today’s society. Richardson (2006) mentions the content is so available to the public that “many teachers and students have begun writing their own textbooks online…that future classes can build on as well.” (Richardson, 2006 p.131)
Houston (2008c) emphasizes the use of wikis as a learning tool. It is interesting to me to start thinking about wikis as a learning tool rather than a “cheat” as I have in the past. The use of wikis can and should actually encourage more research rather than less. One way to use the knowledge I have acquired in this course to increase student achievement is to encourage my students to create wikis for class use. This way, we can create study guides for exams, collaborate with students from other classes and schools, and use a valuable web 2.0 tool for increased learning.
The first goal I have for my classes is to use wiki and blog technology in the classroom. Wikis will be used to create mini texts to be used for study and review, while blog entries will be used for writing prompts and reflection. I also intend to use podcasting technology in the classroom to set up digital portfolios for my students, so that we can measure growth over a multi-year span of time (since many of my students in performance ensembles repeat the course). Some of the problems associated with the use of these technologies are lack of access, lack of support, and blocking of websites in schools. My plan is to gain administrative support for integration in my classroom, then show my students how to use the blogs and wikis during a class period with computers so they can work along and learn through experience. After this, I will seek admittance to the sites I will need for music blogging assignments. Although that may take some time, my experience has been that patience pays off in the long run. And since I do have the time to invest in using technology, I intend to use it for a long time so that I can have the fun which Davidson (2008d) mentions so emphatically.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc, (Executive Producer). (2008a). Thornburg, D. “The Changing Role of the Classroom Teacher: Part 1.” [Educational Video]. In Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Los Angeles: Solution Tree.

Laureate Education, Inc, (Executive Producer). (2008b). Dede, C. “The Changing Role of the Classroom Teacher: Part 2.” [Educational Video]. In Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Los Angeles: Solution Tree.

Laureate Education, Inc, (Executive Producer). (2008c). Houston, J. “Spotlight on Technology: Collaboration Through Wikis.” [Educational Video]. In Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Los Angeles: Solution Tree.

Laureate Education, Inc, (Executive Producer). (2008d). Davidson, H. and Thornburg, D. “Bringing the Fun into Teaching with Technology.” [Educational Video]. In Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Los Angeles: Solution Tree.

Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wiks, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.