Wednesday, April 14, 2010

EDUC 6715 Reflection

This course has been a great benefit to me both as an educator and a person living in the 21st Century. The use of technology in the classroom is not only a necessary skill today, but can truly increase the potential for "quality work" (Glasser, 1998) in the classes I teach.

Gee (2005) describes the use of video gaming for learning, and I found his article to be informative and direct in terms of useful parallels between leaning styles and fun ways to achieve goals. My immediate plans for change in my school involve the use of gaming technology to master objectives and expand creativity in music. We will start simply by analyzing music from games, then move into playing games to reinforce skills and explore solutions to problems. Finally, we will create our own interactive video games, possibly using MUVE type software. While this final plan may take a great deal of time to realize, it will help our students through the use of "collaborative environments" (Johnson, Levine, Smith, & Smythe, 2009) and allow them to more carefully construct ideas with peers and experts around the globe.

One area I also learned a great deal about in this course is how to approach finding funds to support technological growth in our classrooms. This knowledge is of critical importance, "since constant improvement requires continuous funding" (Brooks, 2004). By following the guidelines in Brooks' (2004) article, we can begin to remove the mystery and fear of grant writing and get some well needed equipment and training.

In short, even though I feel ever more prepared to use technology in my classes to benefit my students, I am also more aware of my limitations in terms of knowledge. I would, therefore agree that “the more I teach, the more I realize how much I need to learn” (Nieto, 2005).

-Stephen St. Georges

References:

Brooks, D. (2004). How to write grants: The best kept secret in the school business. T.H.E. Journal, 31(10), 30–34.

Gee, J. P. (2005). Good video games and good learning. Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 85(2), 33–37.

Glasser, W. (1998). Choice theory: A new psychology of personal freedom. New York: Harper and Row.

Johnson, L., Levine, A., Smith, R., & Smythe, T. (2009). The 2009 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

Nieto, S. (2005) Why We Teach. New York: Teachers College Press

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