Reflections

Last evening was our last technology class, and we had a wonderful show of individual projects. I was impressed by the amount of work that went into them, and the creativity we all brought to the process. To repeat one of my comments from last night, I learned more about powerpoint in the last three weeks as I created an author study than I did in years of my work as a consultant. Most of this was through experimentation. I also now know how to create a website -- a process that is much simpler than I imagined. This course was a wonderful example of constructivist learning. We learned from the professor, the texts, online, from each other and from ourselves. Because we came into this course from a wide range of literacies, our objectives were unique and our ZPDs were as well.

Through the work in this class, I have learned several things about integrating technology into the curriculum. First, it can be a very useful tool for engaging students -- even a dreaded unit (like poetry) can become fun. Creating these learning tools, (scavenger hunts, webquest, interactive lesson, blogs and even websites) is easy. This does not, however, mean it's quick -- to do them well, the process can be very time consuming. The most surprising thing I learned in this class, however, was not about the processes. It was the understanding that technology needs to be taught for its own sake. Students must learn the new literacies to be successful. We, as teachers, must be agents for change as we adapt learning to keep pace with literacies as they continue to evolve.