Reflecting on my Education Technology Class

As the college year is coming to an end, I wanted to post a blog reflecting on my EDTS 325 class experience and discuss some of the main aspects that I have learned from the course and will be taking with me into the future.

The class had two key aspects that I feel were successfully delivered. One was to utilize the required lessons and activities to allow me to explore various technology strategies, discover new resources, platforms, and tools and showed me how each can be incorporated into classrooms and schools. The second was to prepare me to successfully assemble my own personal learning network at the end of the semester. I believe I have learnt each component of the course to the fullest extent, at no point throughout the course did I feel as though I was missing out or not fully comprehending what was being delivered to us. I think this course definitely challenged my technology skills at times, as well as my patience, but overall I am coming out with a much wider range of knowledge than I had going in regarding the various ways you can incorporate technology into the classroom to benefit students learning. The strategies and skills that we utilized and practiced throughout this class allowed me to become much more prepared and confident to handle any technology implications or issues moving forward both as a professional in the classroom and as a current student.

I think for myself, the greatest part to taking a course such as this one is how eye opening it is to see all of the benefits of incorporating technology into a classroom that before the course I honestly hadn’t really given much thought to. I have 5 reasons I wanted to list that I believe are important in regards to technology and education.

1. Technology in the classroom engages students and creates active learners.
2. Technology in the classroom encourages individual learning and growth.
3. Technology in the classroom creates successful teachers.
4. Technology in the classroom facilitates peer collaboration.
5. Technology prepares students for the real world.

Taking an educational technology class such as EDTS 325 aims to make sure that I understand how to properly use technology as a teacher, how to use my knowledge to educate future students using the technology, how technology can support the curriculum and cultivate new and exciting lessons, and the benefits that come along with incorporating technology into lessons and the classroom.

I truly believe that the future is only going to continue to advance through the use of technology and this means it will inevitable end up in every classroom and I think it is vital that teachers be prepared and learn how to willing accept this. I think the potential that technology has to really advance classrooms and students learning and provide deep collaborative learning is super exciting and I can’t wait to see how we progress and what the future hold for education and technology!

Digital Citizenship/Social Media Digital Footprint

Part A Digital Citizenship

In my Education Technology class we participated in an “information race” where we were given certain things to look up provided by our teacher and the group who could find all the answers online first won. This was such an eye opening activity as to how important it is to start teaching children and students about digital citizenship. Majority of our class did not realize that the websites we were given to find information on were not real or incorrect until the very end when our teacher pointed this out to us. We were so focused on the racing aspect that it was easy to overlook details and specific aspects of the websites that made it clear that they were fake. Websites such as these can be very easy to believe or overlook the validity of them if someone is in a hurry but also if a person does not know what to be looking for, hence why it is important to educate students and children at home and in the classroom on digital citizenship. When we teach students about digital citizenship we help create a positive school culture that supports safe and responsible technology use, which I believe is essential for grades K-12. The activity we participated in really emphasized and triggered for me and my teacher mindset the importance of the internet safety, information literacy, privacy and security, and creative credit and copyright components of digital citizenship.

Part B Digital Footprint 

As far as my own digital footprint goes, I’m sure there is the odd thing that I still need to clean up but I don’t believe there is anything of mine that I have out there that will drastically hurt me. however, nor do I have anything that will significantly benefit me as of right now either. That being said I have a few ideas that I have thought of as I went through the course of my Educational Technology class that I want to discuss on how you can spruce up your digital footprint.

One key aspect that I think is important to point out is that we should not be afraid of social media due to your digital footprint. You can use social media to your advantage. If you post in extra curricular activities or volunteer with a school or in your community a lot, post pictures of all of them, but be sure there is nothing embarrassing.

Use platforms such as Twitter or Pinterest or Blogs etc. to promote what you are interested in such as Teaching and Education. Tailor your social media accounts to express passion. You can follow other influencers who are posting resourceful information that you can build off of, learn from, interact with, and then you can create your own ideas that will set you apart from others who have nothing to showcase their passion towards their career.

Create “brand-building” social media accounts. Create brand new professional accounts that you can showcase your achievements, volunteering, and business development initiatives. You can set up a personal website that highlights your personal accomplishments and well written blogs posts, anything that you feel is professional and will really display your talents that you can share with other colleges or potential employers.

A final good rule that is great to use when using social media to promote yourself is the grandma rule. If you would be too embarrassed to show your grandma what you are posting then chances are colleges, universities, and potential employers aren’t going to be impressed by it either. These examples are rules that I believe in following and will set me up to use social media to my advantage when asked the question, “What social media are you on and what does it say about you?”