EDLD+5364-+Final+Course+Reflection

Respond in the expandable boxes below. Remember to copy and paste your responses to your wiki. 1. What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?  When I began this course, I was excited to learn new techniques for using technology in my classroom. I was hoping to learn several new ways to use technology in my classroom for the benefit of my students. This course did achieve this outcome but not in the way I expected. Although I did become familiar with new tools, the one that I expected the least from is actually the one that I feel will be the most useful to me. I had not expected distance learning to be something that I would ever be interested in attempting in my classroom, but the use of google sites and wikis to collaborate now seem like a tool that my students could utilize to take ownership of their learning and excel at. This tool alone has met my expectations for this course.  2. To the extent that you achived the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?  The knowledge that I gained from this course is relevant to the work I do in my school. As a classroom teacher the relevance of using technology based collaboration is very evident. The uses for this type of learning are endless and only limited by the teacher’s imagination and preparation. Collaborative projects would be greatly enhanced by the use of distance learning and online collaboration through Wikis and google sites.  3. What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?  An outcome that I did not achieve was the ability to implement some of the new tools for learning that I am now aware of. This outcome was not something that was completely in the course’s control or even in my control. I feel that this outcome was not achieved due to the environment in which I teach that requires lockstep team planning and provides a lack of resources to prevent the implementation of many ideas. If I chose to have my class collaborate through distance learning in my current school, I would first have to convince the rest of my team to do the same project as the school’s administration feels that all students should have the same opportunities to learn. If I managed to convince each of my teammates to undertake a lesson that they were not familiar with and with which they might not be comfortable, I would then have the challenge of finding the resources and technology to have 5 full classes participate. These obstacles, along with the less than enthusiastic team I teach with have combined to keep me from achieving this outcome through no fault of the course.    4. Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you? <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">I believe that I was successful in completing the assignments for this course but that success did not come without discouragement. This discouragement came from what I felt was a lack of feedback on my effort. It seemed like each week I would be working on the assignments that were due without having seen the results of the previous week. This was discouraging to me, as I was unsure if I was making the same mistakes repeatedly. It was disappointing to me that each week I would have to continue on a journey in the dark without a flashlight ot guide me. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">5. What did you learn from this course: about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes? <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">In this course I learned that I have a strong base of technology skills. Additionally I am not afraid to use those skills in my classroom. I believe that I have the ability to excel in technology in education and that I have chosen the right area in which to further my own education. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">I have also gained insight into my own attitudes regarding technology education. My attitude regarding this is a two sided one. On one hand I am very optimistic about the possibilities of technology. It seems that there is a great untapped potential in this area that will improve education for many years to come. However, I am also pessimistic about the transition from this ideal world of educational technology to the real world that I am struggling to implement technology. It is frustrating to me that there are many wonderful tools that are available to be used in my field but they are extremely difficult to utilize due to a seemingly inexhaustible reserve of obstacles preventing me from using them. Fortunately, I feel that as I progress in my own education I am gaining more tools to combat these obstacles and make this real world more ideal. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">
 * <span style="color: #be151d; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Course Reflection Prompts **