Reflection 4.3

Reflection 4.3

When I think how the internet has impacted my own personal learning, I can only shake my head and wonder…   The first computer class I took in college many years ago required that I learn DOS! A lot of good that did me! The first computers I had in my class were those old Apple Classics with their flashing green cursors and lack of other color. Now I checked my smart phone at the nursery today to see what the blossom looked like on a Camilla that I was purchasing.  I would say that technology has certainly changed my learning.

I have now taken several online classes and several classes about how to use technology.  I have enjoyed the online classes because they usually give me the ability to work at my own pace. That can be particularly helpful during the school year when I’m working hours that aren’t always predictable. This has been empowering.  When I was working on my Master’s degree, I had to go to class many times after a long day. Now, if I were to participate in the same program, much of it would be online. That would have been a nice option.  I’m not sure that the same feeling of community would be there though, as our group sent many months together working toward the same goal.

As for social and professional networks that I use regularly, that would be tricky. I belong to Linkedin …not sure why. I have used Twitter at conferences to get information, but I don’t Tweet. I have a Facebook account that is mostly to keep track of my 20 year old daughter while she is away at school. I do maintain a connection to fellow teachers and several of my parents.  I tend to ignore my friendship requests from students until they graduate from high school. I guess that can be thought of as amazing…the fact that I have former students that want to connect to their 3rdgrade teacher. I would say that would be because we are a K-8 school, and we foster the sense of family. I use YouTube videos in the classroom. I have done blogs in my class before. I maintain a website for my class.

The internet can be a distraction. For example, I was sitting here working on this class when my friend that lives in Canada came up on Skype.  As interesting as this class is, I spent 45 minutes catching up with her. That doesn’t mean that Skype wouldn’t be a useful tool in the classroom, however. On the other hand, I couldn’t remember the name of the model of Apple I had in 1992, so I quickly Googled it. That was a help…having that that instant access to information with a few quick strokes to the keys.

I think my students might agree that a computer and all that is available could be a distraction.  It is so easy to get sidetracked from what you are supposed to be doing. The younger student of today though, is so intuitive that anything that comes along in technology is so fast for them to learn. That could help to reduce the distractions. They are also so used to technology that they take the instant access to information for granted. The problem here is that they don’t question that information. If It’s on a wiki or other site, it must be true, right?

I would like to support my students’ learning using the internet my making lessons that require the use of many of the things we are learning to use in this class. The important thing to remember is to give purpose to the learning.  These are tools and not toys.