The First Week

The first week for me was basically a refresher. I have taken two previous courses with Dr. S and I am familar with the process of uploading files to moodle, Tapped In, De.lis.ous. making my own website, blog, and Wiki. I was actually suprised by how much I rembered! The most memorable part of my learning this week was the video that discussed moving away from simple memorization of facts, no that students can get information is at the touch of their fingers. We must teach them to synthasize facts and prepare them for 21st centruy jobs, not the jobs of the past.





So the question that I feel I need to answer is; what do I need to do to be prepared to teach in this digital age????? I think the most important thing I need to do is to keep up to date with changes in technology. There are so many different things that we as teachers can do with technology. However; in order to do that we must be willing as teachers to give up some control. That is a challenge for many of us. We must allow our students to explore and learn on their own. Students do not need to be sitting in a chair listening to us lecture and memorizing a bunch of facts. They can get those facts sent straight to them throught, personal computers, labtops, phones, pda devices and so many different forms of technology. What we have to teach our students is how to syntheize this information, analysis it and put it to use in productive ways.

My meeting with my group was very interesting. I have come to realize that I need to get a microphone. My entire group had a microphone and were talking and exploring other sites. It was difficult for me to contribute since I had to type on the Wiziq site, while everyone else was on the moodle site. It is amazing how we can all be in different locations talking on the same server. When used correctly, ie. respecting netique, talking when its your turn, listening when it isnot; this technology can allow for an amazing learning experience. We can communicate what we each see and are learning from different websites. Also, I anticipate in our class meetings that we will be able to see different presentation and hear the student's present as well. This experience will allow us a glimpse into the future of teaching, as anticipate technology improving and classes eventually being completely online.