Reflective Essay: Final Reflection on the Impact of Technology

 "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn" - Alvin Toffler (Stanford, 2002). The advancements in technology and information via the internet is compounding at a staggering rate. Since June of 2019, there are over 4.4 billion internet users. This is an increase of 83% in the number of internet users in the past five years alone (Shultz, 2019). Humanity can connect, create, and collaborate for positive change in an unprecedented way. In order to maintain growth, educators and students must continue to learn and implement new technologies and internet resources in the classroom, and be prepared to let go of outdated modalities as they become obsolete. The impact of technology in the classroom is prevalent now more than ever, and we must prepare students for the real-world applications these devices and resources hold.  

 At the beginning of the course, I would have considered myself a very average tech user in the classroom. I had a few websites that I taught students how to access during independent rotations and apps through which students could work on assignments. I could troubleshoot most issues that arose myself and utilized screen sharing for lesson instruction. I now realize how superficial my actions had been, and the loss of meaningful learning and engagement that could have taken place. Educating myself through the resources of this course has opened my mind to new possibilities and research-based practices that support the exploration of tech in the classroom. In Richardson's book, From master Teacher To Master Learner, he has a chapter outlining a "toolkit" for teachers as modern learners that containing many resources to implement in the classroom. As Richardson (2015, p.51) states, "..part of this process is using the resources available online to teach yourself the technologies". It is not about educators sitting in seminar halls and masterclasses on every educational tech resource, but using intuition and autonomy to earn about these resources on our own, and critically analyze them with our particular set of students in mind. As Richardson explains further, students don't wait for tutorial videos on how to use the latest social media or web games. They learn by doing. I have taken up the same spirit of exploring new resources on my own, and evaluating them for use with my students.  

 My mindset has shifted to accepting the technology and internet resources as an even more beneficial source of information than what I can supply as the classroom teacher. Instead of resisting this fact, I have come to embrace it. The internet is an excellent tool to teach the skills students will need to know to be ready for college and career endeavors. As Dr. David Thornburg (Laureate, 2015) describes, the internet helps magnify skills and concepts that we should teach students anyway.  

 The process of distance learning, coupled with the wiki assignment from this course helped me gain confidence in my ability to create and implement a successfully relevant digital lesson. I am certain had it not been for the assignment, I may have never initiated a lesson designed to be autonomous to the learner via a digital medium. The ability to use a wiki or blog remotely allows for learning to continue at home and make the content accessible to a broader audience. I now feel ambitious to add more wiki-style lessons into my classroom routines and allow students to access information and content at a self-guided pace.  

 Admittedly, teaching primary grades had lured me to sit back and watch new technologies and web resources float by under the assumption my young students were not ready to learn the intricacies and processes involved. Through discussions with my classmates (many of whom teach similarly-aged students), academic journals of research, and activities implemented with my students, I have now realized the benefits and success students of all ages will experience with technology in the classroom. I believe that the best way to apply the knowledge I have gained is to entrust students' intuition regarding technology competencies and designing experiences around that incorporate it. Introducing mediums such as blogs, wikis, and podcasts early on in the school year in small intervals would allow for the learning curve to straighten and students to develop proficiency in these beneficial tech resources by the end of the school year. Starting low and expanding upon the knowledge gained will help ensure that students gain the understanding necessary to develop their 21st-century skills.  

 A Web 2.0 technology I would like to incorporate in the classroom is podcasting. I see the immense benefits of having students create rather than consume content in the classroom. "Podcasting is yet another way for [students] to be creating and contributing ideas to a larger conversation, and it's a way of archiving that contribution for future audiences to use" (Richardson, 2010, p.115). The most significant obstacle facing students will be the learning process of how to start, stop, and edit an audio recording. Thankfully, the barrier to entry for podcasting is quite low. All that is truly needed is a recording device and platform to upload the recording. In my classroom, students have laptops and iPads at their disposal, which are more than capable of handling the audio and uploading needs. To combat the initial obstacle, I would conduct small group learning seminars where I teach students how to use the audio recording app's basic functions and allow them to explore and practice the techniques. Podcasting arises the Student ISTE standard 6 of creative communicator, by expressing and publishing knowledge and ideas via a digital platform (ISTE, 2016a). As an educator, I would be adhering to ISTE Educator Standards five and six, because I would be designing an authentic learning experience for students while facilitating their use of technology to convey knowledge and creativity (ISTE, 2016b). The use of audio recording can also keep learner stakeholders informed. Podcasting is a quick and straightforward way to connect parents and other internet users to the classroom's ongoings and the learning opportunities taking place (Purcell, 2011). The reasons listed above are precisely why I am eager to implement this Web 2.0 technology in my classroom this upcoming school year.  

 I want to develop a SMART goal in the transformation of my classroom environment regarding the use of wiki lessons. I would like to include one wiki lesson per unit of literacy, where students go at their own pace learning the skill or concept being taught. Autonomy, critical thinking, and self-guided learning are 21st-century skills that students will need to succeed in their college and career endeavors (Kivunja, 2015). A wiki lesson includes aspects of all three key skills. To accomplish this goal, I will start with a manageable number of lessons to create per unit, which is one. A unit in our literacy curriculum runs about six weeks, and as I am developing my proficiency in creating wiki lessons, this time frame feels manageable. Using the resources from this course and the wiki I have already established as a template, I feel confident in my ability to produce meaningful learning experiences for students through this medium. SMART Goal: To facilitate student practice with 21st-century skills, I will incorporate a wiki lesson once per literacy unit. By May 2021, I will have created at least ten wiki lessons that students will use. I will keep track of the wiki lessons created via a links page in Google Docs, and record the success/feedback of the wikis as an appendix to the link page.  

 Another SMART Goal I have set for myself is in regards to using Twitter in the classroom, both as a communication tool and resource for myself. As Richardson (2010, p.86) describes it, "...[Twitter is a ] network at my fingertips phenomenon where people ask questions and get answers, link to great blog posts or resources, or share ideas for projects as they go through the day". As a social media app that can be accessed via smartphone or internet, Twitter has the potential to provide portable and profound inspiration and resources. As a communication tool, a classroom Twitter account would allow parents to connect to the daily occurrences of the classroom at their leisure. It would also provide links to student works or classroom announcements and reminders. SMART Goal: To better connect with parents, share helpful resources, and expand my teacher network, I will incorporate the use of Twitter in the classroom. By October 2020, I will tweet out at least once a week updates from the classroom for parents and students, and at least once per week share a resource from the teaching networks the I have found useful. I will keep track of the communication and helpful tweets in the feed of my twitter account and a back up link to the tweets on an ongoing Google Doc.  

 I would like to study further the role of technology in physical and emotional health. Throughout our course, we have explored the use of technology to communicate and create and its benefits on a variety of residual skills and learning. Though the benefits are numerous, I am also interested in the downsides of constant connection and how that can affect learners as a whole. Studies show that blue light from LED screens can be harmful to eye health, and disrupt circadian rhythm (Tosini et al., 2016). Research has also suggested that there can be negative mental health correlations with constant communication and connection via social media (Berryman et al., 2018). As I strive to use technology and social media in the classroom, I want to do so intentionally and with caution regarding physical and emotional health issues. Now that I have been introduced to resources and platforms for the effective use of technology and the internet, I can analyze the best practices and implantation methods that conscious of the two issues I would like to explore further. As we prepare students for a future that will undoubtedly contain significant use of technology and the internet, I want to prepare students to use these resources in a responsible and safe way that protects their vitality. 

 Throughout this course, I was presented with many new ideas on how to incorporate web resources and technology in the classroom. Many of which I assumed students would not be able to handle, or that I would not be able to grasp fully. Through discussion with classmates and classroom activities, I now see that all educators are more than capable of utilizing these resources with students of any age. I feel more confident in my ability to provide students with a relevant educational experience, from which they can take away real-world skills. If nothing else, it is our duty as educators to prepare students for the rest of their life as best we can. Continuing to learn and incorporate technology and web resources is one of the best ways for educators to prepare their students for schooling and beyond.  

References

Berryman, C., Ferguson, C. J., & Negy, C. (2018). Social Media Use and Mental Health among Young Adults. The Psychiatric quarterly, 89(2), 307–314. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-017-9535-6

ISTE Standards for Students | ISTE. (2016a). https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students

ISTE Standards for Educators | ISTE. (2016b). https://www.iste.org/standards/for-educators

Kivunja, C. (2015). Teaching Students to Learn and to Work Well with 21st Century Skills: Unpacking the Career and Life Skills Domain of the New Learning paradigm. International Journal of Higher Education, 4(1), 1–12. http://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/ijhe/article/view/5694

Laureate Education (Producer). (2015). Skills for the 21st Century [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Purcell, M. (2011). The Power of Podcasting. Library Media Connection, 29(5), 48–49. https://web-a-ebscohost-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=f5de01c9-abd9-4fe6-ad62 

Richardson, W. (2015). From Master Teacher to Master Learner. Amsterdam University Press.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (Third ed.) [E-book]. NA

Schultz, J. (2019, August 6). How Much Data is Created on the Internet Each Day? Micro Focus Blog. https://blog.microfocus.com/how-much-data-is-created-on-the-internet-each-day/

Stanford Magazine. (2002). Embracing the Need to “Learn and Relearn.” Https://Stanfordmag.Org/Contents/Embracing-the-Need-to-Learn-and-Relearn. Stanford Magazine.  

Tosini, G., Ferguson, I., & Tsubota, K. (2016). Effects of blue light on the circadian system and eye physiology. Molecular vision, 22, 61–72.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26900325/