Week I: Introduction

My own personal feelings about technology have changed at a rate comparable to the shifting nature of technology itself. Although the Internet became accessible to all at a time when I was still a high school student, initially I viewed it predominantly as a means of communication and way of keeping in touch with my friends whereas now I use the Internet predominantly as a means of locating information. To be honest, at the start of my graduate career at MSU working towards my MAT (I am now in my final semester!), if I was told I would have to take a course entitled "Technology Integration in the Classroom" I probably would have shuddered. I consider myself to be old school. I like having actual hard copies of texts in front of me when I read and I much prefer a pen and paper over a word processor when brainstorming and beginning to write a paper.

Although I am comfortable using PowerPoint to deliver lectures in my classroom and word processing for designing worksheets, activities, etc., I still feel a bit of anxiety about integrating the latest technologies into my pedagogy (i.e. wikis, blogs, etc.) One of the things I have realized, though, is that technology is a good thing only when it is used logically and appropriately. It is silly to force the use of computers when a pen and paper is more appropriate, or to force the latest technologies in the classroom when they are not helpful or meaningful for students. Perhaps just as useful a bit of advice that I have learned through direct experience is that the use of technology needs to be practiced and rehearsed prior to having the students use it. This helps to save time and clear up any problems before they arise. Nonetheless, when dealing with technology I have also learned that problems may occur.

This brings me to the article "Four takes on Technology". When things do go wrong in my classroom in terms of implementing technology, I often turn to my students for help. Nine times out of ten, my students help me to fix the problem almost immediately, and I am constantly learning how to better implement technology as well as about how to use the latest technologies from my students. The article encourages this type of interaction and learning situation, which I have directly experienced and definitely learned and benefited from in many ways.

Lastly, the youtube video reminded me of a set of videos I have seen entitled "Shift Happens" which stress the importance not only of how quickly the world is changing, growing, and advancing, but also about how necessary it is for educators to prepare students appropriately for these changing times and equip them with the tools to be literate and competitive in such a world. Whether I resist it or not, the reality is that technology is the way of the world and the future. Hopefully, by the end of this course I will be comfortable enough and willing enough to take some risks and to embrace these changing technological times rather then resist them.