This blog post is designed to summarize my experience in EDTS 523.
The idea of summarizing my learning from this course seems absurd. There was so much and it was all so diverse that I hardly know where to begin. To create a summary that isn’t a novel I will have to generalize to extremes. I guess that there have been three key points that I have taken away from this course.
1.Technology takes time.
This may be the most obvious statement I have ever made in this blog but it bears noting. The hardest part of using technology is the time involved. Finding time to familiarize yourself with the programs/ tools, then time to plan what to do with them then time teaching others to use them. It is easier to teach with to old ways (at least to begin with). The course struggles because of the lack of time. Having a maximum of two weeks but more often one week to learn new software/ tech tools and apply that knowledge is stressful and time-consuming.
2.Planning is important.
On the other hand, a strategy to improve time management is planning. Every step of the way needs to be planned when it comes to technology. Whether you are teaching it to others or applying it for yourself. If you have a flexible plan with baby step goals you are much more likely to succeed.
3. Technology needs to work for you.
Finally, learning to use technology you think is useless for you is extremely difficult. Unless you can envision a future profit coming from you current input of time, there is no way to justify for yourself the time expense of learning a system. Now, in this class, there was the incentive of a grade however, when it comes to future usage, what I don’t value I won’t use.
As for the technology discovered and used in this class….
Top Three Technology Topics Covered in Class:
Blog: At Nazareth we have been using the Blackboard blog a handful of my classes however that is limited and impermanent as Blackboard only keeps records of the course for a handful of years. The ability to create a real blog that real people (not just my classmates) could actually read was a huge motivational influence. I was excited to write in this blog whereas my weekly blog in my Art Ed course were not so inspired.
Wikispaces: I am a Wikipedia convert. I used to dismiss it as an unreliable toy but now I understand that the easy of use added to the collaborative power of the program make it a powerful educational tool.
Ning: I regret I have not had more time for this. But an online social network to share ideas is going to be very important to me as I transition out of graduate school and into the real world particularly as an art teacher who may be alone in my building.
Bottom Three Technology Topics Covered In Class:
Garageband: While I personally like this program, the implications for the art classroom art limited. The requirement of a Mac in order for there to be a program with significant visual component is a turn off.
Smartboard: I do not feel like I learned anything about smartboards. I watched passively to others using smartboards and have resources to look up for future use but I still am missing the knowledge or why/ how I should be using this technology beyond the basics.
Dreamweaver/ Web authoring: I have made several websites prior to this class using free drag and drop type website creators/ hosts. However, despite being an art major I had never created my own website from scratch. Of the things that bugged me about this experience and none of them have to do with Dreamweaver itself the most significant was our professor proclaimed the uselessness. Please see point 3. Also, for those students who have never heard of free drag and drop website creators a list of options with a review of them might be nice.
In that vein, I personally have use weebly.com and webs.com. Weebly has limited theme choices and the best features require you to pay but there are no ads. Webs.com has better visuals and tons of free features but puts ads either on the top or side of your webpage. Also, weebly.com only lets you make two webpages whereas webs.com lets you make as many as you want. But there are many more- see http://www.free-webhosts.com/free-web-hosts.php
Rachel,
You point out something important – that not every tool is as valuable to some as to others. That may be in part due to one’s discipline. That is a difficulty in a class such as this. Every example and every tool may or may not be relevant to one’s own particular situation. It may also be in part due to one’s imagination and creativity in terms of how they conceptualize the usefulness and the teaching/learning opportunities that can be facilitated.
I also want to point out that I never said that Dreamweaver was a “useless” tool. It is an extremely powerful, industry standard tool. However, for most teachers, it is not the tool of choice for the many reasons which I mentioned in class.
As for the Smartboard, there is nothing mysterious or magical about it. What you see is what it is. Of course, there are some tricks and features that are useful in certain instances, and there are uses for it that may indeed be discipline specific. It is one of those tools that you simply need to practice with when the opportunity is before you. I can tell you from first hand experience that until you get to use it on a daily basis, you forget just about everything that you where shown and learned about it. There is so much hype about interactive whiteboards that makes one think one is missing something. You really aren’t. If you have one in your own classroom, you will quickly become familiar with it and there are many many online resources to fill in the gaps.
So, I hope that you have found something useful in this course… and I hope it is not simply a specific tool but rather the opportunities and possibilities that the tools can open up for your students. You are so right that it all takes time… There is just never enough time and teachers seem to be constantly wishing to recreate more of it. I feel the same way.
All the best as you approach the end of your time here at Nazareth College. I am confident that you will do wonderful and meaningful things with your students. Your terrific and reflective blog posts here tell me that you will not be one to let triviality or thoughtlessness guide what you do in the classroom and you will set high expectations for your students and support them in achieving them.
Dr. R.
By: Stephen Ransom on December 6, 2009
at 8:49 pm