Final Reflection on my experience with the course "Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society"

This course has greatly increased my technology skills as an educator in many ways. I have been introduced to the world of Blogging. Before this course I believed that most bloggers were a bunch of crackpots with no life. I now understand that there are numerous blog sites that have a plethera of information that will support me in my professional life. I have also become familiar with and use RSS feeds to streamline and manage the flow of information that is available to me. I have participated and gained experience in creating wikis and podcasting. All of these experiences move me forward professionally because not only do I have more resources at my fingertips, I have developed a valuable network of other educational professionals that I cant interact and collaborate with from around the world.

I have deepened my knowledge of the teaching and learning process by becoming familiar with the necessity of helping my students develop 21^st Century skills that employers and industry will need in their employees to be productive and succesful. My awareness of the disconnect between our students real lives and their school lives was a real eye opener for me. I have come to realize that we must do our utmost to keep abreast of the new technology trends to keep our students motivated and engaged. The fact that most students today are digital natives and grew up surrounded by technology means it is possible that their brains have developed differently than those of us in older generations. We must keep this in mind when developing our instructional strategies. While I have always believed I am more students centered than teacher centered, this course has drastically expanded by tool set in creating lessons that are both engaging and motivating for students.

I can continue to expand my knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology with the aim of increasing student achievement by subscribing to various RSS feeds to keep current on educational and technological trends for the classroom as well as researched bases strategies. I can also continue to keep in contact with the network of educators that I have established relationships with through this course. They hold a wealth of knowledge to be shared and taken advantage of. When developing coursework for for my students I will make consisten effort to incorporate NETS standards as well as content standards to ensure that my students are developing 21^st Century skills to be successful and competitive in their future.

One long term goal I am setting to transform my classroom environment is to acquire computer equipment to provide my students the ability to collaborate with students around the globe and construct their own knowledge through inquiry based assignments. The economic realities are that I will need to find funding myself. To do this I will need to become proficient in grant writing, possibly by taking a training workshop or professional development. A second long term goal is to seek out and establish relationships with other Physical Science teachers globally. We can then guide our students in developing communication and constructing knowledge through collaboration on blogs, wikis, and websites. To pursue this goal I will need to educate administrators and district officials on blogs and online collaboration to gain access to sites that are consistently blocked due to security concerns.