As someone who is was not very technologically inclined, I am surprised how much time I have actually invested in technology these past few weeks. I have mentioned before that educating myself with technology in relation to education has been super important for me because of the environment that we are living in. Technology is literally taking over our lives in so many different forms and with that, it is going to eventually take over in education as well. Being prepared for that and for my students is really important and essential if I want to be an effective educator. With technology evolving, learning is also evolving, and technology is part of that evolution as well. It is my responsibility to adapt myself to my teaching environment and students and not leave them behind.
Change
Reflecting on everything that I have worked on these past few weeks, there has definitely been a lot of changes in my relationship with technology, especially in relation to education. A lot of those changes involved my exploration and learning about the different apps, websites, and tools that I can use with technology in the Classroom in addition to simply sticking with Google Classroom. I always limited myself to only using the things I knew and never challenged myself to explore further than that. I did and explored things with technology that I had never done before. For example, I had never written a blog before, although I have read plenty, and now I feel much more comfortable with that. I had never made a website before either and that was definitely a huge achievement for myself because, although I made it very simple, doing something like that seemed very improbable for me months ago. Also, I filmed myself sharing my opinion on a topic way more than I would have ever thought I would. Lastly, the Wakelet tool was probably the most stupendous thing for me. I have Word documents saved, filled with links of resources that I can use. It was definitely one of the most cherished tools for me that I know I will continuously use. My relationship with technology has shifted from being very oblivious with technology to being more informed and appreciative of all the things that it can do with it in education.
Topics
In addition to simply learning about the great tools in technology and how to use them, there were also a lot of interesting topics that I was introduced to in the course that I never considered before. The importance of multimodality and accessibility were not new topics for me, considering they are very reflective in my teaching philosophy, however, it is always great to revisit these ideas and their importance. The rest of the topics covered were, quite frankly, new topics for me, and I appreciated learning and exploring more about them. The topics that I enjoyed the most were definitely the Educational Technology Research & Copyright and Online Communities & Professional Learning Networks topics. When Educational Technology Research & Copyright was covered, I enjoyed looking at the infographics and seeing all of the trends that were present then; it gave me so many memories. Also, I enjoyed mapping my digital space and just truly taking the time to reflect on my personal use with technology. Lastly, Professional Learning Networks was fairly new to me (I was suggested to join them in my AP training this summer), and I have truly been enjoying the group that I am in because it has been super helpful for my first year of teaching AP.
Finally, I truly recognize that I am a lifelong learner and will always continue to educate myself. The world is always changing, and I simply cannot stay behind it.
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