Course Reflection

Educational Technology
Course Reflection

a. Coming into this course, what was your level of tech skill? Did you find it easy to adapt to the ways we used technology in this class? What was difficult for you? What was easy?
I feel that my level of tech skill was average for a person of my age but probably below that of some of the twenty-somethings in the class. Therefore, it became difficult for me, at times, if a series of instructions were given that involved something unfamiliar. One example of this was adding tabs at the top of the page to change windows more readily. This is something which I have actually done but frequently forget to do because I usually don't manage a great number of windows simoltaniously.

b. What have been your favorite parts of the class? What was your favorite activity?
Everything we've done, so far, was interesting and potentially very useful. I regret not having been here on the days we used PrezE. I had a lot of fun making the Xtranormal videos. I ended up using the software to make an invitation to my husband's 40th birthday party that has gotten rave reviews, so far.

c. Do you think you can easily incorporate your tech knowledge and skills into your role as a teacher? Out of all the tools we learned about this quarter, which one do you see using the most frequently as a teacher?
I hope that I will make a lot of use of MERLOT and PrezE but it was good to learn about GoogleDocs and GoogleForms.

d. What do you want to know MORE about in Ed Tech? What are you still curious about? Will you be able to explore these ideas on your own?
I hope that I will be able to explore many of the resources shown to us in class on my own. What is often the case is that I get distracted too much at home by family/kids and do not explore all of the amazing resources the internet has to offer.

e. Do you think your level of tech skill/knowledge has increased this quarter? If so, how? Are you a more confident web user?
I has increased drastically, along with my confidence. From what I've heard out of class, I believe that most of my classmates agree that we wish other classes were structured in this manner and that there were another Educational Technologies class available that continues where this one leaves off. Since teachers are required to accumulate so many PD hours every six years for certification renewal, I imagine (as I'm sure others would) that this class could be part of a series available to local educators.
Since you demonstrate the skill and then have students immediately put it into practice, you could easily dispense with the textbook unless you are required to have a print reference available.