Walden University Course Reflection: Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society

Reflection of the Course Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society

Incorporating technology in the classroom is a vital tool in preparing students for work and society in general. It is important that educators make connections between the real world and the content they teach. To do this educators must stay abreast with the current trends in the way communication takes place all over the world.

Dr. Chris Dede discusses a big trend in the way we communicate and collaborate. I now share his vision of web 2.0 tools as a means of acquiring a collective wisdom, forming “intellectual partnerships” (Laureate Education, 2010). As a professional educator, this course has helped me expand my tool belt. Before taking this course I had never set up a wiki. Now I can see using a wiki space to help my students learn from each other and from others all over the world. I can also use the wiki space as a tool for assessning what the students need to know and facilitate their learning by providing resources on the wiki space. This idea of virtual collaboration and shared knowledge is exactly what was missing from my classroom. 

This course has allowed me to see that a teacher centered classroom will not work for todays students. According to Will Richardson, in his book Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts: and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms learning is not longer an independent process (Richardson, 2010). Richardson (2010) believes the idea of the teacher having all the knowledge is long gone. Students in todays classrooms must be “collaborators in the creation of storehouses of information.

As part of this course I have set two long term goals which will help me better serve the students I teach. One goal I have is to take the perspectives I have gained and share them through my blog. Whenever I successfully meet the NETS standards in my instructional practices I plan to post them here. Secondly, I plan to be a life long learner when it comes to educational practices. One 21^st Century NETS standards for teachers states that teachers will seek professional development (NETS, 2008). I plan to use my RSS feed to stay abreast in the lastest and best practices to help close the gap between my classroom and the real world.

References

International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE): NETS for Teachers 2008

http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers/nets-for-teachers-2008.aspx

Laureate Education, Inc. (2010). The changing work environment: Part 1 [Video Webcast] Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and education: Expectations, not options. (Executive Briefing No. 401). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf

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