End of Course Reflection

At the start of this course I was an advocate for the constructivist learning theory. However, throughout this course my train of thought has converted to the social learning theory with the use of technology. At the start of this class and currently I strongly believed in the use of multiple intelligences and learning style inventories.

The only immediate adjustment that I would like to make in my instructional practice in regards to technology integration is to use technology as a learning tool rather than an instructional tool. Yes technology has made my life easier as an instructor; however, I need to further start impacting the students learning by using technology in conjunction with the social learning theory. The multiple technology tools that I plan to use are VoiceThread, Audacity, virtual field trips, Wikispaces, Cover It Live, and Skype.

The first long term change that I would like to make is to incorporate the use of learning tools to benefit student learning. In order to do so I would like to more often incorporate websites like VoiceThread, audacity, virtual field trips, and Wikispaces as learning tools. I plan to utilize my once a month assigned date in the computer lab to achieve this goal.

The second long term change would be to incorporate the use of collaboration with other schools throughout the state, country, and possibly world through the use of Cover It Live or Skype. My plan is to continue looking into finding connections to collaborate through National Lab Day and Discovery Education’s Network (DEN). National Lab Day is National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) sponsored website that connects classroom teachers with scientists. The DEN is a location for teachers to post questions and comments. The technology specialist in the district put a post on the DEN looking for teachers to collaborate on the state required food preservation unit. After I find a connection, I plan to set up a date for online collaboration.

Although my thoughts and goals have evolved throughout this course, I believe that they have changed for the better!! These theories and goals are striving toward using learning theories and technologies to better the learning that occurs in the classroom.