Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work and Society

In order to help close the gap between educational technology and society many teachers are seeking professional growth outside of their school and district. As an educator who is driven to help my students in any way possible, I am currently working on a master's degree in Integrating Technology into the Classroom. My current class, Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work and Society, has provided me with a wealth of knowledge and skills to better educate 21st Century learners.

Before I began this course, I did not know how to create a blog, wiki or podcast. Prior to this course, I did not understand the importance of creating and maintaining a professional blog. Blogs are used to network and find valuable resources in the professional and social world (Richardson, 2009). Creating an aggregator account with Google has allowed me to access professional blogs easily and efficiently. Podcasts and wiki pages are an outlet for validating learning and maintaining a 21st Century classroom. By creating my own blog, wiki and podcast, I now have the tools to implement these items into my classroom.

Throughout my career, I plan to expand my knowledge of technology integration by completing my master's degree with Walden University, continuing staff developments, self-education and by attending professional workshops. In order to create 21st Century learners who can collaborate, cooperate and use advanced technology, I must continue to learn new ways of educating (Laureate Education Inc, 2008). Technology is always changing; therefore, I must never stop learning.


In order to create a classroom that facilitates 21st Century learning, I have created two long-term goals. My first goal is to design a classroom wiki page with each future class (including my current class). This classroom wiki page will include categories based on subject matter and will be updated twice a month with information from my classroom. In addition, I would like to begin having the students do weekly podcasts for items such as current events, science experiments, reader's theaters, spelling quizzes and problem solving in math. By successfully implementing these two items within my classroom, I will be preparing my students for the 21st Century work force and reaching them on their level as digital natives (Laureate Education Inc, 2008).

Moving further, as I reflect upon all of the valuable information that this course has presented, I am most thankful for the professional networking and development. My colleagues are some of the best resources and their discussions and input have proved to be extremely helpful throughout this course.


References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). 2008. The Changing Work Environment [Motion picture]. Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society. Baltimore: Author.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.