Personal Learning Reflection

From this course, I learned that the use of technology is critical not just to help engage students but also to help build their 21^st century skills.  This course was the first time I was introduced to the idea of 21^st century skills and how they have standards just like the traditional academic subjects. 

At the outset of this course, one of my main goals was to learn about how to use PodCasts, VoiceThreads, and RSS feed aggregators.  I most certainly became aware of using VoiceThreads through my Special Interest Group (SIG) project.  My “specialty” for the SIG was using VoiceThread for digital storytelling.  Through this project, I learned the steps of creating a VoiceThread, how they can be utilized in the elementary classroom, and the things to keep in mind when planning a lesson using VoiceThread.  One of my goals was to get students to use technology to “show what they know.”  I am still working on this.  My plan is for students to use VoiceThread to publish their final personal narrative of the school year.  To get my students excited about this idea, I took some of their writing and created a Digital Story of it and posted it on the class website for them to see and share with their families.  This got my students very intrigued by the idea of digital storytelling. 

The SIG project was probably one of the most useful assignments in the class because I found resources for a topic I am interested in and can use with my students.  Furthermore, it allowed me to use the Internet to explore a technology that is very flexible and can be applied to a multitude of curriculum areas.  It also seems like an authentic form of assessment because the students have the ability to share their ideas with a wider audience, which is what many people do through blogs and YouTube.  Therefore, I believe digital storytelling exemplifies good teaching with technology.

I also learned about how to use RSS feed aggregators through the RSS feed assignment.  I was skeptical about using these at first because all the text was very overwhelming.  However, when I discovered it could be displayed as images from the websites, the tool became more powerful.  I can see this being useful for group projects in the older grades, much like how we used it for our SIG project. 

This course made me think in more depth about how I can get my young students using technology.  My long-term goal continues to be to find more ways to have my students use technology.