EDU 6715 - New and Emerging Technologies

Reflection

The New and Emerging Technologies course is the last course in my Masters in Education program at Walden University. It is hard to believe that I’m so close to the finish line, perhaps hours, perhaps a day. I can only say that it feels great to accomplish the completion of this program as I have gained valuable knowledge and skills that I will be able to apply in my educational career.

This course was valuable to my career because it exposed me to new trends in technology that can be implemented in the classroom to enhance my students learning and achievement. It opened the door to new opportunities that I would like to explore and possibly implement into my teaching next school year. Because of all the digital tools that are available to use in education, teaching and learning in this digital era can transform learning into an authentic, engaging, meaningful, powerful, exciting, and creative adventure for all type of learners.

The time when students were passive learners is obsolete thanks to technology. Students need to be “hooked” into learning with lessons that are authentic and that provide opportunities for them to seek knowledge not only from one textbook, but from various digital media. Learners need to be engaged in peer collaboration, discussion, problem solving and the creation of meaningful artifacts that represent their knowledge. These types of learning opportunities should to be created to allow our students to gain the skills they need to become higher achievers and successful communicators in a digital world.

The learning activity I developed for the summer technology camp I taught this summer represents authentic learning. My students were required to become scientists to participate in a webquest about the rainforest. Their task as scientists was to research two animals from the rainforest, one an extinct animal; to learn about the importance of the rainforest; and learn how the rainforests are being destroyed. From their research they created multiple digital projects including: 1) an endangered animal poster to raise awareness of what is happening to the animal; 2) a PowerPoint presentation about one of their animals; 3) a magazine cover portraying themselves as scientists; and 4) an educational movie of the rainforest.

To make my teaching more engaging and fun I created an avatar instructor to introduce
their daily tasks. The students also chose an avatar that looked like them to record a video of their avatar introducing their movie. For many of my students creating the avatar was the best part of the camp. And for me as an educator, it was very rewarding to see my students excited about building their projects, and deeply engaged in their learning. Some students didn’t care to go to their snack break as they wanted to continue creating their projects. If we educators manage to get that kind of attitude in the regular classroom, learning can be transformed into a meaningful and powerful experience.

To see that transformation happen I know I need to continue creating authentic learning opportunities for my students to help them succeed in their learning. At the same time I need to advocate the use of technology integration in my school and share my vision and knowledge with my peers so they learn more about effective technology integration. I also need to look for grant opportunities to be able to furnish equipment and technology tools that can enhance my classroom instruction and my student’s learning.

Yolanda Pineda-Gabehart

“If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow”
John Dewey