Final+Course+Reflection+-+5362

media type="custom" key="10889406" align="right"EDLD 5362: Informational Systems Management Looking to the future of technology in the classroom has special appeal for me. My husband, a software engineer, regularly comes home with some new gadget for me to try, some freeware for me to download, or some article from Gizmodo or Wired to read. For many years my home has been filled with the artifacts of a technological evolution, with new treasures replacing the old in a constant cycle. While my personal life has been filled with cutting-edge technology, my classroom has at times lagged behind, with new technologies teetering on a foundation of outdated computers, outdated software, and outdated infrastructure. The Horizon Report staggered me with not only innovative technologies, but with examples of authentic classroom applications (Johnson, Smith, Willis, Levine, & Haywood, 2011). Those stark differences between what I saw in my classroom and what I read became the framework for my writing.

I used my own classroom as the basic template for a school of today; then, I walked the reader through how each of the varying technologies from the Horizon Report might look integrated with my current curriculum and classroom goals. Because I work in a school with a significant population of economically disadvantaged students, I see every day the challenges of students who do not have 24/7 connectivity, a specific national goal (Office of Educational Technology, 2010). In my classroom of the future, I considered the implications of both 24/7 connectivity and 1:1 computing capabilities as a necessary component of real-time collaboration and formative assessment. I highlighted the issuance of tablet computers such as Apple iPads to all students: these mobile devices would be configured as student response tools, eliminating the need for a separate student response system (Johnson, Smith, Willis, Levine, & Haywood, 2011) and would largely replace the need for student laptops or classroom desktops (Elmer-DeWitt, 2011). Students will walk into this future classroom and be able to complete a formative assessment that allows different learners to respond utilizing the collaborative solutions created online (Royal Society of the Arts, 2010). I find that my own collaboration skills have improved dramatically during my coursework, and I attribute it largely to the dynamic tools available for online collaboration.

Seeing the effectiveness and the vibrancy of these tools in my own coursework incited a passion for using these tools in my own classroom, so I walked my fifth grade students through the use of a wiki for online collaboration during the month of this course. While the implementation was not perfect by any means, I saw enthusiasm, higher order thinking, and amazing work product. I plan to share my experiences with my campus as a series of professional development and lab sessions, so that I can encourage my campus colleagues to attempt this bold new way of teaching and learning.

References:

Elmer-DeWitt, P. (2011, May 5). //Nielsen: Apple's ipad still commands 82% of the u.s. tablet market//. Retrieved May 8, 2011, from CNNMoney: [|http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/05/05/nielsen-apples-ipad-still-commands-82-of-the-u-s-tablet-market/http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/03/10/the-ipad-changes-everything/]

Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., & Haywood, K. (2011). //2011 horizon report: K-12 edition.// Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium.

Office of Educational Technology. (2010). //Transforming american education: Learning powered by technology.// U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education.

Royal Society of the Arts. (2010, October 14). //RSA animate - changing education paradigms//. Retrieved May 15, 2011, from YouTube: []