Week 16 Final Blog Post about "Technology in the Classroom"

The Final Countdown!

Well, this semester is a wrap, and my first college class in 10 years is just about completed. This is my final blog post for a while and I’m pretty sure I’m taking the summer off social media and live television (except weather channel when needed). I finally taught myself how to upload my artifacts to my portfolio! I never realized I needed to create new pages; I was always creating buttons.

Feel Free to check out my Portfolio Here, and hopefully my instructor is kind enough to regrade my 3 artifacts I received 0's on. I honestly want this class to continue because I also realized this semester that my learning of technology is fluid and ongoing.  I look forward to learning something new next week.

Anyway...  I also want to take this opportunity to thank my instructor, Lori Walljasper. I appreciate your patience and knowledge even more than ever. I always respected you and your experience… But wow, you know how to teach, even an old bird like me. I also appreciate you keeping it “old school” while also incorporating new technologies! I never thought I would ever write a blog… Yet, I actually look forward to it every week! I now enjoy discussing “technology in the classroom” which has been something I tried to avoid for my whole life. Secondly, I plan to answer a couple blog post questions throughout this blog, so it might end up a little longer than usual.

There are many social, legal, ethical, and human issues surrounding the use of technology in PK-12 schools. We live in a world where students have access to more information than ever before. Not only do we need to equip students to determine what is accurate, we need to help them determine what is safe & legal. Many issues surrounding technology in PK-12 revolve around the access students have, to content that cannot be controlled, when they are connected to the Internet. Teaching students how to self-monitor, and use technology in an appropriate way (digital citizenship), from an early age is important to solidify good habits. 

Teachers should balance technology when instructing students, especially the young ones, so they are not being exposed to screens more than they should be. Although at-home screen time is Caregiver responsibility; School districts can send home information regarding information & screen time recommendations, so students have technology guidance outside of school.

North-Scott (NS) plans, designs, and implements technological concepts that not only improve learning environments, but also provide students the necessary experience for their digital future. They are already a 1-to-1 district, which means every student has a Chromebook.  That alone puts NS ahead of many districts.

NS offers a wide variety of technology-based courses, from Contemporary Journalism to Digital Art to an entire Computer Science program. The next step (or challenge) is to learn how to strategically employ AI that supports student outcomes, reduces teacher workload, and ultimately accelerates student success. 

I am very fortunate to be in an awesome district. NS is constantly researching ways that technology can help level the playing field for students who need accommodations to access and learn. They use technology to help with student engagement, and teachers model good digital citizen behaviors by using multiple strategies & modalities. 

There are many ways I plan to assist NS with methods and strategies for applying technology “to plan and implement a curriculum that maximizes student learning.” I plan to continue working with teachers & administration on how we can be more efficient with collecting and analyzing data. This is important because teachers' time and workload do not always balance out. Being able to be efficient with collecting evidence and assessing the work will, in return, help the teacher make better instructional decisions and (hopefully) provide better feedback to the student. 

After discussing technology in the classroom with my colleagues, we agree there is still a lot of work to do. The use of our LMS helps to support a clear learning journey for our students. Ultimately, NS Administration gives teachers a lot of autonomy to teach based on their style and expertise. Many NS teachers rely heavily on using technology to engage students. 

"Facilitating effective assessment and evaluation strategies" has always been a challenging task. I think it's getting better with technology. Technology can be a huge asset, if used properly, to streamline the assessment & grading cycles. Creating rubrics that can aid in scoring frees a teacher up to give specific feedback, or next-step guidance, to students.

When it comes to student productivity, I have noticed in my classroom that I get more, and better writing, from students when it is typed vs handwritten (also easier to grade). Using interactive technology, such as mission.org / Kahoot / Padlet / Zoom & high-quality videos help to improve student engagement. All the platforms and resources I’ve been exploring this semester ARE the future of interactive student engagement.

AI will greatly impact all of learning, as I mentioned before, because it can quickly produce resources, activities, rubrics, and countless other strategies and items specifically designed to satisfy the teacher's (and students’) needs. 

At NS, we also have found that using technology to provide quick access to templates has been a huge benefit to teachers & students. It allows both populations to truly work on the important part of a task rather than some of the more mundane aspects that can be pre-created.

Again, AI has been a great “current example” of how technology has been used to enhance student productivity. With the proper prompts, students can use AI to help brainstorm as well as edit their papers. To be clear about the proper prompting and editing - AI should not replace their foundational knowledge, but used as a tool, not a solution. 

Another way technology has enhanced student productivity and practice is through presentation modes. You can use various presentation technologies from the very easy to use slide show to a more planned pechakucha  or similar platform. I just learned of all these in the last 15 weeks, and I wonder; "how many more are there?" One thing I know: Technology has the opportunity to enhance students’ (and Teachers') learning, and I'm living proof. 

Finally, I just like to say that this semester has been very beneficial to me from a technology learning standpoint! It has also been very challenging physically, mentally, and financially to say the least.

I’m very happy I stuck with the course! I almost quit 3 times, but I’m very happy I stuck with it.

I finally am getting surgery June 10th for having a numb hand/arm since February 5th!

I’m getting 3 pinched nerves operated on, and I’m having carpal tunnel surgery too! Thank goodness for all the "talk to type tools!" This blog only took me 4 hours instead of 9!

Thanks again and maybe see you soon!

As always- Call, Text, or Email Me anytime!

Anthony

708-913-3638

Check out my Portfolio HERE!