Lessons+Learned

EDUC 538 is a course designed to help teachers learn more about media use and how it can function to enhance the learning environment both in and out of the classroom. Over the years technology has grown by leaps and bounds and has many implications for classroom instruction. Not only can it benefit students while they are physically present in class, but it can also help create a least-restrictive environment for those students who cannot be in the classroom. The lessons I have learned from this course center around these important aspects of the class. One of the exciting things about this class for me was being exposed to a multitude of technology tools that I didn’t even know existed before this. I learned a lot about what is available as well as how to use the given technologies both as an individual and as a part of classroom instruction. For example, I had never before used a blog or created a screencast, but this class gave me the opportunity to do that and see how tools such as these are useful in classroom instruction.

This class wasn’t based on “gadgetry”: I also learned about effective teaching methods and how to build an effective learning unit based on a selected method and integrating technology. I chose to work with Project-based Learning and the Authoring Cycle as these tie in with my content area as an English teacher. My learning space is reflective of my knowledge on how to integrate and use technology to create an effective unit of instruction.

Creating my own learning space as a culminating experience allowed me to put into practice the things I have learned over the course of this class. Being able to create a very practical artifact for my own teaching not only gives me a useful tool for later on when I have my own classroom, but it also gives me something to show potential employers that showcases what I can do as a professional educator. I am going to take the things I have learned in this class – methods, tools, ideas – and incorporate them into my classroom practice and am excited to see the outcomes of using technology in the classroom!