Education and Technology

Willingness to Learn Something New in the Past:

I discovered in researching tips for technology trainers some great links regarding Web 2.0, Classroom 2.0, blogging, and distributed learning. I’ve been pondering what a Classroom 2.0 looks like in an elementary setting. I learn things with caution as not to believe every piece of information that is given. Why? I’ve seen so many trends in education and a lot of it was not for the purpose of students learning. The school district often mandates the teachers to utilize the partial curriculum which tends to lead to poor results. Often I bought into these trends and later realized it was not good for the students.

Willingness to Learn in the Present
When I searched the web in Google for tips for technology trainers I ran across these websites:http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listweb20s.htmlhttp://k12onlineconference.org/http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/blogger.htmlhttp://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/index.htmlhttp://www.lib.umich.edu/icollege/resources/tips.pdfhttp://www.techsoup.org/community/index.cfmhttp://www.shambles.net/pages/learning/ict/web2edu/
The websites were full of information about the things we are learning. The information from k12onlinconference.org shed some light on how Web 2.0 can be integrated into an elementary curriculum. What I learned from the various sites is that there is a big push for not only integrating technology into the classroom but the need to shift towards a curriculum that fosters analytical and higher order thinking. Technology is a tool that can enhance the curriculum and it doesn’t have to be a trend. I reflected on the importance for me to have a willingness to explore options other than traditional education. I realize through reading the information from the websites that I have to live in the moment and embrace the possibilities of creating a better learning future for my students. If it wasn’t for me searching Google for Technology Tips for Trainers, I might have missed out on some creative and valuable information.

Willingness to Learn Something New in the Future:
In the future I will embrace exploring new options to improve student learning. I will look at education as building and strengthening the learning process instead of looking at it as an end result.