Lessons+Learned

Lessons Learned: During this brief quarter, I have learned a lot of very applicable skills that I previously had no knowledge of whatsoever. I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to computer programs, and I guess you could say that I have a slight aversion to technology in classrooms because the instances that I have seen it used, it has proven it to be more of a hindrance than help. However, with that said, this class has changed my mind.

During this class, it was made apparent that technology does and should have a part in education. What I found to be the most beneficial use of technology for the classroom setting were the blogspaces and various wiki- or proto-pages that could be directly used in and out of the classroom. This ability to reach the students outside of the classroom is invaluable, and I fully intend to create a class bogspace of some type, which incorporates the web 2.0 tools that were introduced to this quarter. This will be very helpful specifically for language classes since many of the standards surrounding foreign language instruction are leaning toward the necessity of introducing the students to the culture and people of the language they study in an attempt to fully integrate students in the language learning process. By using the Web 2.0 Tools, I have the ability to show students all different aspects of the culture, geography, and politics of the countries we studied which could not have been readily accessed without this new increase in technology.

Overall, while I started out very frustrated with my inability to use some of the new tools, I have ended this quarter with a much weaker dislike for technology, and any dislike I still retain has more to do with my frustration at my inability to use the web 2.0 tools adequately.