Lessons+Learned

Chad Portwood July 14, 2011 EDUC 538 Dr. Pyatt

//Lessons Learned//

We as future educators have been told over the past year within this MIT program that technology is a very important aspect regarding the realm of education which will only gain more power and presence in the years to come. Before taking this class I had an attitude of sure I will use technology in my classroom, but for one I was not aware of the opportunities available to us (and mostly for free) and second I did not seriously use what I had as it was intended.

Throughout the four quick weeks of this course I have seen many different tools that each have specific purposes for the classroom which can be integrated in ways that can improve the efficiency of the teacher, but also the engagement of the students. With the majority of this generation it can be seen they are constantly plugged into their phones, music players, computers, or game consoles. Why not use this media to reach more students and hopefully in the process more learning will occur even if they might feel a little 'tricked' into it at times.

As with the history of education we are currently seeing another pendulum swing from traditional methods of lecture to more hands-on learning. This includes the push for standards-based learning, which can be taught in a multitude of ways, but lends itself well to less direct instruction and more to exploratory or problem/project based learning. Not only do I believe the students respond better to this type of pedagogy, but also feel the students retain more of the material since it is related to real-world issues and they are individually absorbing it. Another great idea that I will take away from this class is to have multiple media available for students in order to differentiate instruction as well as I can. This could include direct instruction from myself (possible screen-cast), videos online (that students can look at repeatedly), students teaching students, detail notes/worksheets, etc.

In conclusion this class has mainly reinforced the importance of using technology in the classroom, but at the same time reminded myself that it can be very overwhelming at times and it is alright to include only what you are comfortable presently and add on over time.