John Dewey described reflection as “the
kind of thinking that consist of turning a subject over in the mind and giving
it serous and consecutive consideration.” By mastering this art and skills, it
increases the abilities of teachers to improve and modify their teaching.
As I have sat and reflected on the
articles Dr. Wu gave us to read I found it kind of interesting how well they
correlate with the assignment of writing a review on a blog. By writing a
reflection on the blog we are better learning to use technology that we could
use in the class room. This relates to our Technological Pedagogy Content
Knowledge. The reason TCPK is so important for future teachers to master is the
ability to adapt technology into the classroom as a teaching tool without losing
pedagogy and content. When the three are applied evenly in a lesson it allows
for the best learning. With the new technologies some teachers allow the
technology to take over too much of their job by losing the interaction with
the students. In order for the best learning to take place teachers must focus
on the Pedagogical knowledge as well.
Technology has really changed the
education world in the last 20 years. It is now expected as a teacher to be able
to know how to use technology and adapt to new technologies in the future. In the
study about technology integration it talked about how in 2004 teacher
education students were not required to take an educational technology class. The
technologies portion was covered in their methods class. I am sure it was not
long after that the technologies class became required. It also talked about
the importance of education students not just taking a technologies coarse but
teacher educators providing opportunities for these students to experience
these technologies in the university classroom. I think many of the teacher
education students from this generation will be very good at adapting to new
technologies. The thing that I think will be difficult is for them, is to incorporate
the pedagogical content knowledge with the technology to reach all learning
styles of student.
Love your quote from John Deway!!
ReplyDeleteRecently, blogs begun to emerge as a useful type of educational technology. The literature discusses a number of interesting possibilities for the use of blogs. For example, it is suggested that students can use blogs to publish their own writings, discuss group assignments, peer review each other’s work, collaborate on projects and manage their digital portfolios.
Overall, from my perspective as a teacher, I believe that the blogs added a new dimension to my teaching effectiveness by enabling me to do things that were not possible otherwise, either with or without other technology. Initially, I saw blogging as a means by which I could provide my reflections to address emerging issues relevant to students’ learning. Blog technology allows students as readers of my reflections to post their comments. Blog can also be used as a resource distribution medium. I understood that it is appropriate for students to also maintain their own blogs, where they could reflect upon learning that took place in class sessions, present their work and express ideas and concerns. Once I began reading and reviewing students’ blogs, it became obvious that this activity is time-consuming due to having to follow up all blogs individually and to keep track of new posts and comments soon after they had been added…But, I still love doing it!!