Course Reflection

Taking this course has definitely changed my perspective and feelings in regards to incorporating technology in instruction. I have always felt like I was somewhat technology illiterate, and I was a a bit apprehensive entering this course as I was worried I would have a difficult time completing all of the assignments. Throughout the entirety of this course, I feel like I have become so much more equipped and comfortable with the use of technology and being able to use it in the classroom. Prior to this class, I really didn't have the want to incorporate technology into any of  my future lessons, but learning how to use all of the tools that we have been introduced to has changed that.

All of the tools that we were introduced to I believe are very useful, but the two that stood out to me the most were the Prezi and the webquest. In my opinion, these tools would be the most useful in my future classroom as both of them open up opportunities to further student knowledge on a topic while also giving them more practice using technology. The prezi is a great tool as it helps to engage students and makes lecturing or feeding material more appealing. The webquest, in my opinion, is simply awesome. There are so many things that could be done with a webquest, such as allowing students to catch up on material from home if they miss class, or even giving them a chance to use an online webquest as a study guide.

The prezi and webquest are the tools that I am most excited about incorporating into my future classroom. There are so many ways that I could think of to incorporate these tools into a lesson plan. For example, I would use the prezi as a road map to follow the the path that an ingested object takes throughout the digestive system. I could use each slide of the prezi as a stop along the way throughout the digestive system, labeling the organ, adding pictures, and describing the functions. I believe this would really help to engage students in the classroom. One way that I would use a webquest would be to help increase parent involvement in their child's learning. I would create parent letters or explanations about upcoming projects that would give parents an idea of what the students will be doing in class. Webquests could also be used in my classroom as a way to give students an option to study a topic more on their own, as I could create a webquest that would be used as a study guide.

I don't believe I could convince my CT to use any of these tools at this point in the semester. She is pretty set on what is going to be going on in class for the next couple months. I think she would definitely find the tools to be interesting and useful, but once she has lessons already planned out she doesn't like to add many changes to them unless it is necessary.