Reflection of Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society
I just completed EDUC 6710 course of Walden University. This course was about evolution of technology and impact of technology in society and on education. Throughout the course, I learned educational usage of Web 2.0 tools such as blog, podcast and wiki. As a digital native (Prensky M, 2001), I was aware of Web 2.0, but I did not use them for education. After watching course videos and reading blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms book (Richardson, 2010), I learned how to integrate Web 2.0 tools into class and teach both my subject curriculum and 21st century skills in my physics curriculum. I was brain storming about how to change my teaching method from teacher – centered education system to student – centered education system. Using technology while continuing to teach with teacher- centered education system is just doing the same thing differently.
Like Dr. David Thornburg (2004) stated, “We live in a world where it is commonplace for technology to be used to do different things, not just do old tasks differently.” Therefore, I acknowledged that I need to find new tools and methods that can help me to transform my teaching strategy. Now, I realized that Web 2.0 tools are great assets to transform my teaching strategy. Moreover, these tools are capable to help my students in learning 21st century skills. I acknowledged that classrooms that authentically use technology should experience changes in teacher’s roles, learner’s roles, the process of learning, and assessment (Keengwe, J., Lawson-Body, A., Onchwari, G. & Arome, G. (2007). Therefore, I will continue to transform myself from lecturer to a facilitator with changing my class environment from teacher – centered to student –centered education environment.
Expectations of society from today’s students and also expectations of students from today’s schools are changed. As a matter of fact, I have to teach 21st century skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and ICT skills (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2009) to my 21st century learners. I set two goals for classroom environment in the following years.
First, I will enrich my teaching with using learning objects (Cramer, S. 2007). I will create learning objects pool to use in my lessons. I will ask my school to buy interactive software and videos related to my subject. I will search education websites, youtube, and teachertube to find and collect learning objects that I can use in my lesson. I will ask my students to research and share the learning objects that they found via wiki page. Moreover, I will ask my students to create learning objects like podcasts and presentations. Finally, I will create a Drupal based website to share all those information with other teachers with using. I believe that my students will gain 21st century skills while preparing those learning objects and will understand the core concepts clearly while creating learning objects and working in groups.
Second, I will transform my classroom environment from teacher-centered learning environment to student – centered learning environment. I will conduct open book tests and assess my students according to their performance in group projects. Students will learn how to answer questions that begin with “Why” and “How”. I will force my students to think about physics concepts. In digital age memorizing is not so important. However analyzing and processing information is very important.
After reviewing my checklist, I found that my answers changed from often to sometimes because of learning applications of Web 2.0 tools in education. Now I know how to enable students to take responsibility of their own learning by providing tools and resources, and how to create lesson plans that enable students to work as a team and collaborate with each other. Within time, I will continue to discover Web 2.0 tools and learn new methods of integrating technology into my classroom. As a result, I will have a student centered learning environment and will teach 21st century skills to my students. I hope that me and my students will enjoy the new environment, have lots of fun and learn new things in an engaging medium.
Cramer, S. (2007). Update your classroom with learning objects and twenty-first century skills. Clearing House, 80(3), 126–132.
Keengwe, J., Lawson-Body, A., Onchwari, G. & Arome, G. (2007). Empowering Students to Learn Effectively With Technology Tools. In T. Bastiaens & S. Carliner (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2007 (pp. 2064-2068). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2009). P21 Framework Definitions. Retrieved from The Partnership for 21st Century Skills Web site: http://www.p21.org/documents/P21_Framework_Definitions.pdf
Prensky M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(6), 3-6.
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.
Thornburg, D. (2204) Technology and education: Expectations, not options. (Executive Briefing No. 401). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf
