CEP-811 Final Thoughts

I found this course to be very challenging and rewarding, and ultimately will help my teaching.  My favorite was designing the website, and I have given my students the address.  No one has yet to use it, but a few kids have expressed interest in checking it out.  I have a blog page and intend on starting conversations as we go along. 

I can see a Wiki being a useful tool for any course that requires group work.  I like that they offer the ability for groups to communicate and to edit each others work.  Yet, it has many of the same features of a regular webpage.  The only Wiki I didn't like was the one I took 4 or 5 tries to get them to accept the page I made for my place of employment.  Actually, I found it good to know that they are picky so people aren't adding material that is untrue or hurtful.  The frustrating part was that the "help desk" was not very helpful.

The goal-directed lesson plan was time consuming but was effective, along with UDL principles, in making me think harder about differentiating lessons so more kids can learn the material.  An additional bonus is that such plans will make me more organized. 

It is also important to realize that technology is not a "magic pill" that will cure all of our woes.  I learned that educators must plan and analyze the quality of technologies with the same vigor as traditional lessons lest we risk ineffective teaching and/or students who are not prepared for quality jobs.  However, it is vital that educators strive to keep up with the rapid changes in technology because we must do justice for our students.

I would like to know more about PowerPoint.  I've had some training on it but not nearly at the level I needed to do everything that I wanted to for my StAIR.  I spent more time on that assignment than any I can remember in my high school and college years yet I could not get it completely correct.  Much of my frustration centered on adding my voice to the show.  I made a folder with the show and the sound files and I even used WinZip to compress the files to know avail.  I like the StAIR idea and will continue to pursue producing them for my students. 

As far as my goals for this course, I have reached my goals and more.  I have sat through many workshops on all sorts of software or hardware yet none of them effectively trained me adequately enough for me to feel comfortable enough to add them to my teaching.  The fact that I have already given my students my webpage is a strong indicator that technology will be a strong force in my teaching.  Also, I made a website for my in-laws' church!

As far as my future plans, I am excited about 812 and intend on going for my MAET.  Also, I have applied to teach a professional development course for my colleagues on blogging and designing a webpage!  My goal is to be on the cutting edge of educational technology.