I had mixed feelings about this assignment as a whole, but in the end I felt proud of all the new skills I learned along the way. As I read through the NMC New Horizon Report: 2013 K-12, my eyes were opened to the range technology has in education currently. I have been out of the classroom since 2007, so a lot of the trends and challenges were unfamiliar to me. I used to work at a private high school and was known as the "tech savoy" teacher. This would no longer be the case if I was hired today, but that is why I chose an EDTECH program. Challenge 1 stood out to me, not only because it applies to the school environment I once taught in, but it still seems to be an issue with professional development and the overall culture of a school as the technology continues to increase.
My school was split between veteran and rookie teachers. I was shocked coming out of college that high school teachers were still using the overhead projector and had no plans on changing. There were two multimedia projectors in the whole school, but I was able to get one just for the social studies department. My use of the projector was mainly for interactive note taking, where the veteran teachers only used it to show a movie. As the years have passed, the school has integrated iPads into the classrooms. Unfortunately, I believe they are underutilized because the school has not made it a culture. Technology training would be a great use of a professional development day. If all the teachers could fully understand what options they have to enhance their classroom and how easy it can be, then they would embrace these tools, rather than shy away from them. There was never a time when I had a meeting that focused on changing the school culture when it came to technology. There was a short meeting once on how to use the grade book program, but nothing more.
Some teachers like to stick with what they know. This obstacle can make it difficult to change the school as a whole. Although teachers are given technology, if there is not proper training, then more resistance is met. With the use of a technology specialist or a teacher with training in technology, we can overcome this challenge. Teachers love to share ideas and work hard to make sure their students learn the objectives set in place. Professional development days can increase the school's knowledge as a whole and encourage those who are uncomfortable with newer technology to ask questions.
In conclusion, this assignment taught me a lot. First, that my blood pressure still increases to a high rate when learning new technologies. I struggled with this assignment, not because I didn't understand the trends and challenges set forth in the New Horizon Report, but because there is such a broad range of programs on the internet to review. I tried several different animation programs and settled on PowToons. My script called for several actors, which other programs did not allow unless you upgraded. The real stress came from trying to find an audio program to use to record my script. With help from my fellow classmates (thanks!), I found that Audacity was a good fit. I was able to manipulate my voice and my husband's voice to fill all the characters. The problem that occurred when searching for good audio programs was in the installation. I ended up with malware on my computer, which took time to delete and secure my computer. My final project was what I envisioned from the beginning and I feel that this assignment was the perfect example of active learning. I appreciated the technology challenge, but also the research aspect. The New Horizon Report updated me on the trends and challenges schools are facing today. I hope that you enjoy my cartoon about trying to change a school's technology culture.
2013 Horizon Report K-12
No comments:
Post a Comment