Reflection on ICT

  Throughout the course, there is one aspect of infusion of ICT in the classroom that became glaringly evident. This aspect is the overwhelming amount of tools that are out there that can be incorporated into the classroom. For instance, within my blog post I have identified Khan Academy, Desmos, Nat-Geo Education, Classcraft, Socrative Teacher, Prezi, and Nova from PBS. These examples are only a drop of water in an ocean. All of these tools (and many others) can certainly enhance any lesson but require an extra effort for a teacher to learn. This can create a confusion and frustrating experience that can cause an aversion to educational technology. With any confusion on the educator’s part easily trickles down to the students so it is imperative that we as educators masters our tech! The solution I have decided to use to remedy this feeling is to pick a “core set” of apps, websites, etc. to master and share. To showcase my core set the website I prefer to use (introduced within this course) is Symbaloo. Symbaloo allows for a quick, image based, at-a-glance organizer that can easily be shared and navigated with students in the classroom.

   The inclusion of tech in the classroom is my opinion inevitable! One of the ideas Mr.Nantais shared within the class was that using tech needs to become second nature just like using a remote control, graphic organizer in notes, a new pen, etc. It’s shouldn’t be an event to use something like a Prezi presentation in class, it is just a different way to organize the information. I feel like the only way for an educator to be able to use tech fluently, they must use it in their everyday life, not just for the classroom. The world has changed and using tech is normal now so we, as educators, have a social responsibility to stay on the forefront and embrace new apps, websites, devices, etc.

   One of the largest changes that I have been noticed is due to Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook. With one idea, Mark Zuckerberg had completely changed how the majority of the world interacts socially, all with a piece of tech! His creation has made a vessel for the private lives of people and to be made public to the entire world! Lots of people do not think twice about posting some of their most private moments on Facebook but this is just the norm now. I have seen a social revolution through social media! Social media websites are how people get to you know someone now so it is so important to become a digitally literate citizen. It’s an obvious statement that students look up to teachers as an “all-knowing being” and digital citizenship needs to be one of those aspects of life that teachers need to know all about.