Two thumbs up

Creating this blog has not been a wholly positive experience. In the beginning, it was a task I had to do to because I was being graded, a little boring as I wasn't always all too adventurous with technology, time-consuming and also confronting. Blogging wasn't a new experience for me and was one I actually used to take pleasure in but blogging about life and things that inspired or happened to me was very much different to blogging for the sake of passing a course and appearing knowledgeable about the digital world. In the midst of attending university three days a week, working for two and completing numerous assignments during the weekend, blogging wasn't something that interested me. As with many things, when you haven't meddled with it in awhile, it takes you awhile to figure out how to use it again and for some reason, it took quite a lot of long and frustrating hours to make my blog into a place I was happy to visit.

You will be glad to know I no longer view blogging with the same passion as I did 12 weeks ago.

In many ways, I've grown attached to this experience of settling down with a hot tea, switiching on my laptop, pulling out my notes and putting all my thoughts down in digital reality. And ultimately, blogging has made me a reflective learner. Within this course, I have been introduced to many different techonological tools; some that I have heard of in the past and some new to me but 90 percent of which I have chosen to avoid attempting. I believe in order to write about something, we need to either be knowledgeable about it or have experienced it. As I'm clearly not technologically savvy, I've gone down the road of experience. Blogging has therefore given me a reason to pull my socks up, stop whinging and start playing with the 'toys' on the Web. To take it one step further, the process of writing about these experiences has shaped me into a learner that not only experiences but is also reflective upon her experience.

Looking back, I found it difficult to blog in the beginning as I didn't what direction I wanted to take this blog. Seeing as this blog was one that was going to be for university purposes and perhaps for my professional portfolio one day, I didn't feel like I could blog as me but rather I needed to be more formal in my blogging style. It took me awhile and the exposure to some of my peers' blogs to realise that it was more important for me to blog as an indidvidual with my personality rather than attempt to blog with someonelse' voice. Once I established that, deciding what to blog was quicker and the process more fluid.

All in all, this course has opened my eyes to the many benefits the Web can bring to the classroom and I hope to re-create and incorporate these tools into my classroom teaching and learning experiences. I've just found out that I'll be getting Year two students for my ATP and I've been thinking of various ways the use of modern technology can enhance the experience. Yes, the children may be young and lack some of the skills and literacy knowledge but I don't believe that I should let that stop me. I'm truly excited at the idea of becoming a socially networked classroom.

Web meets Deb

As excited and intrigued as I am about all the different new technology that is being created and used all around the world, it feels as if somewhere along the way, I missed the stage of 'Web meets Deb' and I've been fast tracked to 'Web meets World'. I have no doubt that digital technology is only going to continue developing at the rapid rate it has been going in the past decade.

Everywhere we turn today, we see technology being used to help us enhance our everyday lives. iPhones are whipped out to send a quick message to our friends that we are late, GPS used to help us newbies navigate our way around Perth, desktops booted up to get the latest news update, Smartboards switched on to upload an interactive numeracy activity, laptops switched on and earphones plugged in to tune in to the latest lecture podcast and the list goes on and on. Compared to how we used to communicate and navigate our surroundings a couple of decades ago to how we do so today, I can say life is infinitely quicker and connected!!

More importantly though is the question of how technology development impact upon education. Is it enhancing the learning the our students, providing a more holistic learning environment, bringing the focus from being exclusive to inclusive and tailoring instruction to student's needs? When technology is implemented well in an educational context, student engagement is high, the boundaries of a classroom are endless as students can be socially networked and accessing information for all over the world, students are exposed an online conduct that will benefit them in the real world and students can access instruction that is individualised to their strengths and weaknesses and can construct new knowledge on their own terms. These are only some of the benefits of technology development in education today.

As all things go, where there is a positive, there is also a negative. Technology is not cheap and the question arises as to where should the financial burden of technology in educational settings lie. It is realistic to assume that not every family will be able to afford technology at their homes. What happens then to their children. Do they fall behind or receive a less authentic learning experience. Does the development of new technology every few months create an environment of exclusivity whereby only the financially rich can afford to keep up with new toys. What about cybersafety? Is it safe for children to be part of the Web or are we placing them in a position of vulnerability? Is the pen and paper becoming obeselete? Are we creating a generation of future leaders who will be so technologically dependent that without it, they may fail to succeed?

While these downfalls are all real and true possibilities, I believe that there are solutions to overcome each and every one of them and that the benefits of technology development ultimately outweigh the problems it may bring.

Despite missing 'Web meets Deb', I'm striving to catch up and embrace all that technology has to offer, from making new Avatars, exploring the 3D world out there to seriously contemplating trading in my Blackberry for an iPhone just so I can experiment with augmented realities.

Until my next post...