Putting It All Together

I found the title for this week's lesson very interesting, as it has helped me to collect my thoughts about both this class and this program.  We have covered a lot of material in this class, and have been exposed to many new technology tools.  We have looked at graphics and presentations, spreadsheets, word processors, and online calendars.  We have also read a very interesting book called Supporting Learning with Technology  which has talked about the ways technology can both help and inspire students, or limit them if it is used the wrong way.  One of the key points of the book is that educators must plan in advance to truly take advantage of technology.  It can not just be an activity that is added to an existing plan.  Teachers must think about the goals for a lesson, and then incorporate technology that truly supports those goals.  It should allow the students an opportunity for creativity, and if possible allow them to choose their output, rather than forcing them into a one size fits all solution.

For me personally one of the big lessons for this class has been the power of Google Sites to summarize, collect, and present a number of different types of information.  Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, calendars, and many other types of information can all be collected and displayed in a related hierarchy.  More importantly students and learners could use this type of technology to create original responses to homework assignments.  I will be using this technology myself to collect and summarize all of the work that I do for the rest of the Masters program, so that I will have easy access to it at the end of the session.  Here is my personal site that will contain most of this information:  https://sites.google.com/a/wolfmail.stritch.edu/cedo515-site-lyons/home.  I hope that in the future having all of this information in one place will help me come up with more creative and unique ways of teaching students.