Relection on class 6715I-3

As I reflect upon this course and the knowledge I have gained I cannot help but say wow! The new and emerging technologies that are currently before us and the ones just past the horizon are truly going to take us into a new era in education. Technology is an ongoing process and the new technologies described by Dr. David Thornburg as disruptive are causing everyone to learn new and more efficient ways of getting our jobs done. These new and emerging technologies are going to assist education because they will not only supplies endless amounts of undated information and sources but do it in a more efficient way (Laureate Inc., 2009). This course has been an opportunity to see how technologies are changing in not only a more functional way but at a lower cost (Laureate Inc., 2009).

My using a classroom blog has provided for me an example to share not only with my colleagues but my supervisors as well, concerning the opportunities that are there through the use of social networking. My blog from www.classpress.com gives my students a forum from which they can grow together with these new and emerging technoloies and allows others at my school to see the functionality of such a program. The ability to monitor this program with limited filtering has proven to my supervisors that programs such as this will be valuable learning experiences for not only my students but for adults as well.

The problems we face in the twenty first century are going to be a challenge, but no different from other centuries before us, the difference is in the the technology and where it will take us. These challenges in this century will be solved by the putting together of tremendous resources, the resources will be combined by technology. In the school business we are now charged with not only teaching the content that makes a student well rounded but now also delivering the strategies that would assist students in learning these valuable cooperative skills needed to succeed in the twenty first century.

My plans for the future are to take my classroom blog further and try and incorporate more of my local school classes and before year's end publish the blog to the internet with designs toward communicating with classes in other areas and maybe even outside the U.S. If we are able to accomplish these goals I feel we will truly see how powerful these tools will be and how fuctional they will be in preparing students for future challenges they will face in their adult lives.

John Poitevint

References:

Laureate Education, Inc., (Executive Producer). (2009). New and Emerging Technologies. Baltimore: Author.

Thornburg, D. D. (2008b). Emerging technologies and McLuhan's Laws of Media. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Christensen, C., & Horn, M. (2008). How do we transform our schools? Education Next, 8(3), 12-19.

Johnson, L., Levine, A., Smith, R., & Smythe, T. (2009). The 2009 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.