Aha Moments!

I had a few aha moments this semester. I particularly like creating the technology lesson plan. It was nice to put my ideas and beliefs as a teacher into words. I was surprised at how closely my technology philosophy mirrored my general education philosophies. Adding technology didn't really change my focus too much. I still want my classroom to be student-centered and discovery based. I want my students to be critical thinkers and problem solvers. All of these things are important with or without technology. So really, my educational technology philosophy didn't change as the course progressed; this class simply reinforced it.

I've managed to stay away from wikis up until now. I thought they were just archaic versions of web sites. Boy was I wrong! Working with the wikis this semester helped me realize how I can use them to work with my web site, not replace it. I plan on trying to incorporate some peer editing using the class wiki.

I was also surprised to find out how easy it is to embed your podcasts into Blogger. I have been using Blogger for three years and just now heard of the enclosure link! It makes embedding things so much faster. I also really enjoyed using JING and plan to use it to provide extra teaching on my class website. I'm even considering using on my next maternity leave (whenever that happens).

This course has given me many ideas that I can't wait to test out on my kiddos!