Thoughtful+Analysis

Going into Educational Media and Technology, I thought that the only forms of technology that were available for the classroom were computer projections and Smart Boards. I've come from the Philadelphia area, and the schools I've attended never utilized technology inside their classrooms. After completing the semester however, I've found that there is actually a multitude of technology out there, some more expensive and harder to attain than others, and teachers should be willing and able to incorporate these different technologies in the classroom as often as possible since this generation is, after all, a generation of technology.

If there is one thing that I've learned from this class, it's how to be able to find and incorporate technology into the classroom. The internet is a very useful tool, and with a few searches and clicks of a few buttons, a multitude of answers can appear right before your very face. I've learned how to use a multitude of these types of accessible and free technologies, and this wikispace will serve as a reminder to me on how I've used them in the past, how I can later incorporate them into my classroom in the future, and what other resources are available for me to look into. I've "mastered" how to use blogs, online quizzes, Google applications, newsletters, podcasting, video conferencing, and many other types of technology. Podcasting and blogging are two aspects that I've come to enjoy very much, however, and can definitely see myself using them in my classrooms come September!

While I understand the reasoning behind SAS, that is one aspect that I still have trouble grasping. I don't see how it can be included as a technology source as more than the University of Scranton lesson plan template can. I find the template for evaluating lesson plans to be too confusing; it seems as if all the criteria you have to take a look at while evaluating it are generally the same words written in different ways. I found it very hard and time consuming when it should have been generally simple.

As stated earlier, this generation of children in our schools now is known as the generation of technology. Because our children and students are so adapted to technology and use it for practically everything in their everyday lives, it only makes sense to incorporate it into our school curriculum as much as possible. Technology takes the old fashioned method of completing assignments and makes them more fun and interactive. Technology will definitely play a role in my classroom when I'm hired hopefully this September!

//- Amanda Benz//