Thing 16: Final Evaluation

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
    I honestly think my favorite exercise was creating my blog. I am terrified of technology, but setting up my blog and keeping up with each week really made me feel a part of the technology community. Learning how to be comfortable with technology, upload different items into my blog, and being confident enough to share my thoughts each week about what I had discovered was a challenge, but I enjoyed it. I want to now start a blog for my future classroom. I also liked the idea of exploring so many different technology ideas to use in the classroom. My favorite technology item that I explored was the Web 2.0 Tools, Podcasting and Bookmarking. Everything challenged me, but I learned so much!

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
    Looking at this question, I referenced back to the 7 1/2 Habits discussed in our first post about life long learning. Even though this was only 6 weeks ago that I began this technology journey, I feel like I grew so much in my technology abilities. I can now feel stronger in the area of Habit 3:View problems as challenges. I came into contact with tons of problems while completing my blog. There were times when I spent two hours trying to figure out how something worked, but I was determined to learn and accomplish the task. I rose to the challenge!
    I also feel like I better understand Habit 6: Use technology to your advantage. After reading and exploring so many websites and seeing how technology can be used in the classroom. I realize I would be doing a disservice to my students and myself if I did not incorporate technology into my lesson plans. Technology is at our fingertips and can be used in so many ways! Also, most importantly...Habit 7 1/2 has totally made itself known to me: Play! I had so much fun exploring, being creative, and experiencing a lot of trial and error when completing my blog entries. I got to come into contact with a lot of great websites that are going to be excellent resources for my students and my teaching. I learned how to have fun with technology and play around with it!

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
     I think the biggest outcome for me is that I now really like technology. In the past, I only used technology because it is a part of everyday life. Now, I find myself interested in reading articles online about new technology and how it is being used in the classroom. Also, my confidence in regards to technology. I would not say I am 100% confident, but I feel a lot better about technology. Another positive outcome is that I am now obsessed with blogging! I mentioned in quesiton one that I want to begin a classroom blog when I beging teaching.

4. What could I do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
     One aspec that I noticed is that some of the links do not work for certain tutorials provided on the instructional blog. Also, I know it is hard to do because as a teacher we wish we could make certain projects last forever, but the reality is that there is a timeline we must stick to while planning. I just wish that I could have had more than a week to accomplish some of the blog post. The reason for this is because there were some blog entries I wish I could have spent more time exploring and really getting the opportunity to experience more in depth before posting about them.