“Technology Integration: What I've Learned”

            When I first registered to take this class I was thinking that I knew what was out there in the way of technology.  I use it every day. Since I teach art I am creating lessons all of the time.  I am on other teacher blogs, art educator websites, Pinterest, Facebook, etc.  But, on the whole they are not talking about the use of technology in the art classroom.  I have always felt that I wanted students to use technology, but it didn’t seem like time well spent in my class because I felt the making of art was a better use of class time and that students need time to create.  When I design a lesson I begin with the standards and create the rubric around them.  I usually assess more than one standard for a project so that I can cover more content.  I like the WebQuest because I can cover several standards and meet my students differing learning styles through this one experience.  This makes good use of my class time.  It also is time well spent for me to create a WebQuest because more than one grade level can do the same WebQuest and I am meeting the needs of my students and meeting the standards at the same time.  The mindset that students need to actively create art hasn’t changed, but I can now see ways to integrate technology to deepen my students understanding of the subject matter.  Through this class I have now been exposed to creative ways that I can enhance my curriculum with the use of technology through projects students can do at home, home and school,  or to engage students in the classroom.  In the past I have tried a variety of projects that just didn’t go as well as I had hoped when using technology.  Either the time with laptops became such a burden that it was not efficient or not having enough of them to go around became frustrating.  Although my school has purchased technology over the years and have allotted school funds for it, we really didn’t have someone showing us how we can use it.  That is about to change and something I am really excited about.

            There were many articles from the SNHU library, our textbooks, and then just other articles I read online when researching topics that really made an impact on me.  From our textbook, the chapters that made the most impact were chapter 2 & 3.  Chapter 2, “The Digital Information Age” discussed “how today’s students and tomorrow’s teachers are different from previous generations.” (Levin, 2009)  It was so interesting to read about digital natives, digital immigrants, and Millennials.  It just resonated with me that we have a responsibility to our students to integrate technology in our classroom because they are going to need that experience to be prepared for the work place later on.  Throughout the book they had “One School Leader’s Story…” emphasized in a gray box.  These made it make sense.  It showed that technology is a process and everyone will come to it in different ways.  These stories made it real and outlined the problems and solutions.  They didn’t sugar-coat the process, but did inspire. In chapter 3, “New Tools for Collaboration, Communication, and Creation”.  Technology in the past has been costly. So before buying some new software you want to be sure that it is worth it and is going to get a lot of use.  This chapter showed how with the internet and Web 2.0 tools that our lesson possibilities are endless and are free.  I liked how the value of blogging for educational purposes was explained.  Now teachers can have an ongoing dialog with parents and students that others can read, as well.  I also opened a del.icio.us account and have all my favorite sites bookmarked online to have access to them from any computer. In regards to websites I found so many when working on my WebQuest.  This site http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index_sub7.html , really explained what you needed to know about a WebQuest and even had some “Critical Perspectives” that addressed some concerns.  I found that what convinced me the most about the value of a WebQuest was when we addressed student learning.  Again, because I teach art and am limited on time I like to cover many standards at once.  The WebQuest allows me to do this.

Levin, Lynne Schrum & Barbara B. Leading 21st Century Schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2009. book.