Reflection

I feel like the last two weeks...no, this entire summer...have been a technology whirlwind for me. Last spring we were introduced to the idea of teaching with iPads. This was exciting for me. I love technology, I purchased a mac and andriod, I had a school mac laptop, and I was on top of the world. I knew we would be having these classes, I signed up for the Marian seminar, and I thought I was set.

The only way to get good at this stuff is to use it. I do not want to be one of those instructors that stubbles around not knowing what she is doing. That is very distracting for students. So, I must be doing and moodling any chance I get. I am pleased with my progress on the Wiki...I really "get" it.

It is my goal to use this technology to provide variety to my lessons. I want to be able to teach in a non-traditonal manner that provides different visual, auditory and kinesthetic experiences to my students. I would like to use my iPad as a smartboard, not a video player. I want to transition from one experience to the next with some amount of smoothness. I know that the technology will sometimes be undependable, but the more I use it and understand this, I can teach around it without tripping about.

I know that I need to focus on using the apps in class. Lee has provided an amazing list of options that are already categorized. I downloaded the Elevated Math app based on his suggestion and it was slick. I love all the suggestions I received in class, but, again, I need to play with them A LOT!!! I am putting a lot of pressure on myself because I would like to be effective both with my middle schoolers, but also with my university students as well. I want them to enjoy coming to my class and feel like they have walke away with sound information.

The Marian University John C. Riley Educational Technology Day was fantastic. From the keynote speaker to all the sessions I attended, I was captivated and learned a lot! It would be difficult to pick just 3 things learned, but here I go:

1. The Keynote Speaker, Jim Geoffrey, provided many sites and speakers to check out, including Eli Pariser, Ted.com and word lens.

2. The PPT presentation by Lynda Schultz was outstanding! She was funny and gave innumerable suggestions for making the presentations non-traditional.

3. The two instructors that taught about wikispaces really got me going on this. I will definitely use this app daily...probably hourly.

THANK YOU for this great learning opportunity!!!!!