I haven't started my BLOG until now, and I realise why. I'm very afraid of the unknown, and computer's and technology would be one of the main things I don't know much about. But I than realised that this course is going to teach me a great deal about different terms and excellent sites regarding the computer. Through the first few weeks of starting this course, I found that I was taking a lot of time to get my head around the first two quiz's. I have done a great deal of writing things down, so I know and understand to my best ability. I was worried as a fellow course member was talking about how exciting this course was and how it takes her away from other assignments. I began, with her encouragement, to try and look at this course in a different more positive way. I hated sitting in front of a computer, as I am more of a physical hands-on sort of person. I realised that even known I didn't like working on the computer I needed to make more of an effort. With the first and second quiz with questions about terminologies and what do the terms mean, I found were challenging. But I also gained some helpful knowledge. One thing that stood out was how in education the single biggest problem facing education today is our 'Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks entirely new language.' I have realised I am one of those people, so there was a new goal for myself to reach, and that is to be up to date with technology and their benefits. I have also learnt about the fear the all adults and children must face when being introduced to new learning's. I can see how soon in this world, computers will play a major part in every ones life, for example, I remember when mobile phones were introduced, I remember saying to myself "Who needs a mobile phone, only the rich people use them, how silly!" But today I think almost every one owns one, and probably couldn't live without it. So I had to accept them, and the change to peoples lives they make. The point to this story is that I decided I wouldn't deny computers and technologies as soon they will be just a 'normal' way of life.
I would like to hear from other people and what your thoughts are.
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I too, am a bit of a stranger to technology, but learning so much as I progress through this course. Good on you for sticking with it and realising the importance of this technology for students' learning. If only there were more teachers like you who wanted to make a difference!
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Meryl
Hi, I'm to sure about this subject taking me away from other ones, but this subject has definitely stirred some serious thinking in me about how I can use technology everyday, If you've had the opportunity to see a teacher use an interactive whiteboard in conjunction with the learning place, the opportunities are endless. As my mentor teacher told me, it has everything there that we could ever think of, which means that we are able to look at what we have available to us and then think about what else that we could do with the lesson to tie it into current studies. Good luck with the rest of your blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Tanya, as a digital immigrant myself I as had the fear of being a 'Digital Immigrant instructor, who speak an outdated language (that of pre-digital age)', and throught 'oh my god what am I going to do'. But during my EPL I noticed that anything I didn't know my students would help me along the way and this gave them confidence and gave me a connection to them. Student's love to help out in class and you'll find that most of them will find new digital languages/devices before we do and are more than happy to share their findings with you, which you can then share with your class, or allow the student to develop a student mentor system. Thanks Alana
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