The UNI survey and NET Standards were interesting and very enlightening for me. I thought, up until this point, that I have tried to stay abreast of new technologies and have always planned to use them in my classroom. However, upon taking the survey and analyzing the Standards, I learned there are several areas where I might be somewhat deficient and need to devote some time and effort in my future classroom planning. I feel that I am strong in using the web and handling a computer overall; I have no fear of technology, which I think is a strength in today's world. In terms of the UNI survey, I was able to rate myself as a "Practitioner" or "Apprentice" in nearly every area except using graphic organizers for brainstorming and decision-making, in which I was a "Novice." I have seen this type of software utilized in the past, but I have never used it myself. I feel that where I plan to teach Language Arts, this type of software would be extremely beneficial for me when teaching brainstorming and concept-mapping. I found a great tool online, Bubbl, that creates concept maps for free. I intend to use this tool in my classroom and as a goal, search for other, more robust, tools regarding these types of graphic organizers.
From the NET Standards list, I feel that I may be lacking in two areas: creating tools for diverse learners, and using technology for assessment and evaluation. To address the assessment issue, I was able to locate an Instructional Technology podcast series hosted by Richard A. Smith and Caroline M. Crawford from The University of Houston, Clear Lake, entitled "Technology in the Irving Independent School District." Irving ISD is a school district in Texas with award-winning technology utilization. In the most recent podcast, Sam Farsaii specifically addresses assessment and evaluation, among many other topics related to the Irving ISD as one of the top school districts in Texas. In this series, there are many other discussions related to assessment and evaluation, so it appears to be relevant and ongoing.
In regards to using technology as a tool to address diversity, I was reminded of a friend of mine who teaches at a college in Boston, MA. She recently started a project with a group of students using photography to capture images of the city's homeless population, Photography and the Human Condition. I feel that using technology in this way is a great avenue for addressing diversity in the classroom. This type of project allows each student to contribute from their own point of view, but also allows students to look outside of themselves to learn. I feel like this type of collaborative technology is very beneficial for students, because this is a medium that they have grown up with and understand. It is my goal to set up some type of collaborative blog with each of my classes where students will contribute and share information with one another online. Through UEN, there is a summer workshop entitled, "Creating Online Educational Media" that would be a helpful professional development course leading toward creating more tools to use in the classroom's online environment. I am impressed with the number of offerings from UEN on multimedia and online technology. The Internet is also ripe with information for just about any topic related to education and using technology in the classroom. When we were creating our digital stories, I appreciated the ideas of sharing and collaborative effort among educators in the online environment across the globe. This why I believe that technology can be used successfully in the classroom. It is important to teach these skills to our students, and the opportunity to learn newer and better ways of utilizing this information is abundant for us as teachers.
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