Well, this is it. This is the final blog post for the EDTC 300 blog. This has been a intriguing class. personally, I have enjoyed the structure and the format that Katia used for this class. I thought the online classes were quite engaging, I have always preferred an open conversation type class over taking notes and writing test. For me personally I feel that I get the most from an open conversation. Being able to speak your own perspective as well as hear the perspective of other I think is one of the best ways to be engages, to learn, to understand. While, also included in that would be having people challenge your perspective (play devils advocate) or you challenge someone else’s perspective. This type of networking I think is the most crucial. In my opinion you can read or research as much as you want about a topic however the learning you will get from others hands on experiences I think holds a different weight. This is why I particularly enjoyed the format of this class.
For myself I think this was the largest part of networking in this class. Whenever we went into a breakout room I felt like I participated with the best of my ability but I was also able to have people change their perspective. In one breakout room we had talked about a lesson where students have to create a skits to go along with the lesson plan.
During the breakout room we were talking about how this lesson is targeted towards older students in grade 11/12. There was a conversation about how this would not work in this situation. I brought up if they make a mockery out of it but still use correct information are they not still getting something out of it. We had an agreement that this could be the case.
During out whole class discussion I took part in lots of the discussion as well as networked and discussed topics out loud and in the chat. There were some real interesting subjects that were discussed. For gathering resources during these, in one of our first classes we went through Microsoft extensions. I went and used what I learned about these extensions and I downloaded all the shortcuts that I felt were of benefit to me. I ended up downloading ScreenCastify, which I used for my fifth EDTC 300 blog post, postlight reader, read aloud, one tab and others.
Throughout the semester I was reading others blogs. I found other were using some great resources or had similar thoughts as myself. Comments made on my blog posts and comments I’ve made on others posts, I’ve gathered many resources and shared a bunch of resources. In one of my first blog posts I mentioned a few webpages that I like to use in my class. in particular classroomscreen and gimkit. Others commented on that post and said they found this program very interested and suspected to be very useful in the classroom.
In conclusion, this class provided great information and insight into the advancements in technology over the years. It highlighted how we as teacher can integrate technology into the classroom to improve engagement and understanding for our student. By using these tools, we can create interesting and engaging information that will connect with our students and give them better opportunities to learn, understand and grow.