Reflection...

Over the span of this and the previous course, I've felt as though I've made some pretty significant growth, in regards to my awareness, knowledge, and skills with integrating technology, web-based or otherwise, into my teaching.  I think my teaching style has always been somewhat of a guide on the side, encouraging students to move as far as they can on their own, before seeking me out.  I feel as though a heavier integration of technology allows me to do so even more.  That being said, just because the technology is there, it doesn't mean my role is eliminated or even diminished.  In some cases, I feel as though it may increase my role.

With the integration of technology into my curriculum, it becomes vital that I monitor its effectiveness and appropriateness, and interact with students to check for understanding and provide guidance if needed.  Students will make efforts to appear engaged, as to not stand out amongst their peers.  Though technology has become the standard in society today, it should not be assumed that every student is technologically savvy and should be somewhat understood that those who are not, are likely to take on the role of the "fly on the wall."  They may feel as though they are "dumb" for not being able to comprehend all of the things their peers are doing, in what appears to be such an effortless manner. 

Additionally, some technologies are more student friendly, so various technologies will present different obstacles for each type of curriculum, each student, and each teacher.  Integrating web-based technologies encouraged me to look more closely at what various technologies could do and what potential hurdles may be presented with technologies which are not web-based. 

Specifically, I think of Moodle vs. Power Point.  Though I'm not sure I'm a fan of a Moodle lesson, over a Power Point lesson, it does offer a student the freedom to interact solely on the web, without needing a place to save or a program to run the lesson.  The same could be said for Google docs, vs. Microsoft Word or Apple's Pages.  This makes for some pretty powerful accessibility.  Almost gone are the days of having teachers complain they couldn't open your files or students not being able to access their work outside of school.

Given all of this personal interaction and exposure to technology, since we've started these courses and due to the fact that I gave myself a rather broad goal, I would have to say I've achieved, but not surpassed, my goals for learning about technology.  This is not to say I'm satisfied with my achievements, because I believe I've just begun to scratch the surface on how far I can go with integrating it into my curriculum, but I do feel I've learned a significant amount.

In the future, I'd like to make the subject(s) I work with more accessible to the students, especially those who fall behind, due to illness or inability to maintain the pace of the class.  With a Resource Room, I also find that some students are being held back by the class' pace and would benefit from being able peek ahead a bit.  If there are sample of every topic available, they could do so.  This would just benefit them in preparing to move back into the general education setting.  My hopes are that over the summer, I can work toward making some of this a reality, whether it be through Moodle or a different site.