Reflective Essay: Final Reflection and Blog Posting on the Impact of Technology

Shawn L. Mitchell

Master of Science in Education, Walden University

EDUC 6710: Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society

Professor Kathyrn Arnold

June 28, 2020

Reflective Essay: Final Reflection and Blog Posting on the Impact of Technology

     The ways in which ways the media, resources, and activities of this course helped me to develop my own technology skills as a professional teacher are as follows. 1) It refined my skills such that I was able to incorporate various forms of interactive technology in a cohesive format to create a viable lesson plan for student and Web 2.0 interaction learning. And 2) it altered the perception of my traditional way of conveying information to students versus how students communicate now because “our students’ realities in terms of the way they communicate and learn are very different from our own” (Richardson, 2010).

     The ways in which I have deepened my knowledge of the teaching and learning process with respect to integrating technology in the classroom are I have 1) committed to the idea that I can “change my worldview and my practice despite deep-seated, traditional expectations and mindsets surrounding teaching and education” (Richardson, 2015) and 2) I will use Web 2.0 technology, in the class, to connect with students and teachers around the world to cultivate a network of embracing diversity on an individual and societal level. To apply the aforesaid knowledge on how to facilitate the changing classroom of the 21st Century, I will incorporate more wiki-based collaborative assignments for my students and I will attend professional development workshops on current educational trends and how to change long-established mindset trends in education.

     The social media tool that I am open to trying in my classroom is Twitter. The only potential drawback to its implementation is the district’s policy on student personal accounts for its use. My plan to overcome this is to have the students use their PGCPS email address to create and register a Twitter account. Also, I will have parents sign the district’s form letter for student social media accounts for educational purposes for their scholar. Twitter will assist students with the 21st Century skill of  “using technology as an instructional tool to support student learning” (Grunwald et al., 2010, p. 18). Twitter will support the ISTE Standards for Students by leveraging “technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving, and demonstrating competency in their learning goals” (ISTE, 2016) and Twitter will support me meeting the ISTE Standards for Teachers by facilitating “learning with technology to support student achievement of the ISTE Standards for Students” (ISTE, 2008).

SMART Goal 1 (Cell Phone Technology in the Classroom)

Specific

The specific goal of the program as it pertains to transforming my classroom environment in order to help students gain skills to be ready for tomorrow’s society and the workplace is to have at least 50% representation of students with smartphones to utilize the device in class during summative assessment postings.

Measurable

The goal will be measured by the software in the summative assessment which indicates the type of device the assignment is taken on.

Attainable

The goal is attainable because I have direct access to the analytical data from the assessment and a class roster.

Relevant and Realistic

The goal is relevant and realistic because one of the “new technologies that is already having a significant impact on most classrooms is the smartphone” (Pence, 2020, p. 2). And having knowledge of how to use the device for educational purposes will be useful in tomorrow's society in which distance learning will become the new normal for many.

Timeline

The predicted timeline for the goal’s implementation to data ending produced results is from September 2020 through May 30, 2021.

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SMART Goal 2 (VLOG Creation for Science Fair Projects)

Specific

The specific goal of the program as it pertains to transforming my classroom environment in order to help students gain skills to be ready for tomorrow’s society and the workplace is to have 25% of students that complete a science and engineering science fair project do so in a VLOG format.

Measurable

The goal is measurable because I will have the electronic footprint of the science fair projects that will be submitted in a VLOG format versus the projects submitted traditionally.

Attainable

The goal is attainable because I have direct access to the students that have to produce a science fair project. And 75% of the students are in a STEM program, in my school, in which they need to save all major projects from their science classes in an electronic format for a required electronic portfolio.

Relevant and Realistic

The goal is relevant and realistic because producing electronic content in a video-based format for professional workplace consumption is a popular way to convey ideas in a society where video-based viewed content rivals written content, for supremacy, on a daily basis.

Timeline

The predicted timeline for the goal’s implementation to data ending produced results is from September 2020 through February 30, 2022. The timeline encompasses the completion of two consecutive school year science fairs.

     The issue that I want to study is the underrepresentation of African American teenage females in STEM-based Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs and what I can do to enhance their interest and participation in the field. The STEM CTE program I will focus on is Aerospace Engineering Aviation Technology, AEAT. Stem Related fields such as AEAT are underserved and underrepresented by minorities, especially females (NSF, Science & Engineering Indicators, 2018). The school that I work in has erected a new 40 million dollar facility, on the campus, for the training of high school students in AEAT. I would have control over making an impact in this area because I have direct contact, via my chemistry course that I instruct, with many of the more than capable African American teenage females, that don’t participate in the program, that I observe would do extremely well in the AEAT program based on their academic acumen and prowess. I also have a working relationship with the AEAT coordinator of the program in which I instruct a science-based introductory AEAT class, for incoming 9th graders over the summer.

 

 

References

Grunwald and Associates. (2010). Educators, technology and 21st Century Skills: Dispelling Five Myths. http://www.grunwald.com/pdfs/Educators_Technology_21stCentury-Skills_GRUNWALD-WALDEN_Report.pdf

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016). Standards for Students.  http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students-2016

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2008). Standards for Teachers. http://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards/standards-for-teachers 

Pence, H. E. (2020). How Should Chemistry Educators Respond to the Next Generation of Technology Change? Education Sciences, 10(2), 34. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.3390/educsci10020034

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

(Richardson, 2010)

Richardson, W. (2015). From Master Teacher to Master Learner. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Science & Engineering Indicators 2018. https://nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/