Reflections on the Learning Experiences of the Technology Course

I enjoyed taking this class and can honestly say I learned quite a bit of very useful technology that I will be able to transfer into a classroom setting. As a future educator I have a wish list of technological equipment I would like to have in my classroom.  My ideal classroom setting would provide wireless laptop computers for each student. I would like an elmo / computer / video system as the classrooms have here at SUNY Cortland. To this list I would add a white board, and would like to introduce students to cell phone and palm pilot capabilities because I do believe they are the wave of new communication devices that our society is becoming ever so dependent on. 

As a non-traditional student I would like to address the way the class was designed, along with the dynamics, and diversity that play into the success or disadvantage of the design.

As a future teacher I understand and appreciate the need for students to work cooperatively together and share responsibilities in regard to the work load projects require. As a non-traditional student I have found group work to be a hindrance to my academics.  This class was designed for individual work and group work. The first group assignment went very well, but after that project, working in a group on other projects (from my own personal perspective) fell apart. The reason it fell apart has many components. As a non-traditional student I do not live on campus. I am also a single mother of two children, and I work 3 part time jobs. Trying to find time when I can meet with other students is near impossible. So what ends up happening is the group I am working in divides up the work, does that work on an individual basis, then comes together to cut and paste it into what is then considered a “group project”. To me that is not true group work, but the system meets the requirement of creating a project by different people, even if it is done individually. I also feel that many students in this class thought that all the work for this class could be accomplished during class time, and they did not do any work or look at tutorials outside of the class meeting time.  I spent many hours outside of class time working on reflections and projects. From my home computer I downloaded NVU, and WS_FTP LE 6.0 so I could work on projects at home. This small gesture put me ahead of the eight ball in regard to class assignments, thus I could complete an assignment at my own pace, at my own convenient time.  I was also only one of two students in this class who are taking this class outside of Block 1 for education. This made it difficult to do one of the projects within a group because I was out of the loop as to what they were doing, and the project was not as extensive if you didn’t have that extra class linked to the project.  I also feel that non-traditional students have a different standard for academics than the average college student.  I treat my academics like a full time job. I am paying for my own education, along with balancing the responsibilities of being a mother, and holding various jobs. It is a balancing act that the average student doesn’t have to deal with. So as you can tell, group work is a pet peeve of mine, and although I will use it in a classroom setting I believe I will be over sensitive to the needs of my students when group work is assigned.

I did enjoy this class and I know that I will use many of the technologies that I discovered in this class.