BLOGSVILLE, Ontario

SMART TECH Goals for Me

Honestly, I found the survey a bit confusing to decode exactly what it suggests my areas of improvement should be. Partly because the colour did not transfer and partly because I am not very familiar with the words that were used to suggest what I should be doing. For example, in the Teaching, Learning, and the Curriculum section the survey suggests my ‘needs to start using content specific media, tools and resources for own learning and research’. I am unsure about what exactly ‘content specific media’ is, but I assume throughout the course this will become more clear.
Completing the survey has helped me understand some specific areas where I can grow to help me in the area of integrating technology into my classroom. Some goals I have going into this course and for myself as a developing teaching, as I mentioned in my brief review of completing the survey, are in the area of developing lesson plans that involve more technology and becoming better able to fix problems that occur with computer technology. I am looking forward to being able to name the exact technologies I will be integrating into my teaching, exactly what it will look like, feel like, and sound like, and how I will be integrating then into my lessons. There are of course the obvious computer games, even if they are educational, but I want to learn about some other ways and other technologies to use.
To be clear, my two main goals are in the categories of Technology Operations and Concepts and Planning and Designing Learning Environments. Specifically, I would like to improve my ability with solving routine hardware and software problems as mentioned by my skills test. To me this means being able to fix basic programming problems and knowing how to go into the control panel and decode and diagnose problems with software. This is perhaps not a completely measurable goal because I am not sure how to compare my present abilities and what I will arrive at. As far as who will help me, I presume the most obvious person will be the professor of my Technology in Education course, for which I am writing this. I will also learn a lot from those peers who are more adept with technology and perhaps even from some of the students I will be working with. A more measurable goal will be to design inclusive tech-based learning experiences. To describe a very tangible goal, I would like to have developed 10 lessons for my next practicum that directly involve suitable technology for the grade six class I will be teaching. I would like to integrate the technology into lessons in a variety of subjects, not solely in media communication classes. An important aspect of this goal is that I want to use five different types of technology, although exactly what five types I am not yet sure. I am setting this goal because it is important for me to build a variety of tools I can use when I want specifically to integrate technology into my lessons. I need to build a reserve of different games, programs, and websites that are applicable to the grade level I am teaching, and to be confident with the technology I am using with my students. My associate teacher will be an asset surely, in helping me integrate appropriate technology with the grade six students.
I believe these goals are feasible, as long as I remain focused on achieving them. With the help of my professor, my peers, and my associate teacher I will achieve what I have set out to during the course of EU432.