Week 2 Reflection

     This week was a very busy one.  Of the four readings, my favorite was from our textbook, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).  I enjoyed reading about the different tools, some of which I have used in the past and some that were new to me.  I like having a book with hands on references that I can use in my assignments and in my work.  It is interesting to me that the two readings that discussed the effects of technology in the classroom, Technology-enriched classrooms: Effects on students of low socioeconomic status (Page, 2002) and The impact of education technology on student achievements (Schacter, 1999), although only about ten years old, were really out of date when you consider how far technology has progressed in the last five years.  While both articles had valid information, these articles cited studies from the 1980’s and early 1990’s, and even some studies conducted in the 1970’s.  Cell phones were considered science fiction in the 1970’s, and tools such as interactive whiteboards were not even dreamed of yet.  I always enjoy reading the discussion boards and seeing the different opinions people have.  Sometimes my classmates highlight items in an article that I completely missed, or they present an entirely different perspective about an issue that never even occurred to me.

      My favorite part of this week’s work was collaborating with my group.  Both of my partners have lots of creative ideas about how to approach our assignment, and with their input, we are going to have a far superior product than I could ever have created alone.  I really like working on a Google document, especially when someone else starts working on it at the same time as you are.  It’s very funny to see my computer just start typing away when my hands aren’t even on the keyboard!  I feel very satisfied with our work this week, and think we have a good plan for our unit we will complete this coming week.

References:

Page, M. (2002). Technology-enriched classrooms: Effects on students of low socioeconomic status. Journal of research on technology in education, 34 (4). Retrieved October 5, 2009 from http://www.iste.org

 Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA:  Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Schacter, J. (1999). The impact of education technology on student achievement: What the most current research has to say. Santa Monica, CA; Milken Exchange on Education Technology. Retrieved on March 11, 2012, from http://www.mff.org/pubs/ME161.pdf

Marianne Wallace  EDLD5364/ET8038