Foundations Project Part 4: Personal Reflection

To me, learning has a variety of meanings, and there are several ways to learn. Not only is learning a process by which you assert yourself to make specific connections, but it is also a way in which you relate different principles so that you understand them better. Technology plays a major role in learning because it is a very helpful tool—a path to help us achieve the goal. After reading Meaningful Learning, I have a better understanding of what exactly makes learning more efficient and how to use technology correctly to learn and teach. As the chapter said, there are many attributes that make up meaningful learning. It is not simply lecturing or sticking a student in front of a computer. Understanding these attributes, such as active learning or collaborative learning will help one teach with meaning and success. In Speech Therapy, for example, using apps through technology then explaining the reason for the apps and why they work is beneficial to learning. Because technology integration has such a big impact, questions I have are ‘Does using technology to teach take away from the effect teachers feel that they possess? Does it undermine the authority of the teacher?’ I feel as though teachers might lose control as technology improves in the school setting. The one thing I would do with technology to create a meaningful learning experience is use it at the beginning and end of my lessons or activities so that in between, I am able to communicate my own ways and do my own manual exercises. This way, students may be better able to learn and understand that technology is truly just a tool. 

     Personally, technology has always been a big part of my learning experience. Over the years, my teachers have used sentence-making devices, computers, smart boards, and even the TV to help them teach. These things not only assist them in getting their points across, but also help to keep the students engaged and interested. If teachers just lectured all day students would not remain alert. Also, a lot of my homework and assignments have been due on the computer, such as places like WebAssign. Technology just helps students explore more in depth and remain interested.

      The chapter kind of reiterated what I already believed about the relationship between technology and learning. As the chapter says, technology is a tool to deliver lessons and present information to students. It also states that technology consists of designs that engage learners. I agree with this statement completely. Like I mentioned earlier, I believe that students will learn more efficiently if they have a resource that will actively engage them rather than just listening to a lecture. Technology has the capability of engaging learners in an active, and constructive sense. It produces in them a desire to learn and participate. Moreover, they can better understand and interpret various ideas; I believed these things before I read the chapter. It helped me more thoroughly understand the information, though.

      To me, as an educator, I believe the most important skills to have are being able to collaborate with others in a group setting and from there, learning exactly how to use technology as a resource and tool—not to rely on it. As the chapter points out, various technologies can support a conversational learning process by connecting learners anywhere. It also says that learning should engage and support combinations of active, constructive, intentional, authentic, and cooperative skills. These are of the utmost importance when it comes to both teaching and learning. If one understands this, applying details and ideas in learning will be easier and more understandable. Overall, I still believe that knowing that technology is a resource rather than a method of teaching is the most important fact to acknowledge. It is a beneficial skill to know how to access and work technology to use as a tool, but not to do an educator’s job.

  The first picture attached if of the girl I nanny. Her name is Emma, and here, Emma is playing with an American Girl laptop. Although it is a toy, it had various learning games on it- one of which helped her with her spelling.
   The second picture is also of Emma over the summer. She watched a program on the computer about drawing, so she told me she wanted to try to paint what she has seen. I took a picture of her while she was painting; she saw something through technology and proceeded to apply it.