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Final Reflections

agoodwin13

As this course wraps up and we work on our final presentation, I wanted to reflect on what I’ve learned in this course! As a reminder, I’ve linked my previous posts below so you can check out a more detailed description of the topics we’ve covered in class.

Weeks 1&2
Weeks 3&4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9

Overall, this class has been a great learning opportunity. I have not only learned so much about the technology integrated in classrooms, but I am also now equipped with the knowledge of privacy policies surrounding tech in schools and district policies on AI, thanks to the guest speaker we had in Week 3.

One of my biggest takeaways from this course is the potential for gamified learning in school. As a kid, I loved playing Minecraft, and I never could have imagined that I could play Minecraft at school and for that to be a valuable learning tool. Kara Dawson’s presentation in Week 8 was really interesting to me, and I will 100% be using Minecraft Education in my future classrooms, as it builds creativity, strengthens problem-solving skills, supports collaboration, brings learning to life, encourages persistence, and is engaging and familiar for students. On top of all that, it’s fun!

Another takeaway is on accessible technology. Because I never needed accessible tech myself nor saw my classmates using it, I was fairly blind to the benefits of accessible technology for students with learning differences. I knew certain tools existed, but I had never seen them in action. Learning about accessible and alternative tech in Week 9 was eye-opening for me. As a future teacher, I am so glad we talked about it in class, so I can go into my future career prepared and equipped with knowledge of organizations like ARC-BC and SET BC, so I can advocate for my students with learning differences and help them access the same resources as their classmates.

Thanks to EDCI336, I am equipped with a great number of resources to take with me into the classroom. Documenting my free inquiry process and reading about my classmates’ free inquiries has also inspired me to teach free inquiry and foster a classroom community for students to explore their interests and work at their own pace.