Week 13 Assignment

  Course Reflection - Learning Task #1 :
     
     In this course i have had the pleasure to learn about many new and exciting technologies and new literacies.  When i entered into this course i really did not think about using ICT's and new literacies for ELA instruction however now that i have been through many of these different tools i can see the benefit in using them in  the classroom.  We followed our syllabus closely throughout the class and we covered many of the goals that we looked at in the beginning of the class.
     Throughout this course i have used our syllabus as a guide on the side throughout all of the work i have done.  In a online class it is imperative to constantly reference the syllabus in order to make sure you are keeping up with any assignments that may be due.  I personally feel that the syllabus did a great job of presenting all of the relevant information that we would need to reference.  Having this be my first ever online class it took a while to get into the whole, not having a meeting time, thing.  Having a detailed syllabus was especially important to me. 
     Throughout the semester i have produced a good amount of work that i consider to be of a high quality.  My some favorite assignments were the digital storytelling, UDL Bookbuilder, Prezi, and VoiceThread assignments.  All of these assignments had me step outside of my comfort zone as far as technology goes and i think that i really thrived in them and enjoyed making them.  I have found that all of this work that i have produced can be used in an ELA classroom to enhance lessons that deal with reading, writing, collaboration, technology, and various other aspects.
     As i went through this process of completing this work and going through the course i was able to discuss much of it with my peers and colleagues, as well as my classmates.  The collaboration and feedback that took place on the blog within the class was great for me and i think it really established a sense of community within the class.  In my workplace i also often discussed many of these new literacies and applications with my co-workers.  When discussing these things with my ELA teacher we often found ourselves wishing that we had more opportunities to use technology in the classroom and more technology availability.  Overall though most teachers agree that technology use in ELA is incredibly important as we see technology starting to penetrate every job field and college in the world.  New literacies are the newspapers, magazines, and textbooks of the future.  In order to make sure our students are ready they must be prepared to face all of this technology.