Reflection on learning technology

I think I can easily sum up my semester of learning in the digital writing class as a humbling experience of realizing how much I still need to learn!  I am worlds ahead of where I was just 6 months ago.  Six months ago I never would have believed I know what I know now.  My first graduate level course I jumped right in to Technology Tools for Educators.  Triple shock: the shock of incorporating school into my life and family life, the shock of a condensed summer school course and the shock of learning to use technology.   I enjoyed every minute of it though, and decided to continue with Teaching Digital Writing this fall semester.  More shock factor.  I had no idea what a wiki was and blogging was very foreign to me.  I vaguely knew about some of the techy stuff, but, as I've learned, I'm a digital immigrant and so for me, it's all new.  I am so very thankful for the opportunity I've had.  To have my knowledge expanded in this direction has been a delightful surprise and very practical.  I have been exposed to so much and now two of the greatest challenges for me going forward will be implementation and continual professional development.

My experience is that in many respects, there is a disconnect between what we have learned in class and everyday reality.  I have had opportunities to implement some of the technology we have learned: website development, Voicethread, podcasts, movie making, use of Google Docs, but some of the other Web 2.0 tools like Diigo, wikis, blogging, vlogs, comics, I have not had the immediate opportunity to implement.  Staying current with technology seems similar to learning a foreign language: use it or lose it.    So I think a great challenge for me will be conintually finding ways to implement technology in a purposeful way. 

My goal remains to teach English and now realize that my technological development is crucial to that goal.  When and if I do have that opportunity, my second challenge will be teaching the use of the same technology to others.

If I were to teach a class that required students to create a portfolio, I would have them include a variety of written work similar to what we have done in this class.  I think it would be important for students to showcase their best writing but also to demonstrate their own familiarity with the use of technology.  In other words, students should have opportunities to collaborate online and submit that written collaboration to their portfolio.  They should also be able to demonstrate writing in a variety of online genres: presenation, narrative, comic, audio and/or video presentation.

As far as students displaying their work, I think both the blog and wiki format have their advantages and disadvantages.   Wikis are wonderful for their collaboration aspect but are more limiting in their creativity appeal.  I think it would really depend on the situation - how many students, how many sessions of the same class, etc.  I think one criteria for evaluating would be written student reflections.  This is where a blog as part of the portfolio would be handy.

One reason I think a variety of genres in the portfolio is important is it aids in authenticity.   As we have learned in our digital writing class, some students will feel more free to reflect and write when they have an anonymous or character forum to participate in.  By giving students many means of reflection and participation, they will not only demonstrate ability in a variety  of areas but it will be easier to detect authenticity by comparing their various responses.