Falling Action: The falling action is when the conflict begins to unravel, yet may contain a moment of final suspense.  As a result, the final outcome of the conflict is in doubt.  

In this stage of the journey, I was gaining many skills and understandings of educational technology.  At this point, I was beginning to be able to apply the theories and foundations of this field into my applications and teaching.  I began to make connections with educational technology and the classroom.

In ETEC 511: Foundations of Educational Technology, I began to explore how the foundations affected the students in the classroom.  Looking at new media, I began to see the new relationships formed between students and technology, and as a result how learning is impacted.  Using new media, I was able to express my research in a paper, along with a toon.   The research I was interested in was how new media is changing the way students are learning.  The artifact, Empowering Users One Pixelated Word at a Time, theorizes educational technology and looks at how the dictionary mobile application empowers users.  I was especially interested in the dictionary mobile application because I noticed students were reluctant to use the dictionary books, but were instead depending on their mobile devices.  M-learning is becoming widely accepted in classrooms and I wanted to explore this avenue and its benefits further.  For the final Scholarly Essay, I continued to research about how new media, in particular the dictionary mobile application, is transforming my role as a teacher.   According to Murphie & Potts (2003), “with a stroke of a couple of keys one can change the whole document…This is only the beginning – what has happened to writing is also happening to the body, to culture, to subjectivity, to what we used to call ‘nature’” (p.129).  The dictionary mobile application, not only changes the way a human writes, but also changes the meaning the human wants to convey, which changes the meaning to be human.  I was beginning to understand that educational technology is more than a tool for learning; it is also a tool for change and human development.

Each MET class was highlighted by the discussions between the students; it is an integral part of learning.  We were able to view our point-of-view and analyze each others’ thoughts and opinions.  Here is an artifact of a discussion post I made for ETEC 511:

Question: Noble suggests that underlying the push for technology is man’s quest for transcendency. Do you agree or disagree? 

I disagree with Noble’s suggestion that underlying the push for technology is man’s quest for transcendency.  Noble believes that the “technologies for transcendency” are nuclear weapons, space exploration, artificial intelligence, and genetic engineering.  However, where have these specific technologies actually led us?  Nuclear weapons created an obvious “final solution”.  Space exploration began as an aggressive race between the Soviet Union and the United States.  Artificial Intelligence developed a fear of a possible artificial takeover.  Genetic Engineering generated the possibility of replacing the human.  If these technologies are meant to transcend us, then why are they causing humans to fall instead?  How do these technologies “save” us when they are killing off our own human race?  Perhaps it is not the technology that can transcend us, but our own actions that will. 

In this discussion post, I was able to connect the reasons behind technology that pushes humans to act.  I found these discussions rewarding because I was able to use the foundations of educational technology to connect to what is happening globally with technology.  I felt like an actor contributing to a global audience and discussion.  This was the falling action of the play, as the acts and scenes that made up my experience began to piece together into one connected performance.

In ETEC 531: Cultural and New Media Studies, I began to personalize learning for myself.  An optional assignment allowed students begin to see ourselves as an actor in the play, as we took control of what we were learning.  The artifact, I am an Artist, was the beginning of seeing how identity could be translated to a new audience using new media.  Instead of explaining what I wanted through text, I created a video of my journey as an artist to join the visual discussion with my classmates.  We were able to answer the question of whether or not we were artists.  As a result, the class developed an archive of various images and opinions.  We also were able to each define what we saw as art.  Culturally, we were similar and dissimilar, so all our video contributions resulted in different interpretations.  I began to see the opportunities that I could use in my own classroom to help students voice their own identity and their own culture.  However, I still was longing to see more opportunities that I could use to connect my students together.