Auto e-ography- from technowhat? to technophile

Please view my brief Toast Timeline at http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/auto-e-ography (select the text view or timeline view) to view some of my ET-IT-ICT highlights since I was in Primary.

I found it fun to trace back those memories of my first interactions with computers. I remember Miss Symes letting me take one of the Commodore 64s home when I was in Grade 3 and I played Olympic games all weekend with my step dad- who knew the affordances these wondrous machines would bring to my life in the future! This was an interesting reflective process for me particularly since I can see the exponential growth in my IT skills over the last 6 years especially. My use of technology was a gradual learning curve until I moved to New Zealand and began teaching in an eClassroom in an ICT cluster school. This was my catalyst to whole heartedly embracing technology as part of my personal teaching philosophy. I had a classroom with 13 computers, one printer, a Smartboard, pretty reliable internet connection and heaps of colleagues who were mentors and ICT coaches. The shifts in my teaching practice, pedagogy and student learning were amazing. Here are some highlights:

• Taskboard rotation enabling students to do independent work on computers such as Mathletics, online reading, research for inquiry projects, contributions to class webpage, journal writing, adding to class wiki, playing/creating games, publishing work, creating presentations, working on webquests etc. etc.

• Use of Smartboard by teacher as glorified data projector->student use of IWB in groups for maths workshops, peer tutoring or shared reading

• Teacher use of powerpoints to teach student use of PPT to teach

• Ability to watch media presentations

• Collaboration on class webpage and wiki

• Student created webquests

• Shared expectations with parents and direct parental communication

For me the most profound component of this opportunity was my professional development. I worked after school many days to work alongside my colleagues to learn more ways to integrate the technology- sometimes as the learner and towards the end, as a coach. I learned that it was okay to make mistakes, that my students were my teachers and that technology was a friend not a foe. I have to admit that there were times when technology was used for technology’s sake rather than a tool that enhanced the learning BUT this was all part of the learning curve for myself, the other teachers and our students. We were constantly guinea pigs and technology pioneers trialling new ideas in our classrooms. This eClassroom was my Educational Technology catalyst and it excited and frightened me. The questions that I was now faced with as an educationalist were:

• How do I stay abreast of all this new technology? And where do I find the time to do so? How do I use technology to work smarter not harder?

• Are these skills benefiting my students?

• How can I know that my students are not losing valuable practice time on other more basic skills?

• Which subjects should I integrate ICT with most?

• How do I maximize and build the capacity of the learners?

• Why should I use ICT to create constructivist learning activities?

• How do I learn the appropriate skills to monitor student progress and keep them in their ICT ZPD?

• Can ICT assist me with assessment practices? How?

• Are students who don’t have a computer or the internet at home disadvantaged in an eClass?

• Will administration continue to support integration from a top down and bottom up approach?

• How can we ensure new teachers embrace the integration of technology?

I have found some answers to some of these questions but for the most part for every answer I have found multiple new questions arise. This used to frustrate me but I know understand that this is what learning is all about! Creating a disturbance forces us to seek solutions. Technology is about building bridges and it is such an amazing tool to engage learners, expand horizons, promote innovation and meet the needs of all students. However, working in the Middle East has provided many barriers to achieving true integration and progress can be slow. In my current context, my 3 schools are sorely lacking technology and ICT is still taught as a discrete subject- integration is difficult within this type of infrastructure. New and creative mechanisms and methods are required.

Since my time in the eClassroom in New Zealand I have continued my learning journey with technology and have faced many challenges and achieved some amazing successes both in my career and in the MET course- many of which are documented in my ETEC 590 ePortfolio found here http://diana-ep.weebly.com/index.html.