Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

My Reflection on the course Educational Technology

Jerome Johnson
SW6541/05
Shortwood Teachers College
Education Department
Lecturers: Mr. Conroy Hall

REFLECTION-Educational Technology

Dear Lord, I am grateful for the many blessings and favors that you have granted
on my behalf. In light of the heavy workloads I encountered in this course, I am most grateful to
be able to actively engage in a course that teaches me about educational technology. On
September 9, 2014, the course Educational Technology began with one lecturer Mrs. Yearde in
attendance to teach a large of group Advanced Credit Programme (ACP) students. The class was
later divided into two groups in which I was placed in the group with Mr. Conroy Hall as my
lecturer. Subsequently, for some reason strange, I wanted to go into the other group seeing that I
had started working with the lecturer. As a result, I was grappling with thought of- why I was
placed in the class where the lecturer was not present for a few weeks? And- why I need to do
this course? seeing that I have done some aspects of educational technology in my diploma
programme. However, being the optimistic person that I am, I refute my negative thoughts in an
effort to be objective in regards to the course. Finally, I began my first class looking at what is
technology integration and introducing ourselves using Voki.
Technology integration:
According to the article written by Laurie Dias on Schoology, technology integration is
when it is used in a seamless manner to support and extent curriculum objectives and to engage
in meaningful learning environment. She further posited that taking students to the computer lab
once a week for 40 minutes is not necessarily integration and neither using computer as
electronic device for student worksheet. I personally agreed with what Laurie Dias due to my
emerging thoughts and experience with the concept of technology integration in our schools. For
many years, I have seem a number of my colleagues who taking their students to computer labs,
and read notes from PowerPoint slides and saying that they are integrating technology in the
classroom. Even I myself have experiences where I do the same act of reading notes from

REFLECTION-Educational Technology

PowerPoint presentation. However, this is not what technology integration ought to be. The
article further illustrates aspects in which technology integration makes the learning environment
meaningful as follows: firstly active aspect - student participates. Secondly, contextualizescenarios are reconstructed for student to relate to. Thirdly, reflective- student reflect on an
ongoing basis. Fourthly, construction students integrate new ideas with previous. Fifthly,
collaboration-students work in groups. Next intentional students achieve cognitive goals, and
conversational-students learn cognitive interaction. Additionally, I learned that teachers must
take into consideration five stages of technology integration when integrating technology into the
learning environment. They are as follows: Entry (use of text-based materials), Adoption (how to
integrate the technology into the lesson), Adaptation (using new technology into the classroom),
Appropriation (tool is apply effortless), and Invention (experiment with new instruction
patterns). For these reasons, I am more informed as how to integrate technology into my
classroom. For example, if I am teaching a mathematics lesson on Order of Arithmetic
Operation, I will certainly observe the five phase of technology integration. Also, In order to
construct an environment ripe for integration, I must think differently about teaching and
learning by applying the seven aspects of technology integration. As a result, the technology
integration allows student to be actively engaged in constructing knowledge while I facilitator
their learning outcomes.
Conversely, in light of the need for technology integration into the classroom I was
reminded of the common barriers to technology integration which include time, training,
resources, and support. Teachers need time to learn how to use the hardware and software, time
to plan, and time to collaborate with other teachers. Though these barriers affect the effective use
of technology integration, the reality is that our learners are digital natives (prensky, 2001).

REFLECTION-Educational Technology

Hence, it is my responsibility to integrate technology where necessary so as to maximize

students learning outcomes.
Finally, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has sharpened my
awareness of the conditions and standards in which teachers can gain leverage to effectively
integrate technology in their schools. These conditions include shared vision, Student-Centered
Learning, Curriculum Framework, Ongoing Professional Learning, and Adequate Funding and
so on. While it is important to be made aware of the ISTE standards for students, it is abundantly
important to establish the standards for professional to integrate technology in schools
worldwide. For the example, the first standard for teacher states that teachers should facilitate
and inspire student learning and creativity, this made me recognize that I should use the
knowledge of mathematics to aid in the teaching and learning process while integrating
technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning needs, creativity, and
innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environment. Therefore, the first ISTE standard and
many other standards of ISTE has brought me out of the dark age of technology integration to
the light of new horizon where I am able to function more effectively as professional teacher. On
the contrary, the in-depth knowledge I have gained from the ISTE, makes me wonder what the
Ministry of Education is doing as it relate to the ISTE standards and condition with special
emphasis to address cybercrimes.
Generally:
In general terms, the course educational technology has opened my eyes to a new
dimension due to the exposure I have gained using Schoology as the school base management
system. When I was first introduced to the management system, I immediately reflected on how

REFLECTION-Educational Technology

creative I could use Schoology in my classroom. As a result, I requested the assistance of my

lecturer to set up an account for my students. Since then I have been using the system and it
sparks new horizon in my classroom. For this reason I believe using Schoology in the course
Educational Technology facilitate my learning outcomes base the course objectives. Additionally,
via Schoology my knowledge was refreshed on the different learning theories and integration
models such as constructivism, and cognitivism, behaviorism and the Integration Matrix (TIM).
But most importantly learning about the different computer-based instructional support tools and
the web-based instructional support tools heighten my greatest interest in this course.
Using the computer to create the interactive PowerPoint and making movies through
windows media player were some computer-based instructional support tools I was able to hone
my skills as an educator. Later on, using web-based instructional support tools such as wiki,
weebly.com (website) and web quest have given me another option in which I can effectively
deliver lessons to our 21st learners digital natives (Prensky, 2001). However, I personally
believe that too much time was spent on other areas of the course such as technology integration,
TIM, and Learning theories but little time was spent on the instructional support tools.
While it is important that teachers are made aware of the different learning theories and
technology integration approach, teachers lack the skills and knowledge of the different
technological support tools that are readily available to make learning more enriching for the 21st
century learners. Reason being, the course recently ended and I am just starting to understand
and appreciate the course due to the fact that I had to spend some time in developing the skills of
the instructional support tools. Also, the course was overloaded with areas of technology
integration which students have covered in previous programme/course. Hence, little time was
spent on the instructional support tools which I think is one of the most important aspects of

REFLECTION-Educational Technology

technology integration. If teachers dont hone their skills on the tools, then how will their
learners appreciate the integration? For these reasons I recommend that student-teachers are
taught to use and develop their skills on more instructional tools while reducing the time spent on
other areas.
In conclusion, the course educational technology has equipped me with the knowledge
and the skills to effectively integrate technology in any mathematics classroom. Therefore, it is
safe to say that the course has achieved the standard of the ISTE due to my learning outcomes
and interest.

REFLECTION-Educational Technology

Reference
Prensky, M. (2001, October 5). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. Retrieved
December 30, 2014, from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf