I have been in education for more than 25 years. In that time I have seen many trends in teaching come and go. Each time there was some new technique to use to reach more kids, I willingly tried to learn as much about it as I could.
This lead me to using technology in the classroom. As a computer science teacher it seemed like a natural progression to me to add technology elements to my math classes as well. I found myself working with my fellow faculty members in my spare time, showing them what I was doing to get the kids involved and interested.
When a change in my husband's career had us move to Western New York, I found a position training teachers to use the technology they already had in their classrooms as a part of their curriculum. The more tools that came about the more exciting this process became! From simple computer uses, to virtual field trips, to handheld computers, and now online learning and more still to come.
I recently changed my focus to work with Community College faculty. As the world of post-secondary education moves quickly into the virtual world, I find myself asking - What's next? What will be the next tool that we use to reach out to more students than ever before? And how can we make sure that learning is really taking place?
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2 comments:
Hi Martie,
Hey, thanks for linking to my blog. It looks like you're just getting started here, but you're off to a good start.
I don't really have THE answer to your question, but I believe that there are so many new teaching tools available that center around collaboration, that one of them just HAS to be the next great teaching tool. Now if we can only figure out which one and how to use it to its utmost potential.
For example, I'm very excited to start using Zoho Notebook which allows people to collaborate and to combine many different types of media on a single page without being a coder or anything else too geeky. It's in private beta right now but will be released to the public very soon. I just got an invite to beta test it so I will be looking at it this weekend.
Good luck in your studies, and your job, but most of all best wishes to you and your family ... nothing is more important than that. Barry Dahl
Barry-
Thanks for the comments. I am having fun in this course and hope to be able to share a lot of new ideas with my faculty. I really enjoy reading your blog posts. You give me so many new ideas to try!
I'll be looking for Zoho Notebook. I collaborate with a group of DL Directors across NY state and we're always looking for better ways to share our knowledge.
You are right, family is number one in my book.
Thanks again. Martie Dixon
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