This post represents my final entry into this 10-part series on education, open-source resources, and other various internet phenomena that I felt was necessary to discuss. What did I learn about this topic, and how did technology help me with and become a part of my learning?
My Journey
I started this blog with the intent to discover and share a variety of different resources that educators can use in their teaching practice as alternatives to existing resources or as uniquely useful tools in their own rights. I believe I have done that, though it is certainly not a complete or robust collection. The blog transformed somewhat along the way into more of an online newspaper editorial-style, old-school blog that really existed as an excuse for me to muse about various topics of interest for me which also contained references to useful resources. This aspect of the journey was important because it allowed me to work on developing an author’s voice in a way that I have not had the freedom to do very much before this project. Throughout my blog posting, I tried to incorporate some of the common educational technologies introduced in EdTech336. I admit that I could have utilized more than I did, as I created mostly text posts to explain each of the resources I was discussing. Still, I am proud of the body of work that I have completed. I will most certainly be referring back to adding to this blog in the future, as the practice of consolidating and expounding upon one’s resources is a good skill to build for my future as a teacher. Let’s take a look at some key features of my posts that showcase my learning and how technology fits into them.
Voice
Images
Hyperlinks
I love hyperlinks. My posts are full of them. Here’s one more to prove how much I love them.
Speech-to-text
This is another bit of Technology that I used in my inquiry blog posts. I utilized this more than I did voice recording because, similar to voice recording I can speak more casually into the computer then I can type into it but this has the advantage of being more easily editable and is useful for many different assignments in school. As mentioned in my reflection on assistive technology, I struggle with typing efficiently and accurately at the same time, as many others do. Getting some practice with this technology has helped me complete assignments and I will use it in the future to help students.
This was typed using voice typing on Google Docs.
The Importance of a Platform
Aside from the importance of specific technologies that I utilized during my inquiry project and the actual resources I discovered along the way (which are important), I think the most important one for me and my learning was this one– the website. With this WordPress site, I can share my voice on my own platform, on my own terms. Learning how to use this tool has given me the ability to say what I want in the way I want, with the freedom to change what I say in the future. I now have a permanent artifact of my learning, my journey, my experiences, and my discoveries. All of which I can use and expand on throughout my career. I value this platform greatly and I hope to pass this gift on to my own students in the future. It’s said that teachers love sharing, and I’m no exception, so this is the perfect way to share what I know and what I think in my own way, for all to see.
