Today was our first day of class. We reviewed what the next 6 weeks of this course will look like and discussed some of the topics we’ll cover. I am super excited to learn all things about educational technology. It is such a new topic for me, as I haven’t spent much time working with different educational websites or using different tech resources.
I hope to gain a larger understanding of technology in itself and how it can be utilized in the classroom to help students learn rather than do the learning for them. For example, I know that in a lot of elementary and middle schools, students are allowed to use Chromebooks during certain times of the day, but how can I, as an educator, ensure that they are utilizing them as a learning tool instead of a cheat sheet or just free time? I know that I was definitely guilty of abusing our Chromebook time and not using it properly to learn, but my teachers weren’t super bothered about that, and it appeared that they would also use that time as their own free time.
Also, how can students learn about AI? I know that when I was going through my undergrad, AI became a huge thing that was talked about. We were warned about the use of AI but also told that it can be a helpful tool if used correctly. So, I would seek to gain an understanding of how AI can be a helpful tool in the classroom but also learn new strategies of how to ensure that students know everything they should about the use of AI.