Reflection Journal Entry #13: Final Reflection

I really enjoyed this course because it helped me to realize a lot about different software and programs that I had not known before. The course was very laid back and not too difficult which I liked. Although, the assignments were not very challenging I thought that the basic concept of understanding how to use the programs was important. Also, having class time to explore the programs and the different tools helped a lot as well. I feel as though this class is an essential to take for teachers of all levels because technology and the way teachers teach are changing drastically. It is very important for teachers to be up to date with the newest technology because this is what we will need to use in the future. Students these days are so progressed in their knowledge and computers are used for so many things. Therefore, I feel like learning these programs will really help teachers to connect to their students. Also, so many of these programs have many different tools that can be used not just for teaching but also for the students and for parents. I learned how to make newsletters, scrapbooks, calendars, etc. that can be so helpful especially in the younger grades to stay connected with parents. Most of the software and programs we explored I had never taken the time to really go in depth with them. However, through this class I was able to really find other ways to use the programs. I think the difficulty of this class was just right because it helped to focus on learning how to use the program rather than trying to figure out how to create a challenging project. I thought knowing the fundamentals was key because with that we can explore on our own. I also enjoyed the open endedness of the projects because we were able to test out what we wanted and what would be beneficial to us in the future rather than doing something that was meaningless. I think in this way we were also able to fully look at everything in the software to figure out what would work best for us. The reflection journals were a great idea to show and express what we learned, what was difficult, and how our projects could be used later on. I thought having the reflection journals and the feedback about them and our projects was very good. Overall, the class was very beneficial and I am excited to use what I learned and what I will continue learning in the future as a teacher :)