Philip Peavy

11/08/2016
EDTECH 592
Reflective Paper
The Evolution of My Technological Learning
Introduction
When entering college, if I were told that I would become a teacher and be
working with technology in education, I would have laughed because the realm of
education was the last area I wanted to enter. Flash forward eight years and I love my job
at a school teaching students technology while also being a school leader and assisting
other teachers with ways to incorporate technology into their classroom. The Masters of
Education Technology program has taught me a lot of different concepts and ideas that I
use in my own classroom and life. I also have had several ideas about technology in
education be challenged and my thinking changed because of the new concepts of
pedagogy. In this reflection, I will cover how my beliefs in evaluation, technology in the
classroom, the digital divide, project based learning, and professional learning have
changed throughout my course of the Masters of Education Technology program.
Lesson One: The Importance of Evaluation
Coming into the MET program at Boise State University, I was wondering why an
evaluation class was mandatory for all students. I went into EDTECH 505 Evaluation for
Education Technologists skeptical. How would I use this as a teacher? Evaluation is
meant for researchers and administrators. Could I have ever been more wrong?
Evaluation should be used in nearly every aspect of life. Evaluation processes are a way

to constantly improve items and programs. This class has changed my whole view on
how to improve and make decisions in my classroom and professional career. Boulmetis
and Dutwin define evaluation as the systematic process of collecting and analyzing data
in order to determine whether and to what degree objectives have been or are being
achieved (2011, p. 4). Most people would think that evaluation is simply to make a
decision but it is ultimately there to see how the program is completing its goals.
As a teacher, I will be first to admit that I do not like to be evaluated. How can someone
come into my classroom and tell me what I could do better? This is how I used to think.
The importance of having someone who has no bias in your classroom can provide a lot
of input on ideas and obstacles that, as the teacher, you might not be able to catch. Also,
having students complete a survey about your class is a good way to judge some changes
that you could make in your classroom. One surprise I found in my class evaluation
recently was that students came in and learned a lot about a certain topic. As a teacher, I
thought I did not go over the topic enough but the students thought differently based on
the survey and interviews. Also, a topic that I did not find as interesting ended up being a
lot of the classs favorite topic. Not only did I learn about and use evaluation in my
Evaluation for Educational Technologist classes, but I also used the same techniques and
concepts in my Technical and Grant Writing class. Evaluation is a great process to use as
an educator to make an informed decision that typically can be in the form of a needs
assessment. When creating a grant proposal, you must, identify potential measurable
outcomes of the project and the type of data you need to collect (Blanco & Lee, 2012).
Evaluation is a great process to garner information to make more informed
decisions. It is important to first figure out the goals and expected outcomes, find out how

to evaluate the topic, and complete the evaluation and reflect on what to do with that
information.
Lesson Two: Technology is a Tool, Not the Teacher
Just because you have technology does not mean it is going to improve education
immediately. Technology being used in the classroom does not automatically mean
learning is happening. The implementation of the technology is more important than
simply having technology. It is important that technology is the pedagogical technique
and skill of the educator in the use of the technological tool that determines positive or
negative perception of its success, rather than the tool itself (Meehan & Salmun, 2016).
I remember when SMART Boards were the hot topic in education. This new
projected board that could make learning more interactive. However, most of the teachers
I have observed using the SMART Boards would use them as a glorified white board.
When used correctly, SMART Boards can make a simple lesson into a great, interactive,
engaging tool in a class. However, it requires that the teacher knows how to use it. For
example, they can have students come up to the board during stations to learn using a
program on conversions while other students are working on a separate assignment.
When I was evaluating my school in my Introduction to Educational Technology class,
my eyes were opened to how technology is implemented in the classroom. Why are some
teachers using the technology as minimally as they can? In a study, researchers found the
fear of implementing classroom management software may delay instructors from
starting to learn it. In fact a big complaint faculty members have regarding instruction
technology is reliability (Ackerman, Chung, & Sun, 2014). Most teachers do not trust

the technology enough to continue with it or to explore technology outside of the basic
uses.
Teacher training on technology is equally as important as having new technology in the
classroom. If teachers feel overwhelmed with the new technology, they are not likely to
use the technology. While in my Technology Integration for Schools class, we were able
to develop plans on pushing out new technologies to teachers. I found this topic and
weekly assignment very applicable to current schools and the downfall of technology in
the classroom. It is said to have effective teachers with technology, they need the
following: (1) initial training that prepares teachers to effectively make use of a variety
of educational resources, (2) seminars, and short course in-service trainings that develop
technology competencies and how to integrate technologies into the classroom, and (3)
ongoing pedagogical and technical support and assistance for in-service teachers in order
to address their daily teaching responsibilities (Phu & Fade, 2014). This process allows
the teachers to get an overview of the technologies used and then time to use the
technology in the classroom. Also, it gives teachers time to reflect on the application of
the tools to use in class.
As a recent new teacher at a school, I was shown new software and devices that I was
expected to use in my classroom. As someone technology proficient in multiple
platforms, it was hard for me to keep track of how to implement everything into my
classroom. It is important to understand that teachers can only take in so much
information at a time which means that teacher training needs to be reasonable and in a
timely manner to allow teachers to be able to implement the technology.
Lesson Three: The Digital Divide

I had never heard of the Digital Divide until entering the EDTECH program. At
first, I thought of this term as a simple: You know about technology or you dont know
about it. However, there are more factors than that. Having grown up since the age of
five with a computer in my house, I have been around technology most of my life. I was
never taught about technology but had the privilege to be able to learn how a computer
works by playing around and figuring things out. This has allowed me to become
technologically proficient. However, others are not as blessed with these opportunities.
The main factors I have found when it comes to the presence of the digital divide are:
geography, gender, educational background, and socioeconomic status (Mossberger,
Tolbert, & Stansbury, 2003).
There is not one factor to determine if someone knows about technology. For
example, take a twenty-year-old male who grew up in a suburban neighborhood in a
middle-upper class family that is in college. He is more likely to have been exposed to
the Internet, computers, and other forms of technology than a seventy-year-old woman in
a rural town that barely graduated high school and has been living on minimum wage.
Along with the original concept of the digital divide has changed some positions
due to the prevalence of broadband Internet access, personal computers, and other digital
devices (e.g., laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc.) has increased, the usefulness of this
conceptualization of the digital divide has waned (Eastin, Cicchirillo, & Mabry, 2015). It
has become more of a concept of using technology compared to being limited. There still
is a spread of skills that are determined on the main key attributes that can control access
to technology, but since most people use some form of technology, it is not so much a gap
as it used to be.

Lesson Four: Project-Based Learning

One main concept that I have heard multiple times in recent teacher preparation is
the term Project-Based Learning. It has become one of the new important terms to be
savvy in the new teaching techniques. However, project-based learning is a concept that I
have found is rooted in educational theory. However, I learned a lot about project-based
learning in my Theoretical Foundations in Educational Technology and Project-Based
Learning in Technology classes. If you are using projects correctly, they are often by
their very nature complex, interdisciplinary, team orientated and seek to enhance
creativity, innovation and enterprise as pedagogic attributes (Hanney & Savin-Baden,
2013). The problem is that most teachers want to make projects that are fun or artistic but
are not driven by the content. In the Project-Based Learning in Technology class that I
took, we used the Buck Institute for Educations model for creating a project. At first, I
did not understand why it is important to use all key aspects of creating a project which
include: key knowledge, challenging problems, sustained inquiry, authenticity, student
voice, reflection, critique, revision, and public product. I originally took all of this as a
guide to create a project. However, when we created our own project and did research
over each topic, I came to find out that each part is vital to the learning process. Giving
students a chance to revise their project after having feedback links a project to how most
jobs are set up in getting a chance to edit. The public product aspect to a project not only
lets the students showcase their ideas but to also let subject matter experts analyze and
give feedback to the students.
Not only did I learn about creating projects using the project-based learning
format, I also did research on how project-based learning is used in education. For my

theoretical paper, I focused on project-based learning from a constructivist view. In

project-based learning, students are acquiring knowledge is an active occupation on the
part of the learner, and that the learner has to produce a real product in order to make the
experiment significant (Waks & Sabag, 2004). This lines up with the basics of
constructivism because the learner gains their knowledge by constructing their own
knowledge. The students are also gaining life skills that are more than just content
learning in the classroom.
Lesson Five: Teaching with Technology Means Constant Learning
Coming into the Masters of Educational Technology program has taught me a lot
about technology that I did not know before. I learned about RSS, which is a Rich Site
Summary, and created a lesson plan for a science classroom having students use the RSS
concept to research scientific concepts and look at the validity of the resources. I also
learned about HTML and CSS. I had never created a website apart from using a Google
Site. However, I became intrigued by how the Internet works and the intricate parts of a
webpage. I learned about how to create a mobile application for a phone using App
Inventor even though I just learned about programming the summer before the class. Am
I an expert in everything that is technology? I am definitely not. However, I am
experienced in learning. As a technology education teacher, it is important to realize that
technology is changing as I am teaching about technology. As technology teachers in
todays world, we are being challenged not only by the demands of implementing a new
curriculum that embraces a much broader view of technology and technology education
than in the past but also, and perhaps more importantly, because [we] are joining a
professional community within which a shared and consistent view of technology and

technology education is still developing (Forret et al., 2013). This makes teaching the
material and learning challenging all at once. However, my education of having classes
over creating web pages and programming applications reminded me that there are still
roots in technology that are important to learn. Am I going to build websites from scratch
using HTML and CSS, most likely not. However, I am now able to edit a web page due to
knowing the building blocks of HTML.
As an educator, with the constant change of technology, there is a need to make sure to
stay on top of learning new concepts. The use of blogs, creating websites, and using
classroom management systems were not really in use ten years ago in education.
However, these strategies are used a lot in education. As teachers, we are charged with
effective curriculum design and delivery [and] must be aware of new technologies and
develop strategies for incorporating them as needed (Brewer, Harriger, & Mendonca,
2006). Technology is not going to slow down and it is important to use technology to our
benefit in the classroom.
Conclusion
Overall, I have learned a lot about technology and how to incorporate it into my
classroom and life. Not only is technology ever changing in the classroom but also in
every part of life. Technology is not just a tool to use in a classroom but a way to improve
the education of students. Not only is it important to successfully adapt to the new
technologies that are being presented, it is important to evaluate and assess how it is
being used. As educators, we need to make sure that all students can use the technology
in our classrooms no matter their geography, gender, age, race, or socioeconomic status.
Just because a new concept appears flashy and seems to be the new hot topic in

education, it is vital to see if the idea fits the ultimate goal of teaching: is it benefitting the
student. However, students can learn from projects if they are used in the correct way
such as in project based learning. As educators, if the students are not learning and
benefitting from teaching, then it is time to evaluate and figure out where to go from
there.

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