I thought this course was going to be a “how to” on the best tech to use.  Naive, since the few courses I did online in the early-mid twenty-teens are probably passe.  I appreciated the structure of this course which used a variety of teaching methods to address the why and when of using technology.  I especially appreciated the opportunity to engage at the level I could (took this even though I don’t really have time for it this month) and the many choices of directions I could go in, according to what peaked my interest.  I am hopeful to have opportunity to read all the resources this spring.  I wish that I could have been able to participate in discussions more, as that had been my favorite part of online courses I have taken in the past.  But I made a deliberate choice to be highly selective in what postings to respond to.  I thought the annotation technique was a great way to engage with the material and would want to use that in my teaching.  Having my own time limits and having to choose how much to engage, was a good experience for me to reflect how students have their own barriers to engagement.  I appreciated the suggestions (not requirements) of how to engage.  They were meaningful suggestions, just not achievable for me.  But still, I got a lot out of what I did read and respond to.

It was nice not to have to achieve a certain level in order to get a certain grade.  And that makes me think again about the student experience.  Would students respect an evaluation that was based on the question “Give yourself a grade according to your effort and learning in this class–if you did the very best you could, give yourself an “A.” Otherwise, what grade should you get?”  I know this would get into the quagmire of grades not being comparable to each other.  In terms of behavior, some of us tell our children, “What you get will not always be the same as your sibling, but you will get what you need.”

Having cut my teeth on Piaget when I was a young teacher, I learned quite a bit about where the current thinking in the field has come to.  This was helpful to me and helped me to further refine my own philosophy.  I saw links to my dearly held (Regio-Emilia) philosophy of student-teacher teacher-student.  It goes to my pet phrase, often repeated to my institution “ask the user!”

Teaching can be a solitary experience, but I welcome the opportunity to collaborate.  I plan to be tapping the knowledge and experience of my institution’s educational tech team when I am planning a curriculum.  This will allow me to focus more on the course (which is what I have to offer) than the delivery method (which would, otherwise, require a ton of research on my part).

Thank you for a very well thought-out and managed class.  I am glad I got involved!!!