Week two Reflection Question

3. My synthesized view of teaching, learning, and technology

When presented the task of describing my view on synthesizing technology and teaching as well as technology with learning, my mind began to wonder which one I was more familiar with. My years of experience as a student have far surpassed my years of experience as a teacher. As a student, or learner, I can remember the time periods when different technologies were introduced and how I reacted to them. For instance, the fifth grade was the first time that I had come in contact with the internet. I was at awe with the fact that I could get any type of information that my mind could think up. In fact, the internet was so new that I knew how to use it better than my teacher.
As an educator, I can now see that the world’s technologies have transferred ever more importantly into the classroom. The chapter describes that to provide the best possible learning environment, one would have to have an understanding of how students learn. My advantage is that I both enjoy and learn with the same tools that my students use. Projectors, computers, and televisions are used daily in my classroom to help students interact with their subject. I feel that not only to grasp the attention of my students, but also to improve their technology skills, these devises must be used frequently.
Cognitive style refers to how one thinks. Understanding the learning style of each student provides me with a better opportunity to transfer the information. The challenge comes when I have to accommodate multiple learning styles with limited time or resources. For instance, I have many students that can retain the information presented by just hearing a lecture or reading from the text book. Another group of students need a visual representation of the text and sometimes, interactive activities. Without modern technology such as computers and smart boards, I feel that I would have a hard time teaching such an array of students.
Without combining or synthesizing technology with the classroom, my profession would be a lot more challenging. The use of technology to a teacher is, to me, just as important as the use of technology as a student. Students use modern technologies for the advancement of their skills and to expand their future opportunities while teachers use this same technology to improve the learning environment. Technology provides many positives that are both advantageous to an educators as well as students.