The End

This is it. My last post for this course. I really did not know what to expect when this course started, but now even though I do not really use a lot of technology currently as a teacher's assistant, I have a greater appreciation of how I can use these resources in the future as a school librarian. 

Technology, I have no doubt will continue to grow and evolve in years to come. The reality is that we all must adapt to it and adapt to what children are learning. As I see my own children learning, they are learning technology faster than I keep up with. What can I do to change that? Educate myself and immerse myself in resources like this course has provided for me in these eight weeks. 

I am going to be openly honest, there were many resources that I had to teach myself to use. I used resources online such as YouTube to provide guidance on how to use a tool for an assignment. I learn technology by playing with it as badly as it sounds. I am not a technology expert by any means. 

I had previously used Blogger in a course I took this past Spring, but writing and sharing posts for others(my classmates) to read was a little intimidating. The topics we had to write on I feel made it easier to write. I may even start another blog continuing my journey into librarianship or a fun blog on books that I read. Blogs are a way for connection and to write down your own thoughts. The posts overall were different than simple discussion posts on Canvas. 

The Side Chats I feel were engaging in this course. They added not only value to the class, but you could see others. Online courses, since starting at Dominican have been different for me. You really don't see much of anyone especially if you take a mix of synchronous and asynchronous courses. The engagement between the side chats and blog posts provided discussion, but it kept me engaged and part of a learning community.

A topic that really stood out for me was active learning. It gave me some creative ideas to think about when teaching in the classroom. When I look back into the ways I learned things growing up, those teaching styles just do not work with the generation we have now. Every child should have an opportunity to learn and with the creative use of technology, we can provide something engaging that will help them to become successful in the future. 

How I felt at week 1:

   Image Source: giphy.com

This course overall provided me with resources that I had not used before. I can now take these useful tools and find creative ways to implement them into my current position as a Teacher's Aide and my future position as a librarian. I enjoyed this course because it made me really reflect on technology and how different users see and use it. I hope to continue growing with these new tools and gain insight into additional resources (such as books and other technology) to become a lifelong learner in librarianship. 

   Image Source: giphy.com