Week+One+5306

=**Digital Age Teaching and Learning **=

Introduction Hi everyone! My name is Pamela Comer. I am excited about returning to school after almost 20 yrs. and the opportunity to pursue a Master's degree. This is my first online course. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Liberty University and I began working at Lamar University almost a year ago as an Academic Advisor. I work with first generation, low income, and disabled college students. I love using technology in everything I do and am looking for new ways to help my students utilize technology to help them reach their educational goals.


 * " ... the diversity of learning needs in today's general education classroom continues to grow. ...... Yet, while 80 percent of general educators have a special education student in their classroom, just 45 percent say they feel "very prepared" to teach these students (Ansell, 2004)." ** Duffield, J., & Wahl, L., (2005). Using flexible technology to meet the needs of diverse learners: What teachers can do. p. 2

This quote appealed to me because I have a child with a physical disability who attended public schools and was mainstreamed into a regular classroom. Based on my experience, I would agree that the majority of teachers feel totally unprepared to deal with the special challenges presented by a student with physical or learning disabilities. Today my son is 27 yrs. old and has an Associate's degree and continues to work on his Bachelor's degree. He largely depends on his computer and other means of technology today. Using a computer allows him to communicate and network in ways we never dreamed to be possible when he first started to school. But somewhere along the way, I feel that he was able to learn something far more valuable that contributed to his success today. It was something far greater than the content that he was learning in the classroom. He was taught to enjoy the process of learning, to boldly explore his world with confidence, and to find new ways of accomplishing simple tasks. He learned that if one method doesn't work, you try something else.

In turn my son has taught me some things as well. Today I work with college students who are disabled or economically disadvantaged. Many of them have learning disabilities or have not had parents who were actively involved in their education. I am faced with the challenge of helping them overcome barriers in order to succeed in their college education. The challenges can seem overwhelming but what I have learned from my son is that you just have to try to keep looking for new ways to reach them. There is no "one size fits all" when it comes to learning. The students’ needs and learning styles are diverse and I must be willing to use whatever means I can to assist them. This also means that I must be continually learning and finding new methods to teach them.


 * Final word: ** Thank you for your comments. They have served to further prove the fact that teachers are feeling unprepared today to meet the needs of a diverse population of learners especially in the area of using technology in the classroom. It has been my experience that most students graduating from college today, with a degree in any given field, still have to go through a period of on-the-job training. Even though they have earned a degree and have mastered the skills required for their field, there is always a period of time where they have to catch up to the level of the experienced staff members. It is my opinion that educators today are experiencing tremendous challenges created by the exponential growth and innovation in the age of technology in which we are now living. I am sure that our grandparents must have experienced some of the same feelings when the industrial age occurred.

In The New Literacy The 3 Rs Evolve Into the 4 Es //Technology & Learning// by Armstrong and Warlick the authors state that "Today we depend on computers and networks through which our information flows to no less degree than we depend on our roads, rails, waterways, and airports. Planting a virus on a network is just as destructive as planting a bomb under a bridge. Students must realize the importance of our information infrastructure and how critical it is to our success in the future." (Armstrong, 2004)

In the same paragraph the authors mention the importance of students realizing how critical our information infrastructure is to our success in the future. I can relate to feeling lost when digital information resources are down. At my last place of employment we depended on computers and the internet as the main source of our business. We provided assistance to businesses who were looking for employees and job seekers who were looking for work. When the systems went down, not only did the productivity of our employees take a nose dive, but the flow of products we were marketing (manpower and jobs) came to a standstill as well. Connecting job seekers with employers or recording the necessary data to provide the resources to assist someone to become work ready became a huge challenge for us when the network was down.

In order to save money and manpower the state has transferred more of the responsibility of reporting to the consumer. People no longer stand in long lines to collect their unemployment checks, but now claims and requests are made online. Many times people either don't have the skills or are unable to navigate through the maze of online filing requirements and end up frustrated with no person either on the phone or behind a desk to assist them. Imagine your family not having a paycheck because you failed to complete the online form correctly or the system was down at the time you were required to report. I think this is a good example of what the authors of the article were referring to when they wrote "A fundamental question for everyone involved in education .... in this time of rapid change is "What do students really need to be learning today in order to be ready for an unpredictable future?" They need the technology skills that will allow them to continue to put food on their table regardless of what profession they decide to pursue.

"Topics have to get and hold readers' attention, which means that titles and headlines must be meaningful... "conclusions are first, essential information appears next, and details (for anyone who might want them) come later... To be effective, today's documents should have half the word count of conventional writing." Solomon, G. (2004). E-communications 101. //Technology & Learning// 24(11), p. 48.

I can relate to this quote because I have found that my written communications in the workplace, specifically e-mail, tend to be very short and to the point. I like to use bullets or outlines to communicate. This leads to a tendency for me to prefer to receive communication, whether written or verbal, in the same manner. "Just the facts ma'am, just the facts!" as Joe Friday used to say on Dragnet. Although, my husband tells me at home that I am often too repetitive when trying to get my point across. When it comes to verbal communication, women usually tend to prefer all the details, with lots of animation and descriptive language included.

I prefer to use email sometimes because I don't want to interrupt the person and risk not having their full attention. I find that many times I fight a battle with myself between sending an quick email and picking up the phone to call someone. The author of this article makes the point that "it's so much easier to shoot off an e-mail than to pick up the phone or draft a memo."

Ms. Solomon also mentions that e-mail has it's downsides. I know there have been times when I have written something and accidently sent it to the wrong person, or have written something before I have completely thought it through and wished I could have retrieved it after it had already been delivered.



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