Final thoughts about LTED 618 Student Learning Outcomes

I cannot believe that this semester is almost over and that this is our last blog-where did the time go?? If I had to be honest, I am not the biggest fan of writing. I cannot tell you enough, though,  how thankful I am that I took this class. I thought I knew all the basic information that I needed to know when it came to the digital world, but I have honestly learned so much more than I ever expected. Before this class, I had never created my own blog before, nor had I ever used Google Documents or Google Reader. After using them, however, I can see how beneficial they are to not only the students in the classroom, but for the teachers as well. I cannot believe I went all this time without using any of these digital tools! Since students nowadays are using more and more technology, I think it was VERY important for me to take this class and learn  everything that I needed to know to be up to par with my future students. As a future teacher, I now cannot wait to use these digital tools in my classroom someday. With a little more practice, I will be able to teach any students like me, who have never used any of these tools before.

When looking back on the syllabus to the Student Learning Outcomes, I would have to say that each and every one of them were sufficiently met, in my opinion. When looking at the first outcome, I feel like I was able to receive a clear understanding about each of the genres and how I could teach them to students within the classroom. In some of my other blogs through out the semester, I have gone into more depth on certain genres and the many different things that I had learned that I had never knew before. After this class, I now feel more comfortable going into a classroom and teaching about each of the genres. 

The second outcome is something that I have been thinking about a lot more when writing my blogs as well as my genre pieces. I feel like I was one of those students that would always think of the teacher as my audience and no one else. That could be the reason why I never enjoyed writing-I got bored with the same audience! With writing blogs, I had to keep in  mind that not only were my peers and teachers going to read and respond to my posts, but there was a possibility of people that I don't even know finding my blog on the web and reading it. That made me write more carefully and gave me more of  purpose. 

With the fourth outcome, I felt like there was definitely a strong relationship between reading and writing and my view of that relationship blossomed. My writing seemed to change every week depending on the readings assigned to us. Each of the readings had a different tone and purpose, which in turn created a different audience and gave me a different purpose for my writing. 

The last outcome I want to talk about is the sixth outcome. Being assigned our individual blogs, working with Google Documents and Google Reader, and having to create a E-portfolio, have helped me blossom in the digital world. If I had not taken this class, I would have never created nor worked with any of these digital tools. Now that I have learned about all of these tools and what they have to offer to students as well as teachers, I can't wait to be able to use them in my future classroom. I still plan on practicing some more with these tools, but I can for sure say that I have a better understanding of everything. 

Overall, I thought that this semester was a fun learning experience for me! To think that if I didn't take this class, I wouldn't have been introduced to all of the digital tools that I thought I knew about. This class gave me the knowledge that I needed to know about the digital world so I will be able to use them with the students in my classroom someday, It also was able to give me a deeper understanding on each of the genres and the different ways that I could use them and teach them to my students. I'm sure that there are a lot more tools out there in the digital world and there will be a lot more to learn, but that is why learning  is so important-it's a never ending process!