Cody Bortle

Professor Lewallen

EDT 180C

26 November 2019

Final Reflection Paper

After looking over my previous reflections I can see many emerging patterns on my

approach to learning with technology. One pattern that I noticed would be that in the beginning

of the semester I would only highlight the benefits of implementing technology in an educational

environment that would directly affect the educator and towards the end of the semester I would

highlight the benefits that would affect the students. This change is important because it shows

how I am beginning to think as an educator and not as an outsider to the classroom setting.

Another pattern that I noticed would be that my process of peer feedback and the implementation

of that feedback has grown exponentially since the beginning of the semester. This is important

to note because peer feedback is an absolute necessity for any project in which you are trying to

complete. Peer feedback is crucial for any assignment because without it you won’t have a clue

as to what revisions are needed. I am surprised that I was able to list off so many of the real and

hypothetical uses of the different technologies, in which I was researching, if they were to be

placed in a classroom. This is surprising to me because prior to taking this course I would not

have envisioned any of the technologies that we researched being placed in an educational

environment.

Throughout this course I experimented with many different types of technology with

hopes of learning how they can be implemented in an educational environment. During that
process I encountered many challenges. One overall challenge that I encountered with each

technology would be figuring out the general configurations of them and learning how to apply

them in a way that would be beneficial to the goal I was trying to achieve. I overcame this

problem with critical thinking and with the help of my peers. Another challenge that I

encountered during this course would be figuring out what needs to be fixed within my projects.

I overcame this problem with the use of peer review which I received from my classmates. My

strategy for dealing with challenges has changed drastically over the course of this class. In the

beginning of the semester I wouldn’t take the peer feedback that I was receiving from my

classmates seriously because I thought that I didn’t need help and that my work was flawless.

However, after seeing the grades for my assignments and what I was losing points for I realized

that my peers were correct with the feedback that they were leaving.

At the beginning of the class, if I was told to think about learning with technology I

would’ve pictured students in a classroom, all with a chromebooks actively working on their

assignments. However, if you were to ask me the same question now my answer would be totally

different. When I think about learning with technology I can picture an educator in front of a

class who is presenting a powerpoint which dictates what will be covered in that specific days

lesson. The lesson for the day entails an active exercise with an Oculus Rift that will take

students through a virtual tour of Madrid, Spain and this whole class is being recorded on a

Podcast for the students to refer to while studying for exams. I believe that my thoughts about

learning with technology has changed since the beginning of the semester because I am now

familiarized with a huge variety of technology that can be used in an educational environment.
 If I was to take an assignment from the beginning of the class, one from the end and

analyze my approach to them there would be similarities and differences. Two assignments that

have similarities and differences within the approach would be the Inquiry Module Project from

the beginning of the semester and the Expression Module Project from the end of the semester.

One major difference between my two approaches would be the amount of preparation I put into

each assignment prior to starting them. For the Expression Module Project I put far more thought

into my actual plan than I did for the Inquiry Module Project which ended up helping me while

working on it because I was able to put my all into the actual execution of the project. One

similarity between my two approaches would be that in both I had a game plan for what I would

like the final product to look like, I just put more preparation into the Expression Module Project.

During this class I had the opportunity to leave peer feedback on some of my classmates’

assignments. Throughout this process of peer revision, I can take away some aspects of their

work that I would like to try in my next project. While leaving feedback on Brian’s projects, I’ve

noticed that he is always completely clear and structured about what his plan is which sets him

up to execute it successfully. His process of planning out his projects is something that I would

like to try in my next project.

If I had the opportunity to go back and start an assignment over again I would totally shift

my approach and execution of the project because of my new knowledge that I have acquired

throughout this course. One project that I wish I had the opportunity to start over would be the

Construction Module Project. If I were to restart this project I would keep the same general

theme of the ​Where Should I Eat?,​ but I would add in multiple different sound effects for each
individual slide and I would offer more selections. These changes would require a lot more work,

but it would make the application perfect.

One goal that I would like to set for myself for next semester would be to completely

eliminate procrastination because it has become a big issue for me this semester. I hope to

achieve this goal by acquiring a job next semester. I feel that by acquiring a job it will limit my

procrastination because in my past my grades have always been the absolute best while I was

balancing a job as opposed to not balancing one.