Defining the takeaways for LT 7360 was a bit of a tug of war.

On one hand, I can point to

many different techniques, technologies, and lessons I have learned over this semester. On the

other hand, it has been difficult to be able to enumerate three distinctly different takeaways as

much of what we have learned has built upon itself from one week to the next. Therefore, the

distinctions between were hazier as we were building a body of knowledge rather than clumps of

skills.

While discerning the takeaways from the course have not been easy, the task was not

insurmountable. One of the first lessons that strongly resonated with me is the notion that one

should not simply include a technology for its own sake. Although it may seem “fun” to try out

something new, it needs to be grounded in pedagogy and learning outcomes. This truth was

reinforced when I was drafting my mini-lesson. As part of the in-class assignment, I had selected

a student debate. Rather than conducting a traditional, verbal debate, I decide to use Kialo. Once

I made that decision, I reflected upon the potential additional lessons the students could learn by

using a web-based service and explicitly included them in the lesson overview to provide

transparency.

Another element that we need to provide to our students are models for success. While

this is often addressed on a macro-level, I think it is equally, if not more, important on a micro-

level within the confines of a class or even a lesson. Rather than worrying about giving too much

away to our students and making it too “easy,” I believe it is important to provide exemplars

created by us. This is especially important when we are asking student to undertake a completely

new task. This point was driven home to me this semester when I took part in the digital divide

mini-lesson. Our team had selected jamboard for the technology element. As we had not

provided a model on how to use it, the class did not get to see the interactive aspects of the
technology. When crafting my mini-lesson mock-up assignment, I was sure to include an

exemplar page in the wiki assignment.

My final takeaway is that we, as educators, need to continue to exercise our imagination

and our innovation. While it may be tempting to rest on multiple semester worth of “evergreen”

material, neither knowledge nor students are static. I feel lucky that my primary discipline is

closely connected to both local industry and technology but the temptation still exists. As the

past year has taught all of us, the educational terrain is rapidly evolving in response to health

concerns, technology growth, and changes in culture and society. To pretend otherwise will only

ensure frustration for all involved parties. In LT 7360 we learned this does not have to be the

case as technology should not be considered the end of traditional education but the spice for our

new traditions.