Final Edtech 541 Blog Post

“A combination of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge is necessary” (Roblyer, Preface xxii).

Part 1
Synthesis and focus are two themes that describe my learning in Edtech 541. I found that the process of reading theory, processing it through writing, reading other students’ blogs, and commenting on those blogs gave me a deeper understanding of theory. Most of the time, I completed the blog first, before attempting to complete projects.
However, I found that if I started the project before I completed the reading and blog, I inevitably needed to revise my project. This grounded me in identifying theory(-ies) as a starting place for work I conduct as a researcher and teacher. Further, theory and research need to be ongoing, to build more significant, thoughtful, and valuable blog posts, as well as projects. The textbook for this course, Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching by author M.D. Roblyer was an incredibly rich source. I will be referring to it, as well as look to the references cited for deeper understanding of topics addressed.

Professionally, I see the need to review and integrate theory and pedagogical concepts into my teaching and coaching. As an middle school instructional coach, I influence many teachers, so my practice needs to reflect sound theory and appropriate pedagogy. When creating projects, I worked to scaffold learning so that students would be able to access lessons The concepts of TPACK and SAMR are ones that I reference when recommending technology integration to teachers, as well as consider for my own practice. The appropriateness of technology use can be gauged across a variety of dimensions: type of student, subject matter, learning objectives, type of devices available, equity of access issues, etc.
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As a professional educator, I aspire for my work to reflect the most recent theories and am willing to learn, reflect and revise my work. Technology is changing, Pedagogy will evolve. Students deserve the most recent, well-conceived learning options, which will require me to be a life-long learner. This iterative, ongoing evolution means that I will continue to improve as an educator.  I look forward to this journey.

​Roblyer, M. (2016). INTEGRATING EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY INTO TEACHING (7TH ED.). Massachusetts: Pearson.