Throughout the course, Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom, I gained knowledge and information of new literacy skills that are necessary for students and classrooms to succeed within the 21st Century. One of the most striking revelations that I had dealt with the new literacy skills of reading, writing, and communicating. These new literacy skills are “concerned with understanding and teaching the new reading, writing, and communication strategies required for student to maximize the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as the Internet” (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007, pg. 44). In the past most forms of communication has been written by hand or typed on a typewriter and information was communicated in this fashion. With today’s technology when new information is researched and studied, it can be communicated in many different forms from email, to blogs, to online, articles and publications. As this class was centered around student inquiries and learning how to use the internet for searching and researching, I learned new ideas and information about how to teach students how to use the internet effectively to do their research projects. I also learned new ways for students to communicate this knowledge to their classmates and teachers aside from essay writing form. Students are able to establish a blog or a wiki, create presentations using Power Point or Voice Thread technology. These are just some of the many ways for students to become more interactive with their studies. As a part of the 21st century skills that students are using now, fostering a collaborative working environment in which students work together to solve a problem or create a project is extremely important to continuing the growth and success of students outside of the classroom.
Within this class I gained much knowledge and experiences about inquiry in the classroom that will definitely influence my future teaching. I have learned how easily different forms of technology can be integrated into the classroom whether it is through projects in a collaborative work environment or in daily class work that allows students to practice these learned skills. Since making a Holocaust Inquiry Unit Plan, my knowledge and experience with integrating different forms of technology to units and lessons has greatly increased. I have learned that what may come naturally to some students may be more difficult and challenging to others. It is important to teach the basic skills to students, such as how to appropriately use search engines when researching, as a part of allowing students to begin to explore on their own and create their own work. I also learned that it is important for students to have a part in their learning as the effects of what they study can have a longer retention as well as a more profound effect on the students. “The most compelling inquiries are student-generated…student choice is critical for sustaining interest in long term inquiry projects” (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007, p. 82). Allowing students to create and generate their own topics and questions (within reason) for projects with ultimately allow students to become more engaged and excited with what they are to create.
With the world of technology constantly changing and advancing, it is important to stay abreast of the new technologies that are useful in the classroom. As a part of building on my preexisting skills and the new skills learned in this course, I would like to take advantage of the professional development opportunities that are available within my district. There are a variety of courses that are offered in many different areas of technology and different ways to make learning more interesting for students and this would definitely be to my advantage. I would also like to continue to use this learned knowledge gained within course at Walden within my teaching as a way to become more proficient in integrating technology and being able to share this knowledge and information with other with whom I work. By taking small steps and incorporating one or two technology resources that I have learned about, this information will become more natural and common within my own teaching.
This course has also allowed me to create a working unit plan in which students will learn to effectively develop questions and research this information and chose different ways to communicate their findings with an audience. Asking important questions leads to comprehension of the material as well as the ability to synthesize new information with previously learned skills. As a part of New Literacy Standards outlined by Dr. Douglas Hartman, “knowing how to question, developing good questions, and staying focused on questions” (Laureate, 2009) as strategies that 21st Century learners should have. This course has taught me different ways to support inquiry in my teaching and has helped to teach me different ways to allow students to become more comfortable with researching and communicating this information.
