Technology as a Medium for Learning - Course Reflection
Technology as a Medium for Learning is a high-level overview of ways in which certain technologies can be used in an educational context. Technology develops at a massive rate that fast outpaces what can be encompassed in a course such as this one, so I believe the strength of the course is less learning how to use individual technologies and more the application of technologies in real-world scenarios to encourage us as educators to think creatively in regard to our own education design.
With that goal in mind, I did not learn as much from this course as I was hoping to. I went into the course expecting a deep dive into varied technologies and frequent examples of applying those technologies successfully in education. Much of the technologies we discussed were relatively straightforward and familiar to me, there were not many discussed overall as the focus was more on how to apply one or two tech types to education, and I could not find an application for most of them within my professional role. The course was discussion-based but there were no cooperative projects or tasks to connect students to one another on a deeper level than in the discussion forums. I did enjoy the correlations between instructional design using technology and the interplay with the psychology behind learning. It tied in with a lot of the material we reviewed in How People Learn, and the textbook was heavily rooted in the science behind learning. I did hope that the COVID-19 pandemic would open the doors to real-time discussions on how technology is aiding in education right here and now, but that was not a discussion topic in the course. Instead, I did spend some time applying the course materials to my knowledge of the existing remote learning experience, including this degree program.
My favorite part of this course was the lesson plan revamp assignment. I rarely use formal lesson plans in my field, but I did have a plan for a full-day seminar that I was interested in revamping for digital delivery anyway, and this assignment gave me a unique opportunity to take the technologies we discussed in class and definitively find a use for them in my profession.
Though I did not learn a lot of new material in this course, I do feel like the course assignments and discussions brought new perspectives into my life and gave me adequate opportunity to stretch these concepts into something that applies to professional healthcare education and not just traditional classroom education. My classmates had some strong points and perspectives to present, and it developed into some interesting discussions. If I had to summarize my take home from this course it was to encourage the use of technology in education simply because it is so varied and customizable, you can fit technology in anywhere and enhance the learning experience for your students.