Week Ten Reflection

It has been a trying 6 weeks for me; I have severe Bronchitis that has flared up my asthma. The joy of learning and obtaining knowledge through these weeks of Technology and Digital Literacy has given a reason to sit at the computer versus laying in bed and sleeping all day! Over the last two weeks we have explored book reviews and my personal favorite, flipped classroom. The technology we have in 2019 is staggering for students and educators so we are all without excuse to teach and apply what has been taught. The book review was interesting because I was so excited about the title, “The Google Cardboard Book; Explore, Engage, and Educate with Virtual Reality. I was not happy that I had to pay $10.00 for the book but my classes are an investment to my future goal to teach high school Life Sciences. The flipped classroom II was another favorite activity and the teaching and implications of learning are endless with this non-traditional approach. My main concern is will the students do the work at home and come prepared for class; if not, the assessment and understanding of material will be dsplayed quickly as the content lesson is explored in the classroom.

The Google Cardboard book was a complete disappointment for me! I was expecting to much based on the title and quickly learned that I have VR at my fingertips; my iPhone. I was blown away that it took six authors to put this book together. The sales pitch for virtual reality applications was endless and I was disgusted that they indicated passing this expense off to parents as a “recommended item” for the school year. Technology is an awesome learning tool that can take us many places from the seat of our classsrooms or offices but to purchase a cardboard, purchase an application, construct the cardboard to appear as a “view finder” from the 1970’s, and charge parents or students to foot the bill, disgusting. The Google Cardboard has no implication for teaching and learning; the many cellular telephones and plethora of apps that can be purchased at a low cost or some free can and do help students explore the World around us. The flipped classroom is a genius way to allow students and parents to be intersactive with the content lessons and what’s expected in the classroom lesson the following day. As a college student I’ve had professors tell students do not ask questions, take notes, and if there are any questions consult the book. Yes, I was in shock when I heard that and I did drop that class! The flipped classroom is an interactive way of learning content and allows students to review as many times as they like and prepare questions if they do not understand lesson content. This method of educating students is a great way to allow them to work at their own pace and be prepared before homework is completed in classroom.