Chapter 30 Reflection

I found chapter 30 very interesting and important to read. That is because technology does need to used for a direct purpose in education, not to look "cool" or to have something to do for your students while you write lesson plans or whatever. It is true that for a lesson that uses technology needs to have rich media. The book defines rich media as "learning products that incorporate high-end media such as video, animation, sound, and simulation and will only benefit learners to the extent that its capabilities are harnessed in ways that support human cognitive learning processes "(pg. 312). In other words, technological devices needs to enhance learning, not just supplement or make the lesson look cool or exciting. Sure they can motivate, but the educational purpose must be fulfilled.
"Instructional methods are the elements included in instruction for the purpose of supporting the achievement of the learning objective. Thus, instructional methods are intended to encourage learners to use appropriate cognitive processing during learning" (pg. 314).

Therefore, it is appropriate to make my first goal to use technology to fulfill educational purposes more. The reason for stating this goal is that I want my students to learn and grow. If I am using technology, then it should serve an educational purpose.In the past, I used them to make lessons look neat or as a supplement at best like taking students to the computer lab to research online. But they need to do more than that. They need to encourage students to think and learn. Pictures and narrations need to go with the lesson, not be an add on that will distract them. The chapter said that students learned best with video with narration. I first thought of the screen cast video I did. I didn't do narration due to a lack of microphone, but I know it would have been better if I had one. The point is that any sounds, pictures, videos, etc. need to assist in students' cognitive processes. It needs to help them like the medical students that was talked about in the chapter.

The second goal after reading this chapter is to improve on scaffolding. I chose this goal because we need to teach students, yes, but they also need to be independent. Too often, at least I do, I tend to hang on a little too long when it comes to this. But scaffolding is providing guidance and letting go little by little as students learn the concepts. "People learn better with guided discovery than with pure discovery methods in which they interact as they please" (pg. 321). Students can be introduced to a technological or some other kind of concept and begin working with it with me, and then do independent assignments. Independence gives students a sense of self esteem and shows that they are learning on their own once the guidance leads them to where they need to go.