Final Reflection and Blog Posting on the Impact of Technology

This is a final reflection of my experience with the MEDU-6710 Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society course taught by Dr. Joseph Ferguson during the Summer 2025 quarter at Walden University. I have enjoyed many of the principles taught in this class and have learned about some tools that I would not have otherwise used in my curriculum. However, most of the tools I have learned about were through my own efforts of trying to find suitable tools to today’s available technology as substitutes for the ones recommended by the course that I primarily found to be outdated and no longer relevant if they were even still available. Below are the questions I was asked to reflect on in regards to this experience with my responses to each one.

In what ways have the media, resources, and activities of this course helped you to develop your own technology skills as a professional teacher?

Media and Resources

The books Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (2010) and From Master Teacher to Master Learner (2015) by Will Richardson along with a collection of videos from Walden University featuring Dr. David Thornburg (2015a-m) made up the primary literature for this course. We also heavily utilized the International Society for Technology in Education Standards for Students (2024b) and Standards for Educators (2024a) in our learning activities throughout the course. There were also resources as well, both scholarly and popular, that we referred to, some recent enough to be utilized in professional practice in the field of education technology and others as old as 2008 and all completely irrelevant to the technology this course was intended to teach. 

The overall principles of these materials have helped me to question my practice, understand that it is no longer the role of the teacher to give the students information but to help them find it on their own and that it is the duty of an educator to prepare students for the college and career environment that awaits them outside the classroom which means also teaching them to be digitally literate enough to thrive in today’s heavily technology-reliant world. Richardson (2015) shared the timeless comment “The world has changed. Knowledge is everywhere. Teachers must become master learners instead of master knowers” (p. 5). It is not my job to know things or even help my students to know things, instead my job is to know how to find information and teach my students to do the same using the resources and tools they have access to every day.

 Most of the tools and scenarios are painfully outdated, like when Richardson (2010) encourages teachers to rent DVDs from BlockBuster as a means to share timely content with their students (p.111). In expounding on the necessity of integrating modern technology into classroom instruction in his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, Richardson (2010) recommends several specific websites and platforms that may have been effective in 2010, but have since either become outdated or have ceased to exist altogether. This was most prominent in the chapter on wikis when he suggests the sites Wikispace.com and Wetpaint.com (pp.55-69). Unfortunately, these two websites are both out of commission and have been since 2014 (Wikimedia Foundation 2025 and 2024).

Activities

This course got me to do things that, as an education professional, I have never done before. I created an education blog and actually interacted with other blogs via the comments in lieu of just passively intaking their content, I used an X account to share my professional growth and pedagogical ideas, I used RSS feeds and social bookmarking sites, and I created a wiki-styled lesson on a wiki site that I later converted to a Google Document. I found the blogging and the wiki-site activities to be the most impactful of these activities along with the RSS feed which I was surprised by.

My blog, TechyTeacher42, has become an archive of my growth in becoming a more innovative and technology integrated educator. It is a tool that I am meant to use throughout the remainder of my time in the Master of Science in Education program at Walden University, but it is a skill that I intend to use throughout the remainder of my career as an education professional. I doubt that I will ever use my blog as a class site as the online learning management systems like Google Classroom and Schoology are much easier for students and other teachers and stakeholders to access while also preserving privacy and security policies of the school district. However, I may just keep a blog of my courses that I have taught and the content and activities I have used in those classes. This use of blogging will allow me to archive my past work for future use in the classroom, posting on an online portfolio, and sharing ideas with other educators. 

Creating a wiki-based lesson was the apex of my experiences in this course. I used the site Confluence for my original lesson but converted it to a Google Doc so it can be shared and accessed without creating an account. This tool allows students to work collaboratively to find information rather than me providing it. The best part is that the type of collaboration involved is primarily nonverbal and can be asynchronous which makes accommodating the diverse needs of my students so simple. 

I was surprised to find RSS feeds so useful. I subscribed to a few educational blogs and now, using the Google RSS Reader, I can click on the app in my pinned Chrome extensions and see if the blogs I follow have any updates. This has proved to be an efficient way to keep up with the fast-paced world of 21st-century pedagogy, especially when awaiting a response to a comment or question on a post I have already seen.

In what ways have you deepened your knowledge of the teaching and learning process with respect to integrating technology in the classroom? What might you do to apply that knowledge to how you facilitate the changing classroom of the 21st Century?

Because of this course, I have included the ISTE Standards for Students in my focus standards listed in my course syllabi for my 11th grade English classes (ISTE, 2024b). I have utilized technology in my instruction in the past, but it has primarily been just for myself while I have avoided requiring the students to do anything too difficult online. I have found that despite having nearly 24/7 access to modern technological resources, my students for the most part have been pitifully lacking in digital literacy. 

What is, at least, one Web 2.0 and/or social media tool that you are open to trying in your classroom? What is a potential roadblock to its implementation and what is your plan to overcome it? How does your selected tool assist students with 21st Century skills and the ISTE Standards for Students? How does the tool support your meeting the ISTE Standards for Teachers?

There are so many Web 2.0 tools, or digital tools that rely on user-created collaborative content, that I look forward to eventually integrated into my classroom instruction, or at the very least gain some experience with. I have used Minecraft: Education Edition in my freshmen English classes in the past and have had my students frequently use Canva–I use Canva for class preparation and content creation and presentation nearly every day– and they are constantly utilizing Google Drive and Schoology. After having gained more experience with it, I would like to incorporate a form of wiki-based lesson material into my classes, but the tool I am most anxious to implement is AI.

I currently use ChatGPT for creating content like grammar practices and quiz questions, as well as for refining and utilizing rubrics and for providing instant feedback on student writing assignments so students have something to work with to begin their revisions while I am reading and providing my feedback on every other student’s work. I would like for students to be able to use AI themselves for receiving instant, rubric-based feedback on their writing, generating images to use in projects, finding sources for their research, and brainstorming ideas. Fischer (2025) also suggests having students program AI to roleplay as specific characters from a story or historical figure and have mock debates.

The greatest barrier preventing me from achieving integration of this innovative Web 2.0 tool is the attitude of the education system towards AI. Most teachers see AI as nothing more than a way to cheat and replace human creative and critical thinking. However, Song (2024) found in a study of sixth-graders and AI that the use of AI in the classroom has a strong potential, when properly integrated and regulated, to support student agency, encourage reflection, and mitigate anxiety by positioning AI as a peer-like assistant rather than a replacement teacher (p. 18). Furthermore, if teachers are anxious about students using AI unethically, the solution is not to block it–students will always find ways around blocked content–but instead to adopt it and teach them how to use it appropriately. 

The use of AI in the classroom coincides perfectly with the ISTE Standards for Students standards 1.2 Digital Citizen and 1.5 Computational Thinker which involve students figuring out how to adopt new tools in an ethical and honest way (ISTE, 2024b). Not only does AI help students to meet the ISTE Standards for Students, but it also helps educators meet the ISTE Standards for Educators standards 2.1 Learner as they step out of their comfort zone to use this tool for themselves, 2.2 Leader as they pioneer this tool for their students, and 2.3 Citizen as they teacher their students how to use the tool ethically and honestly (ISTE, 2024a).

What are two long-term SMART goals (within 2 years) you will set for transforming your classroom environment in order to help students gain skills to be ready for tomorrow’s society and workplace? How do you plan to accomplish these goals?

The first SMART goal I have set to transform my classroom environment in order to help students gain skills to be ready for tomorrow’s society and workplace is to implement the use on an AI program in at least one of my classes to the extent in which it is utilized directly in a minimum of one quarter of classroom assignments by the end of the 2025/2026 school year. This will involve finding an AI that is specifically suited toward the goals and needs of education–I am currently looking at Magic School AI–and getting it approved by my district administrators. I went through the same process two years ago when I first implemented Minecraft Education: Edition and am thus familiar with the process and the people involved. Once I have an approved program, I will need to explore and experiment with it on my own and then slowly begin incorporating it into my classes.

Another SMART goal I am working on is to integrate the ISTE Standards for Students into my curriculum as though they were one of my content standards by the end of the 2025/2026 school year. I have already included seven of the standards in my syllabus for the 2025/2026 school year, the next step is to design content for the year that helps students to meet those standards. 

As a result of your experience in your courses, consider how the topics and concepts covered might align with an issue that you might want to study?

As a result of my experience in this course and the professional experience I have had in my three years of being an education professional, I am intending to study the issues surrounding AI including the controversies and ethical dilemmas preventing it from being integrated into the P-12 classroom. In my studies, I hope to better understand why educators are so afraid of it and gather enough evidence to allow for it to be utilized rather than shunned by teachers.

References

Fischer, T. (2025, June 3). 5 engaging AI classroom activities to try with your students. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-engaging-ai-classroom-activities-try-your-students 

International Society for Technology in Education. (2024a). ISTE standards: For educators. [Multimedia]. https://www.iste.org/standards/for-educators 

International Society for Technology in Education. (2024b). ISTE standards: For students. [Multimedia]. https://iste.org/standards/students 

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Corwin.

Richardson, W. (2015). From master teacher to master learner. Solution Tree Press.

Song, D., Nimante, D., & Baranova, S. (2024, November 24). Artificial intelligence for higher education: benefits and challenges for pre-service teachers. Frontiers in Education, 9 (1501819). https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1501819 

Walden University, LLC. (2015a). Making the shift [Video]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com 

Walden University, LLC. (2015b). Skills for the 21st Century [Video]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com 

Walden University, LLC. (2015c). Spotlight on technology: Blogging in the classroom [Video].  Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com 

Walden University, LLC. (2015d). Spotlight on technology: Collaboration through wikis [Video]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com

Walden University, LLC. (2015e). Technology and society [Video]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com 

Walden University, LLC. (2015f). The changing role of the classroom teacher: Part 1 [Video]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com

Walden University, LLC. (2015g). The changing role of the classroom teacher: Part 2 [Video]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com

Walden University, LLC. (2015h). The changing work environment [Video]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com 

Walden University, LLC. (2015i). The emergence of educational technology [Video]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com. 

Walden University, LLC. (2015j). Today’s students [Video]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com 

Walden University, LLC. (2015k). Transforming the classroom with technology: Part 1 [Video]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com

Walden University, LLC. (2015l). Transforming the classroom with technology: Part 2 [Video]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com 

Walden University, LLC. (2015m). Transforming the classroom with technology: Part 3 [Video]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com 

Wikimedia Foundation. (2025, February 24). Wikispaces. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikispaces 

Wikimedia Foundation. (2024, September 23). Wetpaint. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetpaint 

Positive Social Change: My Plan

Positive social change is exactly what is sounds like: changing society in a positive way. Walden University (2017) seeks to bring about positive social change globally through research, education, and partnerships that empower scholar-practitioners to become effective agents of social good. This refers to all of their programs and their goal for all who attend their university. As a public school teacher, it is my job to start small, begin with myself, then my students and school, and let the positive change snowball and ripple from there. I can only directly influence a few people, and they can each influence a few more, but that can continue until the positive changes spread from my classroom to the whole world.

Michael Jackson sang:

                                        I'm starting with the man in the mirror

I'm asking him to change his ways

And no message could've been any clearer

If they wanna make the world a better place

Take a look at yourself and then make a change

(Garrett & Ballard, 1988).

I will start with the man, or in my case, the woman, in the mirror. I will seek to show empathy and compassion to myself. I will have confidence and practice self-care. I will know my potential and always seek to better myself. As I do this for myself, I can also do the same for others, particularly my students. I will show them empathy and compassion. I will believe in them and care for them, encouraging them to do the safe for themselves. I will help them to see their potentials and to always better themselves. As they do these things for themselves, they will (hopefully) seek to do these things for their classmates and people around them outside of school.

In my professional Learning community, I advocate for and brainstorm with my coworkers and administrators on ways to improve our school culture and community. Part of our school mission is to help our students to become good citizens in their community. We find ways to model and cultivate this within our school.

One of the ways my school strives to bring about positive social change within our school by helping our students to become good citizens is with our affirmation box. There is a box by the front office where students are encouraged to leave kind, affirming notes for others. They can sign their name or remain anonymous. These notes, at least some of them, are read over the intercom throughout the week and all them them are delivered to the people they were written for. This encourages students to look for kind things to say about each other and to write them down. It's just a small thing but it has a dep and lasting impact on many students.

References

Garrett, G. B., & Ballard, S. (1988). Man in the mirror [Recorded by M. Jackson]. Epic Records.

Walden University. (2017). Walden 2020: A vision for social change: 2017. Report. https://www.waldenu.edu/-/media/Walden/files/about-walden/walden-university-2017-social-change-report-final-v-2.pdf?la=en 

Teacher Well-Being: How to Find Balance Through Setting Boundaries

A phrase often used in the education field to describe why teachers lose their passion and even quit altogether is "teacher burnout." Rana (2021) reports that, particularly in schools with a large population of high-risk students, approximately 50% of new teachers quit within their first five years due to burnout; even at the best schools, the rate is still a minimum of 25%. Teachers go into the profession, not for the wealth and fame, but because they are passionate. They are driven by a fire within that helps them get through the toughest moments, but eventually, if they are not cautious, that fire does burn out. So how can teachers be cautious and keep their flame? One word... boundaries.

In life in general, regardless of one's profession, boundaries are critical for balance and maintaining good mental health. I have had experiences, completely separate from my teaching profession, in which I have had to learn to set boundaries, that it is okay to have needs and to express those needs, and that it is okay to say no, or even to say yes and then change my mind. Adelson (2024) points out that, despite common stigmatisms, setting boundaries–both personal and professional–is not rudeness or entitlement but an essential practice for maintaining one's mental health. 

There are two simple boundaries that I have set for professional life that have kept me from burning out–so far. When I first decided to set these boundaries, I felt like I was always at work. Even when I was at home or even on vacation, I was checking emails, grading assignments, and creating curriculum. I would stay at school until as late as nine in the evening because I felt like I needed to in order to do my job. I was exhausted and felt my fire diminishing; this was only my second year teaching. I saw a need for my two boundaries but was hesitant to follow through because I was unsure of how others would react–my colleagues, administrators, students, students' parents, anyone. When I finally started to act on what I knew I needed, I was surprised to find that the people I was worried about upsetting were actually impressed and could see the difference it was making for me. I found that I got more done, I was less stressed and tired, and I found more fulfillment in both my professional and personal life. Now, as I go into my fourth year teaching at a Title-One school, I am as passionate and fiery as I was on my first day of year one, just with more confidence and experience. Here are my boundaries. 

Boundary #1: Work stays at work

I do not bring work home. I do not grade at home. I do not check emails at home. I do not dwell on the stresses from the day at home. When I am at home, I am at home. This boundary is all about using my time wisely while I am at work and being present in the moment both in and out of school. Whenever I don't think I have time to get everything done, I cut back and reassess what actually needs to be done and what can wait. If I get an email after school or over the weekend, I still see the notification on my phone, but unless it seems like a genuine emergency, I don't fully read and respond to it until I am back at school. Sometimes, I decide to change something in my curriculum or add an element that I need to work on outside of my normal work hours, in these instances, I do take work home but I make sure to remind myself that it is by choice and not necessity, and if I change my mind and decide I don't want to work on it, I know I don't need to.

Boundary #2: Contract Hours

At my school, my only preparation time is before and after school. School is from 9am to 3:25pm; contract hours for teachers are 8:30am to 4pm. One hour each day is not enough time to get everything done, so I am just a little bit flexible with my boundary of sticking to those contract hours. I do not arrive before 8am and I do my best to be in my car and driving away no later than 4:30pm. There are times when my two boundaries conflict, in which I choose to stay at school longer so I don't need to take work home, and that is okay. My students know my boundaries and they respect them. Sometimes I have students that just want to hangout at the end of the day and chat, but they know that I will kick them out when it is time for me to go and there are no hard feelings to be had.

Your Turn

Think about where you are feeling the most burnt out in your teaching profession. What do you need? Set your own boundaries and see what happens. Stick to them as best you can, but remember that sometimes you may need to break them too. These boundaries are for you to care for yourself and get what you need, which could constantly be changing. If you have any good ideas for teacher boundaries or any experiences you would like to share, leave a comment.

References:

Adelson, R. (2024, October 10). Personal boundaries are important to set and respect. Wellness Through Change. https://wellnessthroughchange.com/?s=Personal+Boundaries+are+Important+to+Set+and+Respect

Rana, S. (2021). Teacher burnout. Research Starters. EBSCO. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/education/teacher-burnout 

P-12 Learning and Teaching Issue: The Fight Against Innovation

When it comes to technology integration and general innovation of the classroom, there is an inarguable paradox that becomes a stumbling block for education professionals and students alike. The paradox is this: the education system is meant to prepare students for the world beyond the classroom and yet is painfully slow when it comes to integrating integral aspects of that world. Will Richardson is an education professional dedicated to innovation and integration of classroom technology. In one of his older books, he wrote in regard to education technology tools, "As is often the case, education has been slow to adapt to these new tools and potentials" (Richardson, 2010, p.3). It seems that whenever a new tool or software comes out that students use in daily life and will need to master in order to be successful in daily life, the questions that education as a system asks is not "How do we help our students master this tool?" but rather "How do we prevent our students from having access to new technology so they can focus on school work?"

This opposition between mission and practice in education is harming students preparation for life outside the classroom. Pew Research Center (2025) reports that 46% of teenagers in the U.S. are on their phones "almost constantly." Another report from Pew Research Center (2019) finds that while the majority of jobs today require proficient digital literacy skills, many Americans struggle with things as basic as digital organization and personal cyber security despite their exceeding amount of time spent on personal devices. Schools see devices as distractions and restrict them as such, thus causing students to see them the same way. The majority of teenagers I have had in my classroom know only how to view their phones and other technology as toys where the world expects them to use those devices as tools.

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has put together a set of standards that will help students to be prepared for life outside the classroom and to harness the potential of the technology tools at their fingertips. The ISTE standards for students are as follows:

1.1 Empowered Learner: Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.

 1.2 Digital Citizen: Students recognize the responsibilities and opportunities for positively contributing to their digital communities.

 1.3 Knowledge Constructor: Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others.

1.4 Innovative Designer: Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.

1.5 Computational Thinker: Students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions.

1.6 Creative Communicator: Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.

1.7 Global Collaborator: Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally.

(ISTE, 2024)

Each standard is broken up into smaller learning targets on the ISTE website (ISTE, 2024). By including these standards along with content-specific standards, teachers can help their students prepare for what comes after they graduate, whether that's college, a trade school, or just daily life. As students learn to treat their devices as tools rather than toys, teachers will have less to fear of these devices becoming distractions in the classroom, but that is a point that must be worked towards. 

References

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2024). ISTE standards: For students. ISTE. https://iste.org/standards/students

Pew Research Center. (2024, January 5). Teens and internet, device access fact sheet. [Fact Sheet]. Pew Research Center. http://pewrsr.ch/2ijZKcj

Pew Research Center. (2019, October 9). Americans and digital knowledge in 2019. [Report]. Pew Research Center. https://pewrsr.ch/2oYHRJf

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Corwin.