Reflection

This is the first course where I had an opportunity to improve my grades after the initial submission. In addition, the professor had more of a moderator role, offering the different learners in the course to assess their own understanding through multiple means.  Despite not taking full advantage of the opportunities of improvement (due to my own laziness), I know and truly appreciate the value of the process. Working on the assignments on continuous bases required me to evaluate the progress of my development. Several assignments required resubmission, proving I was not putting my best foot forward.  These resubmissions made me “face the music”, and evaluate my thought process behind the concept.

Now, I know to  productively provide feedback to encourage my students, peers, or subordinates I have to making sure the task they are pursuing include active, constructive, intentional, authentic, and cooperative activities. Supporting this process with the use of technology will require students, peers, or subordinates to actively think about the information, make good choices, and execute the task on their own rather than in a typical in teacher led activity.

As this course comes to a close I will carry several things in the classroom. First, I will use technology to improve my writing skills.  The creation of concept maps is a gem I do not use often. When I am working on an assignment, I will admit there is little preparation. I created a concept map on a few times and noticed not only were my assignments flowing better, but my grades improved. Secondly, this course has motivated me to personalize learning activities to address students and their diverse learning styles. I believe learning goals should be the same for all students. However, students’ progress through the material at different speeds according to their learning needs. Some students might take longer to progress through a given topic, and I am not going hold this against them. Instead, I will search and find tools to support their development. Lastly, I will use technology to build collaboration among students. My favorite part of the course was interacting with my classmates. Seeing their work often times sparked an idea in my head, or helped me when I was lost during the process. I was also introduced to people in various areas of education. As I did, students working together will learn from one another and extend their interaction and learning outside of classroom. When properly applied, I know technology can eliminate hurdles, such as work schedules and self-esteem, to stimulate collaboration.

Exploring a Simulation: 3rd World Farmer

 3^rd World Farmer is a simulation game where the player has to farm AND raise a family on small initial savings. This game shows how residents of war torn countries tend to have a low quality of life due to poverty, high crime rates, political strife, and poor education. As you make decisions on what crops, livestock, and tools to purchase, you get an annual report of your earnings and other activities.  If you are lucky, you make money.  If you are not so lucky, you can still make a living, but have to sacrifice things such as health and education.

My main objective was to make as much money as possible. The initial $50 was upsetting. It was upsetting not only because I can eat that in one meal, but I realized some people actually have to live on earnings like that amount. I decided to roll the dice and came out on the winning end the first few years. This was a very irresponsible decision, for I forgot my decisions affected my family, as well.   During the game I had multiple splendid harvests, and gained $1000 within the first eight years. The longer I played I realized the importance of having a variety in crops, and making sure my family was healthy. Health seemed to have a correlation on performance. Therefore, I made sure my family members were in “top notch” condition so I could get good money. Also, I read the annual reports carefully, and noticed thieves would steal certain crops and livestock. I noticed a pattern and would purchase things in a sequence in hopes of only losing certain items, and not having a huge hit to my pocket.

If I played the game again, I would not gamble all my money in the first few years. That was not a wise decision and could have placed my family in a compromising position. I would also provide my children with a better education.