Crystal Pullman's ePortfolio
- Brief philosophy of educational technology - .doc
- Brief philosophy of educational technology - .docx
- Brief philosophy of educational technology - .pdf
This was one of the first courses I had in the MET program. It was comparable to figuring out a roadtrip. This assigment was like looking at the map, planning the route, possible alternative routes if needed, pit stops with gas stations and restaurants along the way. While I might not have realized it at first, this course, and more specifically, this assignment, really set up the rest of my MET roadtrip, especially my emphasis on accessibility.
At first, I wasn't sure what to do with this assignment! But as I explain below, it soon became clear what I should do, and as I said it set the stage for most of my assignments in the MET program. After I'd figured out what to do (technology as an equalizer) I really enjoyed this assignment. It was short and sweet, but really got me started. The goal of the assignment was to create a brief philosophy of educational technology, as well as include a relevant graphic if we wished. I hope you'll enjoy my paper, and my graphic!
The one interest I've developed in the last few years is Accessibility. In my time at WLU I had the priviledge to work in the accessible learning office for a year, during which time I updated their website to make it more accessible, worked with differently abled students to create digital versions of textbooks, and helped them with tests and exams, and also took notes in my courses for them.
In my first four courses in the MET program, I found that in many of the assignments there was a lot of leeway to allow us to pursue our own specific interests, inside the overarching learning of the MET courses. At first, I didn't know what to do. Then, of course, it hit me like a ton of bricks: Accessibility!
I began using my assignments to research accessibility in education at all levels, in all different manners. One of the obvious areas I researched was accessible technology - where it is, and what the future looks like.
This paper is not an in-depth research paper by any means! It was not a researched paper, and because of my lack of research and knowledge (in relation to theory and references) at this point, I have chosen to write this reflection as I wrote the paper. While I had done no research into accessibility in education at this point, the paper really laid the groundwork for me and my theoretical learnings in the MET program, which confirmed some of my beliefs I put forward in this paper: Technology has value and purpose in addition to preparing students for their future lives and careers; it can remove the disadvantages faced by those students who are differently abled" (Pullman, 2008).
References:
Pullman, Brief Philosophy of Educational Technology. ETEC511, Fall 2008
