(2.5-3 Pages, double-spaced, 12 Point Arial)

Submit as a google doc link. Make sure link settings are set to ‘anyone with the link can view’

We hope this course has given you a new way of understanding how technology impacts every facet of our lives and the importance of 21st century literacy skills. These skills involve things like evaluating information online, working effectively with others, considering the role of culture in society, having grit to persevere, and utilizing technology and social media to teach and learn. We also considered how to promote 21st century literacy skills in the classroom, and the various ways we can help or hurt students by doing so.

Here is a list of what we covered this quarter.

1. 21st Century Literacy Skills
2. Learning in the Digital Age – Pros and Cons of Integrating Technology in Schools
3. Problem-Based Learning
4. Day-to-day Interactions with Technology, Culture and Technology Use
5. Culture and Society, Cosmopolitanism
6. Information Literacy, Post-Truth, Critical Thinking
7. Online Learning, Culture and Online Learning
8. Computational Thinking and Computer Programming
9. Social Media, Social Media Logic
10. Digital Citizenship and Digital Privacy
11. Grit and Motivation
12. Connected Learning
13. Digital Storytelling

For this assignment, please think of a course topic that had the most impact on you. You will write an analytic reflective essay regarding this topic.

Please structure this final reflective essay into 4 parts.

Part I – Stating your topic

Begin your essay by simply stating what topic you chose to focus on. It is here where you should do the following: 1) Provide a definition, 2) Name the author(s) and readings, and describe what these assigned reading(s) elaborated or focused on.

Part II – Your understanding prior to this class

Describe your particular views about your chosen topic prior to enrolling in the class. These views can be positive, negative, or neutral. You can also state that you didn’t know this topic even existed prior to enrolling in the class.

However you choose to describe your prior knowledge about your topic, make sure to provide ample details. For instance, if you chose critical thinking, you can describe the various ways you thought about critical thinking (e.g., winning an argument, stating ‘facts’, etc.), how you used critical thinking in your day-to-day life as you understood it at that time, and whether you valued this skill or found it to be trivial, for example.

Part III – Your ‘Aha’ moment

Describe the moment where you had a shift in your thinking about your chosen topic. This ‘Aha’ moment may have occurred while reading the assigned chapters, during lecture and/or discussion section, during an assignment, or outside of the classroom. Again, be specific and feel free to go into narrative detail.

This ‘Aha’ moment may have different emotional weight. That is, you may have viewed this learning experience positively (e.g., wow, this is awesome!), or negatively (e.g., wait, I don’t agree with this). If this is experience was emotional in nature, please describe this as well.

Part IV – New insights

Finally, describe how the class has given you new insights about this topic. I would also like you to consider how you plan to apply this new understanding in your life, whether it is through your daily interactions with others, the things you do online, your philosophy towards teaching, etc.

Part V (Optional) – Additional comments about the class

Feel free to leave a small note to me and/or your TAs about this class.