Final Course Reflection

Coming into this course, I was very skeptical of how it was going to go. Overall, it was an interesting experience. While I am not a gamer, I do see the benefits of what this kind of class can offer students who do find joy in gaming. There have been times throughout this course that I was introduced to many new ideas. Digital Citizenship, while I was aware of the idea, was something I never thought was important for my students. Many of the topics we covered were like this for me. However, this course has shown me that students today have a different set of problems than what we had when I was their age. Today’s students are faced with so many more problems that are not even happening in their physical school. Flipped and Blended Learning are thing I never thought possible or effective. However, I certainly have gained new knowledge on these topics that change this. It will allow me more time in the classroom, because students will be able to learn more without me being right there in front of them.

For the future, I know that I will see thoughts presented in this class on a daily basis. I now have many resources to consult when adding technology into my classroom. I will be sure that when adding this technology that it is not just for the sake of adding it. Rather, the technology should have a purpose and be meaningful to the content. I also now know that I will have to stay ahead of the game. My students are growing up in a world that technology is always being presented to them. While I may not be too far behind, I need to make sure that I stay up to date with trends and what is intriguing to my students. Technology will always be a game changer for my students’ school life outside of the school house. They will be able to interact this content in my class, even when they are not face to face with me. I would love to implement more global awareness to my students in the world of music. I think it is extremely important for them to see what is happening outside of just their own community.

Overall, this class was much more intriguing than I initially thought. While I still have a ways to go in understanding the effects of gamification in the classroom (as I think many do), I do feel more comfortable trying it out, now that I have been through it myself. There are so many opportunities here for music students that I did not realize before.