I fully expected to learn a lot during this course, but I had no idea how much fun Digital Technology would be and how it would push my self-made boundaries to their limit and beyond.  Before this class I had completed exactly one podcast and belonged to Facebook and Twitter, but that’s about it.  Everything else was new to me.  Almost every week we were challenged to try something different, and I found myself learning about and using technologies that I had only heard of.  Screencasts, infographics, and their like were for people who knew a lot more about digital technology than I did, right?  Well, this course proved me wrong.  I not only learned how to create QR codes and book trailers, but I made my first Vine, and I even set up a blog reader so I could keep track of my favorite blogs—all things I’ve meant to take the time to learn, but now I know decently well.

The most exciting technology I worked with this semester is also the one I think students will most benefit from: screencasts.  I have wanted to learn how to create screencasts for a couple of years now, and I’m so glad to have finally had the opportunity to stop thinking about it and start doing.  What I found exciting is the reaction from my colleagues as I shared around my Formatting an MLA Works Cited Page in Google Docs screencast.  They were impressed, which is nice, but they showed the video to their students, which is wonderful!  While screencasting isn’t flashy like some of the other technologies, the educational aspect of it can’t be ignored for its usefulness in the classroom and beyond those walls.  Students can view these before class as part of a flipped classroom lesson, they can view them during class to attend to instruction at their own pace, and they can see them outside of class if they are absent.  These are all huge positives for students and a good learning outcome.

As far as difficulty goes, I would have to say infographics were the most difficult for me, if only for finding the best way to convey my message and wanting to keep the clean, uncluttered look of infographics I have enjoyed in the past.  While I found these the most challenging, they are also turning out to be highly useful as I am working on building my own infographic resume to take along or send ahead to job interviews.

Overall, this course has made a huge impact on my willingness to try new technologies instead of going with the old tried and true methods.  I’m excited to have opportunities in the future to share this knowledge with others, and I’ve already set myself up to take professional development classes this summer involving even more digital tools to help continue my own learning.  I’ve definitely been inspired, and I don’t want to lose this momentum.