Conference Reflection

Conference Reflection

Today I had my conference with Megan and three other classmates. My initial idea for the inquiry project was how technology has changed students and teachers. That was a very broad topic and I knew that going into the conference. I wanted some help from my group and Megan in order to hone in on a more detailed topic so I can delve into the research in depth and with great focus.

1)      I received a lot of feedback and advice regarding my inquiry topic.  My topic started off being very broad and I had a myriad of directions I could have taken it. The first piece of advice I was given that I could focus on the mental development of the students. I loved that idea but it didn’t pertain to education in a specific way so then the idea was thrown in that I can use mental development but that I also needed to have an additional part of the question that brought in education. The question was raised if technology is a “crutch” or does it allow for more advanced development than without it. The next piece of advice that was brought up was watching 60 Minutes, TEDtalks, or listen to NPR to get some in depth facts on the subject matter.

2)      The most helpful piece of advice I received was to take two time periods of students and take the technology that was available at the time and see how students were taught information. I liked this because the course material has been the same for decades in schools, but the methods of teaching them have changed with advances in technology. I want to now ask this question and find out how the different methods effected cognitive development.

3)      The least helpful piece of information I received was thinking of technology as a crutch. It is a very good idea that made me push my thinking but the other advice I received was more beneficial to the development of my inquiry.

4)      I felt that the conference was definitely beneficial. I liked getting other people’s feedback and ideas outside of my inquiry group. My inquiry group is awesome but we have been reviewing each other’s work for half a semester and I can kind of guess what each member will hit on. Having these different groups allowed for new ideas from different perspectives. This group also helped me hone in on what I specifically wanted to ask. They helped me formulated my question so I now am able to start my research.

5)      All of my questions did get answered and then some. Questions I didn’t really think about or know I wanted answered got answered.

6)      I now am able to start researching and gathering all of my information. I am going to start at the library and find a book and a few articles from experts in both the technology and education fields. I plan on finding a few TEDtalks that will further push on my ideas as well as lend me facts to use in my paper.