Reflection Week 1

I have truly done a lot of learning in relation to this course this week. Academically, I have learned about what emerging technology is, how it applies to education and what some challenges emerging technologies face are. While all of this learning has been great, I am finding myself still a little confused about the way this course is presented. I thought I would be a step ahead because I took a class last semester that used blogs and twitter, but it seems like this course has quite a few different expectations from my previous course. So it is taking my mind a while to adjust to this new setting.

Additionally, I am currently in the Dominican Republic right now, and being in a country with unreliable Internet connectivity is really affecting my ability to fully immerse myself in this course and do my best work. I feel like I am falling behind and struggling because I am not able to access the Internet in the way that is needed for this course right now. I tried to plan my vacation early in the summer to avoid having to do class while I was traveling, but the dates of this course were never posted on the registrar, so I kind of just had to guess, I guessed wrong though! I will be back in a week and a half though, so I know soon enough I will be able to catch up, or fix anything that I need to.

Lastly, the connectivity issues that I have been dealing with while traveling this week, along with the Internet issues I always faced while teaching in rural Alaska, makes me wonder how practical is emerging technology for use in all classrooms. In many rural villages the Internet is unreliable, and when it works it can be slow and a time waster. Is the time and effort that is used to implement technologies in places with unreliable Internet worth the struggle? I am not to current on technology myself, and though I learn more each year, I am not one to try new technology things in my classroom due to the challenges it presents. What do other teachers who enjoy using technology in their classroom think, do you have the same challenges I have emotion? How do you come to terms with these issues?

Are there any places in the world/US where the Internet is completely reliable? If so, tell me so I can move there!!