I think that we all have fond memories of elementary school, especially when you saw the TV rolling into your classroom, or you knew a trip to the computer lab was on the horizon. As a 90’s baby, I believe that I got to see the beginning of technology becoming fully integrated into my classrooms at a very young age. I still recall when my school made the transition from projectors over to SmartBoards and how much of an impact it made on learning, teaching styles and rules about technology in the classroom. I really believe that this transition that I experienced was some of the most memorable online learning that I have experienced. Though it was not necessarily “online” fully, it was very interesting to be there to experience this shift in society from such a young age. Speaking of transitions, it also has been extremely interesting seeing the shift from photo albums to photos on mobile devices. My generation really was the last one to have their baby and childhood pictures taken on a real camera and printed out and put into photo albums. My mom has over a dozen photo albums featuring hundreds of photos of me throughout the years; Something that parents now can just keep stored in their mobile devices or the “cloud”.
One of the really great things I find about EDCI 339 is the ability to apply course material to my own life. From week eight, SAMR is something that I instantly thought of. 
Within SAMR, we are really focusing on the two transformative qualities, redefinition and modification when considering the transitions that were made to include technology in the classroom. Modification could include that a lot of tasks within a classroom were redesigned in order to become more technologically advanced. Both schools and educators themselves had to modify their teaching styles in order to include newer technologies, and students had to modify their learning styles in order to learn new technological skills, platforms and terminology in order to be considered “up with the times”. Though it may not have been as evident back then, we can now see what benefits being technologically proficient in a world that has grown so technologically dependent. Even now to continue with the masses, children are being taught to code at very young ages; This is something most adults do not even know how to do!
Another connection that really took out to me was from week six regarding gaming and education. I have fond memories of being taken to the computer lab at school as a child and being allowed to play games on the computers. All of the games that I remember were educational, and a lot of them revolved around developing cognitive skills. These games ranged from Math, to Social Studies, to English, but never failed to please myself and the rest of my peers. There was always something that was different about playing these games. Although we were actually learning subconsciously, we did not realize it at the time, we just knew that we were having fun. As was mentioned in the article, it is important to find a balance between games and education, but they are such a useful tool to help keep kids engaged and involved in their own learning that is sometimes written off as a technique or tool that is not as respected in the educational community.
It is so important to remain engaged in our learning, no matter the age. It was really helpful to look back on what we have been learning these past few weeks and apply it to what I have previously experienced in my own educational journey. It may be something to consider doing for all classes, not just EDCI 339, to ensure I am always connected and engaged in the content that I am attempting to absorb.
References:
Bates, A. W. (2019, October 10). 7.4 Assessing media affordances: the SAMR model. Retrieved from https://via.hypothes.is/https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/chapter/7-4-assessing-media-affordances-the-samr-model
Benham, B., Dellinger, J., Patterson, A., Semingson, P., Spann, C., Usman, B., … Crosslin, M. (2018, June 22). Chapter 5: Effective Practices. Retrieved from https://via.hypothes.is/https://uta.pressbooks.pub/onlinelearning/chapter/chapter-5-effective-practices/
Sweigart, A. (n.d.). 6 tips for teaching kids to code. Retrieved from https://opensource.com/life/15/6/6-tips-teaching-kids-cod
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