ED 5306 Reflection

The main outcome I was envisioning for this course was to become more knowledgeable about integrating technology in schools. I do feel that I have a much better understanding about technology integration. I also learned a lot about my own personal leadership strengths and weaknesses through the seven assessments. Before taking this course I did not know there was a National Technology Plan which identifies the standards that guide the use and integration of technology on a campus. Not only am I now aware but I understand what needs to be done to meet more of those standards and I can begin to make changes at my campus.

            The learning outcomes of this course are extremely relevant to the work I do at my school. Because I recognize the skills and tools students need in the digital age, I am able to use the strategies I have learned in this course in my own classroom. I also feel that my technology leadership internship plan will allow me to learn a lot more about the technology infrastructure at my campus. There were also several research articles that I will use to pilot for change on my campus next year. Also because of this course I took an in depth look at our campus’ role in teaching technology ethics and safety issues, which is one area our school still needs to make great improvements in. Therefore the content I learned in this course will continue to bring great gains not only for my students but for the teachers on my campus.

            Overall I believe I achieved the main outcomes of the course; however I see that I am just scratching the surface and that I still have a ton of learning to do. I would have liked spending more time watching the course videos, unfortunately that was one of the areas that I was lacking in. I also feel I need to work on my APA formatting skills.

            This was my first course in the Technology Leadership program; I have to admit throughout this course I have been quite overwhelmed. I don’t believe I really understood the undertaking that I was getting myself into. With being a full time teacher and this only being my second year I spend a lot of my free time working. Therefore by taking this course I have had to figure out how to manage my time between this course and my classroom work.  Needless to say it has not been an easy experience since I certainly have not mastered the skill of time management. I do feel the assignments and coursework has been very valuable, it was just a struggle for me to find the time.

            I have made a lot of realizations while taking this course. The biggest one being that I need to spend more time in the classroom and developing my leadership skills on my own campus. I think I am going to take a break from the cohort for a little while, as I continue working on these skills. I have also realized that my motivation to learn is what drives me to continue my education and I have to keep that in focus when I become discouraged by deadlines.

Web Conference 4/21/11

I attended the web conference on April 21, at 8:00pm.

During the web conference Cindy Cummings covered the basics of the Master of Education in Educational Technology Leadership degree plan; including discussion over the 5370 course Internship in Educational Technology. Since this is my first course through Lamar University, I didn’t know much about the program. I was relieved to learn the details of the program from Cindy including information about the “Comprehensive Examination Summative Final Report”.

We also discussed the assignments for week 2 and using the class website. I had not been to the class website prior to our web conference. In fact, I remembered reading something about a class website (https://sites.google.com/site/edtechcohort20/home) but I couldn’t find the document on Epic. Therefore Cindy’s overview was very helpful as I was feeling quite overwhelmed. Cindy also mentioned the Internship Handbook on the class website. I feel much better knowing what the expectations are for the internship.

Frost Elementary 2010 Technology Plan

Frost Elementary 2010 Technology Plan

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The 2010 National Educational Technology Plan

The 2010 National Educational Technology Plan, Transforming American Education:Learning Powered by Technology, has six main points:

Learning: A Model for the 21^st Century
- Students need teachers who utilize technology to best suite each child’s individual learning style  and inspire all students to have engaging and empowering learning experiences.Assessment: Measuring What Matters-Technology based assessments should be used to gage student progress and determine learning, decisions should be based on data.

Teaching: Improving Learning Through Connected Teaching

-Educators need the technology tools and resources to empower, inspire, and engage all students as well as collect crucial data.
Infrastructure: People, Processes, and Technologies for Learning

-Includes people (students, teachers, and administrators), learning resources, models of continuous improvement, as well as the technology hardware and software as well as management systems.Productivity: Improving Learning Outcomes While Managing Costs-In order to have a 21^st century resources schools must budget carefully and get make careful decisions based on data.

R&D: Solving Grand Challenge Problems

-In order to reform the education system into a 21^st century system, research and development must be continuous in the areas of learning sciences, technology and education.

“The model for 21^st century learning presented in this plan assumes that we develop, adopt, and ensure equitable access to a technology-based education system that provides effective learning experiences, assessments, and teaching and a comprehensive infrastructure for learning to support both formal education and all other aspects of learning.”

Frost Elementary Technology Plan

The Frost campus technology plan includes all five elements needed to apply to “E-rate” below the following elements is evidence from the 2010 Frost Elementary campus improvement plan.

·         Goals and realistic strategy for using telecommunications and information technology

·         A professional development strategy

·         An assessment of telecommunication services, hardware, software, and other services needed

·         Budget resources

·         Ongoing evaluation process

Goal four of the 2010-2011 Frost Elementary Campus Improvement Plan states the following technology goal:

“To create an effective integrated learning environment using technology as a tool to facilitate learning, delivery of instruction, and productivity thereby helping students and staff to become effective and efficient users.”

The objectives of goal four are stated below:

Objective 1: Frost Elementary will provide the staff development for teachers to teach the current state adopted technology TEKS. Teachers will be provided training to increase knowledge and use of technology. Technology will be gradually integrated into the curriculum.

The Strategies or activities to meet this objective include the following:

-Provide staff development to accommodate staff technology needs. Those responsible for meet this goal include the assistant principal, instructional facilitator, principal, PTA/PTO. The evaluation this strategy is assessed with a campus survey.

Objective 2 states: Frost Elementary will offer students opportunities to learn new skills through the use of technology.

The Strategies or activities to meet this objective include the following:

Utilize computer software skills maintenance and enrichment programs. Teachers are responsible for implementing this strategy. The evaluation of this strategy is based on lesson plans.

Out of the 21 activities or strategies, 13 do not require funds.

Technology Assessments- pros, cons, and my opinion.

Assessing educators’ technology leadership knowledge and skills as well as assessing the knowledge and technology skills of students is critical for continuous improvement in schools.

There are a multitude of reasons why technology assessments are crucial for a 21^st century technology education plan. In my opinion President Barack Obama’s challenge to educators simply states why there is a need for change in typical (outdated) assessments.  On March 10, 2009 the President stated:

“I’m calling on our nation’s governors and state education chiefs to develop standards and assessments that don’t simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test, but whether the possess 21^st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking and entrepreneurship and creativity.”

In order to assess students on their 21^st century skills, teachers, must be teaching 21^st century skills. Educators need to possess 21^st century skills themselves in order to teach these skills. How can teachers be held accountable for their knowledge of technology? The answer to this question is through assessment and data. Therefore while I think the reasoning behind Mr. Obama’s education challenge is simple, I do not feel that being successful in reforming assessments will be easy.

In my opinion technology assessment is a positive addition to the 21^st century education plan, however not ever educator may feel that way. Based on what I have experienced, some teachers do not want to spend their own time going to technology professional development to learn skills they need in order to teach 21^st century learners. Therefore if teachers are going to be assessed on their 21^st skills, every teacher should have to attend “on the clock” technology professional development and learn the skills needed.