Technology Assessments

The Technology Applications Inventory, created by TEA, assessed the expertise possessed by a teacher in four different domains, including foundations, information acquisition, problem solving, and communications. According to my survey results, I am quite adept using technology for myself and in my classroom and facilitating technology for my students to enhance their learning. However, I do need more training in delineating between vector and bitmapped graphic files (or a quick lesson in its terminology, as it is possible I know how to do this, but the terms throw me.) Additionally, I know I need more training and experience in technical writing practices.

A similar survey, created by the State Educational Technology Directors Association, dealt with how adept teachers are in dealing with the various levels of available levels of technology and whether or not data is being collected to determine if technology is affecting students positively and preparing the students to successfully interact in the future with technology the students will encounter post graduation.

I feel comfortable with the level of interaction I have with the technology in my classroom, as well as the experiences my students have with the technology. Student interaction includes using available software to produce presentations, print products, and the like; using the Internet for a variety of purposes, not limited to research; and using digital tools like scanners and other peripheral devices to enhance learning. I also feel comfortable that my students could handle using and creating spreadsheets, databases, emails, PowerPoint, graphic peripherals, and electronic information sources, however, as I do not know a great deal about multimedia/video editing and/or authoring tools, and other sophisticated subject-specific software, I would not feel comfortable teaching the use of these technologies without further training in their uses. My students could benefit more by communicating and collaborating with others both inside and outside the school walls, within the local community, and evenly globally to solve real-world and societal problems; this task would require me to obtain more training on the proper technology to facilitate this type of learning.