Technology Reflections

Course Expectations

To be quite honest, I was not at all sure what to expect from this course and it was not until I read the syllabus that I understood the course was the use of technology in the classroom. I found it very interesting to learn about TEA's Technology Applications Inventory and the SETDA survey, and how these surveys helped to pinpoint a teacher's expertise in technology and its uses. 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, but I need more experience in technical writing exercises and certain aspects of multimedia/video editing and/or authoring tools, and other sophisticated subject-specific software. I am excited about the opportunities and benefits my students could receive through communication and collaboration with others both inside and outside the school walls, within the local community, and globally to solve real-world and societal problems.

Relevancy of Technology

Technology is always relevant in the work that I do. Throughout this course I have come to realized that although I have always incorporated technology into my curriculum, I need to be open to new ideas and new strategies for implementing technology. I also need be ready to take risk when using technology and not be afraid to incorporate new sources of technology. Prior to this class, I completed a StaR Chart yearly, however, I really did not understand just how useful this information could be to an administrator. Learning the labels, “Early,” “Developing,” “Advanced,” or “Target” for the various levels of technology users will prove very useful to the administrator, especially if the administrator thinks one way but finds her staff is thinking something completely opposite from them. I also believe an untapped resource is our students. They are the experts in technology, and we can learn a great deal from them regarding technology if we will learn to be more open to their insight. Lastly, through study of the district’s technology goals, I realized the plethora of ways technology can be incorporated into the classrooms, including evaluating student performance and achievement on standardized testing, facilitation of student research across the curriculum, and helping students to create Power Point, Podcasts, and other multimedia presentations, as well as a variety of other formats of technology to enhance student learning.

Outcomes Left to Achieve

I really feel like I accomplished so much more than I first thought I would when I first started this course, including, but not limited to, learning how to set up and use blogs to the myriad of ideas generated by the course readings. However, several areas still concern me. One of these areas is Internet safety for our students. We must make sure to use technology to effectively enhance student learning while maintaining the standards necessary to ensure our students' safety. Another area of concern is cyberspace etiquette. Our students must learn what is acceptable and what is not while using new technology; this includes potential, but respectful, use of cell phones and mp3 players in the classrooms. Finally, all stakeholders of a district must work collaboratively and cooperatively to ensure that the district’s resources are used efficiently to maximize the effectiveness of any technology. Administrators must also create an environment where educators feel comfortable using technology and taking risks in its use; this means administrators will need to create equitable schedules where educators are able to work collaboratively with others and plan effectively and employ the use of campus technology mentors who will be able to help the educators on their campuses with technology.

Course Assignments

For the most part I was successful in carrying out the assignments, although I will admit that the first two assignments did overwhelm me initially. However, once I begin working and “slugging” through each of the assignments, I was able to complete each assignment fairly easily and within the time constraints. The assignments I did find contentious were the readings and the replies. The readings themselves were interesting and valuable, and stating my opinion on each was not the difficult part, however, having to respond twice to two others' opinions were time-consuming, especially as there were so many people within my small group. The readings and responses may not have been quite so difficult had there been less people in my small group. The time spent working on these mini-blogs took time from my family, which I found discouraging.

Self Improvement

I learned that I'm really more proficient at using technology in the classroom than I previously thought. As I contemplated going back into a social studies classroom after teaching at-risk students for 2.5 years, I'll admit to being intimidated about using technology in the classroom. However, over the last couple of weeks, I have ran into some of my previous students and reminisced about some of the projects I have assigned in the past. It turns out that I have been using technology in the classroom all along. My students have proficiently used the Internet and created a myriad of presentations using Power Points, videos, and the like; I am excited about the idea of incorporating wikis and Podcasts. I am also confident about being a leader in the use of technology and I would like to have opportunities to collaborate and cooperate with my fellow teachers to incorporate even more technology in the classroom. My biggest worry now is having enough time to not only incorporate technology effectively, but also to cover the TEKs sufficiently to suffer the scrutiny of those who believe standardized testing to be the only measuring tool.

Blogging

Blogging is an exciting new concept for education and has opened a whole new world for me, that is if I can figure out exactly how to incorporate it into my routine. Students benefit when other students read their comments and then offer new ones that agree and disagree with the original comment; benefits also occur when students converse with experts in a variety of fields. Through this interaction, students will broaden their perceptions and be forced to reexamine their beliefs and opinions, either further cementing their opinions or expanding their viewpoint. Teachers can also benefit from blogs. Nothing is more helpful to an educator than the ability to air problems to others and then gather together their insights in an effort to resolve the initial problems. I cannot count the number of times I have attended a workshop and come away with more help from discussions with other educators, than the actual information contained in the workshop. Imagine having the same discussion on a daily basis with educators from all over the state and even further afield.

Blogging Concerns

The main concern of blogging once again is the safety of our students while in cyberspace. Teachers can take all the precautions they want, but if a predator wants to badly enough, they will find a way to infiltrate even the most innocent of all blogs. Also much like a MySpace or Facebook page, students (and adults) are often emboldened by the anonymity of the Internet. People online make things up all the time, just listen to the Brad Paisley song “Online” regarding this topic; as his character states, “...I grow another foot and I lose a bunch of weight every time I login.” And this song was created in jest, people create fantasy worlds online every day and we have to figure out a way to protect our children from those seeking to do harm.

Blogging as a Communication Tool

Blogging could definitely be an effective tool to use to communicate with students, parents, community members, and business partners. Teachers could use blogs to communicate homework examples and class proceedings to students and parents, thus providing tutorials via the Internet. Teachers and administrators could also use blogs to create a forum where interested parents and community members could weigh in on school issues; although I would strongly argue against allowing anonymous postings as often anonymity provides a shield from behind which people could lobe all sorts of accusations and lies against a school district or its personnel. Steps would have to be taken to educate those unfamiliar with blogging on the correct etiquette to use while blogging and to maintain a positive tone.

TECHNOLOGY ACTION PLAN

District's technology action plan comprises three components:  The organization's hierarchy chart of roles and responsibilities; the professional development activities; and the evaluation plans.

ORGANIZATION CHART

TITLE---ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

School Board--Responsible for approving and setting policy regarding technology based on recommendation and discussion with superintendent.

Superintendent--Discusses technology needs and recommendations with the school board, who approves and sets technology policy. Directs and delegates implementation of approved technology.

District Curriculum Director--Works cooperatively with district technology director to investigate new technology that will enhance student learning. Once new technology is approved, works cooperatively with other stakeholders to ensure effective implementation.

District Technology Director--Works cooperatively with district cuuriculum director to investigate new technology that will enhance student learning. Once new technology is approved, works cooperatively with other stakeholders to ensure effective implementation. Maintains accurate records regarding hardware and software within the district. Keeps track of copyrights and updates, ensuring the latest versions of technology used is available.

Campus Administrators and Principals--Acts as liasion between district curriculum and technology directors by maintaining open lines of communication regarding technology. Forwards new technology discovered by campus personnel to district technology director for investigation purposes. Directs implementation of new technology, verifying that all personnel are trained in the effective use of the technology. Provides necessary time and resources to ensure technology is being implemented effectively by personnel. Encourages risk-taking by personnel who desire to incorporate technology into their curriculum.

Campus Technology Mentors--Acts as “trainer of trainers” by undertaking indepth learning of all technology on campus. Collaborates with campus personnel to ensure understanding is gained by all. Maintains availability for questions from campus personnel regarding technology and its uses. Acts as liasion between campus personnel and administrators ensuring open lines of communications.

Campus Teachers--Willingly undergoes technology training as to enhance student learning. Facilitate student usage of technology. Takes risk by engaging students in innovative technology usage, especially when used in student-centered activities.

Students--Responsible for using technology to enhance learning. Offers input to other technology stakeholders regarding technology, its innovations, and possible learning opportunities.


PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Goal 1: Teachers will integrate technology in instruction to improve student learning and meet the needs of individual learning styles.

Strategies:
1) All teachers will develop and use technology/curriculum integration activities correlated to the Technology Applications TEKS, core content, and enrichment courses in classrooms daily.

2) All students in grades 3-5 will collaborate and use the Internet to obtain information for research and reports at least once weekly, and grades 6-12 will do this twice weekly.

3) The district librarians will instruct all students in the effective use of electronic database resources related to curricular and/or independent learning needs.

4) All students in grades 6-12 will highlight individual and group technology proficiencies by completing projects using PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Podcasts, or other productivity programs at least once each 6 weeks.

Responsible Parties:  Classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, and district librarians.

Resources:
1) Accelerated Reading and other software programs and games.

2) Professional development, on-site and at the region service center, in the specific technology needed to complete goal i.e. Internet research techniques, electronic databases, and creating multimedia presentations, such as PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Podcasts, etc.

Goal 2: The district will provide on-going professional development to assist educators in expanding effective instructional practices for incorporating technology in to instruction.

Strategies:
1) All teachers and instructional support staff will participate annually in least 6 hours of professional development on integrating technology into the curriculum based on individual needs as identified by a technology assessment instrument.

2) Professional development will be provided to assist all teachers and administrators in using DMAC Solutions software to analyze student achievement data.

3) Professional development will be provided to assist all teachers on basic knowledge of technology integration using the Teacher STaR Chart and/or the Region VII Technology Proficiency Inventory.

4) Software-specific teacher training for software used by students will be provided annually or as needed.

Responsible Parties:  District technology director, campus administrators, and campus technology mentors.

Resources:
1) On-site “trainers of trainers.”

2) Specialists hired by the district for onsite training.

3) District-provided days for faculty to attend specific training at local service centers, nearby colleges and universities, and out-of-town workshops.

Goal 3: Technology support will be provided to all students, teachers, and administrators to ensure maximum utilization of district technology.

Strategies:
1) At least one teacher on each campus will be trained in technology integration skills and student data management and as technology mentors to others on their campuses.

2) Subscriptions to at least one periodical database, online library catalog access, and video-on-demand system will be funded through the Technology Budget.

3) WRCCISD will maintain high speed Internet access with appropriate firewalls and Internet filters.

4) Licenses to student applications software programs such as Study Island, Accelerated Reader, Star Math, Accelerated Math, Rosetta Stone, E-Skills, and Heart Soft will be reviewed, canceled, or renewed annually as needed.

Responsible Parties:  Superintendent, District technology director, and campus administrators.

Resources:
1) On-site “trainers of trainers.”

2) Specialists hired by the district for onsite training.

3) District-provided days for faculty to attend specific training at local service centers, nearby colleges and universities, and out-of-town workshops.

EVALUATION PLANNING

Evaluation of the Technology Plan will be a systematic ongoing process. All aspects of the Plan will be evaluated formally each year.

1) Progress will be monitored and documented through training records, student technology skills checklists, equipment/software license inventories and purchase orders, observation records, the Texas StaR Chart descriptors, and the contents of the District website. Results will be submitted to the Superintendent and the Board of Trustees after each formal evaluation occurs.

2) School leaders must assess what training and development is needed on their respective campuses via educator surveys. Once the needs are determined, professional training and education must be provided either on-site or via the local service center. It is also essential that a multi-level strategy is used, as every staff will possess members whose technological skills and experience range from little-to-none to very advanced. School leaders must also ensure adequate funding of this development is in place and provide not only onsite help via a campus “trainer” for staff members, but also sufficient time for educators to implement and effectively use the new technologies and strategies.

3) The campus technology committee of which the principal will be the chairperson will be responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of technology within their school setting. This will be done through teacher input as well as data collected. The committee will make reports to the district technology committee who in conjunction with the District Site Based Committee will make adaptations, upgrades, or revisions that are deemed necessary.