EDLD 5306 Course Reflection

EDLD 5306 Course Reflection

At the beginning of the course, I anticipated learning about the fundamentals of becoming a technology leader as well as facilitating the use of technology on my campus.  I received a wealth of information about technology policies, tools and organizations that were unfamiliar to me prior to taking this course.  I learned about the Texas Long Range Plan, STaR Charts, ISTE, wikis and blogs.  This has helped me build my background knowledge and the vision of an instructional technology leader.  The activities on creating a PowerPoint, blog and a wiki space helped me put technology into practice.  Although I had heard of blogs and wikis, creating them was a whole new experience, and I had never imagined them as educational tools.  This course and its outcome have helped me understand that there are many technology tools already in existence that can be used for educational purposes.  I hope to continue to gain knowledge of these new technologies in order to prepare students for the 21^st Century.

Currently I am a elementary bilingual teacher.  The information and activities that I had done for this course are relevant to my work, because I can use these technology resources and tools in my own classroom with my students, such as a PowerPoint and Animoto.  I have used several PowerPoint presentations to teach math skills, and the students enjoyed the animations and transitions.  Later in the school year, I would like to have my students create a PowerPoint presentation on the topic of their choice.  I would also like to have a class wiki and blog; but I do not anticipate creating one in the near future, because many parents are apprehensive of allowing their children access to such online tools.  I would like to create a grade level wiki in which my team members and I could collaborate on grade level meetings and activities that will take place in the current and future school years.

I believe that I achieved the outcomes given to me.  Many of the activities and readings were meaningful and helpful.  I have gained more knowledge in order to meet the technology needs of my students and campus.  This course was just a stepping stone, and I look forward to the information and resources I will discover in the remaining courses.

I feel that I was successful in carrying out the course assignments.  One of the assignments called for presenting the STaR Chart information to the faculty and because of the timing of the due date, I was not able to present to the faculty until after the due date at a later faculty meeting.  Some of the reading discouraged me because of the way the articles were scanned it made it more difficult to follow the reading of the articles.  Also getting the reading done soon enough to select a quote for posting before someone else selected the same quote to post proved to be difficult.  I found myself scanning the articles first to find a quote to post, then going back to thoroughly read and understand each article.  Sometimes losing a post or reply to a post was also discouraging.  Overall, I believe the assignments themselves were beneficial and after completing them each week, I felt encouraged about my ability to accomplish something new and interesting. 

After each week, I learned that I am a work in progress.  There is always more to learn especially with technology.  I reflected on my learning each week and put what I had learned into practice.   As far as my technology and leadership skills, I feel there is still more to develop, but I have enjoyed that my colleagues come to me for help with technology ideas and resources.  After reading one of the articles and as after I complete this program, my job will shift from a teacher to a leader that also serves as a technology advocate for students, teachers, campuses and districts.  My attitude toward technology in the classroom has changed from that of having a few computers in the back of the classroom for the kids to take reading tests and using online tools as a resource to now using the computers as a doorway to the world. 

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Overview of E-Rate and District Technology Plan

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National Educational Technology Plan (NETP)

The National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) calls for our educational system to transform its methodology of teaching to evolve to the needs of the 21st Century. The NETP’s priority is to make sure that there is a larger population of college graduates, and that all types of high school students graduate and are well-prepared for college or other careers. The NETP presented a plan based on five important areas: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity.

In the plan, learning is described as providing meaningful learning styles to all learning types. Not everyone learns in the same manner, nor shares the same interest of what they are learning. Therefore, it is important to target the different learning abilities and interest and teach what is meaningful to the students. It is of particular interest to teach students with the new technology that is available in our growing global economy.

Assessment is described as detecting strengths and weaknesses in order to plan and develop curriculum for student achievement. Technology assessments help in understanding how students think and utilize technology skills taught throughout their school years.

The plan calls for a more connected form of teaching. For example, it is important that teachers have access to data about a student’s achievement or weakness in order to be able to teach to his/her abilities. Connected teaching allows for educators the ability to collaborate, share teaching practices with other educators and create relevant and meaningful learning experiences.

Infrastructure is vital in providing teachers and students with the necessary resources they need to communicate in a global technology. There is urgency for infrastructure due to the demands and continuing changes in technology.

Productivity is about planning, managing, monitoring and reporting what expenses are necessary for our educational system at all levels.

NETP goals are important in helping our educational system be prepared for a 21st Century learning environment. However, my concern in the plan is in terms of time management. Will the goals be met in a timely manner? How effective will these goals be if the data provided is not accurate?

Reference:

National Educational Technology Plan: Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. (2009). Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/NETP-2010-final-report.pdf

Galena Park is "Making the Connections"

Galena Park ISD’s technology plan is aimed at meeting the goals of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology. Its plan is to provide an effective integration of technological systems to help prepare students and teachers with 21st Century application skills. The GPISD Technology Department consists of a Director of Technology Support and a District Advisory Team. In addition, the District has assigned every campus a Technology Instructional Specialist (TIS) to reflect the inclusion of Technology into Instruction.

The District’s goals and strategies for using telecommunications and information technology infrastructure include using Wide Area Network (WAN) interconnects for all campuses, support locations and administrative offices through fiber-optics lines leased from ComCast. Every location will have connections to the Internet, file servers running the Novell Network operating system and Intel-based configuration for servers and workstations with MicroSoft Windows. The District makes every effort to ensure that telecommunication services, hardware, software and other services are assessed to ensure improved student and staff learning. An evaluation process that helps to monitor the progress toward the specified goals includes an action plan for the infrastructure for technology which contains a start-to-finish and frequency dates, responsible parties and targeted population, budgeted amounts and other sources, and indicators of success.

Galena Park ISD offers a variety of professional development opportunities and is overseen by the Director of Professional Development. These staff development opportunities include training in using Dashboard, Promethean Board, IPhone/IPod/IPad as assessment tools, Easiteach, MovieMaker, PhotoStory, Interactive Tablets, ENO Click, Mimio Interactive Board, Alio, Moodle, Wikis, Podcasting, MicroSoft Office and other technology trainings as needed. Additionally, District Training Manuals are also available through its website via the Technology link. As an added online training service, the District has purchased a StarBack video distribution system with Bond funds. This system provides on-demand video capability at every networked computer and will be used for instruction, staff development and remote conferencing.


References:

Galena Park ISD: Technology District Improvement Plan. (2008). Retrieved September 4, 2010, from http://www.galenaparkisd.com/cip_plan/2008-2009/Galena%20Park%20ISD_%20Technology%20Improvement%20Plan.pdf

Galena Park ISD Technology Plan. (2007). Retrieved September 4, 2010, from http://www.galenaparkisd.com/technology/fiveyearplan.pdf

Technology Assessments

Technology assessments are an important tool used by states, school districts and teachers to find areas of strengths and weaknesses in current technology practices in the classroom. Discovering the areas of need help in the development of planning and budgeting for technology needs for students and teachers. The Texas STaR Chart is one tool that helps to monitor student achievement in technology and ensure teaching, learning and professional development for teachers.

The Texas STaR Chart must be submitted every year by each campus and is available online. Having access to this information online allows all stakeholders to know what goals have been met and where improvements are needed. For example, my campus, as well as nationwide schools, has made improvements in the area of Infrastructure for Technology due to the need of updating all locations computers’ hardware, software and internet capabilities. Without the data provided by this online assessment, schools would not be complying with the goals necessary to meet the 21st Century technology needs. Additionally, schools would not have budgeted nor received the appropriate funds to purchase new technology equipment and software that is vital for students and teachers to be successful in today’s technological society.

There are several pros to conducting technology assessments for teachers and students. For teachers, the advantages are having the capability to use website self-assessments, video streaming, on-line tutorials and using Smart Boards and other interactive assessment to engage and assess student learning. The pros for students are that it allows them a varied assessment to their learning, as opposed to the typical essays or multiple choice testing forms. Also, technology equipment continues to change at a rapid pace, and there are assessments that can address the multiple types of learning styles.

The cons of technology assessments for both teachers and students are that there is an abundance of assessment tools and information. If not careful, much of the information and different assessment tools may not be reliable. Teachers and students must use good judgment about what assessments and information they consider to be relevant and accurate.

References:

Social and Cultural Foundations of American Education/Technology/Pros and Cons. (2010). Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Social_and_Cultural_Foundations_of_American_Education/Technology/Pros_and_Cons

7 things to consider about teaching styles. (n.d.). Retrieved September 2, 2010, from http://www.sc.edu/cte/guide/teachingstyles/index.shtml

Web Conference 9/1/2010

I was excited about doing my very first web conference, but felt a bit intimidated by it as well.  I logged in early for fear of having technical difficulties. I'm glad I did, because I did experience problems with the microphone on my headset.  I could hear Professor Borel and everyone give an introduction about themselves.  I was unable to talk, so I used the "chat."  I found it a bit overwhelming to read everyone's questions and comments in the chat section. Therefore, I decided to communicate privately with Professor Borel about any questions regarding setting up my information on the Google class page.  I wasn't the only one who experienced problems that evening.  But Professor Borel was very patient, understanding and made every effort to help anyone with problems getting into the Google class page.

I found the Web conference useful and informative.  Prof. Borel discussed the agenda for the conference and addressed preparations for Internship.  I didn't know I had to prepare for Intership so soon, so it was good to learn about it through the conference.