EDLD+5370+Internship+Week+4



Technology Leadership – Comprehensive Examination Alberto Guia Lamar University As I look back over the past 17 months or so I begin to wonder did I do the right thing? Did I make the right choice in regards to my degree in Educational Technology Leadership rather than Administration? This though is now even more relevant to me today since I was just released from my position on my campus as the school computer teacher and technology leader. Through all this looking and the recent bad news I think I did. I think our students need technology, more than ever, and the education system needs leaders who are trained in this field to help guide the student, the teachers, and the administration into the 21st Century, even though they don’t yet realize it themselves. ** Career and Leadership Goal ** To career, leadership and me goals, are a hard concept to wrap my head around. It may sound like a very simple concept, what do I want to do with my work and how do I want to help others along the way? But thinking ahead I have several things I want to do with my career in the education field as well as options and idea for outside of it. Within the education field my career and leadership goals are very simple, in fact I think too simple, I want to help students and teachers better understand technology and get them to realize that with technology everyone’s life’s will be easier and full of more opportunities. “The technologies that benefit young children the greatest are those that are interactive and allow the child to develop their curiosity, problem solving and independent thinking skills.” (Perry) I think that technology makes the classroom more interactive for students, thus allowing them to become more involved in the lesson and in turn allowing them to better retain and synthesis the information. Without technology savvy teachers and more importantly technology savvy leaders those experiences that our students need and quite frankly deserve will never happen. As the technology leader on the campus it will be my job to better equip the staff and administrators on how to integrate technology successfully in to the classroom. ** Vision of Educational Technology ** In today’s environment technology is ever more prevalent in the classroom. Technology is no longer a taboo but a must have for our youth, the “Digital Natives” (Prensky). As I first begin my graduate program I thought I was very advanced and savvy in regards to technology and the must have and how to’s. After the first few classes I began to realize there is much more to technology than an Iphone or a Spartboard in the classroom. In today’s classrooms a teacher cannot live without technology such as a digital projector, document camera, computer workstations, etc. This is something I feel as an educational technology leader as the must have’s for a classroom. But as my courses advanced I began to turn my attention to even more “advanced” technology such a Web 2.0. These tools include videoconferences, 2nd Life, blogs, wikis, glogs, etc. These technological advances allows for the instructor and students to stay connected in a virtual classroom way beyond the normal operating school hours. Even more than before students can have unprecedented access to their teachers, share information, collaborate outside the normal classroom and gain knowledge on a 24 hours 7 days a week basis. In order for student to be able to take full advantage to the tools that we as educators are trying to prepare them for I strongly feel that basic internet access is a must have for all students. Being a teacher from a low-income neighborhood, where 97% of the students are on free or reduced lunch, the students are not able to fully take advantage of the on-line tools. As a technology leader I think that school districts should have an obligation to the students they serve to provide the with free home Internet access. Yes I know many school districts are going through budget cuts and crises, I was just released from my position as the campus only computer teacher and technology leader, due to funding and program cuts. Despite this looming dilemma schools need to ensure that their students are able to learn and compete with students who have unlimited resources. In today’s workforce even the smallest job requires that the individuals know the basic computer skills and in today’s market that means being able to use and productively navigate through the Internet. ** Lessons Learned – Knowledge Gained ** Looking back over the past 18 months, I begin to wonder what have I really accomplished or what have I really learned about technology and what it takes to be a school leader. I can honestly say I have learned a lot about myself, my technology and leadership skills, and my attitude towards technology and the key role it will play in the education field. First what have I learned about myself? This type of question I often hard to answer. It requires the people to really look inside themselves and truly ponder the idea of me. After much thought I can say I have learned a lot about myself. I have learned I can accomplish great things, such as starting and finishing an intensive Master’s program. I have learned that my skills as a technology and overall school leader have improved to better serve my students and my colleagues. I have learned I can fully function regardless of the situation or circumstance regarding my employment location and job duties. Second what have I learned about my technology and leadership skills? At my former school, which I was employed for the past three years until last week when I was unexpectedly transferred, I thought I knew everything when it came to school technology. I was the school’s only certified computer teacher, running three computer labs, and the go to guy for anything and everything about technology for the entire staff, including the administration. After finishing the past 11 courses I can say I really did not know much but now I am better equipped as a teacher and a technology leader to help my new students, staff, and eventually my school district. I have learned that technology goes way beyond using a document camera in the classroom instead of the old fashion overhead projector. I learned that technology really means everything and anything that the kids and adults use in their everyday lives. Such technologies include cell phones, Ipods/Iphones, blogs, glogs, wikis, and other Web 2.0 programs and equipment. Technology is really what you use but more importantly how you use it. Technology has to be something that motivates students to want to learn, it make them want to wake up in the and actually come to class. Technology has to be fully integrated into the “flow” of the classroom as well as able to go across the curriculum, allowing it to fully engulf the students thus allowing them to fully absorb the material. Now with technology in the classroom, in the school, and in the school district comes the need for trained individuals who know how to use it but also how to lead and show others. I feel a good technology leader should be able to fully operate and show others how to use a program, website, equipment, etc. Now a great technology leader is someone who can everything stated above but also burn paths for new forms of technology and new uses for old ones. Technology in the classroom has come a long way, it has evolved over the past 20 years and now schools need technology leaders who can stay current with such changes and help others fully understand and integrate it in their content area. Technology is not a fad, it is not something that will go away and today’s technology leaders at the campus levels are the one’s who I feel are the most critical in leading the charge for change. These leaders are on the front lines and dealing with everyday issues and concern with teachers and administrators and are able to do the most good for their campus and then eventually their district. What have I learned about my attitudes? I think my attitude about technology is the same, technology is a vital part of education and without technology students are deeply handicapped and cannot be successful in college or in the work force. Technology is embedded into everybody’s everyday lives. It is something that most people wake up to and go to bed with. As educators we have to find ways to feed this need for technology in the classroom to help student learned. ** Six Influential Courses ** Over the past 18 months I have covered a vast variety of courses and subjects. I have gained and endless list of resources and contacts that will help me in my future as not only a teacher but also as a technology leader. Being forced to pick the top six courses of the Master’s program is not an easy task and required me to think hard and deep about what I felt impacted me the most and I gained the most knowledge. The first course I decided was most influential to me during the program was our very first course, EDLD 5306 Fundamentals of Educational Technology. This was a great starter course into the program as it gave a taste of what we should expect in the overall program. The course introduced me to terms that I never heard but know what they stood for, such as “digital native” and “digital immigrants” (Prensky). As a computer teacher I knew that most of my students were far more tech savvy than most of their teachers but did not know that their was terminology for this now that research has been done on the subject. This course also introduced me to the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology. This was new to me and I was a great eye-opener. I showed what the state envisioned for the students in regards to technology and their proficiency. I discussed how this was all part of a federal mandate of No Child Left Behind and all student needed to be technology proficient by the 8th grade. The course helped me better understand the Technology TEKS and how they were aligned with ISTE Technology Standards. My second course that I felt was influential to me during this program was EDLD 5368 Instructional Design. I think this course was extremely beneficial for many reasons but my main was the Ubd method for backwards planning. As a teacher I write lesson plans every week but with the knowledge gained from this course in regards to working backwards by Wiggins and McTighe (2005) allowed me to think and plan better. It helped me learned how to work backwards to find the “who’s” and “how’s” of the lesson so my students could better understand the material. My third course that I felt was influential on me during this program was EDLD 5364 Teaching with Technology. As a former computer teacher I used technology in my classroom every day. I thought I was giving all the students can learn with technology until I started this course. This course gave me a good introduction to Google Docs and the power you have with the program. It showed me how as educators we can use this powerful tool to collaborate with each other and eventually with my students. With this knowledge I was able to create and maintain a campus Google Doc on schedules and weekly common assessments for teachers. I was able to do staff development with how to sign-up, create, and share information in real time with other educators in the same room, building, or across the world. My fourth course that I felt was very influential to me was EDLD 5344 School Law. As an educator we are faced with legal issues all the time. We are dealing with on a daily basis issues from copyright violations, but we call it sharing, to rights of the teachers and students, to how to handle sensitive material on student data and information. However in this course I think I learned the most knowledge is in the field of special education. I did not know there were so many laws that drown the field of special education. These laws are set up to help the students but in the schools we see some of them as hindering them. This course showed me different aspects of special education law, both state and federal; that I did not know existed. It gave me a great basic understanding of teacher rights as well as information on intelligential property. My fifth course of greatest influential for the Master’s program was EDLD 5301 Research. This was a very difficult class for me but I think still very beneficial. The course gave me a great look into scholarly writing. It gave me the basic understanding on scholarly research and different methods to gather information and how to properly share your findings. This will become very important if and when I decide to continue my education and peruse an educational doctorate degree. My sixth and last course I felt was very influential in my Master’s program was EDLD 5362 Informational Systems Management. I think this course was beneficial because it introduced me to the world of information and information security. This course allowed me to talk with district personnel who dealt with online systems that housed the student’s sensitive information. I was able to learn about system security and how time consuming the process of keeping information secures. I also learned about how laws are in place to ensure that only certain people are allowed to assess sensitive student and teacher information. ** References ** Johnson, L., Smith, R., Levine, A. & Haywood, K. (2010). //2010 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition.// Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium. Retrieved October 17, 2010 from //www.nmc.org/pdf/2010-Horizon-Report.pdf// Perry, B. (n.d.). Using Technology in the Early Childhood Classroom. //Teaching Resources, Children's Book Recommendations, and Student Activities | Scholastic.com//. Retrieved October 10, 2010, from http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry/using_technology.htm Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. //On the Horizon//, //9//(5), 1. Texas Education Agency. (2006). //Long-Range Plan for Technology.// [] Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). //Understanding by Design.// Alexandra, VA. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). //Technology facilitation and leadership standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do//. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.