Week 2 Reflection

This week I learned more about possible action research projects. I learned that there are many aspects to research within a school.  A few of these were staff development, curriculum development, individual teachers or students, leadership skills, management, school performance, social justice, and community/ culture building. The biggest thing I learned during this week’s course was from the interviewed scholar practitioners. All of these individuals stressed the importance of action research in their jobs. They all also stressed the need to look to other people’s work for answers to any question that arises. This work can serve as a basis to solving a campus problem and save valuable time during research.  Something else I found interesting was the fact that many schools will not make any decisions without some data behind the change. This is where teachers need to use action research and be able to show proof behind anything they would like to try. This week I also worked more on trying to develop my action research plan for my internship. Although nothing is decided on between my site mentor and myself, I look forward to setting it up and hopefully doing work that the district will find useful.

How Educational Leaders Use Blogs

Blogs are an important tool for educational leaders. Blogs serve as an online journal and is a good tool for teachers reflect on things they learn. They are a good way to collect research that can be reassessed at any time. They are also a good way to collect research because they can be open to a wide blog community, allowing for feedback from larger groups.  Blogs are published instantly and are a good way to keep others up to date on information in real time. They can be used to share relevant information within a group of educators. Blogs also allow for multiple data forms to be displayed making them a very interactive tool for sharing information. Feedback is also easily collected through blogs because the format allows for others in the group to leave comments. One way my district uses blogs is to keep invested parties up to date with technology implementation. Blogs can also a good source for educational leaders to find information other educators have shared from their own experiences.

Action Research an Important Educational Tool

I have recently learned a lot about action research. When I first heard the term I was apprehensive about what it is because of the terrifying word “research”. I was afraid that it would entail sitting in a library or on my computer for hours on end reading educational publications to find a predetermined answer about something in the school system. I was pleasantly surprised to learn it is merely a tool used to examine and improve personal practices within a school. Action research starts by asking a question and then delving into finding the answer to that question. Once a question is proposed the researcher collects and assesses data on the subject. They then make changes to reflect what was learned during the assessment. Finally, it involves sharing the results with colleagues. Action research can involve any situation that arises within a school system from examining curriculum to assessing how to improve student abilities. It is also a good tool that can be used to find the successes or failures of new programs added into the school. Action research is a great tool for both teachers and administrators because it gets them actively involved into professional improvement. The biggest benefit of action research is to find best practices in your school. Without action research a school’s continual improvement will remain limited causing students to suffer in the end.

Course Reflections

When I began the Concepts of Educational Technology course I assumed it would cover new technology based teaching theories. I was surprised the first course was a good introduction to school technology. I envisioned learning about the requirements of the internship program as well as a little about the current status of technology implantation in the K-12 school system. After taking the pre-course evaluation I realized there was a lot to learn during the course and it would cover things I knew little about like technology plans for the school systems. I was wrong of my pre-course assumption about teaching theories; the course was more of an introduction to technologies being added to curriculum, the mandated federal requirements for technology in schools, and a broad overview of digital age issues. One of the things that aligned with my preconceived outcomes was I learned a lot about the requirements for the internship and how easily the activities could be achieved.

I did not know how extensive the requirements are for the school systems. I learned a lot about what is required for the future of technology in schools but also the extent of how technology has been implemented in my district. The outcomes I achieved will help me while I work for my district during my internship because I had the ability to go in knowing more information about what they are doing. I am working with the technology specialists for the district and they are working toward achieving the technology requirements on a daily basis. This class taught me enough that when I met with my mentor I had the ability to discuss the measures the district is taking to achieve the technology goals. The information provided during this course is very relevant to what is being implemented in my district and I look forward to learning more during my internship.

One of the outcomes I did not achieve was ironing out the details of my internship. I still do not know when I will begin working on it because of the district working on a contract with Lamar. I would have also liked more time with my intern to discuss the internship more in depth. They did not want to spend much time with me until that contract is finalized. I also had a hard time getting the document for this class signed and had to get permission from the contracts manager just for signatures for my assignment. One of the outcomes I would have liked to achieve would be to learn more about my state’s technology plan. I spent a lot of assignment time researching Texas information because of how hard it was for me to find the information for California online. It would have been a lot easier if the class had a document of other state resources available so I didn’t waste so much time searching for information that I never located.

 I was successful in carrying out the course assignments to the best of my ability. I was discouraged because many of the assignments are made for current educators but I have never been an educator. I had to complete some of the assignments giving answers to the best of my ability. This made me wonder how accurate some of the outcomes would be if I had no real answer to the questions asked. I was successful carrying out the internship documents but had to turn them in late because of how difficult it was to set up my internship. The assignments I was most successful doing were the ones we got to use technology to complete. Setting up the blog, wiki, and PowerPoint were interesting to me and made for a successful assignment. The Animoto and Wordle were very successful as well. I liked doing these because these real based assignments teaches the technology for this course and makes you think of real world ways the technology can be used in the classroom.

During the duration of this course I learned that I am not as knowledgeable about technology in the school system as I thought I was. I assumed because I had technology courses in college that I would know more about what is being used in the K-12 classroom. I learned I possess many leadership qualities; I have had a leadership role in past jobs but did not know that leadership was a part of my personality. I also learned that many of the technology skills I already possess are what are needed to make a good technology leader.  One of biggest things I learned about my attitudes was I need to be more humble towards the extent of knowledge others have. Some of the people I will be working with have not had extensive schooling; however, they do have job experience that I need to respect. My mentor was a little harsh with me and I got my feelings hurt too easily. This taught me that I need to develop a thicker skin.

Web conference 2/2/2012

This week’s web conference began with a discussion of TK20. Ms. Comer who is in charge of TK20 was a guest speaker who explained the system to us. I learned a lot about what is required to be turned in to TK20 this week and how it is to be done. Having no experience with TK20 I was very happy I attended this conference. I was a little surprised to find out that TK20 is the way the school provides work for accreditation purposes.  Also TK20 works as a professional portfolio of our work for future use.  After the overview of TK20 was completed, we discussed the requirements for the internship plan and which forms were no longer required. We were also told that the new forms are now available on our class wiki page. Finally we discussed the field based activities required for the program. I was very happy to learn they will not be extremely difficult to achieve. The examples Professor Borel gave us were enlightening and because of them I am now looking forward to my internship.