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.

Web Conference 1/25/2012

This web conference was my first to attend. The software was very easy to understand and I had no problem logging into the system. It took nothing more than a click of a button to get my webcam working for the conference. One of the things I learned from this conference when the microphones were muted was that I did not want to rely on my built in microphone and speakers next time. I ordered and received a headset so I would not be one of the people adding background noise. The interaction was very good and everyone got their chance to ask questions. I like that the system shows documents on the screen to add to the learning experience. I learned quite a bit about the Internship and Field-based Activities and feel a lot better about it now that I am more informed. I am so glad to have this system for support in the program and look forward to future web conferences.

RUSD's Technology Plan for The Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund

Schools and libraries program

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National Educational Technology Plan

After reviewing the National Educational Technology Plan I now realize this is the base information that nationwide technology plans are based on.  This is a powerful plan that seeks to transform the education system.   The plan is based around learning with technology and centers around five areas. These areas include: learning, assessment, teaching, productivity, and infrastructure. The learning structure will change to one of personalized learning used to engage and empower the learner. This will happen through the use of new technologies.  Assessment will be an ongoing model to use technology data to diagnose and change instruction to improve student learning. The area of teaching will be a model to fully connect teachers to new technology systems. The teachers will build online learning communities where teaching will become a team activity.  The system for teachers is to evolve to have more advanced technology resources for the educator including professional learning environments.  Productivity will be improved by making fundamental structural changes to technology. This improvement in productivity will require all levels of institutions across the nation to work together to provide equitable access to learning experiences.  Finally, the last area of focus is on the infrastructure.  A comprehensive infrastructure is required to achieve the goals of the technology based learning model.  The development of online learning communities and content will be important to achieving these goals. Infrastructure will need to be available both in school and out of the classroom. This will include infrastructure that will integrate computer hardware, networks, data, software, connections, support, and maintenance to transform teaching. All of these areas improving together will work towards transforming the education system to educate the new 21^st century learners.

References:

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology, Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, Washington, D.C., 2010.