Web Conference Reflection - Week 2 (Required)

Today I attended the required web conference for my EDLD 5306 Concepts of Educational Technology course. It is the second time I have attended a web conference for the Master’s Degree I am working towards.

This time I thought the conference was much more valuable in the content that was presented. I understand the first conference I logged into was everyone’s first try at attending a web conference so it was more about learning how to get logged in and less about course content.

There were several items mentioned in today’s conference that I did not know before.  One was the fact about being exempt from the GRE testing if you had a 3.0 or better in your undergrad courses.  I think I did so I am excited about that.  I was also glad to hear about the certifications possible after this program and the accreditations that were attached.

I am a little nervous about the leadership end and the internship.  I am good at what I do, but part of that is doing a lot on my own.  Collaborating and working in groups and leading teams are not my strong points and therefore will be an area that I will have to work on.

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Understanding the LISD Technology Plan

Most school districts today are doing more to implement technology and have created plans to guide them.  LISD is no different. Like other school districts around the state and the nation, Leander is working to improve in 4 critical areas - Teaching and Learning (TL), Educator Preparation (EP), Administration and Support (AS), and Infrastructure (I).

One of the main goals of the district technology action plan is to "improve the level of technology integration to ensure the best possible teaching and learning for all students". (District Improvement Plan, 2009)

• Some of the strategies used to achieve this goal include:
• Provide a viable curriculum that embeds the use of technology (TL)
• Integrate content and skills using technology to facilitate higher level learning (TL)
• Staff self-assessment and reflection on technology impacts within the classroom (EP)
• Research the newest technology available and ensure access, training and support (EP)
• Model and demonstrate technology to staff (AS)
• Promote current technology applications that enhance learning (AS)
• Articulate the districts vision of technology use to staff (AS)
• Embed internet and communication technologies in the classroom (I)

Each goal of the plan has specific measurement devices to assess the effectiveness of the different strategies.  Some of these measures include self-assessments, lesson plans, snapshot data as well as campus data inventories.

Budgeting for technology integration has been achieved through the use of special bond elections earmarked especially for technology infrastructure. Each campus also allocates a portion of its budget to provide access to technology and technology education.

By involving all levels of district personnel in the use and implementation of the technology plan the goals can be reached.

The National Education Technology Plan (NETP)

In the fall of 2010, the National Education Technology Plan was released by the US Department of Education. The plan provides a road map for the future of technology in US education.  Transforming American education and the ways in which students and teachers collaborate to improve education and provide real world experiences that fit 21st Century life are all goals of the NETP.

The Plan provides goals that state and local educational groups can achieve.  Some of these include:

1. Focusing on what is being taught, but also on how it is being taught. It encourages leveraging the power of technology to differentiate and personalize.
2. Using technology to better measure student skills and then use the data obtained to diagnose strengths and weaknesses to provide an opportunity for students to achieve continuous improvement.

The NETP also points out that technology can be used to improve the quality of education and build the skills of American educators. Technology allows educators to:

• be more connected
• collaborate easier (eliminate teacher isolation)
• access data quickly and easily
• have resources to improve content teaching quality
• have resources to improve reteaching and student involvement

The National Education Technology Plan is a good starting point for American education.  It provides a vision of where we as a nation need to be in order to produce well educated and well-rounded students that are ready to be productive partners in 21st century society. It is a rigorous plan that calls for a new way of thinking for many school districts, administrators and teachers.

Implementing a plan of this magnitude always brings challenges.  Building the physical infrastructure for the new technology takes time and money and in today's educational landscape budget cuts not excess seem to be the norm. It is also a difficult job to bring an older generation of teachers up to speed on new technological innovations. And with the speed that technology changes, it is difficult for both districts and teachers to keep up with the hardware and software changes.

Despite these challenges, the need for improvement in how education uses technology is here.  There is no time to wait. Educators and education systems at the state and local level must act to implement technology and its use in the school and the classroom.

Technology Assessment: Is it Necessary in Today's Education?

Eating, drinking, checking email, and posting to Facebook; these are essential activities to the daily lives of most Americans, especially young adults and teens. Technology has definitely become an important part of our lives but is there really more to technology than just the ease of staying in touch with friends?

Understanding the true power of technology and being able to use that power is essential for advancement in both the workplace and in education. And the best way to improve the technology skills of general population is to implement training in our public school system.

This is where the need for technology assessment becomes necessary. The average teacher was born before any of today's technology was even ever thought possible. Current research, such as the Texas STaR chart, show that many teachers do not use technology to its fullest potential or understand how to use the technology available. It shows that some schools don't even have access to current technology assets. They show that teachers need more training in order to implement and understand both how to teach the use of the technology and how to use the technology to teach.

As teachers we have learned that preassessing students lets us understand better what they already know and what they need more help understanding. It gives us a starting point and lets us differentiate better for the students we have. It's no different for teachers. Assessing a level of understanding for teachers and their tech skills is a great starting point. In fact, I recently took several self assessments including the NetCorps Technology Literacy Self-Assessment. They allowed me to understand my own strengths and weaknesses and I am now better equipped to improve my tech skills.

I believe most teachers want to be able to use technology to improve their teaching. Giving them the power to understand what is available and where they stand is the first step to improving their technological prowess.

There are problems with assessing teachers that come with the benefits. I see these problems as being just one more thing we as teachers have on our plate. More testing, more administrative requirements, more 'stuff' that keeps us from teaching. This is not how to win the hearts and minds of the faculty.

But, by allowing teachers the power to understand where they are lacking in technological skills through self evaluation and then letting them have the power to help design their own course of training to fit their needs and their content the cons associated with Technology Assessment can be minimized.