Thursday, August 12, 2010
Web Conference August 10, 2010
The web conference on this night was mainly about explanation of internship plan. Dr. Borel clarified that only the draft internship plan is due this week and not the course-embedded and field-based reflections. There were lots of confusions about this within our group. Thanks to Dr. Borel. She clarified this for us. I have enjoyed this web conference as well as the previous web conferences I have attended. They were very informative.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Course Reflections ED 5306
Outcomes I have envisioned for this course
When I signed up for this course in July of 2010, I had one goal in mind. That goal is to be improved in integrating technology into my classroom. I consider myself a technologically savvy individual. I thought I know all I need to know about teaching with technology. I did not know I will learn about other technology tools I have never heard off. After all the activities, assignments, readings, and discussions with my classmates, I believe I have achieved what I set out to achieve in this course.
This course, I believe, will make me become a better technology teacher or leader. My expectations were to learn more about many technological tools available to teach our students. This course has met those expectations. I learned many technology tools I can use to integrate technology into my classroom. I learned about my personality traits by using Keirsey Temperament Sorter. This was new to me as I had no idea that it exists. Other technology tools I learned are: blogging, using wikis, designing presentations, learning about technology planning, copyright, cyber bullying, and many more. For me, it was worth it to take this course.
The relevance of the outcomes to the work I do in my school
Everything I learned in this course is very much relevant to the work I do in my school. I am the technology leader, technology coordinator, technology teacher, and technology specialist for my school. I am the person to contact with any issue relating to technology on my campus. For this reason, it is very important that I know how to assist my colleagues integrating technology into their lessons. The course has taught me that.
Learning about Long Range Technology Plan is very much relevant to my job. As the technology coordinator, I must know how to develop technology plan for my school. After this course, I believe I am confident enough to take on the task of developing technology plan for my school. Learning about web 2.0 is essential and will help me to teach our students different ways they can collaborate and share ideas among their friends and teachers. Web 2.0 is a great tool that I believe will be beneficial for both students and teachers.
Outcomes not achieved
This course has turned out to be everything I had hoped it will be. It was very informative, exciting, fun, and useful. I have enjoyed every bit of it. I believe there are still more to be learned however. But as time goes on or with more courses to come, I believe I will learn more and more with this program.
I can honestly say that there is nothing I have set to achieve in this course that I have not achieved. The duration of this course was just five weeks. And I have learned more in those weeks than I could possible learn in whole year. As I am learning about technology tools, I am also learning about American Psychological Association (APA) writing format. This is my biggest challenge in this course. I have not learned about APA writing format until I started taking this course. But after five weeks of struggling with it, I believe I am starting to be proficient in using it in my writings.
Success in carrying out the course assignments
After starting to work on the assignments, I thought I will quit the course because of the amount of assignments I was to do in one week. Week one assignments was the largest one out of the five weeks. As I was doing the assignments, I kept saying to myself why we have to do so many assignments in one week. But while I was completing the assignments, I started enjoying the assignments because of the different activities included in the assignments.
Even though the amounts of assignments were huge, I was able to complete the assignments within the time frame allocated for them. The reason for my success in completing the assignments was because it was summer time and we have summer break. This gave me more time to devote in completing the assignments. When school returns this month, I don’t know if I will be able to complete the next assignments for the next course. But I believe I will find one way or the other to complete my assignments for the next course.
What I learned from this course about myself, my technology and leadership skills, and my attitudes
Concepts of Educational Technology course have taught me many technological tools I can use to be effective technology leader on my campus. I learned about my temperament using the self assessment tool developed by Dr. David Keirsey. This assessment placed me in the “Guardian” category. It reveals that I am a dependable, helpful, and hardworking person (http://www.keirsey.com).
This course has taught me to be sensitive to the way different students learn. I learned that one-size fits all approach does not work for many of our students. To be effective leader, I must try to accommodate students who learn in different ways other than the old traditional ways of teaching. This course has really changed my attitudes when it comes to teaching our students. I used to not liking students using or bringing their mobile phones to school. But after learning about many things students can do with cell phones that will benefit them, I am now going to be more acceptable to students using cell phones for technology education.
There is no doubt that this course has improved my leadership skills. During this course I learned the following: Long Range Technology Plan; State Technology Curriculum Standards; Texas Campus STaR Chart; and School District Technology Plan. I believe all of these concepts will help me to become a better technology leader.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Web Conference Reflection
On Tuesday August 03, 2010 at 8:00pm, I attended a webconference along with five of my classmates and Dr. Borel. The Webconference was very informative. We discussed about the internship plan that we will be working on next week. Dr. Borel went over some example of activities as they relate to technology leadership standards. She also brought to our attention that the course schedule has changed. We will be taking a research class for the next course.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Reflection on Web Conference
On July 20, 2010, at about 8:00pm, I attended a web conference meeting. The meeting was conducted using “Adobe Acrobat Pro Meeting.”; and it was facilitated by Dr. Daryl Borel.
Even though I have been in a similar conference using this type of technology before, this was the first time I actually understood how the Web Conference technology works. I was able to broadcast my camera to all attendees, and I saw other participants’ cameras also. The only problem I had was that I was not able to successfully operate my microphone. Hopefully, I will correct this by the time of the next web conference.
The conference was very informative. Dr. Borel went through the internship process. Many questions were asked by several participants about the internship, and Dr. Borel answered many of these questions.
I believe this is a good way of conducting meetings. I will suggest we conduct more web conference like this throughout this course. It was amazing having meeting with people in different places all at once. This is technology working at its best.
Even though I have been in a similar conference using this type of technology before, this was the first time I actually understood how the Web Conference technology works. I was able to broadcast my camera to all attendees, and I saw other participants’ cameras also. The only problem I had was that I was not able to successfully operate my microphone. Hopefully, I will correct this by the time of the next web conference.
The conference was very informative. Dr. Borel went through the internship process. Many questions were asked by several participants about the internship, and Dr. Borel answered many of these questions.
I believe this is a good way of conducting meetings. I will suggest we conduct more web conference like this throughout this course. It was amazing having meeting with people in different places all at once. This is technology working at its best.
Monday, July 19, 2010
National Educational Technology Plan
The National Educational Technology Plan set five goals with recommendations for the federal government, states, and other stakeholders. The goals of the plan are:
1.0 Learning
All learners will have engaging and empowering learning experiences both in and outside of school that prepare them to be active, creative, knowledgeable, and ethical participants in our globally networked society (Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, 2010, p.xii).
2.0 Assessment
Our education system at all levels will leverage the power of technology to measure what matters and use assessment data for continuos improvement (p. xii).
3.0 Teaching
Professionnal educators will be supported individually and in teams by technology that connects them to data, content, resources, expertise, and learning experiences that enable and inspire more effective teaching for all learners (p. xiii).
4.0 Infrastructure
All students and educators will have access to a comprehensive infrastructure for learning when and where they need it (p.xiii).
5.0 Productivity
Our education system at all levels will redesign processes and structures to take advantage of the power of technology to improve learning outcomes while making more efficient use of time, money, and staff ((Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, 2010, p.xiv).
In achieving the goal of learning, the plan recommends adoption of standards and learning objectives across all content areas that reflects 21st century technology practice.. It further stresses that standards must reflect online collaboration tools. The plans further recommends that learning resources that use technology; exploit the flexibilty and power of technology; use advances in the learning sciences and technology to enhance STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learing should be adopted (p.9).
On the goal of teaching, the plan describes today’ s teaching as practiced in isolation. It expresses concern that may educators do not have enough interaction with other colleagues or expertise. It further expresses that there is little or no professional development training opportunities given to educators. The plan states further that our education system often do not give teachers the tools needed to effectively do their job. There is lack of support for educators, according to the plan, with latest technology. To correct some of these concerns , the plan recommends the following actions: Design, develop, and adopt technology-based content, resources, and online learning communities; provide pre-service and in-service educators with preparation and professional learning experiences powered by technology; use technology to provide access to the most effective teaching and learning resources; develop a teaching force skilled in onlie instruction (p.39).
On professional development for educators, the plan describes that educators should be given opportunity for on-going profession development and training. According to the plan, all institutions that are charged with preparing educators should provide technology-supported learning activities that fosters the use of technology (p.44).
I agree completely with the National Eductional Technology Plan. The one area that stuck in my mind while reading this plan is when the plan descibes that we expect educators to effectively use technology in their teaching but we do not give them the tools to do it. This is a big statement that registered well in my head because I have seen this happened in some campuses. Some principals or administrators want teachers to teach with technology but there are no provision to accomplish it. The excuse I hear from these administrators is that there is no fund to buy or acquire the necessary technology tools needed to carry out this very important goal. We as educator technology leader must do a better job of convincing these administrators that it is important for educators to have the tools needed to effective teach our students with technology in this 21st century learning age.
Source: http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/NETP-2010-final-report.pdf
1.0 Learning
All learners will have engaging and empowering learning experiences both in and outside of school that prepare them to be active, creative, knowledgeable, and ethical participants in our globally networked society (Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, 2010, p.xii).
2.0 Assessment
Our education system at all levels will leverage the power of technology to measure what matters and use assessment data for continuos improvement (p. xii).
3.0 Teaching
Professionnal educators will be supported individually and in teams by technology that connects them to data, content, resources, expertise, and learning experiences that enable and inspire more effective teaching for all learners (p. xiii).
4.0 Infrastructure
All students and educators will have access to a comprehensive infrastructure for learning when and where they need it (p.xiii).
5.0 Productivity
Our education system at all levels will redesign processes and structures to take advantage of the power of technology to improve learning outcomes while making more efficient use of time, money, and staff ((Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, 2010, p.xiv).
In achieving the goal of learning, the plan recommends adoption of standards and learning objectives across all content areas that reflects 21st century technology practice.. It further stresses that standards must reflect online collaboration tools. The plans further recommends that learning resources that use technology; exploit the flexibilty and power of technology; use advances in the learning sciences and technology to enhance STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learing should be adopted (p.9).
On the goal of teaching, the plan describes today’ s teaching as practiced in isolation. It expresses concern that may educators do not have enough interaction with other colleagues or expertise. It further expresses that there is little or no professional development training opportunities given to educators. The plan states further that our education system often do not give teachers the tools needed to effectively do their job. There is lack of support for educators, according to the plan, with latest technology. To correct some of these concerns , the plan recommends the following actions: Design, develop, and adopt technology-based content, resources, and online learning communities; provide pre-service and in-service educators with preparation and professional learning experiences powered by technology; use technology to provide access to the most effective teaching and learning resources; develop a teaching force skilled in onlie instruction (p.39).
On professional development for educators, the plan describes that educators should be given opportunity for on-going profession development and training. According to the plan, all institutions that are charged with preparing educators should provide technology-supported learning activities that fosters the use of technology (p.44).
I agree completely with the National Eductional Technology Plan. The one area that stuck in my mind while reading this plan is when the plan descibes that we expect educators to effectively use technology in their teaching but we do not give them the tools to do it. This is a big statement that registered well in my head because I have seen this happened in some campuses. Some principals or administrators want teachers to teach with technology but there are no provision to accomplish it. The excuse I hear from these administrators is that there is no fund to buy or acquire the necessary technology tools needed to carry out this very important goal. We as educator technology leader must do a better job of convincing these administrators that it is important for educators to have the tools needed to effective teach our students with technology in this 21st century learning age.
Source: http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/NETP-2010-final-report.pdf
Sunday, July 18, 2010
District Technology Plan
Houston Independent School District has five strategic goals which are: increase student achievement; increase management efficiency; improve public support and confidence in schools; create a positive district culture; provide facilities-to-standard program.
In devising the technology plan, the district conducted interviews and gathered comments and recommendations from a full range of district staff.
The district Long-Range Strategic Plan for Technology 2006-2011 covers a five-year time frame:
Year 1: February 2006 to June 2007
Year 2: July 2007 to June 2008
Year 3: July 2008 to June 2009
Year 4: July 2009 to June 2010
Year 5: July 2010 to June 2011
The District Professional Development Strategy
The District Technology and Information System department (TIS) is in charge of providing professional development opportunity to all staff. The district needs to support users of data in their implementation and use of technology. This task is delegated to “Help Desk,” which is a branch of TIS. Help Desk is expanded to provide broader support for technology implementations use. For example, when a teacher, principal or other staff needs has a question related to technology, the Help Desk will be able to provide answers for them.
The district also has in place what is called “E-train.” E-train is an online training system which allows teachers and other staff to browse through the list of scheduled professional development trainings. Staff can choose the desired training they would like to attend and schedule for it online. Most of the trainings listed are provided free of charge. The school principal will provide funds to attend the ones that are not free.
The district constantly assesses telecommunication services, hardware, software, and other services to ensure improved student learning by upgrading and replacing hardware, software, and other network components that are becoming dysfunctional. The district implements a technology refresh process to replace or upgrade aging components as necessary.
The district is decentralized. This means every school is allocated a budget to make any necessary technology purchase or upgrade to cover the no-discount element of the plan.
The district evaluates the goals of this plan by examining it every two or three years in order to keep them relevant. The plan is revised constantly to keep up with emerging technologies.
In devising the technology plan, the district conducted interviews and gathered comments and recommendations from a full range of district staff.
The district Long-Range Strategic Plan for Technology 2006-2011 covers a five-year time frame:
Year 1: February 2006 to June 2007
Year 2: July 2007 to June 2008
Year 3: July 2008 to June 2009
Year 4: July 2009 to June 2010
Year 5: July 2010 to June 2011
The District Professional Development Strategy
The District Technology and Information System department (TIS) is in charge of providing professional development opportunity to all staff. The district needs to support users of data in their implementation and use of technology. This task is delegated to “Help Desk,” which is a branch of TIS. Help Desk is expanded to provide broader support for technology implementations use. For example, when a teacher, principal or other staff needs has a question related to technology, the Help Desk will be able to provide answers for them.
The district also has in place what is called “E-train.” E-train is an online training system which allows teachers and other staff to browse through the list of scheduled professional development trainings. Staff can choose the desired training they would like to attend and schedule for it online. Most of the trainings listed are provided free of charge. The school principal will provide funds to attend the ones that are not free.
The district constantly assesses telecommunication services, hardware, software, and other services to ensure improved student learning by upgrading and replacing hardware, software, and other network components that are becoming dysfunctional. The district implements a technology refresh process to replace or upgrade aging components as necessary.
The district is decentralized. This means every school is allocated a budget to make any necessary technology purchase or upgrade to cover the no-discount element of the plan.
The district evaluates the goals of this plan by examining it every two or three years in order to keep them relevant. The plan is revised constantly to keep up with emerging technologies.
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