5306/5311 - Week 5 - Course Reflections

    When I started this course, I was really excited because I could not wait to work in the area of Technology. At the same time I was extremely nervous because I had no idea what graduate classes would be like and there was a little part of me that felt I was out of my league. Once the class started and my professor talked to us, I realized that all of my classmates were feeling the same anticipation and I was not alone. As I worked through the class I began to envision the outcome being one of more understanding about how Technology connects to the classroom and the long range plans that the State has in store. As the class progressed I began to make some of my own connections that I did not even realize were missing and those outcomes not only aligned with the outcomes I had in my mind, but they surpassed what I was expecting.

    The outcomes that I achieved in my first graduate class, Fundamentals of Leadership, exceeded the outcomes I had in mind for this class. I was able to make connections that I didn’t realize were missing. The work I did in class is very relevant to the work I do in my daily job as Computer Lab Manager at Garza Elementary in McAllen. As I learned in class, the Long Range Plan for Technology has a huge task ahead of it that is expected to be fulfilled by the year 2020. If I am to enable my students to achieve all that they are expected I am required to understand the Long Range Plan for Technology, which up until now I did not connect with my job. As I am now empowered with the knowledge of why the STaR chart is used, what the Long Range Plan for Technology is and how to put the two together, I find that I can give my students more and empower them as well.

    I love working online at a fast pace, I have done it since 2005 while getting my Associates degree at South Texas College and continuing up until I finished my Bachelor’s Degree at Lamar University. In the graduate program, the five weeks are awesome. I love getting the work done quickly and moving on, but it does come with a small price. Not really having enough time for everything is a sacrifice I must make. There are sacrifices that I must make in my personal life, too but for the sake of reflection I am I mainly speaking of my school work. As far as what I was unable to accomplish, I would have to say that reading all of the articles and getting the most out of them was not completely achieved on my part. I find myself skimming the articles to see which ones I find the most interesting, when at the same time I feel that I am missing something by not being able to focus thoroughly on the articles.

    For my first graduate class, Fundamentals of Technology, I had no problem carrying out the course assignments. That being said, I don’t want to come across making it seem like the assignments were easy, they required much thought and a lot of work. The assignments in this class were very time consuming, but I did expect that having taken many online courses. The most important thing about being an online student is of course time management. Figuring out how this class fits into my daily life is very important. After time management comes understanding how the professor runs the class. Each professor has their own pace and ways of doing things. What I liked about this class is that all the assignments were open and accessible. It can be a little overwhelming to open all the folders and see what is due, but being able to do them at my own pace, either ahead of time or on schedule, gave me a lot of confidence. Other online courses I have taken keep all assignments locked down and only allow students to work on the week that has started. I like having my assignments open because it gives me the chance to get ahead, just in case something comes up, yet if I choose to I can simply work in the week we are on.

    My first graduate class, Fundamentals of Technology, taught me many things about myself. I learned that my temperament is Guardian. I am always keeping everyone together. It is me that keeps in touch with my siblings, and I am the one that makes sure the family is kept up to date on everything we are doing or involved in. I also learned that I have a lot more technology experience than I gave myself credit for. As I was reading the articles and doing the required assignments I realized that I already implement a lot of technology into my Computer Labs, but now I have even more to offer and teach. Another thing I learned in this first class is that I have many leadership skills that I did not realize I had.  Being a leader comes in many forms and I am quickly discovering all that leaders can do.

5306/5311 - Week 3: Web Conference

Tonight we were able to meet a couple of students who were unable to attend the last web conference and I learned that one of them is from Delaware. How cool! We went over a lot of the basics of the assignments and what is to be expected coming up the next 2 weeks. Professor Borel helped us understand the calendar a little better, explained which classes we will be with only us and which ones there will be more students added. She also wanted to make sure that we understood that the week 5 assignment deadlines cannot be extended so to make sure we are prepared for it. I had a question about whether the book I have chosen for my week 4 assignment would be approved, and I showed it to her and she approved it. Whew! I feel like I am getting the hang of this class, of course it is almost over, but it has been a great experience. There are days when I feel a little overwhelmed with the work load, but I am also putting my own deadlines on myself in order to not have any homework on the weekends. Although these web conferences are optional, I do feel that attending is helpful and since there is only one left, I will do my best to be at that one. I also am happy to say that after the next two weeks are finished I only have 17 months to go!!!

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5306/5311 - Week 2: Web Conference

During this web conference we were able to spend a little time introducing ourselves to the other web conference participants. I learned that we have a very diverse group of students in our cohort. I also learned that I have a classmate in my own city, which was a pleasant surprise.  Professor Borel went through a PowerPoint which introduced everything we needed to know about the course, she was adamant about making sure we knew at the beginning of the course what is expected at the end of the course, so we are not surprised. We have 150 field hours in which we can complete anytime between now and the end of the 18-months, and we have 150 hours imbedded into our work. We also got a view of our class schedule, allowing us to see our classes as they are coming each session.  Professor Borel the opened the conference to questions and answers and was able to help all the students with a question. One of my fellow classmates, Lottie, was having trouble with the link to her blog on blogger, so I stayed behind to see if I could help out. We ended up figuring out the problem and she is all set.

5306/5311 - Week 1: Web Conference

For our first web conference, we simply learned a little bit about how the web conference software "adobe connect" works. Professor Borel hosted the mini conference. It was very casual but I felt that it gave me some insight about how the 2nd web conference was going to go. Professor Borel also introduced herself to us and gave us a little pep talk about how we need to stay positive and not feel overwhelmed. Also, she insisted that we need to make sure to manage our time in order to produce graduate work. This was my first web conference that entailed video, the last ones I did only have audio and shared PowerPoint’s. This type was more fun; I liked seeing my professor and my classmates. I felt that we all have a lot to offer as far as suggestions and it is nice to converse with other people who work in technology like I do.

5306/5311 - Week 2: Posting #3 – National Educational Technology Plan

The National Education Plan has five goals that are meant to help advance student learning and use data to help understand where the areas of improvement are. The areas covered include Learning Assessment, Teaching, Infrastructure and Productivity (NETP). These five goals will allow school districts to be able to make student learning better, upgrade the technology that the students are required to use as well as gather data necessary to understand the areas of improvement that is needed.

Under the category of Learning, the plan puts into place the goal of allowing all learners the chance to have familiarity while in school and out of school that can train them to participate in the global network dynamically, imaginatively and morally.

The Teaching category introduces the idea that teachers will work alone and together on a panel where technology is the correlation. They will be provided with understanding, content and resources that will authorize the lessons they teach to be efficient and successful. Teachers will also need the tools given through professional development in order to continue their teaching in an informed and able to be connected to others in their field. The professional development that they need to receive will enable them to become confident in using technology, able to solve issues that arise as well as inspired and inspiring.

When discussing Infrastructure, this plan makes room for every student and every educator to be able to access a complete infrastructure that is always available to them.  The infrastructure that is needed must be able to allow access anywhere anytime 24/7-365. The capability of the infrastructure will also be required to provide security and privacy for the users.

The concerns I have about how this plan is to work deals with getting the basic infrastructure working. The economy is getting to a point where it cannot really be expected to be able to handle such a plan. From my experience, we have already lost so much money per school that it will be really difficult to expect such a plan to work in an area like ours. If the infrastructure is not there, the rest will struggle to come to life.

Bibliography

National Education Technology Plan 2010 . (n.d.). Retrieved March 7, 2012, from ED.gov: http://www.ed.gov/technology/netp-2010

5306/5311 - Week 2: Posting #2 - School or District Technology Plan

At McAllen ISD we have 4 main goals that are being addressed through the District Technology Plan. Our first goal is to “focus on the instructional needs of teachers and the learning needs of students in meeting the vision of technology in education”. To meet this goal, there are many objectives, one of which includes encouraging 100% of the Instructional Staff to meet SBEC Technology Applications standards for educators as well as the TSSA Technology Standards for School Administrators. This objective is to be supported using strategies that include developing an assessment plan for evaluating teachers and administrators and providing training to staff members about the Technology Application Standards.

A second goal of the District Technology Plan is to train educators in teaching and learning by providing equitable professional development. One strategy they intend to use is to require campus as well as central office administrators to go to professional development sessions that discuss integration of technology into teaching and learning.

The third main goal of the MISD District Technology Plan is integrating technology into all aspects of the school community which includes instruction, instruction management and administration in an effort to increase the contact that the community has to information. One strategy the district is using is to open up computer labs and libraries for community access outside to school day so parents and community members use the facilities.

The fourth goal deals with infrastructure maintenance and updating. One strategy includes making a budget and timeline to make sure that the hardware and software needed can be purchased.

At McAllen ISD the “Design Center” has been in charge of coordinating the professional development for the staff. In the past teachers would have opportunities to get their professional development after school at the Design Center, led by the Instructional Technology staff. Presently the trend has been more towards distance learning, namely Element K, which gives teachers a chance to improve their skills while doing it online.

The Telecommunications services are constantly under review by the District Technology Board and the Information Technology staff. The budget is looked at and evaluated yearly, and applying for E-Rate is an ongoing process, making sure we fit the guidelines. As far as the non-discount element of the plan, this too is changing. In the past each school would get a budget for their technology needs, but as it turned out, some campuses would use this budget wisely and some did not. Also, due to the make-up of the schools, and the amount of students in each school, some schools would get more and others less. Both of these factors cause some discrepancies in what each individual campus would need. The board decided to take a look at each campuses needs and spread the money based on that instead. The goal was to bring up the outdated campuses so they could get at least to where others were.

McAllen ISD uses the Texas Teacher and Campus STaR Charts, District/Campus Hardware Inventory and District Professional Development Statistics to determine the district technology needs that will be addressed in this plan.

Bibliography

TEA. (2012). View/Create/Edit/Update a Technology Plan for MCALLEN ISD . Retrieved March 7, 2012, from Texas ePlan: https://www.sedl.org/cgi-bin/mysql/eplan/eplan.cgi

5306/5311 - Week 2: Posting #1 - Technology Assessments: My Opinion

Week 2: Posting 1

Technology Assessments: My Opinion

I believe that assessing the knowledge and skills of administrators is very important. For one thing, it would be sad to expect teachers to perform at a certain level that they themselves cannot perform at. Being a good example is one of the best and most valuable ways to be a good leader, being able to not only tell, but also show staff how to do what is expected of them would make the staff feel more comfortable with their expectations. Administrators should also be required to integrate technology seamlessly in their job as much as the teachers are required to.

Assessing students is not only valuable, but necessary. Students are expected to be computer literate by the time they are in 8^th grade, and be able to perform these skills at a level that is quite high in their class work. According to the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, by the year 2020 “Students can expect higher performance and deeper engagement in academic, real world endeavors by accessing digital tools and resources available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week (24/7) appropriate to individual strengths, needs, and learning styles. Students know they will be prepared to thrive in a global workforce with changing economic implications” (LRPT, 16).

Technology assessments have both pros and cons. Pros would include allowing teachers, administrators as well as students to know what areas need work and what areas are at the level expected. One of the cons could be the person being assessed has not been exposed to the technology that is being assessed. One of the biggest problems in my experience is that the infrastructure does not meet the demand. Districts are trying to keep up, but finding the money to do so is becoming difficult.

Bibliography

TEA. (2006). Long Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020. 16-20.

Hello

My name is Kristi Rogers and I am writing this blog as a requirement for my Master's of Education Technology Leadership classes. Please enjoy!