Reflections+on+EDLD+5306

EDLD 5306- Concepts of Educational Technology

 * ======In this course, I envisioned learning about requirements and trends of technology in the classroom. I know what is going on with CTE because that is the area that I work in, but I really wanted to learn about the progress and challenges of technology in the regular classroom. I considered myself to be a “digital native” as Prensky (2001, p. 1) labels those who were born in the digital age. In addition, I wanted to learn how I could help my campus become more technology proficient and participate in the technology movement at a campus and later district level. ======

=
The course readings provided a great deal of insight into the plan for technology in Texas. I was excited and encouraged to know that the state of Texas recognized the value of technology in education. The Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology affirms this in its conclusion that “the access and use of technology levels the playing field for all students” (TEA, 2006, p. 18). The readings also gave me a chance to see specifically where my campus was and analyze what we could do to improve our ratings. The work on analyzing STaR chart results was extremely relevant to the work that I plan to do with our campus Technology Planning Committee. I am accustomed to completing the chart but this gave me the opportunity to analyze our results and compare them to others in Texas. It allowed me to see that we are making great strides in technology integration and it also shed light on what needs to be done to achieve Target Tech status. ======

=
The wiki development was also very relevant to my work, both in the classroom and on a campus wide level. My campus technology integrator introduced the campus to wikis last year as a means of creating a teacher website and uploading files that were taking up valuable storage space on our network. On my campus teachers use wikis for class syllabi and as a campus we store handbook and scheduling information on our wikis. Even though we were using wikis, this course opened my eyes to using them for interactive purposes. My students have now made wikis that we will use to display their work and for them to collaborate and evaluate other students’ work. This allows my students to become “content providers rather than content receivers” as Mills (2007, p. 4) asserted in his article //The Next Wave Now: Web 2.0//. In addition, we plan to use the wiki created during this course to facilitate our Technology Planning Committee meetings which will now be virtual. Virtual meetings are an area that I am continuing to research as a result of the experiences developed during the course. ======

=
The only thing that I think did not go as expected during the course was our participation as a class. I enjoyed interacting with classmates and discussing issues on the discussion board and during web conferences, but I would have also liked the opportunity to view their blogs and wikis. I understand that we should be restricted while we are developing ours but it would have been nice to have a presentation period where we could share our work and observe the work of others. This was alleviated in later classes as we were encouraged to post our work on the discussion board for feedback from our colleagues. ======

=
During this course, I learned a great deal about myself, my ability to multi-task and my technical leadership skills. It has been over 8 years since I have been a student and I must say that at first I wondered if I was up to the challenge. Over time, the studious habits that we develop begin to fade and I found myself much better at giving assignments than receiving them. It was a personal challenge to see if I could still excel in an academic setting, especially adding a demanding full-time job and parenting two small children. My ability to maintain my school workload as well as my work and home life made me very proud. ======

=
This course also made me see myself as a technology leader on my campus. Having to coordinate with others to set up meetings and presenting results that I analyzed gave me great experience in serving a leadership role on my campus. I had always known that I was interested and capable, but this opportunity gave me a platform and a starting place to demonstrate my leadership abilities outside of my classroom. ======

=
Mills, L. B. (2007). The next wave now: Web 2.0. //The Education Digest //, //73 //(4), 4-5. ======

=
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants: Part 1. //On the Horizon //, //9 //(5), 1-6. ======

=
Texas Long Range Plan for Technology. (2006). //Texas Education Agency//. Retrieved from [] ====== ||= == EDLD 5306 Reflection Word Document == [|Reflections on EDLD 5306.docx]

Tech Planning Committee Website
[]

MBHS Star Chart Report
||