Technology+Facilitator+Standard+VII+Reflections

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Technology Facilitator Standard VII requires that educational technology facilitators promote the development and implementation of technology infrastructure, procedures, policies, plans, and budgets for P-12 schools (Williamson & Redish, 2009). During my coursework, I was required to complete a survey that gauged my experiences in different leadership aspects and gave feedback on what areas more experience was needed. For me, I have experience conducting trainings, leading groups, mentoring, etc, but the survey suggested that I needed more administrative experience in areas related to developing policies, budgets and purchasing at the local and district level. Prior to this program, I did not focus on gaining experience in this aspect of leadership but due to the results of my leadership assessment I made it a priority to ensure that I gained this type of experience during my internship process. During my work as a curriculum developer, I wrote curriculum and scope and sequence documentation for several new business and technology courses within CTE. Along with that, I also determined the hardware and infrastructure required for the courses, priced and selected accompanying textbooks and determined a minimum budget required for each course. As Gura and Percy (2006) said in their article //Establishing a Strong Technology Infrastructure//, “the show simply cannot go on without a well-maintained, up-to-date technology infrastructure” (p. 1). ======

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Prior to my internship activities, I had limited familiarity with budgeting and purchasing technology supplies. As a technology teacher, each of my classes were assigned a budget each year and I was allowed to inventory, plan and purchase supplies and technology tools with the approval of my department head and the campus bookkeeper. Textbooks and core curriculum materials were handled from a district budget and were typically handled by our CTE coordinator. Several colleagues in the master’s program described similar situations on their campuses. Smaller districts seemed to allow more control of setting budgets and input in the planning process than larger districts. During discussion boards, we also discussed some key problems with providing access to technology. Even though the numbers of teachers with access to computers is almost at 100%, there is often not sufficient access to computers for student activities. Most school districts were utilizing computer labs and a limited number of laptop carts that had to be reserved so integrating technology into curriculum could only be done during specific projects where computer use could be scheduled. We must work harder to ensure that every school not only has computers but enough so that students can use them in meaningful ways on a regular basis if we hope to fulfill NCLB Part D recommendation that “every student is technologically literate by the time the student finishes the eighth grade” (U.S. Department of Education, 2001). I am thankful that my school has an abundance of resources in that each classroom has a teacher computer, presentation system, 3-4 student computers, four computer labs and laptop carts for each department. However, this still requires scheduling of computer use which does not promote teachers to incorporate technology into their daily classroom activities. ======

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The internship curriculum writing experience gave me the unique opportunity of experiencing the planning, procurement, implementation and maintenance stages of providing appropriate technology for curriculum and instruction in CTE courses. New courses were developed by TEA and TEKS were made available but we were in need of curriculum and materials and scope and sequencing to begin teaching the courses. I was able to plan for technology resources for each course and then come up with a mandatory set of infrastructure, hardware and software that would be required to successfully implement the curriculum. From there, I had to contact vendors and price items and develop a budget with specific recommendations based on my research. In the future as a district technology coordinator, I hope to utilize this experience and many other learning opportunities I’ve had during this program to successfully revamp all CTE program courses to ensure that each teacher has the tools needed to successfully utilize the technology necessary to meet the learning objectives of their courses. ======

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Gura, M. & Percy, B. (2006, October 31). Establishing a strong technology infrastructure. //EdTech Magazine//, Retrieved from http://www.edtechmagazine .com /k12/article/2006/10/ technology-infrastructure ======

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Redish, T. & Williamson, J., (2009). //ISTE's Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards: What Every K-12 Leaders Should Know and Be Able to Do. Eugene: International Society for Technology in Education.// Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education ======

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U.S. Department of Education, (2001). //Enhancing Education through Technology Act of 2001//. Retrieved from website: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg34 .html ======