Course Reflections


When I made the decision to return to academia and began working on my Masters degree; I did not even consider the program’s content. My focus was getting accepted and finding money in my budget. As a classroom teacher and single mother, there was no time or money to go back to school, nor was there monetary motivation in my district. I was fortunate to be selected for my current position based on my previous industry and teaching experiences; a Masters Degree was recommended but not required. Twenty years have passed since I was enrolled in a university and I expected to face some challenges. My expectation was to learn better techniques and current technology trends. I attend many workshops and conferences with keynote motivational speakers. I considered myself aware of current trends, data and studies about education and learners in the 21st Century. I wanted to learn ways to motivate teachers and techniques for moving teachers in Career and Technology Education into the 21st Century. I was hoping for methods of teaching diverse learners and emerging technology. I did not anticipate that I would need many of those tools myself. I was resistant to wiki, blogs and social networking as learning and teaching tools.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn how easy they were to use and the potential value of collaboration. Of course, I still have concerns for personal and student safety on the internet. I believe that our teachers, particularly digital immigrants, must embed digital citizenship and safety into the curriculum. It is definitely one of the missing links in technology education.

Putting aside my struggles and challenges, this course’s outcome far exceeded my expectation or vision. I did not anticipate the wealth of information that came with the Concepts of Educational Technology. I have been able to use many of the theories and quotes in my daily work. The readings have given me new perspectives in my work, and explain many of the “unexplained” directives that flow down the administrative pipeline. I find myself better armed to answer questions from teachers and participate in discussions with other departments. While planning my recent presentation for high school CTE teachers, I was able to model the Web 2.0 tools I learned and encourage them to utilize the tools as well. In spring of 2010, Austin ISD moved to Cloud technology and I foresee myself taking advantage of the collaboration tools by moving some of our our office communication to those venues. One of my responsibilities is to update our department news on our internal and external web pages. By utilizing these Web 2.0 tools it will make it easier to update the information in a timely manner, as opposed to our current “controlled” district website.

I viewed myself as a Tech savvy individual and was confident I could handle the lessons in Technology Leadership course work. I expected to breeze through the assignments. I was mistaken. I faced challenges and difficulties in completing assignments on time, balancing work and family and I struggled with the technology of online coursework delivery system. TK20 was foreign to me and proved somewhat of a time consumer to comprehend. This last week has been particularly difficult. I was delivering training and much of my week was spent planning and developing my presentation. I was not able to put sufficient time into planning my Draft Internship Plan or Principals Competency Chart. I feel I could have a done better job, if I had more of that valuable commodity, time.

 I was hesitant to commit to a brick and mortar program that required seat or face time with an instructor. Many times I am required to work late hours to meet deadlines for our department. I had concerns about meeting the attendance obligation. I witnessed colleagues and teachers, start programs and have to drop out because of time commitments. The online option offered at Lamar University seems to be a good fit for me. I have the support from my family to continue for the next 16-17 months. I am more confident now than I was the first 2 weeks.

 As I reflect on the past 5 weeks, I am proud of myself. I was able to overcome the challenges and my shortcomings. I will always remember Sarah’s advise to me during that first week, “Remember to focus on scholarly writing.” That was probably the most helpful lesson I learned on this path I have chosen. Her words helped me focus on what I was attempting to accomplish. We as a society have become accustomed to casual conversation and casual communication. I am guilty of using time saving language and writing styles. I was not always completing or developing thoughts. I expect everyone to “know” what I am talking about, and I forget to develop the work. I may not have mastered the art of scholarly writing; however, I plan to grow the skill during this process.

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National Educational Technology Plan

The National Educational Techonolgy Plan, (NETP),

Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology

There are two goals that the Obama Administration has identified as “urgent” :

·        Raise college graduates from 41% to 60% of population (2 or 4 year degree) by 2020

·        Close achievement gap so that all students graduate from high school college and career ready

To accomplish these aggressive goals, when most states and federal government are reducing funding to education, there must be a radical transformation in education. 

A statement found in the Executive Summary was very profound. “To shorten our learning curve, we should look to other kinds of enterprises, such as business and entertainment that have used technology to improve outcomes while increasing productivity.”  What better way to help students make a real world connection than mirroring the entertainment business?   Consider film making, digital imaging, gaming industry, sports, virtual worlds and music, all have embraced the use of technology to create the digital world in which the 21^st Century learner thrives.   If education would borrow their methods and create a learning environment that is as attractive to the student, as their entertainment environment, all the educational goals may be more easily met.

The NETP identifies five goals:

·        Learning

·        Assessment

·        Teaching

·        Infrastructure

·        Productivity

States are required to create, revise and implement learning objectives utilizing technology that reflects the needs of the 21st Century learner.   The power of technology can be exploited to reach the diverse population in the school, regardless of the discipline.  Today’s leaner has the advantage of “always on” Internet and communication.  That flexibility allows educators to design learning experiences that can extend to any time, any place.

Currently, technology is measure in how much money and how many computers are in the schools.  The data for how that technology affects teaching and learning is not measured.  If effective technology data is gathered and analyzed, a determination of where and how the technology is impacting education could be made.  The data could help determine what, how and where technology could be the most effective.

A challenge for technology integration lies in the fact that many existing educators, administrators and stakeholders have not been able to transition into 21^st Century technology.  The resulting gap prevents those decision makers from including technology into instructional practices.  Targeted professional development for these educators and leaders is critical to move them into the 21^st Century.