EDLD+5364+Final+Assessment

 1. What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?   When I saw the course title “Teaching with Technology”, my expectations were very high. In my mind, the course would focus on strategies for implementing technology not only in a classroom, but district wide as well. As a new Technology Director, it is my responsibility to help plan and guide the implementation of technology in classrooms around the district. I was really hoping to see some guidelines for best practices when it comes to implementation. This course provided me with a number of resources to continue researching on my own, but I did feel it was a bit lacking in content. I would have liked to have been given more direction on the group project, which was difficult for me to understand. Since I am not a certified teacher, I had a difficult time with developing lessons for diverse class. More instruction on designing a plan for technology implementation in a district would have been useful as well.      2. To the extent that you achived the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?   The resources that were included in the course will certainly be beneficial to me as the Technology Director. One of my goals for next year is to implement a technology academy, where teachers will be able to pick the topics that interest them and attend training sessions. Since I recently hired our first Instructional Technologist, I also want her to be available to help develop technology-related lesson plans. While I will not be developing the plans myself, the knowledge and resources I gained from this class will help me understand and measure the effectiveness of our technology implementation. I also want to be a resource to my Instructional Technologist. While she has taught Tech Apps, she is lacking in some technology skills. My hope is that she and I can work together and complement each others skills. Through the combination of our skills, we will be able to develop a well-rounded, effective technology academy.     3. What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?   Throughout this course, I kept looking for more information on the development and measuring of a technology implementation plan. In my district, we are lucky to have a lot of technology and a strong infrastructure. Unfortunately, during previous years, there was a lot of technology added without much thought to training or successful application in the classrooms. As the new director, one of my goals is to correct this situation and provide teachers with the training and support needed to effectively integrate technology in the classroom. Right now, I am considering a temporary freeze on technology purchases. To me, it is a waste to keep buying technology if we do not have a strong plan in place for its implementation. I was hoping that this course would provide more guidance in an overall plan than necessarily a single classroom. While the individual use of technology in a classroom is important, it is imperative to have a global plan as well. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> 4. Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you? <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> The course assignments were very difficult for me, for a variety of reasons. I felt each week that the instructions were too vague. Granted, this might be because I do not have an education background and may lack skills necessary for building an individual classroom intervention program. Then again, my partners who are all certified teachers expressed the same frustrations with the lack of instruction. It was also difficult to document all of our collaboration. My group found it much easier to communicate via email and text messages, rather than the Google Docs site. I was able to answer emails and carry on conversations via my cell phone. If we had depended strictly on the Google site, then we would have had a harder time scheduling and discussing the projects. I am not sure if we will lose points because our Google site looks like we didn’t collaborate, but we sent numerous emails and text messages back and forth. My final complaint is that the due date was changed from Sunday to Friday, December 18th. Since this is the last week of school, I really could have used the weekend to complete the project. Shaving off two days has made it very difficult to complete the course on time. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> 5. What did you learn from this course: about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes? <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;"> As with every course, I have learned that I still have a lot to learn. While my technology skills are very strong, I do face challenges because I lack a background in education. I understand how to use the technology, but am still working on the best way to successfully implement the technology in my district. Since technology is my chosen career, I get very excited at the prospect of adding technology into classrooms and especially putting it into the hands of the students. Then I get frustrated when I run into walls with the teacher attitudes. Yes, I know they are busy, but I truly believe that technology can be an asset in the classroom. I need to learn how to better convey the worth of an integrated classroom, especially to the more experienced teachers. Mandating the use of technology is not the solution. Teachers need to see and believe that it is relevant and beneficial in their classes. My challenge is to help the teachers reach these conclusions. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">