Upon first realizing that this course was not just based on Leadership but linked to technology I was very excited about learning about new advances in technology uses in the classroom and in the school. Being a technology enthusiasts I immediately began to think of ways technology could be used to help run the day to day operations of a school and how far technology has advanced in the last ten years. My personal expectations for the course were probably somewhat unrealistic being that I wanted to know more about devices such as iphones, touchpad computers and digital boards rather than procedures and safety issues although I am aware that as an instructional leader I am responsible for all aspects of technology integration, even those that may seem mundane. I also had to take into account the different levels of other students in this course whose interest in technology may not be on devices but with policy. My desired outcomes are based on the fact that I struggled when choosing rather to pursue my masters degree in administration or technology. Although I craved more information on new hardware and software integration the course has renewed my interest in researching technology in the school and classroom and broadened my perspective of technology to include people and planning at the core of the integration process rather than machines.
In my daily work at school I have begun to look at ways we use technology, making a mental inventory of what teachers are using and how they are using it and comparing it to what students are using. I have begun to include students in discussions about technology and how they use it at school and at home. I have asked them what tools they would like to see incorporated into their learning environments and how these tools would help them achieve learning goals set by the school and state. I have discussed internet safety, copyright laws and peer to peer sharing with them. Before this course my thinking was limited to what technology could do for me as an individual and teacher and now my thinking has broadened to students, teachers, parents and faculty including custodians and cafeteria workers. My new perspective has caused me to wonder if an electronic broom (Roomba) would make time for custodians to do other things while the floors are being cleaned electronically. I have investigated how communication can be improved with a better web site informing parents of homework, classwork and grades.
This course was the perfect springboard for my own personal growth and where it fell short in highlighting the newest areas of digital integration in education, it caused me to seek out these new areas and ideas from subtle prompting found in the readings and discussions. For instance, handheld computing devices were mentioned but not enough insight was given on how they could be used in schools which caused me to seek out sites that reported on ipods and iphones in education which is a big topic in itself but still in it’s infancy. I also wanted to know about the possibilities of replacing textbooks with electronic reading devices or other personal computing devices which caused me to investigate the potential for students, teachers, and parents working together to create a digital curriculum in the summer that would be used in the fall and spring. In this search I discovered one of the Top Inventions for 2009, a laptop initiative that personalized each student’s learning styles and matched it with their interests and needs.
In completing each assignment for this course I ran into few problems except for my initial problems with posting a powerpoint to my blog. I had never done this before and the resources provided by the professors were adequate, however, because I prefer Apple’s Keynote software over Windows’ PowerPoint I struggled to get the file to upload and convert to a readable file successfully. This minor setback caused me to export the file as a quicktime movie file which could then be imported directly into the blog.
This act of problem solving is part of the skill set we want students to gain when working on projects and yet sometimes we take away their ability to discover new knowledge by giving them too much information. This incident is an example of real world problem solving techniques that can be duplicated in the classroom to teach thinking skills while embedded in other subject matter.
I have learned in this course that no tool can guarantee success nor replace the skill of a master teacher, however just as robotic assembly lines have changed the mass production of goods, tools created by or with master teachers can advance the learning process for the differentiated masses of students in today’s learning arenas. In order to be a part of this revolution administrators must not yield to complacency by accepting any one system as a panacea for their school’s problems. Technology is moving at such a rapid rate of speed that our beliefs about technology must be flexible or our methods and tools will become outdated. It is the responsibility of a leader to see where the trends of today are heading and how they can be used to serve the needs of tomorrows organizations.
Blogging is the 21st century town crier, the personal newspaper, a digital bulletin and the electronic chalkboard. It puts the power of disseminating information into the hands of the masses. However, with so many voices crying out, has the voice of reason been drowned out? One adage on the subject states that “Never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few”. (anonymous) The latter was my former belief about blogging until I realized that I followed some forms of blogs on subject matter that I was interested in not realizing that they were blogs. When reading my classmates blogs and posting responses, it became apparent of the usefulness for such a tool to collaborate and share information with a selected group of individuals.
Blogging as the 21st century crier could inform parents and students of upcoming events and remind them of deadlines and due dates. Blogging as a personal newspaper could inform parents of what is taking place in the classrooms while the digital bulletin can highlight students and feature their work. Blogging as an electronic chalkboard can be used to give homework directions, problems and list online resources for help on a variety of subjects. Because blogs are dated and stored online this information is always available and can act as a digital journal for the life of students and teachers, however the most important aspect of providing such a tremendous amount of information is to not divulge information that could jeopardize relations between students, parents and the district such as erroneous information or descriptive information that could give a predator insight to a students life. Because of the threats that do exist it is feasible to maintain several blogs with various levels of exposures, pending on the audiences. When blogs are used correctly they are powerful tools for disseminating information and even gathering comments from individuals. Like all digital tools, their successful implementation depends largely on their underlying framework which consist of policies, rules and procedures.
