Technology Course Reflection

When I began this course, I really did not know what to expect. I felt that I used quite a bit of technology in the classroom, but I also knew that I had much to learn. Before beginning this coarse I hoped to gain some insight on some of the various forms of technology available to use in the classroom. From this coarse I was able to learn all of this and much more. This class exceeded my expectations. I was able to learn about different types of media available for the classroom. I had no idea about the use of blogs or pod casting. I probably wont use pod casting anytime soon, but I think that blogs are a great way for students to post and share ideas with one another. I also learned about some of the legalities of using the Internet and sharing ideas. I believe that this information will prove to be very useful in the future. The outcomes of this course aligned with what I envisioned. They really exceeded what I envisioned. Again, I gained great insight in different types of media to use in the classroom, plus acquired legality information that will be useful as technology gets more and more prominent in the classroom.



The information that I gained from this course is going to be a great help to me. I plan on using blogs to help students share information with one another. I also believe after taking this course that teachers share the responsibility of teaching our students about certain dangers of the Internet and how to share information and navigate the Internet in a safe manner. Hopefully I will be able to put my knowledge to good use.



There were not a lot of outcomes that I did not achieve from this course. When I began this class, I hoped to gain knowledge about different forms of technology that I could use to enhance learning in my classroom. I was able to do this and more. I am excited about the knowledge that I gained about helping students use the Internet safely. I believe this is a huge responsibility of teachers and one we must continue to learn about. I know that I have to continue to learn though. There is still a lot that I do not know about technology and I must continue to keep learning so that I can keep up with the student of today.



I was pretty successful carrying out the course assignments. I had some trouble making the slide show. I am pretty technologically challenged, so just taking this course on-line has been a bit of a challenge. Also, taking this class over the Thanksgiving break was tough. Also, I am the head football coach at my school, and we were still in the playoffs when this coarse began. Finding the time to blog and make slide shows was very difficult. Those were the main problems that I encountered. I had a lot of fun during this class because much of it was fairly new to me. Just writing in this blog was very new. I am very pleased with the progress I have made throughout this class, and I am excited about incorporating some of my lessons in the classroom with my newly acquired knowledge.



I learned that I can still learn new things. I never envisioned myself learning about using blogs or pod casts. I am also happy that I learned so much about the legalities of copyrights and using lessons in the classroom. Also, taking these lessons with you when you go to another school. I also learned that my school is definitely behind in many forms of technology. Knowing that, my school still earned an exemplary score on the TAKS test, so I believe that this shows it is still about getting information to the students in a way that they can know and understand. I do believe that certain forms of technology can enhance this learning, but you still have to have a competent, good teacher who can get this information across to the students.



I think there is definitely a certain value to blogging. With the use of computers so prevalent and the amount of time that our students are on computers, I believe there is value in blogging. It all comes back to if the students are willing to use and read these blogs to share information. For this to happen the students have to be interested in the information and have a willingness to learn. This comes back to a great teacher, who makes this happen. So again, I think that there is value in blogging if the students "buy in" and use the technology for their benefit. If they do this then the students can share information with one another, which is a great way to learn.



Even though there a lot of benefits from using blogging, like sharing information and updating students about assignments for students. There are also some potential negative effects of blogging. The main one that comes to mind for me is on-line predators. We have to educate students about the dangers of putting too much information on the Internet when blogging. Many predators will use this information to gain insight into these students' lives. Because of this I believe you have to be careful of what you want your students to blog about and the way they do it.

Communication with school stakeholders is critical for the success of the school district. Stakeholders range from school administration, teachers, board members, students and even parents. Getting information out to all of these groups can be time consuming and a problem if not done efficiently. Obviously blogging is not the final solution, but it is a great means of communication for a large majority of the stakeholders at your school. Almost everyone has a computer at home, or one nearby that is accessible. There are not many parents or school staff personnel that do not use a computer on a daily basis, so using a blog for an effective means of communication between school and stakeholders is a logical choice. It shouldn't be the only means of communication, but it is a solid choice when trying to give information to a large group of people.

Action Plan

Professional Development planning is the key to implementing a successful technology action plan for a school. The Technology Director with the help of the Principal must come up with effective strategies for implementing their plan, so that the teachers can integrate technology in the classroom. The Technology director can use the campus STaR Chart to look where improvements can be made. Using this information, the Campus Technology Director can then set up professional development that is useful for the staff. Another way to learn about technology needs of the school is to set up meetings with the heads of each department and ask them what each classroom needs and what kinds of trainings would be beneficial for the teachers in their departments.
Some professional development trainings that could help teachers is the use of blogs in their classrooms. Teachers could have students set up blogs so they could share information with each other and the teacher. Another useful training would be for the use of podcasts. This would allow teachers to communicate with other teachers for lesson plans and ideas in their classroom. These methods can help to improve gathering and analysis of data from a variety of sources. Also, administrators need training to improve their ability to integrate technology instruction. This training would have to be set up by the Technology Director based upon the action plan that was approve by the Superintendent and Principal.

A technology action plan has to be evaluated to ensure its success. This evaluation should be monitored by the technology director at each campus and their findings should be presented to the Campus Principal. Talking to our campus technology director, I gained insight to the various forms of evaluation she uses to provide data for campus technology improvement.
One method she uses for evaluation is of course the STaR Chart. With the STaR Chart the technology director can evaluate the needs of the campus and what kinds of training the staff needs in order to teach with technology successfully in the classroom. The technology director must also follow the campus and district improvement plans that have been made by the District Improvement Committee. Using these plans will lay the framework of the technological needs of the district and each campus.
Professional development is measured by feedback from teachers. This feedback includes both an evaluation of the training itself and feedback from teachers on what types of trainings would be beneficial for the entire school. The technology director meets with the head of each department to make sure that technology needs are being met in the classroom, and also to introduce new forms of technology that can be used in the classroom. The head of each department can then request trainings for their department.