Week 5 Assignment: Course Reflections

Before the course began I anticipated learning about the role of an administrator concerning technology. I know that the more use technology the more likely my staff is to follow that leadership and use technology in their teaching. I anticipated learning about newer technologies that my students are already involved in and how to use those with my current curriculum and to enhance instruction. All of these anticipations were met and achieved through the various readings, discussions, and assignments that were assigned in the weekly assignments. I feel that I have a better understanding of my role as an administrator or technology facilitator in order to lead a staff toward technology usage in the classroom to enhance and facilitate learning.

Not only did I learn about a leadership role in the area of technology, but I also learned how to further extend my current teaching through technology. I’m currently looking for ways to use blogging and wikis and if my principal allows cell phones to enhance my current teaching. I have a strong desire to show my students how to use technology in a good way and for an educational use. To my knowledge they mostly use their cell phones to text and that is why I somehow want to incorporate cell phones into an educational lesson. I want my students to know how to blog and post on a wiki about a topic we are studying before they learn how to do it one their own. As an educational technology campus facilitator I want the teachers who are under me to be comfortable with technology applications in order to enhance instruction.

An area that I would like to become more familiar with is wikis. I feel that though the class I became very comfortable with blogs. I would like to do further research into wikis and howto use them in the classroom. I believe my students would benefit from using them and commenting on subjects that we are learning about. If we had had the opportunity to post on a wiki as part of one of our weekly assignments I believe I would have become more familiar and comfortable with them. Using the wiki as an assignment is how I believe my students will best learn and become comfortable with them.

Each assignment provided indepth, hands on learning. Week three gave me a little trouble because some of the district personle I had emailed interview questions to were not able to get back to me in a timely manner. I did my best with the answers I received from other technology personel inorder to complete the assignments and activities. I was unable to find the district technology improvement plan on the website, but eventrually received it late from a technology facilitator. After receiving this document I was able to better complete week four’s assignment and activities.

Through the many articles and discussions in this class I was able to understand the components of blogs and wikis. I received many ideas on the use and integration of technology systems to enhance learning. I realized that I need to be aware of what my students are using on the internet and be active in teaching them how to use technology systems for learning. I also realize that as an educational technology campus facilitator I need to be up to date on the latest technologies and make a point to use them on my campus and with my staff. This in turn will encourage the teaching staff to explore technology as well. As an educational technology campus facilitator I want to lead teachers by helping them to experience technology use for their own learning so they in turn can be more confident in teaching their students how to use technology for their learning.

I have only used blogs for a personal diary and to keep updated with friends’ lives. I was enlightened through many articles to find that blogging not only enhance our leadership abilities, but also provides opportunity to improve student success. I like the idea of seeting up a controlled blog for my classroom that can benefit students by providing peer editing and discussions. Students can create their own learning and conncet to others, forming online learning communities. I have spoken to a third grade teacher about setting up a blog for both our students (I teach 5th grade) to discuss how to solve two and three step problems. Blogging can focus on learning. Projects can be self-contained with in a class or school, or collaborative across schools. As an educational technology campus facilitator I want to be supportive of my teachers and encourage them with ideas and detailed instructions.

A major concern I have for using blogs in the classroom is the fact that information in blogs and other web publishing tools can be biased, inappropriate or unthruthful. I anticipate it being difficult for me as a teacher and/or administrator to oversee students’ and teachers’ appropriate use of blogs. I also worry about students finding incorrect data, inappropriate material, and possible predators. Students do not always realize the dangers that are lurking online. Although there are many concerns of blogs, I feel that the good far outways the bad. A major concern that I would have as an educational technology campus facilitator would be the negative attitudes of teachers toward new technologies. I feel that it is my job to help teachers understand the benefits and how technology can further their professional development and extended learning. I would like to help them realize that the good aspects of technology far out weight the bad or negative.

One way I envision using blogs is through book studies or when learning new instructional and technology strategies. Because there is little time to meet for these discussions, I believe blogs would be a convenient and effective way to provide professional growth and development. I would also like to set up a blog for my parents concerning their child’s internet usage and how they can help their child with what we are learning in class. These tools would enable conversation and dialogue between me and other parents. As an educational technology campus facilitator I want to set up blogs for teacher learning. Hopefully through these teachers will realize how they can use blogs with their students in the classroom. I would also like to present ideas for administrators to use it with various stakeholders/community members in order to discuss current events pertaining to the campus.