Course+Assignment+Reflections

EDLD 5306- Concepts of Educational Technology
The embedded assignments for this course were truly the building blocks for all other courses. The ideas I learned here carried through in all future courses as well as benefitted my daily work as an instructional technology facilitator. Before this course, I was not even aware of a long-range plan for technology. I did not realize such a comprehensive plan existed. We cannot effectively reach the students of today and tomorrow if we do not embrace the technology that they already have embraced. This plan validates the job I try to do every day as an Instructional Technology Facilitator. It also addresses some of the struggles I face in dealing with appropriate opportunities for professional development. It’s so important, but principals and teachers are responsible for so much that time to train teachers is a luxury I’m not often given. But I can develop activities that integrate technology into the current curriculum and pass them on as my gift to teachers and students. The analysis of my campus’ STaR chart allowed me to begin having conversations with my principal regarding how best to approach improved technology implementation on that campus. As a result, we began developing a technology vision, as teachers indicated the lack of such, and planned meaningful opportunities for educator professional development. Creating a blog and wiki site have probably been the most beneficial assignments throughout the whole program. I had limited exposure to these communication methods when I began the course, and now, not a day goes by that I’m not looking at one wiki or another. It has truly become the collaboration tool of choice for my fellow facilitators. While initial response to my campus collaborative wiki was lukewarm at best, there are growing pockets of enthusiasm for using this tool with students. We are starting to understand what Boss and Krause (2007) meant when they said that we should “maximize the use of digital tools to better reach essential learning goals, expanding classroom boundaries so that students gain real-world experiences and become global thinkers.” As I mentioned earlier, getting classroom teachers to communicate and collaborate via my wiki was quite difficult. I have found that only when participation is required, as it is for participants of a Promethean Interactive Whiteboard grant, will teachers collaborate in this manner. I could benefit from suggestions from others who have successfully implemented wikis for collaboration without coercion! Boss, S., & Krauss, J. (2007). Real projects in a digital world. Principal Leadership, 8(4), 22-26.

EDLD 5333 Leadership for Accountability
I actually enjoy analyzing data, so the activities requiring us to research AYP and T.E.A. criteria and analyze a campus’ standings were ones that allowed me to get a better handle on my campus’ needs. While my district has always placed emphasis on analyzing data, I feel we have fallen short of answering the question, “Now what?” As a result of the activity, I made an effort to design activities that teachers could use with their students to address areas of weakness. I was able to use the data as conversation starters with teachers so that we collaborated to develop differentiated activities to address the needs of different groups of students, with economically disadvantaged students being a top priority as this group consistently scored lower in all areas measured by the AYP and TEA’s Accountability System. We were led through the process of developing a personal vision. When this assignment was due, I wrote, “I want to create an environment where students stretch their minds and are prepared for the challenges their futures will bring and where staff members are inspired to meet every student’s needs through collaboration and a personal desire to continuously improve.” As ubiquitous as technology is, I would add emphasis on the need to use the best tools to reach students. I was able to apply the experience I gained in the assignment requiring us to develop an action plan to address the needs uncovered by the data analysis. I brought a team of teachers together to develop curriculum for a reading tutorial program. We used the data to identify the students who would participate in this program. We used Wiggins and McTighe’s (2000) “Backward Design” to develop a curriculum that would address the essential goals and clearly establish what students should know and do. It was satisfying to see the plan come to fruition. In looking at various campus improvement plans, with many lacking any reference to increasing technology use, I would like advice regarding how to encourage our administrators to include a focus on increasing technology integration. Too often, in my opinion, technology projects are only attempted if there happens to be enough time at the end of a unit. If we are going to prepare students adequately for their technology-filled futures, we have to make it a priority. Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2000). //Understanding by design // . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

=EDLD 5362 Information Systems Management= Interviewing long-time friend and co-worker, Felice McCreary, for assignment one of this course was an enjoyable trip down memory lane as we both had taught for twenty-plus years. We were both amazed at the technological advances we had witnessed, from the days of purple ditto masters to specifically arranging the room to accommodate the additional computers and to facilitate the increased use of them. As we were reminded of these changes, we knew more changes are on the way, so we must continue to grow ourselves in order to continue to meet the needs of our students. I appreciated the opportunity to research educational networks. As my district had just received a grant to place Promethean interactive whiteboards in my campus’ bilingual classrooms, I researched Promethean Planet. This site has amazing resources that made it so that we could put the boards in use the minute they were installed. Promethean Planet’s site was instrumental in developing professional development for the teachers who would be using the boards. We continue to rely on the resources provided within the site to get the most out of these new tools. Curriki was the other educational network I researched. Similar to Promethean Planet, Curriki is an online warehouse of lesson ideas, plans, etc. that teachers share with each other. Promethean Planet ( [|www.prometheanplanet.com] ) and Curriki ( [|www.curriki.org] ) are two sites that enhance our district’s implementation of interactive whiteboards without adding any further costs. These two sites offer true, 21st century interactivity by allowing opportunities to collaborate, connect, and contribute to a growing body of knowledge. Interviewing our Student Information System Director, Sandie Lindgren, opened my eyes to an area of technology with which I was only partly familiar. I used the tools of the information system for grades and attendance as a classroom teacher, but had very little knowledge of the scope of the system throughout the district. This department coordinates the data that is required for the Texas Education Agency, PEIMS, special education programs, even our district’s nutritional services. According to Darby and Hughes (2005) the "next step in the evolutionary process" is an information system that is "customizable and easily integrated so that it can change as districts' needs change." While I have limited understanding of the information in this system, I have an appreciation for what is going on behind the scenes that makes it possible to have all the data we need at our fingertips. Planning the model classroom allowed me to imagine the future of educational technology and its impact on learning. Broadband access will no longer be a luxury but a requirement to stay globally focused. Communication and collaboration are skills in high demand, and technology resources like wikis and blogs can help students develop those skills. Each and every classroom will need to be equipped with more technology tools like laptops, interactive whiteboards, and whole-group response systems. And the most impactful element of the classroom, the teacher, will have the skills necessary to lead students to becoming technologically savvy. It seems the more I learn, the more I realize there’s so much more. I plan on relying on my technology team and leadership to help me stay current so that I may provide my teachers what they need to prepare our students.

Darby, R. & Hughes, Tim (2005). //The Evolution of Student information Systems.// THE Journal. 10(6), 15-18.

5364 Teaching with Technology
Researching three learning theories set the foundation for the embedded assignments of this course. Constructivist theory proposes that all new learning depends on background knowledge and foundational understanding that allows a learner to take new information and use past experiences to make sense of it all. When the new information doesn't make sense, new learning takes place as the brain attempts to categorize it or connect it to previous learning. Connectivism purports learning is very social and that learning occurs as we make connections with new information, connections with each other, connections with databases, social networks, etc. Things change so rapidly in today's world, that it's imperative to stay current, and to do that, one must learn how to learn, and share, collaborate, and create with one another. Finally, another theory, cyborg theory, sees an interdependence of humans and computers to learn best. It was by far, in my opinion, the most controversial theory. The idea of implanting chips and downloading information directly to our brains is one I'll need some time to get used to! Asreported by Bransford, et al (2000), "What is now known about learning provides important guidelines for uses of technology that can help students and teachers develop the competencies needed for the twenty-first century." What I learned about these theories helped me to develop projects that met the needs of diverse learners and their teachers. The group project to develop a unit determined by a needs assessment and embedding technology was a good experience on many levels. Working in groups always adds an interesting mix to an assignment. I tend to have particular ideas for how things should be done, so compromising was a skill I was able to hone a little more. While the group worked well as a whole, we did our best work when we divided up the responsibilities and brought our parts together in the end. We worked hard to make sure everyone was comfortable with their roles and that all opinions were heard. While meetings were held virtually through Googledocs, we were also able to meet in person as we all worked for the same school district. I think this may have given us a slight advantage over groups that communicated 100% virtually. As far as the project went, I came to appreciate the details that must go in to units to ensure that the needs of all students are being met. Through the CAST lesson builder, we were able to create a project that accommodated for special learning needs. We were pleased with the feedback we received when we actually took our project to our teachers. I felt this assignment, and this course, was exactly what I had in mind when I decided to embark on getting my Masters in educational technology.

Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., & Cocking, R.R. (2000) //How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school// (Expanded edition). Ch. 9, pp. 194-218. Washington, D.C.:National Academy Press. Retrieved on October 4, 2009, from http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=6160&page=194.

=**EDLD 5368 Instructional Design**= In order to prepare for the development of an online course, we were asked to complete a pre- and post-assessment regarding our learning theories. Of interest to me was how the readings for that week changed my mind about a few of the questions. In my Pre-Assessment Inventory, I seemed to believe in almost everything! I had checked “agree” on all but the first statement. I wonder if this is due to having taught for twenty plus years and experiencing so many learning theories coming and going as both student and teacher? And even though I disagreed with statement 1, my first teaching years were all about “bribing” students to perform in certain ways with gold stars and other incentives, both individual and whole-class. As I continued to teach, I learned that I can “extract best evidence of the cognitive processes that cannot be directly observed” through behavior (Smith & Ragan, 1999). Based on the Post-Assessment Inventory, I seem to lean more toward Contructivism/Interpretivism. My use of more qualitative assessments is supported by Roblyer, Edwards, & Havriluk (1996) who suggest the use of portfolios that provide evidence of student work habits, strengths and weaknesses. Statement 8 rings true to me as I have always felt schools were to help students develop not only academically, but socially as well. I feel I follow the Action Learning Model (Revans, 1980), where bringing “people together to find solutions to problems…develops both the individuals and the organization." My desire is to develop authentic tasks that require students to work together to come up with solutions, much like what I imagine will be expected of a majority of students in their working world. Upon completing the Teaching Style inventory, I learned my methods are usually hands-on and collaborative as indicated by quadrant D. My goals matrix indicated that I fall exactly on the line between quadrants D and B, somewhat confusing as one implies preferring rote learning by students while the other emphasizes analysis. The commonality is in application of learning, where one focuses on practical applications and the other on familiar applications. With that, I can agree. Referring to familiar or practical application to get students to learn has long been a part of my efforts to connect with students where they are. My “students” these days are actually teachers, as my job is to provide training to help teachers integrate technology into their curriculum and to provide how-to instruction for many computer-based applications. My “student” inventories indicate that they tend to be auditory learners. This is interesting to me as I continuously hear “show me” when I explain a concept. I feel I need to make sure my instructions are auditory, as most trainings are, but they also need an element of visual and hands-on. Teachers don’t seem to learn quite as well if they don’t get their own hands on a mouse. I am excited to take a dvantage of Jing, a program in which I can create video tutorials that will allow viewers to see, hear, and do. I have spent a lot of time creating visuals and step-sets (item 5) to show teachers how to do something on the computer. I can see a need to add audio to the step-sets to meet the needs of more learners. Several “students” indicated a preference to snack (item 15), but snacking has never been encouraged around computers. I could lighten up in that regard and provide snacks during my trainings. And I could support further learning by providing follow-up readings and links (item 22) related to the new learning. Fortunately, computers can meet auditory, visual, and tactile needs. I was familiar with working with Wiggins and McTighe’s (2000) lesson design template used to develop our online curriculum. As a member of my district’s elementary curriculum team, I knew about the process of beginning with the end in mind, so that all lesson activities supported the big ideas and essential questions of the unit. Of course, I couldn’t begin to create a unit until I had gathered data regarding what my students, in this case, teachers needed to know. Through classroom observations, our campus’ STaR chart, TAKS data, and a technology needs assessment I created, I determined my teachers could benefit from instruction in implementing their newly installed Promethean interactive whiteboards. The process of determining the big ideas and what my learners will know and do, helped me create a unit that I was able to implement immediately. A colleague and I were responsible for after-school trainings for the teachers that received these boards. The materials and resources I put in the online course were instrumental in making those trainings impactful. Teachers also appreciated the 24/7 availability of the resources. Even more exciting was the eagerness with which teachers shared their ideas and examples they created as they now had a forum for doing so. Conversations were happening within the discussion board of my course well after the hours of the trainings. This format provided a way for teachers to share no matter their level of confidence or ability. As with all online activities, my concern and question is how do I protect my students? Participating in discussion boards opens up risks of inappropriate comments being made. And students are all too eager to share way more information about themselves than they should. While I wasn’t worried about the course I created for my teachers being private, I would definitely have to make sure one I developed for younger students would be.

Revans, R (1980). //Action learning: New techniques for management//. London: Blond & Briggs. Roblyer, M.D., Edwards, J. & Havriluk, M.A. (1996). Learning theories and integration models. //Integrating educational technology into teaching//. Prentice Hall. Smith, P. and Ragan, T. (1999). //Instructional design// (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2000). //Understanding by design//. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

=**EDLD 5366 Digital Graphics, Animation and Desktop Publishing**= I have used the lessons learned through the assignments of this course over and over. As an instructional technology facilitator for three campuses, so much of my professional development is done via newsletter. A colleague and I co-write monthly issues of //Tech Times// in which we offer ideas and how-tos, introduce websites, and share useful technology tips. Through the initial lectures of the course, I came to understand the importance of color, repetition, alignment, and proximity, and to this day, I find that I still look for these elements in advertising and other media. We were also given the assignment of creating our own brand or logo to represent ourselves. Even my husband got in on the fun of offering ideas for a logo that would represent me. After many ideas, I finally settled on a mouse superimposed on the world to represent the global access that technology offers us. To guide us in creating a high-quality, purposeful newsletter, we were given the task of creating our own rubric. This helped me determine what I would include and how I would make the newsletter eye-catching as well as useful. It was much like using the lesson-design template that helps one begin with the end in mind. The final product was a four-page newsletter. While my //Tech Times// issues are never more than two pages, and more often just a single page, I appreciated the opportunity to include so much information. In the real world though, I fear that a newsletter that long would be relegated to the email trashcan before being read. There has to be a balance. I have received so much positive feedback regarding these newsletters, especially when they focus on teacher productivity. My colleague and I have honed our collaboration and compromise skills through producing them as well. Through acknowledging ideas from both of us, we are able to produce a newsletter that meets the needs of many teachers. The best compliments are the ones that come from our fellow facilitators when they send our newsletters to the teachers on their campuses as well. In the future, I think I will ask my teachers for ideas to include in newsletters. What do they want to learn how to do? What kinds of resources are they looking for? Maybe this would give my newsletter an element of interactivity. One assignment had us exploring the virtual world called Second Life. I found this frustrating in more ways than one. I struggled with getting my avatar to perform as I needed, and other avatars approached me with inappropriate comments and dress. I had difficulty finding the value in this lesson. But I realize that virtual worlds are opening up more and more, and our students will be using them. If we can create private environments where the intent is education, I am all for using this tool to engage students. But I was approached inappropriately before I could even complete the creation of my avatar. That was enough for me to decide it would not work for my elementary students. How can we take advantage of these virtual worlds and still keep kids safe? If I had the programming skills to create such a place with education as the primary goal, I could probably become a millionaire.

=**EDLD 5363—Video Technology and Multimedia**=

The moment I saw this course in our schedule, I looked forward to what I’d learn and be able to take back to my campuses. With the popularity of sites like YouTube, students today are eager to tell their stories on the web. It’s the teachers who need to catch up. This course gave me the ability, confidence and desire to help teachers integrate video technology into their curriculum. Our first assignment helped us get our feet wet by producing a video using still shots. I enjoy storytelling; doing so in video format was engaging. We were able to use music to help us set the tone. Too often students incorporate music that they like, but that has nothing to do with the message of the video. This encouraged me to collect various music clips and have students analyze the mood. This helps make the point that the music should have a purpose. Our next assignment required us to compile video clips to meet a specific purpose, i.e. news report, tourism advertisement, etc. Through this assignment we had to ramp up our video editing skills. Somewhat new information for me was the importance of the shot angles and how varying them makes a video more engaging. I came to love iMovie for the ease with which I was able to produce a semi-professional looking video complete with music and voice over. Having just received Flip video cameras on my campuses, I appreciate being able to model the editing process for my teachers. Students have used video to explain science experiments, “interview” famous people, tell about great books, and explain how problems were solved. Little did I know that these student-created videos would become assessment-for-learning tools. If students were not able to explain the process in math or science, teachers knew to review or re-teach the information. The culminating assignment, creating a Public Service Announcement video, was the most challenging, but not because of any specific video skills. We were required to form groups with people we had never even met, from towns we were nowhere near, to swap video and music clips that would be put together in an agreed-upon PSA. Agreeing on the topic was not difficult. Assigning jobs that relied upon our strengths was not difficult. Getting quality video and sound, and putting it all in a format that allowed everyone to access and edit was a challenge. Most frustrating was the lack of contact from one of the members of the group until two hours before the project was due, leaving no time to edit and record the reflection regarding the experience. I think my frustration with the group process, however, is pretty typical of the dynamics of group work. So in that regard, this experience makes me more thoughtful of the difficulties faced when we try to bring a diverse group of people together for a common purpose. The abilities to collaborate and compromise and be accountable are important life-long skills that we help students develop by putting them in these types of situations.

=**EDLD 5365—Web Design**=

I knew so very little about the behind-the-scenes policy making that goes on so that I may use web pages to communicate with teachers, students and parents before taking this course. Through the assignment to create a web policy that includes mention of new Web 2.0 technologies, I came to understand a need for a detailed plan that explains what can and cannot be done with web pages. As each web page that references a connection to Leander ISD is, in a way, representing the district, it is important that guidelines be written and followed to uphold the standards of the district. My experience with web pages is usually limited to deciding what goes on my page and helping teachers use their pages as an instructional and communication tool. But I recently had to have a conversation with a teacher on my campus regarding her off-site web page that needed to clearly state that her page was on a site not connected with the district. Most often, that is a situation that comes up with various school-related organizations, i.e. parent teacher organizations, booster clubs, etc., and not a situation with which I have to deal. Having studied our current web policy, I was able to explain the rules the teacher needed to address. As I mentioned earlier, my primary dealings with web pages concerns helping teachers use theirs as instructional and communication tools. I have hosted several professional development sessions on this topic. Part of the web design course gave me background knowledge in proper citations of images used in the pages and how to make a page accessible for all users, including the hearing and/or visually impaired. Now my sessions include information that ensures that teachers are not discriminating against anyone in the creation of their page. A favorite topic of teachers is educational sites they can include on their web pages to help extend student learning beyond the school day as well as help facilitate small group instruction during the day. One struggle with full implementation of web pages as instructional and communication tools is the issue of families and homes without Internet access. One of my campuses is a Title I campus, and teachers there often express that not enough students have access to the Internet at home to make keeping a web page updated a worthwhile activity. Our local library has tried to partner with us to remind families of the services they offer, but I wonder if there is a way to keep the campus open late for at least one night a week to allow families to come in and further learning and communication via the computers we have on campus.