EDLD+5306+-+Concepts+of+Educational+Technology

=EDLD 5306=

What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned? I actually had not envisioned any outcomes for this particular course; however, I assumed during the coursework I would learn about current technologies. I envisioned learning about all available technologies then in subsequent courses learn how to use them. I was pleasantly surprised that some of those technologies were addressed during the first course as well as how to implement them into classroom use. My desire was to learn of new internet uses and was exposed to technologies that I had known nothing about and can now have ways to use them effectively. The leadership aspect of the course exceeded my expectations. As a result, I have quickly become interested in creating professional development sessions to help expose my colleagues to the technologies that I am learning about during this class. Although what I expected is not how the plan is set up, I have enjoyed what I have learned and look forward to the next course. || To the extent that you achieved the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not? These outcomes are relevant to what I do in the classroom. I will use blogs for my students and parents to help distribute information. I also plan to use wikis with colleagues in an online community so we can further investigate technology uses in their curriculum. The Campus STaR Chart showed that my school has a deficit in the professional development area and I plan to create and present quality professional development to my colleagues next school year. We have many needs on my campus and many of the technologies could make a difference in our teaching and change our expectations of the students. Our faculty is somewhat resistant to technology and I think they would do better if the material were provided in a manner they could see themselves using. My interest in using technologies in math has been recharged and I plan to investigate uses other than the graphing calculator. This I will certainly share no only with my co-workers but also with my math colleagues at the district level. || What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them? One of the outcomes I expected to be addressed is podcasting: how to use to enhance classrooms and how to create them. I would also like to learn more of the how to when dealing with the technologies. The wiki lesson was great because we experienced the creation and use. I hope as the coursework continues we are able to have more experiences such as the wiki lesson that will give an opportunity to create something as we learn. I also would have liked to have more case study readings. For me, reading about other teachers using technology sparks my imagination and helps me think of other uses. I would also like to have more readings on how to search for examples of technology uses in classroom environments. When I search it usually comes up with curriculum for sale not teachers sharing with teachers. Perhaps I need the help that we are providing for our students; how to search well and weed out all the unusable material. || Were you successful in carrying out the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you? I was able to carry out all the assignments with no problems; in fact, I enjoyed doing most of them and definitely learn about many aspects of technology leadership. I think the most difficult assignment was the Week 1 readings about the Long Range Plan and making sense of the TEKS. There was a lot of material to cover and it ended up taking me a while to learn how to use the Brighten software. The reading assignments made me evaluate how I teach and how to help my colleagues so we can better reach our 21st century students. I enjoyed all of the Final Word assignments; finding a quote that I feel is meaningful was fairly easy, deciding which quotes to comment on and what I wanted to say was a little more challenging. I very much enjoyed the assignments on blogs and wikis and plan to utilize those immediately. Like the students, I enjoy project based assignments and hope the coursework includes more of the same. || What did you learn from this course…about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes? Before this course, I had not heard of the Texas Long Range Plan and all of the technology mandates that it requires, including student expectations in regards to core courses. I think the information that stands out to me is that students are now thinking differently than they did 10 years ago and as a result, how they learn in class has changed. They crave more technology experiences, not technology enhanced lectures. I certainly was not aware that 30% of the technology budget was to go to professional development; I will encourage that money be used as it should be in the future. I have realized I would like to be the person on campus to bring new technology information to teachers and try to use some of the proven professional development methods that we have read about here. I want my campus to be as excited as I am to use technology with the students and I plan to be a point of support as these changes occur. ||
 * Week 5 Assignment: Course Reflections **