Comprehensive+Examination

Comprehensive Examination

Comprehensive Examination of Educational Technology Leadership Ing Mu     Lamar University Academic Partnership

**Comprehensive Examination of Educational Technology Leadership** Lamar University’s Educational Technology Leadership master’s program has prepared me to be an effective educational leader in the 21st century. This comprehensive examination is a reflection of the path I have taken in achieving my goal of gaining leadership skills with emphasis in educational technology. In this examination I will reflect on the technology tools and instructional strategies that I have learned, and how I would implement them into my everyday classroom practice. I will also share how I would use those skills and knowledge in further educating other teachers through professional development and become an effective technology facilitator at my school. **Position Goal** My passion and enjoyment come from teaching and interacting with students in the classroom. The master’s degree program from Lamar University has prepared me to become a better leader in the classroom and on school campus. As a member of the Tech Committee at my school I’ll be able to participate critically with the skills and knowledge I’ve gained, such as informing them of the benefits of Cloud computing as a more effective and cost efficient technology for schools. (The New Media Consortium, 2011, p.11) I would be able to lead professional development and share the technology tools I’ve learned. I would be able to serve as a tech expert in teaching other teachers with the latest technology tools such as the open source applications. Although I’ve been prepared to be an effective administrator my goal is to continue to be an effective classroom teacher who leads with 21st century teaching tools. **Leadership Goal** My priority has always been bringing quality leadership to the classroom for my students. My job as a Graphic Design, Animation, and Digital Photography teacher relies on staying current with technology. I’ve learned through the Lamar University program that there is abundance of open source graphic applications available on the Internet that my students and the teachers could take advantage of. Today teachers need to stay vigilant and resourceful in the time of shrinking budgets cross the country. My goal as a Tech Committee member is to bring awareness of the Web 2.0 tools to the staff on my campus. My campus is in the transition stage of making every classroom equipped with technology such as Smartboards, projectors, presentation computers, and student computers in every classroom with access to the Internet. As a technology leader I would like to play a part in teaching other teachers get comfortable with using technology that will be installed into all the classrooms. My classroom has been equipped with these tools for about three years now and with the skills I’ve learned through Lamar program I feel confident in sharing my knowledge with the staff. **Vision of Educational Technology** Over the last twenty years a leap has been taken in technology. Students and technology are intertwined. Marc Prensky (2001) named this generation as //digital natives//. “Our students today are all ‘native speakers’ of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet.” (Prensky, 2001, p.1) According to the September 2009 survey by Pew Internet & American Life Project 93% of teens use the Internet. (2009) Instant messaging, blogging, social networking, multi-player games, and sharing media such as videos, images, and music are a daily occurrence. “It is now clear that, as a result of this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it, today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors.” (Prensky, 2001, p.1) Unfortunately, schools have not evolved with the change and are just realizing that traditional educational methods are disengaging the students. “For the digital age, we need new curricula, new organization, new architecture, new teaching, new student assessments, new parental connections, new administration procedures, and many other elements.” (Prensky, 2008, p.11) My vision of educational technology is to meld school and students’ social world into one. Currently there’s a separation between how students learn in school and how they learn outside of school. Outside of school students learn by doing, collaborating, and experimenting using technology. In my vision schools tap into the natural skills that the digital natives already possess. Schools adapt constructivism and project-based curricula. Constructivism theory is based on the premise that learners begin with individual’s base-line knowledge about a subject. New information is gained from variety of sources such as instruction, reading, hearing, or collaborating. Learners construct new knowledge by adding to the base-line knowledge. “In a constructivist classroom, students are more actively involved than in a traditional classroom. They are sharing ideas, asking questions, discussing concepts, and revising their ideas and misconceptions. Constructivist teachers encourage student inquiry by asking thoughtful, open-ended questions and encouraging students to ask questions of each other. The questions are designed to challenge students to look beyond the apparent, delve into issues deeply and broadly, and form their own understandings.” (Sprague & Dede, 1999, p.8) Constructivism naturally blends with project-based curricula. Today students do not respond to linear learning such as listening to lectures. Learning experiences should be interactive and collaborative. Teachers are educational leaders that guild the students to actively learn. Web 2.0 tools such as wiki, blogs, and open source applications allow opportunities to collaborate. “With Web 2.0, the focus is not on software, but on practices such as sharing thoughts and information through self-publishing and harnessing the collective intelligence of all users to generate information and solve problems.” (Mills, 2007, p.4) “Our schools should be teaching kids to program, filter knowledge, and maximize the features and connectivity of their tools.” (Prensky, 2005/2006, p.10) My vision of melding school learning into outside of school is to maximize the use of open source applications. Today, there is abundance of open source applications in array of subjects. Google provides applications such as Google docs creating competitive edge against Mircosoft Office. There are multiple applications to create multi-media products such as video editing, audio mixing, image editing, presentations, 3D animation, and the list goes on. Using open source applications have major benefits. One benefit is that learning is not only contained during school hours. Students with access to the Internet are able to work on projects at any time. Another benefit is the cost effectiveness to students and the schools. “A switch to free open source software also minimizes cost and allows funding to be diverted to equipment and other programs.” (Guhlin, 2007, p.18) With ever growing shrinking school budgets and more demands put on schools to use technology, schools must maximize the funding wisely by setting priority. According to the New Media Consortium’s Horizon Report: 2011 K-12 Edition, Cloud Computing has gained momentum and has become cost effective solution for schools. Cloud-based applications and services are available to many school students today, and more schools are employing cloud-based tools all the time. Now schools are looking to outsource significant parts of their infrastructure, such as email and backups, to cloud providers. Together, these developments have contributed considerably to the adoption of cloud computing approaches at K-12 schools across the globe. (The New Media Consortium, 2011, p.6) By changing to Cloud Computing service the need to purchasing expensive local servers for storage is eliminated, which allows schools to focus purchasing toward workstation computers. Lastly, my vision of educational technology involves effective and meaningful teacher training. Without the proper investment toward teacher training all the intention of creating new technological classrooms will fail. Effective professional development is the key to successful evolution in schools that is necessary. Most teachers today are //digital immigrants.// (Prensky, 2001, p.1) “Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language.” (Prensky, 2001, p.3) Schools have been slow to change because most schools have placed priority in the wrong area. To meet the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation requirements there was a mad rush for schools to place computers into the classrooms. However, the vision was short sighted. They believed hardware was the solution. Even today, after over ten years of NCLB took effect, the computers in their rooms intimidate some teachers. They are just collecting dust. If schools are to move toward effectively using technology teachers must be trained. The training should be current, practical in the classroom, and frequent. According to the Horizon Report, 2011 some of the technology trend is going toward mobiles, game-based learning, and open content. These are highly sophisticated concepts to incorporate into education. The digital natives are familiar with using these applications on daily bases. It is teachers who must learn the native language and learn to creatively apply these tools in their instructions. **Self Reflection of Learning** I’ve realized during the last eighteen months as I’ve been taking various courses to complete the master’s program that I really enjoy learning. It re-enforces my philosophy that a person should always seek growth and evolve, especially an educator. I can truly state that my knowledge and attitude have grown exponentially. Prior to starting this program my focus was within my classroom. Although I’ve been involved in site leadership teams and tech committee, I do not believe I was able to fully contribute because my confidence and knowledge were lacking. Now, after taking the technology courses and leadership courses such as Teaching with Technology, Curriculum Management, and Leadership for Accountability I understand how each person has a responsibility to create a positive school environment. I’ve also learned that the technology skills I’ve gained would be very beneficial to the school. I’ve worked with individual teachers assisting them with technology, and I’ve given a workshop in Adobe Photoshop. They were gratifying experiences and I would like to help more teachers in the future because I’ve realized that many teachers are very frustrated by the lack of professional development in technology. From my experience the extent of technology use for most teachers are just taking attendance and checking emails. Just last week I was able to help a teacher use our Student Information System, Power School, to print her roster so that she can take roll. For me the task was a simple one, but I’ve realized that for teachers like this teacher the technology was a barrier to her teaching and her perception of technology was negative. When I showed her the simple steps she was able to print the list on her own. I’ve learned that I have the skills to help others. I am able to show my leadership at my campus as a technology expert. Previously my attitude was to concentrate within my classroom, but now I believe that I have a responsibility to share my skills and knowledge, and reach out to the campus. **Six Most Helpful Courses** **EDLD 5306 – Concepts of Educational Technology** Concepts of Educational Technology was the first course I was enrolled in this master’s of educational technology program, and the course materials opened my eyes to the future of education. The first two weeks of the course was rocky for me because the assignments focused on Texas Long-range Plan and Texas STaR Chart. I teach in California and these topics were very new to me and felt unnecessary. What I got most out of the course were the Web 2.0 tools and gaining understanding of the Digital Native and Digital Immigrant (Prensky, 2001, p.1) I’ve been teaching with technology and I’ve been in the technology industry prior to entering teaching. The technology that I use in my classroom is specific to the graphics industries, which are the Adobe software. I did not consider using open-source application. I thought blogs were mainly social technology. However, I learned that it could be used in education and it makes sense because students are already familiar with this application. During this course I experienced many web technologies for the first time such as wiki, RSS, SlideShare, Wordle, and Animoto. I’ve realized that there was another world that existed, which was called Web 2.0. I realized that I’ve mainly been a Web 1.0 user. “The new Web is open and democratic. There are no gatekeepers; most content is available without charge, and anyone may add to its volume of knowledge.” (Solomon, 2007, p.14) **EDLD 5364 – Teaching with Technology** Teaching with Technology was a very challenging, but very rewarding. The course revolved around a team project using open-source application. The assignments gave us the opportunity to experience first-hand how Google docs can be a great tool for distance learning in a collaborative setting. “From Wikipedia to open source software, millions of people are working together on the Web to produce a variety of free tools and resources. This is the new spirit that the Web is fostering.” (Richardson, 2007, p.1) With the help of Google docs my team was able to collaborative create action plan, student centered activities and UDL lesson plans that met the diverse needs of today’s student population. By using appropriate technology we adapted the lessons to meet special needs student such as hearing impaired and blind students. Since the beginning of my teaching career I believed in the effectiveness of project-based learning. The readings and video resources confirmed my belief that students learn better and are more motivated. “In project-based learning students are in charge of their learning. To come up with project solution they need to investigate research, gather ideas, organize, collaborate, and communicate. They develop to be socially capable, emotionally grounded, and intellectually grounded." (Edutopia.org, 2007) Coinciding with project-based learning, constructivism theory impacted my point of view of educational philosophy. Constructivism theory is based on the premise that learners begin with individual’s base-line knowledge about a subject. New information is gained from variety of sources such as instruction, reading, hearing, or collaborating. Learners construct new knowledge by adding to the base-line knowledge. Learning happens through experiences and social interactions. Constructivism encourages project-based learning that supports problem-solving skills with encouragement in creativity. The revised Bloom’s Taxonomy that reflects cognitive process places Creating as the highest thinking order. ( Pitler, 2007, p.4)  **EDLD 5363 – Multimedia and Video Technology**  Multimedia and Video Technology course was another course where I had an opportunity to collaborate in project-based learning. Creating a wiki page was a key to collaborating. “Using wiki in education can promote genuinely collaborate environments. They can support transparent writing and editing, interdependence and teamwork among authors, public and civic engagement, and the continuous exchange of feedback on ideas.” (Solomon & Schrum, 2007, p.109) We created a page to brainstorm ideas, a page to create narrative, and resource page to upload images. There were two glitches we faced. One was that currently there is a limit to uploading large memory size files such as a video on wiki. The solution was to upload the video to YouTube and copy the embedded codes onto wiki page. The other glitch was that when audio is uploaded to wiki page it embeds the file and cannot be downloaded to the desktop as an mp3 file by other member. We resolved this issue by emailing the files. Working on the PSA project gave me the opportunity to solve technology problems and I can anticipate these issues with my students. I also learned about numerous open-source applications: Audacity for recording sound/narrative, VideoPad and MovieMaker for video editing, and Google Picassa for image editing. I also found many copyright free sites for music, sound effects, and images that I could share with my students. **EDLD 5366 – Digital Graphics and Desktop Publishing** I was eager to take this Digital Graphics/Desktop Publishing course because I teach Graphic Design, Digital Photography, and Animation courses. I already knew a lot about the topics of this course, so what I really enjoyed learning about in the course is how I can help other teachers in assisting how to incorporate technology and graphic design into their instructions. The animation assignment in week 3 made me think of how the tools we already have in school could help teachers create their own animations for their classrooms. I would also really love to teach other teachers how the principles of design that I learned in the course could help them in creating more visually attractive posters, presentations, and worksheets to grab students’ attentions. I could inform them on how using contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity could make learning easier for the students. Good cohesive design is not only for graphic designers, but teachers can apply these principles to benefit student learning. The great tools I am taking away from this course are how technology could reach the diverse learners. In the article, //Technology Tips for Differentiated Instruction// lists tips on using various multimedia digital graphics such as audio, video, animation, images, and presentations to reach diverse learners. These teaching strategies would benefit all learners. **EDLD 5365 – Web Design** Web Design was a very frustrating course, but in retrospect I learned many new things. Through this course I explored and learned more about my school’s web site. In just recent years our school district has hired Fusion School to design our website. Prior to this change our web site functioned minimally. Now with Fusion School communication with parents and community are increasing. Through the new web site teachers are able to create blog and wiki pages as well as maintain a sophisticated teacher web site. I shared one of the required textbook from this course, //Deliver first class web sites: 101 essential checklists// by S. E. Kaiser, with our school’s Web Design teacher. He has been searching for a textbook for his class and he found this book to be an ideal one for his class. He found the book to contain many of the topics he was teaching. With the approval of our administrator he adapted the book for class. During this course I have an opportunity to evaluate our district’s Acceptable Use Policy and found out that it has not been updated for ten years. I even had difficulty locating the digital copy. With my inquiring and questioning the policy the district has made changes that address cyber bullying, instant messaging, and social network sites. **EDLD 5362 – Information Systems Management** Information Systems Management is another course that leads me to understand more about my district’s Student Information System (SIS). Last year we transitioned to Power School, but the staff was not given adequate training. We basically were given instruction on taking attendance and to look up student information. Through this course I had the opportunity to research online and interviewed our IT manager about the various functions and capacity this SIS could process. I found out that the system maintains centralized database, builds master schedule, ability to produce standards based gradebook, real-time access for parents and students, and able to create various disaggregated data. “California is one example of a state that is moving toward showing the progress of standards mastery instead of using percentages or ‘A, B, C’ scores. Yet, while some system developers have only recently caught on to this trend, Pearson has provided technology that allows schools to track and report on a student’s mastery of learning objectives (standards) for 20 years; we are now supplying that data directly to teachers for daily use and insight into student performance. Schools can also decide what data to make available to parents as part of their school-to-home communications.” (Darby & Hughes, 2005, p.2) I learned that the system our district purchased was one of the leading technologies that would help our school function in the new century. **Reflections of the Overall Degree Program** As I sit here in front of my computer to write this portion of the paper I am wrapping my head around trying to think of how I should start. I have learned so much from this program that it’s difficult to organize my thoughts. The last eighteen months have been intense and challenging, but rewarding. I actually liked the fast pace of each course. Even though the work load was monumental sometimes I really felt that I was learning a lot each week because of the diverse resources of articles, lectures, videos, and discussion board. The most memorable experiences that come to my mind first are the collaborative projects in Multimedia and Video Technology course and Teaching with Technology course. These experiences made me a believer in the ability to effectively collaborate using open-source applications. Additionally, with today’s technology quality distance learning environment with high standards is possible. The collaborative projects challenged us to be creative problem solvers. With email being the main form of communication it was vital that we kept the communication clear and frequent. We also ran into few technical roadblocks dealing with large file size, and that challenged us to fine creative solutions. I find these hands-on experiences valuable because I learned that they would work for my students. Learning these techniques inspired me to be a better teacher. I also think that the diversity of the courses offered a wide perspective of being an educational leader. I appreciated learning about school law, action research, human resources, and curriculum management, addition to the technology leadership skills. They gave me a better grasp of how schools can function better. Although I do not have any immediate plans to be an administrator, learning about administrative roles provided me with wider perspective of the responsibility schools have to the students, parents, and the community. **Personal Professional Development Plan** My plan for the future professional development is to keep growing as a technology leader at my school by continually researching best practices and staying current with scholarly research. I plan to take active role as a technology leader and a Tech Committee member by participating in decision making that includes technology acquirement and budget. I also plan to assist teachers with technology training. Through this master’s program I’ve learned that the quality of students’ technology experience at school depends on the knowledge of the teacher. When the teacher feels comfortable and is knowledgeable with technology the teacher will use more technology. This is why frequent meaningful professional development should be provided for the teachers in a safe environment. For my professional growth I will continue to take workshops and attend conferences. I also plan to participate in the 2011-12 Program of Study for Graphic Communications through Regional Occupation Program to work on improving curriculum. This activity will impact the curriculum of all schools in the Los Angeles County Regional Occupation Program.

References Darby, R., & Hughes, T. (2005, October 1). The evolution of student information systems. Retrieved April 27, 2011, from THE Journal: http://thejournal.com/Articles/2005/10/01/The-Evolution-of-Student-Information-Systems.aspx?Page=3 f Edutopia.org (December 10, 2007). //The Collaborative Classroom: An Interview with Linda Darling-Hammond.//Filmed at the CASEL forum in New York City. Retrieved on Mar. 17, 2011 from [] Guhlin, M. (2007). The case for open source. //Technology & Learning//, //27//(7), 16-21. Mills, L. B. (2007). The next wave now: Web 2.0. //The Education Digest//, //73//(4), 4-5. Pew Internet & American Life Project. (2009) Demographics of teen Internet users. //Pew Internet & American Life Project//. web site: [] Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). //Using technology with classroom instruction that works.// Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Prensky, M. (2008). Adopt and adapt: Shaping tech for the classroom. Edutopia: The George Lucas Educational Foundation. Prensky, M. (2005/2006). Listen to the natives. //Educational Leadership//, //63//(4), 8-13. Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants: Part 1. //On the Horizon//, //9//(5), 1-6. Richardson, W. (2007). The seven Cs of learning: A new c-change in education. //District Administration//, //43//(3), 97. Solomon, G. &. (2007). //Web 2.0:New tools, new schools.// Eugene, OR: ISTE. Solomon, G. &. (2007). //Web 2.0:New tools, new schools.// Eugene, OR: ISTE. Sprague, D. & Dede, C. (1999). If I teach this way, am I doing my job: Constructivism in the classroom. //Leading and Learning, 27(//1). Retrieved September 3, 2011 from the International Society for Technology in Education at [] The New Media Consortium. (2011). //The NMC Horizon Report: 2011 k-12 edition.// Retrieved August 30, 2011, from New Media Consortium: [] WestEd Regional Technology in Education Consortium (RTEC). (2004). Technology tips for differentiated instruction. Retrieved from http://rtecexchange.edgateway.net/cs/rtecp/view/rtec_files/1