Session 10

Focus Question- Summarize the class, what did you learn, what was interesting about the class, what have you taken from the class, what have you learned about your role as a potential technology leader in education?

First of all, I have to say when I found out that this class was all online I was not excited. This was because I have never taken an online class before so it was a whole new experience for me. I was always afraid because I like the face-to-face experience and with online classes you don't have that. This was an experience and I learned a lot from this class.

The class overall was a learning experience. In this class we learned the difference between management and leadership, the three fundamental aspects of technology, technology hierarchy, the Rodgers diffusion of innovation model, the best practices technology integration, technology barriers, the Ed Norman syndrome, and data driven decision making. Along with these topics that we learned in the class, I learned how to create a blog. This was my first blog and hopefully not my last.

I have learned that I my role as a potential technology leader is what I am doing now and will do. I recently fell into this job of being a Computer tech/teacher. I knew nothing about computers two years ago. Now I have learned to work with them and be able to learn how to use them. With my teaching background I am learning to teach others how to use computers, from kindergartners all the way up to senior citizens. I even have people asking me my opinions on technology they plan to buy. I see myself as an early adopter in Roger's diffusion of innovation model because I first have to see the technology and learn about it, then if I think it is good and something I could see being beneficial, then I drive right in. This is how I see me as a potential technology leader, I like technology and all, but I am not one to spend money on something I don't plan to use much. I have had one recent experience when a teacher wanted to buy a site license for an online program and they asked me to look into it and give my opinion. I researched and tested out the site and I found out that it was a good program, but I didn't see the school spending money on this program because it was limited and only beneficial to a small percentage of the school.

Everything I have learned in this class has affected my job. I have seen the Ed Norman Syndrome and I have seen best practices with technology integration, among other things pertaining to the class. I even noticed that I started like Ed Norman, but I learned from my experiences and now I am better at what I do. I even learned from other students in this class how to handle some of my teachers and how to improve my technology working conditions. I enjoyed this class and I hope everyone got as much as I did out of this class as I did.


Activity Log:
3/18/09- Downloaded podcast, posted blog
3/19/09- Helped a teacher with technology idea of blogs for the teachers
3/22/09- Responded to three students blogs

Project Webpage

Please take a look at my webpage and projects and let me know what you think!  I'll do the same for you if you wish!

ETEC623 Projects

Session 9

Focus Question- Describe a good professional training and a bad professional training and talk about some similarities and differences about them.  Then discuss some characteristics of effective training that you want to see in the future.

I haven't been to a lot of technology meetings, but I have been to other types of meetings which I did enjoy and learned a lot from.  Other than being a Computer Technician I also help run the after-school program.  For this job I was asked to attend a two-day training in Palm Springs.  At this conference there where vendors selling products that we were there to learn about.  The great thing about this training was that you had a choice of what you wanted to learn.  For example, they had training for discipline of disobedience children all the way to how to organize outdoor activities without money.   So depending on your preferences, you choose what you want to be trained in. Each training was about an hour and a half long with thirty minutes in between training. I needed help with outdoor activities, so I chose that training.  At this training they got everyone involved, or those who wanted to participate.  This made it more interesting for me because I imagined myself teaching students these activities instead of watching a video about the training and taking notes.  I think this conference had great examples of professional training which were very effective.  This is one characteristic I see as essential for an effective training.  

One ineffective training I went to was to learn how to manage the district website for my school.  I was excited about this training because it was while I was taking one of my college classes for this program.  I went to the training expecting to get a lot of the work done and learning about how to build the website.  I was wrong.  My co-worker and I went to this training and I have to say that both of us came out of that training more confused then before.  We had hands-on training, but the fact was that we were able to submit things to be put on the site, but ti had to be approved by an administrator.  We spent more time sending items and waiting for them to be approved then we did on actually on the website.  What I mean if we have the materials to put on the website, we are not able to actually put the them on the website right away because it has to go through the administrator.  So in the end I felt like I learned nothing and I never put the knowledge to use because my co-worker and I never did anything with the website because we didn't have enough privileges to insert anything, not to mention being there from 8:00am to 4:00pm making it a long day to be sitting in front a computer.  We got discouraged and gave up. Now after 6 months, the district wants us to do something with the site. They finally gave us administrator access, but we lost interest by this point.  This training had potential, but it wasn't thought out and planned properly.  One aspect that they needed to change was that the permissions needed to changed before the training in order for us to get the full benefit of the training.  This goes back to the ED NORMAN syndrome and restricting the population from the technology.  

In the end, everyone has their own ways they liked to be taught.  As I remember it, don't quote me on this, there are three styles of learning; kinesthetic, visual, and auditory.  Some learn by doing, some by seeing, and some learn by listening.  In a training people should have the choice to participate in the activity, others could watch and listen to the training if they do not feel the need to participate.  Also a great training needs to be well-planned and not intensive. The idea of short mini-training throughout the day made it more relaxing and made it feel less extensive.  I don't know about anyone else, but I like to be taught little by little then to try to learn everything at once. 

Activity log

3/9/09- Downloaded podcast, worked on my project presentation webpage, e-mailed Dr. Newberry, thought of training I've been to, found pros and cons of each training

3/10/09- Found out a teacher I work with is in this program, discussed our classes, wrote my blog, try to sleep not thinking about projects and work

3/11/09- Worked on posting my projects

3/12/09- Commented on students blogs, e-mailed Dr. Newberry about my reflections (Hopefully I did them up to par), continued working on my third project.

Session 8

Focus Question- Think how Data Driven Decision Making might be used in your world or area in education. Think of a positive and negative use of data driven decision making. How does leadership factor in to both positive and negative examples.

Since I work as a computer technician, I see I see a lot of data driven decision making and I have a positive and negative example of this. My first example deals with the on-line program called Headsprout.  The teachers use this program as a way to "get rid of" or as a tool for the kids to interact with, not for educational use. They put the students on for twenty minutes every time they come to the lab.  It is a great tool for those students who need help learning the letter sounds and blending, but not for those who do not follow the rules.  Teachers look at the data it produces, meaning they look at what level they are on.  Just looking at what level they are on is not an effective way to determine their progress because of different factors.  One factor is the student's progress based on how well they performed, not at what level they are currently at.  For example if they are well into the program doesn't mean they are doing well.  Teachers need to look at how long they have been on the program, how many clicks they have done, and how accurate they are at answering the questions.  Some students just click around until they get the right answer, so they do not really learn the content.  Plus, teachers need to watch the students while they interact with the program because some students concentrate and improve by using this program, but others are not inspired and they do not get the benefit of this program.  I, as the person who observes the students while they use the program, inform the teachers as much as I can about the students who aren't benefiting from the program.  This is hard because they just want the time away from the students to get other work done or just for time away to think, so they want all the students on the program.  The principal backs the teachers because she pays for the program and wants all the students on it.  I think the students who benefits from it should use it and the other students should get other kinds of instruction.  This is a negative example of data driven decision making because teachers only look at part of the data and not all the data.

There are positive data decision making with on-line programs.  My positive example involves the on-line program called Achieve3000 or KidBiz3000.  This program assesses students at the beginning of the school year and after each trimester.  With this program, the students read an article each day, or two days a week, and they have to answer multiple choice questions, interact with a poll, complete a math problem, and complete a written response to a question about the article.  The purpose of this program is to increase the child's reading level.  Teachers are able to assign specific article to tie into what they are learning in class.  This program also gives teachers assessments about each student and as a class.  Teachers are also able to raise the students reading level if they want to challenge the student, or if they believe the child could have done better.  One example I have seen involved a fourth grader who was going to be held back because of her reading level among other factors.  Her teacher looked at the data, all of it, and it proved that the student increased her reading level two grade levels.  The teacher then factored this data into his decision to promote this child to the next grade.  Now, more teachers are using this program to increase their low readers.  This is a positive data driven decision making because it with this and other examples got the principal to buy the program for the school to help other students.  

Data is a good thing to have in these example because teachers could just print out reports on the students without lifting a finger.  The one example shows that just pulling data is sometimes not enough and there needs to be more data collected.  In the other example when all the necessary data is collected it can provide a very useful tool for teachers.  

Activity Log:

3/4/09- Download podcast, start my blog, read Dr. Newberry's e-mail

3/5/09- Finish my blog, e-mail Dr. Newberry about project, read other student blogs and respond

Session 7

Focus Question: If you have or if you would run into a situation like the Ed Norman Syndrome, what would be the issues be? As an educated leader, how would you solve the issues?

As a Microcomputer specialist I can relate to Ed Norman. When I first started my job a couple years ago I felt the same way. I thought I was hired to keep the computers in good shape. As I started working with students and teachers, I started to get the feeling that I needed to restrict privileges because I believed they were messing up the computers. I started on that track, but I learned new ways to restrict privileges without restricting usage. I found ways to restrict students from "messing" with the computers without restricting their usage. For example, I restrict them from setting up printers and the control panels, which I set up for every computer, this way they can't mess with the computers and they have access to the computers. With Macs it is a lot easier to control, I think.
Now that I have experience and I have set-up a school full of computers that I don't have the problems of restriction for students or teacher. Sorry, I lied, some teachers don't have problems with this, but some do because I have some teachers who "think" they know what they are doing when they go into their computer preferences. What they end up doing is messing up their computer so much that I have to go repair it! Anyways, I have started working at another school where there is a BIG Ed Norman syndrome problem. I have walked into this school and found issues. Most computers at this site do not have a printer hooked up to it because the previous tech wanted to control printing to save paper and ink and didn't want the students printing out anything they wanted to. Another issue is the fact that the wireless has so many different passwords, that no one knows what they are anymore. He was the only one to know, but now he doesn't remember them. He did this to restrict anyone who came onto campus from using it. Now no one knows the passwords and no one is able to use the wireless until I am able to repair them.
As a technological educational leader one thing I am doing is going through the computers and setting them up to be able to print to the nearest printer. This way teachers and students are able to print out their work. I set up the printers and this way they are restricted to the preferences, but doesn't restrict their usage of the computer. To make the wireless easier for the teachers to use, I am making the passwords easier to remember for the teachers to use. This way they are able to use their laptops wireless with ease.
I think most who are in charge of computers in a school setting start off like Ed Norman because they are told by "the powers that be" that they want these computers to last. So they put the restrictions on the computers that they believe are necessary to keep the computers "in good shape." As soon as these people work with the teachers and students and find out what programs they need and what they don't have access to, then they change their ideas and change settings based on what is necessary for the students and teachers to have in order to access what they need. Unfortunately, some do not change because they do believe if they are keeping the computers in working order and doing their jobs, even if the teachers and students are restricted from certain things like printing. It's sad, but true.

Activity Log

2/23/09- Downloaded podcast, wrote blog, finished project one.

2/26/09- After two days of trying to remember how to put something on a website, I finally posted my project one and project two (Hooray for me).

3/1/09- Responded to three fellow student's blogs.

Session 6

Focus Question- What common barriers to technology integration do you experience or hear about in your particular practice of education at your school or district. Which of these are actual barriers and which of these are proxies for something else?

     As a Computer Technician I hear all kinds of barriers to technology integration at the sites I work at.  Some of the barriers I hear about are; not enough computers, not enough help, can't connect to the internet, and others.  Some of these are important, but some of these are excuses for not using technology in the classroom.

     As Dr. Newberry stated in the podcast, one of the major barriers that was recorded in 1999 was lack of computers and now in 2009 teachers are still naming this as one major barrier for technology integration.  At this site, each class has at least four computers in it.  This is enough to have rotations of four or five students, maybe one student who is good with technology and trustworthy for support.  I've seen it done before in other classrooms.  Some teachers think they need one computer for each child.  That is a good idea, but only possible when the class comes to the computer lab once a week.  Even then most of the teachers do not use the lab for lessons, but for a place they can leave their students so they can get lesson planning done.  I think this is a proxy to excuse themselves for using technology in the classroom.  In fact, I have seen teachers with four computers integrate technology in their classrooms.

     Some teachers say it is hard to integrate technology without extra help and support.  This might be a barrier because some things could be hard to do when there is only one adult in the room.  One example, I have a fifth grade teacher who let some of her high achieving students use the computers to research and create a presentation on an animal of their choice.  She couldn't give them her help, so she asked me and the computer teacher to help these students when we had time.  On the other hand, I have a teacher who lets his students go on the computer and type up a paper, or research for their science project, or work with the online program kidbiz300.  With this teacher, I have installed a program on his laptop called Apple Remote Desktop which allows the teacher to watch over the student's computers in his classroom so he can monitor those students and still manage the class.  I believe he hasn't reached the potential of integrating technology, but he is one that is coming closer to the goal.

     I have a lot of teachers who love to hook their projectors up to their laptops and show their students material that is on the internet, or a slideshow of some sort, but a lot of them have trouble connecting to the internet.  At first it was the district's fault because they installed new technology without properly training the technicians.  Once I got a handle on the problem and had all the teachers up and running, I showed them some simple ways to troubleshoot some problems that are simple fixes.  Some took the information in and use it, but some still are dealing with the same troubles.  This is sometimes a barrier because there are problems that come up where teachers can't fix and that is a problem.  I think the real problem here might be the fact that everything is not perfect, even computers, and if something doesn't work once doesn't mean you should give up on it.  I've seen teachers use technology in the classroom, but when something goes south, they give up ad stick with something more dependable, booklets.

     For the most part, I think barriers are more in our head then anything else.  Lets look at the metaphor: There's a million ways to skin a cat. (Sorry but it was the only one I could think of) ME OW   There are different ways to integrate technology, you just have to find a way that fits the best within your classroom.

Activity Log:

2/17/09- Been sick, trying to do as much as I can on projects, listen to podcast, wrote my blog, praying I feel better to work tomorrow.

2/19/09- Continued with the projects, made comments on three students blogs

Session 5

Focus Question- Identify a Technology Integration Best Practice you use. How did you learn about this best practice? Describe how you accomplished it. Why isn't everyone doing this Best Practice?

Identify- Using e-mail to communicate with teachers
How? How I learned about this best practice is by listening to others. First I have to explain that I am not a teacher, but I am a computer tech. The way the teachers use to communicate with me was through messages sent with students, or when they see me in the hall, or messages left in my mailbox. It was not very sufficient because I would lose the messages or I would forget who sent what message. In my district we have tech meeting every month where all the computer techs meet up and discuss problems or issues we have in the district. I overheard some of the others talk about receiving e-mails from the teachers. At that time, I thought about having the teachers at my site start communicating with me through e-mail.
Accomplish? The way I accomplished it was simple. First I created a flyer, the way teachers use to communicate with me and others, and I put one in every mailbox. What it contained was how to contact us ( the technology techer and myself) and it told the teachers that e-mail would be the better way to contact us. We even offered to set-up Microsoft Entourage on each of their laptops. This way there is no excuse to turn this idea down. At first the teachers thought of this as a way to avoid talking to the teachers and they thought it was a joke, but some have learned it is the better practice because they do not have to worry about finding me somewhere on campus to get their problems solved. Some even wondered why this wasn't done earlier. I even asked one of the teachers who helped me come up with the idea send out a letter to all the teachers telling how effective it was and how fast I responded to his e-mail.
Why not Everyone? Why some people are not using this best practice is because they are fine and comfortable with the way they communicate with eachother at their school site. Some are even afraid to change because they are comfortable with the way it is now. For example, I am going to start working at another school site this week and I am told the way they communicate with the previous computer tech was to write their name and room number down on a clipboard, and then the computer tech collects the clipboard and goes around and completes the tasks on the clipboard. I already see flaws in this system and I want to change this system to use the best practice of e-mailing to communicate with me.

Activity Log
2/9/09- Listen to podcast, e-mailed Dr. Newberry
2/10/09-Post my Blog, continue with my projects