EDLD 5301 - Reflections

Though all the lectures were informative, I believe I was enlightened during week 2 with the presentation of the three interviews with instructional leaders who actively practice action inquiry. The three interviews we watched gave me insights into the importance of action inquiry and how they may benefit both myself and the students. They also helped calm some of my trepidation regarding the research itself. Dr. Timothy Chargois made a comment regarding teachers needing to learn how to be action researchers so they can touch every student in the classroom. This idea made me realize that my very informal, unstructured inquiries I did as a teacher were something I did to help me touch more than just one student. Dr. Kirk Lewis recommended that when we begin our own action research inquiry, to look at other research that addresses the problem we are trying to solve, look for patterns between our problem and the research that has been done before, and break it down for our own specific problem. His final recommendation was to create an action plan that was doable and practical. With both of these gentlemen, I have tried to apply their wisdom to my own research plan to ensure I will learn from the inquiry and students may show success in their learning.

Both textbooks had an abundance of information regarding action research and the steps to affect change on campus. From Ms. Dana, I have come to understand the meaning of action inquiry and how it helps one to grow professionally (2010). She broke down the process and explained each step in easy to understand language. For me, I came to understand why being concise and clear is important to the process. Since I had no idea of how to begin the process, Ms. Dana’s list of stages make it much easier. Pairing her steps with “Examining what we do to improve our school: 8 steps from analysis to action” (Harris, S. et al, 2010), made the perfect blue print for me to create my action plan. After outlining my action plan using the SIP form found in the resources folder, I used the eight step (Harris, et al, 2010) to review and analyze my plan. With both these forms, I believe I have a strong start to my inquiry.

The assignments, discussion boards and blogs provided help, practice and learning as I worked through my action plan. The assignments and related activities helped me process the information from both the lectures and readings. The discussion boards created an environment where I felt safe sharing my ideas and thoughts and allowed me to learn from others. The feedback I received from both the discussion boards and blogs gave me support and recommendations on how I could improve my learning and action plan. As we continue as a cohort through our master’s program, we are building a great learning community that, hopefully, will extend into our professional positions.

Dana, N. F. (2010). Leading with passion and knowledge. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Harris, S, Edmonson, S., and Combs, J. (2010). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps from analysis to action. Oakland, CA. Eye on Education. 

Survey Results for Action Research

We started our action research with a survey to collect some preliminary data from the students. We wanted to get a feel for the students' attitude towards their learning and preferences for learning in the AP English IV classroom. The English teacher and I were surprised about some of the answers and want to follow up on them with the focus groups after the Christmas break. The results are posted on my wiki:

http://qtmouser.wikispaces.com/Action+Research+Progress

Student Learning Preference Survey

Here is a list of questions we have created to find a baseline of student's preferences for learning in the AP English IV class.  If you have any other suggestions on what we might ask the students, I would enjoy hearing from you. 

Learning Preferences Survey

AR - Conference Reflection

After the conference with my District Site Mentor, I had to sit back and reflect on his comments and suggestions.  There were three items that seemed to be the main points: appropriate use of resources, wording and focus of the inquiry, and the celebration at the end of the research.

The first dilemma regards the use of appropriate online resources. We need to find a balance between the giving the students real world experience using the Web 2.0 tools available on the Internet and following the guidelines of the district by using the in-house resources that "simulate" the experience. 

On one hand, working with the tools on the Internet, the students would be able to work in the networking environment that they will probably be expected to use when they move on to college.  It also allows them to continue to create and maintain their ePortfolios once they leave the district. The drawback of using the Internet based tools is there is no guarantee the student data and information is protected.  Many of the sites do allow you to mark your "site" or collection of information as private. This permits the students to control who can see and access their information; however, though the data may be protected from the front end, the students have no control on how the host site uses their information. 

On the other hand, the district is concerned about the safety and privacy of the students data.  By using the in-house resources, the district has control over who can see and access the data. The students can access their data and that of their peers from both school and home. Using the district resources, students will not be able to maintain their ePortfolios once they graduate.  They will be able to burn the data onto a CD/DVD; however, it then becomes a stagnant portfolio with little chance of maintenance.  The main tool, Moodle environment, is based on the entire class contributing to forums, blogs and activities.  These would have to be separated out from the "class" and saved independently. After a conversation today, with the network systems manager, we will work together to see if there is an option for students to save their work in a portfolio like environment on the Moodle.

In my head there is a fight going on, do we disregard the District's guidelines and go on-line with publicly available Web 2.0 tools for this research or play it very safe and stay in-house with limited access to Web 2.0 tools, mainly to create products to be posted in-house (Wordle, Animoto, etc.). How do we find a balance between the two? Any thoughts or suggestions?

The next dilemma has to do with the wording of my inquiry.  Currently, How can the inclusion of ePortfolios in advanced English IV classes improve the students’ achievement on the AP and Dual Credit Exams? My mentor believed that the stated focus is more of a statement of measurement rather than outcome. He felt that students understanding about how they learned should be the main focus of the inquiry. After working on several different wordings, I came up with the follow options:  

• In what way can including ePortfolios, within the AP English IV classes, build (help develop?) students’ life long learning skills resulting in improved student success?
• How can ePortfolios help develop students’ life long learning skills and improve student success? 

I will need to work on the wording of the inquiry question and refine it.
 

The process of developing ePortfolios, according to Helen Barrett (2000), has many stages: defining the portfolio context and goals, working portfolio, reflective portfolio, collection, selection, reflection, connected portfolio and presentation My mentor’s final suggestion was to have a gathering at the end of the project with administrators, parents, and students to share the work they had done. It also should be a celebration of the students’ learning and contribution to the research. As we go through the research project we will need to make a decision on when to hold this celebration as the month of May for Seniors is filled with AP testing and many celebrations of their accomplishments.  Would this be just one more celebration to attend or a meaningful gathering? How would this celebration look like to make an impression on the students of what an accomplishment they have completed.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.  It's time to make them and get to go to work.  :-)

Barrett, H. C. (2000). Create your own electronic portfolio: using off-the-shelf software to showcase your own or student work. Learning & Leading with Technology. Retrieved on 11/30/2010. Retrieved from http://electronicportfolios.com/portfolios/iste2k.html.

Action Research - Sharing of Site Mentor Conference

The conference started with my mentor reviewing the plan that I put together with input from the AP English IV teacher. He did not have any specific questions about the plan but asked me to start the conversation about the plan. I began by reviewing the process completed to evaluate the different resources that were available for the ePortfolios: campus server, campus Moodle system, Microsoft Live, Google sites, and Wikispaces.

As I reviewed the pros and cons of these resources, he brought up the District’s on-going conversation about what online resources to allow students to access and the strong opinion and belief that any such resources be housed in-district in order to ensure the students’ safety and privacy of their data. In the beginning, the ePortfolio will be work in progress. Since we would want peers to comment on specific content of the ePortfolio, we need a resource that will permit this type of access. On the other hand, as the ePortfolios morph into one that is more reflective in nature, the “challenge in this process is to keep these reflections confidential. The personal, private reflections of the learner need to be guarded and not published in a public medium” (Barrett, H., 2000). To handle both ePortfolio situations, he encouraged me to continue this conversation with the network analyst as to the requirements of the action research and what options is available in-district that may serve our needs.

Along these lines, we talked about the parent letter that has been drafted. He recommended that we include wording about using outside resources and that we would make every effort to instruct the students on appropriate choices to help ensure their safety. Also needed to include encouragement for parents to be aware of Internet safety so they could monitor the students at home. This might include websites for the parents to learn about how to keep their student’s privacy protected.

When we talked about the different assessments, I asked for guidance about the best way to create the focus groups. Was it better to create small (5-10 students) heterogeneous groups or large groups (20 students)? The mentor’s response was creating small groups of students who are comfortable with each other and would be willing to share information. Once the data is collected and compiled, we might want to share the results with each class, to validate the information.

After our conversations, my mentor brought up the focus of the study. He believed that the stated focus is more of a statement of measurement rather than outcome. He felt that students understanding about how they learned should be the main focus of the inquiry. We discussed the idea of having the students doing reflection on their learning and how they learn. In doing this type of meta-cognitive thinking, the students should be developing the skills to be successful life long learners. The secondary focus is the use of the ePortfolios to improve the students’ exams scores. The results of (hopefully) the improvement in test scores, demonstrates the success of the students using the ePortfolios to develop the meta-cognitive skills. I will need to work on the wording of the inquiry question and refine it.

My mentor’s final suggestion was to have a gathering at the end of the project with administrators, parents, and students to share the work they had done (presentation ePortfolio). It also should be a celebration of the students’ learning and contribution to the research.

Barrett, H. C. (2000). Create your own electronic portfolio: using off-the-shelf software to showcase your own or student work. Learning & Leading with Technology. Retrieved on 11/30/2010. Retrieved from http://electronicportfolios.com/portfolios/iste2k.html.

Draft Action Research Plan

Action Inquiry: How can the inclusion of ePortfolios in advanced English IV classes improve the students’ achievement on the AP and Dual Credit Exams?
Goal: On our campus, we have many students who enroll in advanced classes during their Junior and Senior years. Looking back at the final exams for AP and Dual Credit English IV scores, the student did not perform as expected.  To help the students be more successful on the exams, we brainstormed several ideas. In reviewing the suggestions, we wondered in what way the many different Web 2.0 tools might impact our students’ learning and exam scores. Since there are many Web 2.0 options, we narrowed our inquiry to, How can the inclusion of ePortfolios in advanced English IV classes improve the students’ achievement on the AP and Dual Credit exams? We want the students to be engaged in the learning.  With engagement, the students begin to develop a deeper understanding of the material. Using ePortfolios as a way of looking at their learning, we also expect the students to develop and use 21st Century skills of collaboration, reflection and problem solving which should put them on the path to being life-long learners. Rationale: Using the ePortfolio as an assessment for learning, students select the article and artifacts that will be included in the portfolio.  These items are used to tell the story of the students learning (Barrett, H. C., 2006). The students can reflect on their progress and request feedback from others to help them improve on the learning. This process makes the ePortfolio “a powerful tool for the new 3Rs, representation, reflection, and revision” (Acker, S. R., 2005). Using ePortfolios as part of the learning process, students will come away with a deeper understanding of the content and their learning. Acker, S. R. (2005). Overcoming obstacles to authentic ePortfolio assessment. Campus Technology. Retrieve on November 29, 2010. Retrieved from http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2005/03/Overcoming-Obstacles-to-Authentic-ePortfolio-Assessment.aspx?p=1. Barrett, H. C. (2006). Using electronic portfolios for classroom assessment. Connected Newletter. 13(2). Pp. 4-6.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Pre-test??
Analyze how students are currently learning / preparing for the exam.	AP English IV Teacher; Dual Credit English IV; Howard – CIT	December 6, 2010 / December 8, 2010	Computers;On-line Survey; Paper and Pencil – for taking notes during focus groups	Survey & Focus Groups – This information will be used to plan and design the ePortfolio activities and assignments.
Create the structure of the portfolios and the rubrics to be used by teachers and students to evaluate their learning and the portfolios.	AP English IV Teacher; Dual Credit English IV; Howard – CIT	December 8, 2010 / December 17, 2010	Computers; Word processing; Wikispaces Account	Evaluation of the ePortfolio structure will be on-going. Rubrics will be both for how the portfolio process worked and evaluating the content of the portfolio.
Compose and send home letters for parental permission for student work to be posted on-line*. *Students without parental permission will create an ePortfolio that will be posted on campus server.	AP English IV Teacher; Dual Credit English IV;	January 4, 2011/ January, 2011	Letters, envelopes and postage	Compile a list of students with permission/ without permission Phone calls to parents will be made for students who did not return permission form.
ePortfolio Process presented / begins.	AP English IV Teacher; Dual Credit English IV;	January 13, 2011 / May 20, 2011	Computers; Wikispaces; Project outline; Rubrics;	On-going evaluations through unit tests, rubrics, focus groups and surveys.
Final data collection from students	AP English IV Teacher; Dual Credit English IV; Howard	May 23, 2011 / May 25, 2011	Computers; Wikispaces; On-Line Survey	Survey; Focus Group
Data Analysis & Sharing of Results	AP English IV Teacher; Dual Credit English IV; Howard	August 1, 2011 / August 4, 2011	Surveys; AP Exam Scores	Results will be shared with Administrative staff and English Department Teachers

Action Research Project - I wonder ...

Within the District, our campus has the largest number of students taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses and exams, usually exceeding the combined number of the other three high schools. We have had great success with our students in math, Spanish and Art; however, our success with language arts and history has been mediocre. In order to address this problem in English IV AP, the teacher wanted to look at having the students create ePortfolios of their learning. In conversations with her and my site mentor, we wondered, How could the inclusion of ePortfolios in English IV AP improve the students’ achievement on the AP Exam?


The outcomes of the ePortfolios would be determined on the structure and use of the portfolio. Helen Barrett, Assistant Professor and Educational Technology Coordinator at the University of Alaska, Anchorage had this to say about ePortfolios, “They can support learning, play an assessment role, or support employment. The purpose dictates the structure and contents of a portfolio.” (Brown, M. D., 2002). Our discussion lead us to the following expected outcomes:


a. Increased student engagement in the class. 
b. Reflection leading to deeper understanding and retention of the material. 
c. Improved test scores.
d. Develop 21st Century skills of collaboration, reflection, and problem solving.
e. Develop skills that encourage life long learning. 
 
As we create the blueprint for the action research, the teacher and I will be looking at the different structures and what will be included in the ePortfolios to achieve the overarching goal of improve scores on the AP English IV exam. Along with improving the AP scores, we also talked about the stagnation of the TAKS scores for the Exit Level ELA test along with concerns for student achievement on the new STAAR assessment being administered 2011-2012 school year. How could the development of an ePortfolio, beginning in the 9th grade, improve the student achievement on the STAAR assessment in 2014? We decided to start with the AP ePortfolio to see if we could improve the students’ scores on the AP English IV exam. At the end of the study, depending on the results, may explore the idea for the Freshmen in 2012.

Brown, M. D., (2002). Electronic portfolios in the K-12 classroom. Education World®. Retrieved on November 21, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech111.shtml

Action Research - Reflection Week 2

While listening to the videos about action research, the gentlemen clarified, in my mind, what action research entailed and its importance in the school. I came away with two pieces of information that I hope will help me along this path. The first was from Dr. Timothy Chargois; he reminded me to never stop learning. The best way to encourage students to be life long learners was to model that behavior.  Dr. Kirk Lewis gave me the second piece which related to the action research. He indicated that when you come up with the plan to solve the problem, make sure it is practical and doable for your campus.

After reading about the nine different passions of action research (Dana, N. F., 2010), I realized that there were several areas that I was passionate about in my inquiries. This led me to begin a list of inquiries I would want to tackle in my first research project. After several conversations with teachers and my campus mentor, I was able to narrow my list to one. Working with the advanced Enghish IV teacher, we are going to implement a technology tool into her 3 advance and 2 regular English classes.

I am looking forward to the process and the results of this project. If the results are what we hope, I would like to look at incorporating this technology tool in the Freshman English classes next year.

Action Research - How can it be used?

The purpose of action research is to become a better teacher by improving methods of instruction so the students can be more successful in class. The process begins with a question about the lesson and how it can increase student achievement. By collecting and analyzing data, problem areas for students will become apparent. Researching about one of the problems, a teacher can then create a plan for solving the problem and implement it. The final step in the process is evaluating the results and sharing the information with others. A principal or educational leader, to solve a problem on a campus or in the district, can apply this same process (Dana, N. F., 2010, p. 2-4).

There are several areas on my campus I can visualize using action research as a technology facilitator/leader. Our campus is technology rich and yet the teachers are not taking advantage of it with their students. Though we do have teachers that use the technology make presentations to the students or with the students for basic productivity (research and word processing), very few have integrated technology fully into their curriculum. As part of my internship, I am looking at activities that encourage teachers to embed technology into their lessons. 

One idea for action research is to monitor the students’ achievement when interactive white boards (IWB) are integrated into the teaching in a way that the students are interacting with the information being taught. Another area of inquiry would be the use of Web 2.0 within the instruction. In using these tools, will student be more engaged and increased scores than those using paper and pencil activities. One final area to explore using action research is implementing “Partnering” a form of problem-based learning described in Marc Prensky’s book, Teaching Digital Natives: Partnering for Real Learning “ (2010), within a math or science classroom. As with the other inquiries, increased student achievement would be the expected outcome.

 

These are just a few of the ideas I have been considering for my action research. As we go through the course and learn more about the process, I hope to narrow it down to one to begin my research.

Dana, N. F. (2010). Leading with passion and knowledge. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, A SAGE Company.

Prensky, M. (2010). Teaching digital natives: Partnering for real learning. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin, A SAGE Company.

How This Educational Leader Might Use Blogs

Writing is not a passion for me; however, I do enjoy writing about experiences as we travel. As an educational leader, blogs can be used to document the journey being made throughout the year. It may be used as a general overview of things happening on campus or be focused on a particular project.

In my position, I can see using the blog in three main ways. First, use it to summarize new technologies available and the “best practices” in embedding them in the curriculum. This will enable the teachers and staff a way to keep up-to-date in this area. The second use of blogs would be as a way to document and reflect on any action research I am facilitating with one of the teachers. This web-based journal will allow others on our campus to see what their peers are doing in the classroom and, maybe, inspire them to rethink their teaching techniques. The final way I can use a blog is for “Technology Tip of the Week.” The blog would focus on a technology tip that might help those who are technology challenged. All these blog topics are food for thought as I work through my internship as possible ways to incorporate more technology into the faculty and staff environment.

Web Conference - November 3, 2010

This week’s web conference was informative and yet a bit confusing. There is information about the assignment coming from too many places, the course site, the PowerPoint, Mrs. Borel’s information and the announcements. Mrs. Borel did clear up information regarding the internship. She gave several examples of tasks as we looked at the textbook and the Internship Plan form. We also reviewed the field-based activities monthly logs and the embedded course activity logs. The monthly logs of the field-based activities are due, obviously, every month. The embedded course logs are due at the end of each course. Each of these is being evaluated as part of our internship course. Mrs. Borel recommended that the course embedded logs be completed as close to the end of the course rather than trying to complete them during our final course for our internship.

EDLD 5306 Course Reflection

When I began this journey, I honestly did not know what to expect. My largest concern at the beginning was how was I going to know which class I was in?  I had only had the acceptance letter and request for my tuition.  The receipt of my email, banner ID, and course description arrived on Friday prior to the start of class.

On the first day of the class, my expectations were that the course work would be challenging and that I would be learning information relevant to my current and possibly future position. The outcomes from the course, I can’t say that I had any, with regards to the actual content; however, one outcome was to actually see and experience an online learning environment.

My interest, the past several years, has been in developing an effective online learning experience in my classroom for my students.  I wanted to give them the experience of the many Web 2.0 tools available but in a controlled environment for safety. The District did offer the opportunity for implementing the Moodle on our campus and I jumped at the chance.  My research into developing a successful online curriculum netted me more “guidelines” of what was possible along with how to use the Moodle environment, but no real examples of it being used effectively. The time working on the course these past five weeks has meet both my expectations and intended outcomes.

The work we did was very challenging both in content and volume.  I found in order to be successful I needed to develop a schedule for the week. The week began on Sunday with the readings and, if time and energy permitted, the videos.  The discussion quote along with the progress monitor quizzes came next in the week. From Wednesday on, I worked on the assignments.  My intentions were to complete the assignments on Saturday and type “The Final Word” entry on Sunday morning. At that point, the cycle began again.  Following this schedule allowed me to keep focused on the course work to be completed.  I did find at the end of week four a surprise assignment, the superintendent report.  Some how in the process of the week, this did not make it on the schedule; however, I was able to complete many of the assignment a head of schedule, thus allowing me time to complete the report.

Between the readings and research assignments, I have come away with knowledge that validated some of my beliefs and many that have me looking at how to improve technology integration at our campus. Including more project-based learning and embedding technology into lessons support my belief that these techniques will help engage students and improve their success in learning. Using the District technology plan, the results from the District and campus STaR Charts and additional input from the teachers, the campus can make informed decisions on the acquisition and integration of technology in the classroom.

Improving integration of technology on our campus is relevant to my position and also one of my visions for the campus.  Working with several teachers that are currently interested in the use of technology in the classroom, I would like to create a cadre of teachers in each core area that can be role models for the others.  Our teachers are fortunate to have a Professional Learning Community (PLC) period scheduled as part of their day.  It is here I hope the cadre of technology using teachers will benefit the departments. This is just one idea I walk away with from this course.

In the final analysis of my first course in this journey, I have learned that my background has a depth and breadth regarding embedding technology in the curriculum and use of technology as productivity tools.  Two of my weakest areas are: incorporating Web 2.0 tools into the curriculum, productivity of my position, and professional development instruction for the faculty; and, being a technology leader on my campus. As I work through my internship these next 18 months, I will be working on these weaknesses to become a technology leader on the campus and the Campus Instructional Technologist cadre.

Technology Leadership Book Summary

Teaching Digital Natives: Partnering for Real Learning

By Marc Prensky

Partnering pedagogy is basically creating a partnership between the teacher and student to learn the information and skills necessary to prepare the students for the 21st century. “For successful partnering, teachers and students alike must realize and accept that we have entered an era in which both students and teachers have something of equal importance to contribute to the learning process. Each side must respect, and learn from what the other has to offer” (Prensky, 2010). Asking guiding questions that focus on the concepts or knowledge to be learned, the teacher creates the lesson. Along with the overarching questions, details questions are also created to ensure the students have the answers for questions that will be on the test. The students, either in groups or individually, research for answers to the questions using any tools or technology available. The teacher facilitates the lesson by moving through the class monitoring or guiding the students in their work. Once the students have researched, they present their results to the class in a one or two minute presentation, where the entire class discusses the information. Throughout the partnering process, students are able to build their skills in researching, analyzing, critical-thinking and problem-solving and apply these to the real world problems while they are learning the content for the course.

For more information about this book and partnering pedagogy, visit my wiki at http://qtmouser.wikispaces.com/Technology+Leadership+Book+Summary.

Prensky, M. (2010). Teaching digital natives: Partnering for real learning. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin, A SAGE Company.

E-Rate Presentation

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E-Rate Presentation

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District Technology Plan

Over the last ten years, our district has focused on improving the use of technology for both productivity and student achievement. After reviewing the over systems in place and the outcomes of the District StaR Chart, the District’s Technology Plan (2009-2010) is focused on three areas:  Student Achievement, Classroom Support and Responsiveness.

The district hopes to improve student achievement by increasing the availability of virtual learning environments through the use of video conferencing (all levels) and online courses (high school). The purchase and installation of Promethean Boards, digital projectors, document cameras and other technology throughout the campuses should bring other opportunities to integrate technology into the learning environment and hopefully increase student achievement.

To support current and new technology available to teachers, Instructional Technology along with Curriculum and Instruction will coordinate to plan a summer technology camp for district staff to provide instructional and skill development opportunities in core competencies, applications development, applications integration and technical content development. Training for district personnel on District standard applications for classroom, administration, and support requirements will also be planned.  With the increased emphasis on technology, Instructional Technology and Curriculum and Instruction will work together to develop an Employee Technology Competency Requirements and seek Board approval of the Technology Core Competency.

With all the technology opportunities, the technology department will continuously review, design and implement the appropriate infrastructure enhancements necessary to meet the needs of voice, video and data transfer. The technology department will also monitor and support the Acceptable Use policies and make recommendations for improvement and inclusion of 21^st Century Skills requirements and expectations.

As with any plan, money is a major issue.  The E-Rate fund will help support most of the actual networking and infrastructure part of the plan, but there is a large part that the district needs to fund in other ways. Title II and High School Allotment Grants will be used to provide hardware, software and professional development in some areas. Our district was fortunate enough to have received a large T3 grant for science that brought many new technologies into the science classrooms along with the professional development on how to integrate the technologies in to the curriculum.  Stimulus money will be used specifically for the Special Education Department permitted the first district-wide purchase of hardware and software to be used with students with special needs.  Finally, the school board had designated, from the current budget, a large portion every year to be used in a four year life-cycle replacement plan for technology on every campus.

After all the strategies have been implemented, the district expects the following outcomes: appropriate instructional technologies will be infused throughout the curriculum, systemic and programed professional development opportunities will improve teachers’ ability to use the technology, and implementing and supporting research-based, integrated technology systems and solutions will allow for better response to the needs of the students, faculty and staff.

Technology Assessments

For any technology plan to be effective, there is a need for good data that is used to make decisions.  In our case one of the assessments used is the Texas STaR Chart which is completed by the teachers, campus and district administrators.  The information provided by the STaR chart, along with other data collected, is used to make decisions on training, funding and integration of technology. In reviewing the STaR chart results for our campus there were gains in two areas, “Teaching and Learning” and “Educator Preparation and Development.” In these areas the campus moved from Developing to Advanced Tech. This may be an indication of the change in the teacher demographics. As the more veteran teachers begin to retire, teachers who have been exposed to technology at an early age are replacing them. Because of their level of comfort and expertise, these newer teachers have a better handle on the use of technology and are willing to incorporate it into their lessons.

The surprise was the decrease in the area of “Leadership, Administration and Instructional” support. This may be due to the lack of vision being expressed by our administration team.  At one time, technology was a large focus on our campus “for doing old things, in old ways” (Prensky, 2008). As new research was released, the administrators began to understand the need for integrating technology in the curriculum. This change was reflected in our Campus Improvement Plan (CIP).  The technology was embedded in the different areas for improvement and was not listed as a separate goal.  This change in the CIP did not include professional development for the teachers either in how the technology worked or how the technology integrated into the instruction. Because of this, teachers’ perceptions reflected less administrative support for technology.

With regards to students, there is no assessment of the student’s technology knowledge and skills levels at the high school level. It is perceived that the students have master the required Technology Application objectives and are technologically savvy. With this perception of the students and their needs, teachers who are trying to incorporate technology are often surprised and frustrated that the students do not have the technology skills required for the lesson.  In many cases the teachers themselves do not have the skills and therefore, cannot guide the students. This is one area on our campus that needs to address in the CIP.

Though the STaR Chart is a technology assessment being used in our district, it must look at other factors when making decisions.  When looking at the improvements or decreases, we have to understand that these are the perceptions of teachers or administrators and how they view themselves and the use of technology on their campuses.  Some teachers answered the questions in the way they believed administrators wanted them to answer, even though the only instructions given were to answer the questions truthfully. Some administrators answered with what they wanted the campus to reflect rather than what was truly happening. Since the data collected by the STaR Chart is perception and not fact, there needs to be several areas from which data is pulled to ensure that the decisions being made for the district and campuses is a true assessment of need and not one that is skewed by perceptions.

Prensky, M. (2008). Adopt and adapt: Shaping tech for the classroom. Edutopia: The George Lucas Foundation.

National Educational Technology Plan (NETP)

The National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) was developed in response to President Obama’s position that education must change in order for our children to compete in a global workforce and economy. Part of this revolutionary change, requires the integration of technology into the educational environment. To achieve the needed change in education, NETP made recommendations in five major areas: Learning, Assessment, Teaching, Infrastructure and Productivity.

Learning Recommendations:
Revision of learning standards in all areas to exploit the use of technology for learning, especially in the areas of collaboration, is one of the major recommendations. This, along with the use of learning studies’ results (how we learn) should help determine the best way technology could be used to improve our students learning. We need to capitalize on that information, especially in the area of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects to develop new methodologies to help our students excel. Finally, instruction needs to be developed that changes where our students learn, giving them opportunities with anytime/anywhere instruction.

Assessment Recommendations:
To help improve students’ learning, technology based assessments have to be developed to give students timely feedback that allows the teacher to modify and tailor the instruction for each student. The teachers need to build their capacity to develop these assessments that will measure what is important in the learning. There is a need for the development of games to assess complex skills and performance objectives that cannot be measured by simply asking questions. As more assessments begin to be completed through the use of technology, safe guards need to be put in place to protect the privacy of the students’ data.

Teaching Recommendations:
If teachers are expected to teach using technology of the 21st century and beyond, they need to have access to resources to help them develop the learning experiences. There needs to be a central clearing house that would help teachers connect with others to build learning communities, that enable them to collaborate on best practices and access “experts” in the field. District and teacher preparation programs need to provide professional development for teachers using the same technologies and methodologies, including on-line instruction, if they are expected to use them in the classroom. This will help close the learning gap between teachers and students.

Infrastructure Recommendations:
If technology is to become an integral part of the educational process, districts will need to provide the bandwidth required to support the technology and resources. In addition, students and teachers need to have the use of devices that will allow them to access the Internet 24/7. As new technologies come along, we need to encourage our educators to be innovative in the way they use them for instruction. To support the districts, state and federal governments need to build a national infrastructure to handle all the current and future technologies.

Productivity Recommendations:
A definition of productivity in education needs to be developed so states and districts can have a more effective measure of learning outcomes and the cost. To help manage costs, the federal and state governments should share ways that districts could cut costs and improve productivity. Governmental agencies that request student data require it in many different forms. All agencies from the local to federal level need to create a standard format for storing this data. This will allow districts to allocate funds to different areas rather than on the resources required to convert data to the different formats.

Reflection:
There are many recommendations in the plan that should make a difference in student learning and being prepared for the 21st century. The need to improve learning by changing how we teach is probably the first step. One area of teaching that supports and builds on a skill most students currently possess is the use of digital gaming. Using simulation games as part of learner-centered projects will improve the problem-solving and collaboration skills of the students.

One area of concern is the cost of improving and support of infrastructure for current and future technology. When looking at many different programs outside of education that need funding, the government’s (federal and state) funds are going to be stretched. The inclusion of partner companies, both national and local, will need to be included in this process. Their inclusion in this area (infrastructure) may extend the government funds.

Complete copy of the National Educational Technology Plan can be found at:
http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/NETP-2010-final-report.pdf

Web Conference - October 13, 2010

This was a different experience from last week.  There were more people involved and that affected the audio.  But even with the sound being affected, it was great!  Dr. Borel reviewed the internship requirement in much more detail.  Even though I have already read the handbook and was questioning my choice to begin this program, her overview has not calmed that concern. However, one bite of the elephant at a time.

Web Conference - October 8, 2010

What a great experience.  My first official, for school, web conference.  Though we (husband and I) do video conferences with our daughter, this was different.  We were meeting each other for the first time; putting faces with names from our discussion board.  As with all first timers, we were working out the kinks in the system.  Mine was that I did not do the sound check prior to enter the conference, so when my time to speak arrived, not a word was heard from my lips.  Oh, well, at least I tried it before the “required” one. I look forward to meeting more of you next at next week’s conference. Now off to work on the rest of my assignment for week 1.