1. What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?
At the beginning, I envisioned this course would teach me a wide array of elements of Educational Technology. More specifically, I expected to learn about blogs, wikis, and fair use. I am excited to see I got to learn all these things in the first course instead of over the entire 18 month program. I also envisioned learning technology integration tools to use in my classroom with my students. I did learn to use blogs, wikis, and wordle with my students and am excited to have learned some project ideas from the readings on how to teach the kids ethical use of the internet. I did not expect to learn so much on how to teach students to dissect the information they find on the internet. I knew the importance of this skill but have always been confused on how to teach this to students. Thanks to my Technology Leadership book, I learned to teach the kids to “MAP” the information in order to dissect the URL, the author, and the author’s purpose. My internet research unit is coming up in a few weeks and I am optimistic I will be able to do a much better job in leading the students to evaluate the usefulness of the research they find this year.
2. To the extent that you achieved the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?
Definitely! The many things I learned in the past 5 weeks are very helpful in my school. I now understand the importance of the Star Chart and the District Long Term Technology Plan. I understand the importance of having a school technology plan and using it to plan the purchasing of technology tools and resources. I have learned how to use blogs with my students and have now personally used a blog and am no longer intimidated by it. I have learned about the Technology Facillitator standards and am learning how to apply these at my campus and in my district. I already knew about Acceptable Use Policies but will apply what I learned in this course when I work in the district technology committee because I will have the research to back up the importance of updating our AUP to include web authoring. Overall, I have really enjoyed this class because it applies directly to what I do in my classroom, it is the first time in my education experiences that I have read and learned about things I can directly use.
3. What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?
I can only think of two things I did not fully achieve but I know that with more time in this program both of these things will be achieved. First, we learned a lot about the importance of technology integration and aligning things to the TA TEKS and the grade level specific TEKS but I still need specific ideas and examples. I am an example based person, once I see a few examples I can run with the idea. The other thing I did not fully achieve is understanding this internship. I am very unclear on the expectations of the internship and what exactly I am supposed to be doing. I think one reason for this is because of the mass amount of information given makes me have information overload. Another reason is because I need a example to look at so I can build off of it. A last reason is the online format, I believe if the internship was explained to me in words that I would be able to understand it better. I attended two web-conferences about the internship, the first one confused me more and the second one helped a lot. I wish the conferences were not always on Wednesday nights as it is the one night I’m not available. I know it is still early in the program so I should not fully understand the internship yet so I have hope that I will soon understand it better.
4. Were you successful in carrying out the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?
Yes, I feel I was very successful in completing and turning in my assignments. The first week was a struggle for me because I thought I had to complete all the readings and all the videos before starting the assignment. The assignment the first week was so long and so time consuming. After learning the first week that I can start my assignment right away, I have been able to successfully manage my time and get all my assignments in easily. I feel like the assignments have been equally split up as far as work load each week which pleases me. I feel like I have learned very well how to manage my time to get my school work done as well as my Lamar school work done.
5. What did you learn from this course…about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes?
So far I have learned a lot about time management in this class. I have also reminded myself of the extent of my passion of technology. After teaching for five years, I have started to become a bit bored in my position. While I still love being a teacher, I forgot that my specific passion is in technology integration more than just teaching. I am glad this class has caused me to remember this. Also I have learned more about the leadership side of the position I am interested in and I know through my internship I will learn a lot more about leadership. I am a natural leader but definitely could use some strategies on how to get people to agree to a goal and work together to meet that goal. I have been much happier since beginning this program as I really enjoy learning and furthering my knowledge and skills, I do not feel so stagnant in my career and life.
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