The approved educational technology plan for Williamsburg James City Schools sets out a five year plan to meet the educational technology goals for the division. The primary focus of the plan “is to ensure educational excellence and equity, providing all teachers and students with the resources, knowledge, and skills to thrive in technology intensive, ever changing, global society in which we live.” The division plans to meet this goal using a strategy that addresses infrastructure, an instructional technology standard, student computing, administrative computing, support and training, and curriculum integration. The plan describes an incorporation of numerous technology tools into the educational environment and then the training and support component necessary to make them effective.
The vision laid out in this plan is very similar to the technology literacy model found in the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) ICT Competency Standards for Teachers. The technology literacy model’s approach “is to prepare learners, citizens, and a workforce that is capable of taking up new technologies so as to support social development and improve economic productivity.” The UNESCO model also mentions making resources available and finding ways to incorporate them into the curriculum.
WJCC is currently in the process of revising the educational technology plan and that plan seems to focus more on the knowledge deepening model of UNESCO. The idea that students have more control over their own education by engaging with significant problems or questions of various subjects and then attempting to solve those problems or questions. This plan has not yet been approved and I don’t see WJCC making strides to meet the goals of that idea just yet.
Currently I am involved in the WJCC vision as an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher (ITRT). My role as an ITRT is to assist in the integration process. I teach the teachers how to use technologies to effectively instruct the students. My fellow ITRTs and I are on the front lines of technology integration. We are the ones providing the training and support to the teachers. We do this through division wide, school wide, team or curriculum, or one on one training sessions where we review and demonstrate appropriate uses of technology for instruction. Currently we are working to shift from basic instruction on how to use tools to greater integration of tools into instructional practice. We are in effective working to shift from the technology literacy model to the knowledge deepening model.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Session 7A Learning Community Participation
My plan for continued involvment in learning communities is as follows:
1.) Continue to be an active member of my team at work, which is a local learning community, by participating, sharing, and actively stealing all the good ideas that my team mates share at team meetings.
2.) Continue to reach out and communicate with my own informal learning network of educator friends as we share ideas and resources as we come across them.
3.) Continue to read the education blogs that I subscribe to in an effort to be aware of ideas and resources that exist out in the greater world.
Now on to how I really feel about this standard:
The ISTE NETS-T standard says, "participate in local and global learning communities ." Yet the proficient rubric we dealt with for this course said participation meant active contributions including responding to others. Here is how I feel about that.
While I recognize the value of participating in learning communities and the value that comes from learning from people around the globe, I take umbrage at the suggestion that to be an effective teacher who uses technology we should be actively participating in a manner that requires us to contribute. I believe active participation can include regular reading or subscribing to the information generated and posted by the community. Active participation does not necessitate my own contributions to that community. I recognize that a community filled with people who don’t contribute means nothing ever gets discussed, but at the same time a community that has no one reading or watching products placed before it also does not accomplish anything.
1.) Continue to be an active member of my team at work, which is a local learning community, by participating, sharing, and actively stealing all the good ideas that my team mates share at team meetings.
2.) Continue to reach out and communicate with my own informal learning network of educator friends as we share ideas and resources as we come across them.
3.) Continue to read the education blogs that I subscribe to in an effort to be aware of ideas and resources that exist out in the greater world.
Now on to how I really feel about this standard:
The ISTE NETS-T standard says, "participate in local and global learning communities ." Yet the proficient rubric we dealt with for this course said participation meant active contributions including responding to others. Here is how I feel about that.
While I recognize the value of participating in learning communities and the value that comes from learning from people around the globe, I take umbrage at the suggestion that to be an effective teacher who uses technology we should be actively participating in a manner that requires us to contribute. I believe active participation can include regular reading or subscribing to the information generated and posted by the community. Active participation does not necessitate my own contributions to that community. I recognize that a community filled with people who don’t contribute means nothing ever gets discussed, but at the same time a community that has no one reading or watching products placed before it also does not accomplish anything.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Session 6 - Authorized Use Policies
The AUP discussion really got me thinking about how to do a better job of communicating the important ideas found in an Authorized Use Policy. For those of you unfamiliar with this educational term it is a legal document that parents, teachers, and students sign saying they will use the technology provided by the school division in a proper way. That is for educational purposes only and in a way they were instructed to use it. I know that some of the problems with my division's policy include its lenght, the legal language used, and its mix of addressing behaviors and technologies instead of focusing on behaviors. The AUP is fast becoming dated because it does not address portable devices which our division is just now beginning to implement. Students have trouble following it because they dont really understand what it is that they are signing.
My thoughts on that are to have the ITRT team create an educational video on the AUP to be shown at the beginning of the year as a refresher for teachers on the important parts of the AUP. The ITRT team could also create an educational video for secondary and elementary students reminding them of the important dos and donts with school technology. By showing and reminding students of these important rules every year, we would help to reinforce the message with in. One can always hope for these changes.
My thoughts on that are to have the ITRT team create an educational video on the AUP to be shown at the beginning of the year as a refresher for teachers on the important parts of the AUP. The ITRT team could also create an educational video for secondary and elementary students reminding them of the important dos and donts with school technology. By showing and reminding students of these important rules every year, we would help to reinforce the message with in. One can always hope for these changes.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Session 5 - Evaluating Resources
Let me evaluate the Capstone Course - it is poorly designed, dated, and the organizers make the participants feel like an after thought. Now I sound like one of those angry online people. On to something more exciting.
One of the tools my school division is in the process of gearing up is Microsoft Sharepoint. I am really excited about teachers using this tool as a collaborative communication medium. The tool comes equipped with capability to use discussion boards, blogs, wikis, document sharing, photo sharing, calendar sharing, annoucment sharing, and surveys. I think these tools have the ability to drastically reshape my division's educational enviornment. Many teachers don't do a good job of working on lessons collaboratively and sharing styles of teaching that are effective with various types of students. If the division can get teachers to utilize the Sharepoint site as a collaborative learning environment, I think a shift will occur in the standard of teaching in my division. If teachers had a repository of tried and true lessons on which they could continue to build and expand, I think we would finally start to see more consistent learning among students. The idea that you can go into your classroom, shut the door, and teach on your own for the whole day needs to stop. If teachers can work together collaboriatively the profession of teaching would drastically improve its product.
One of the tools my school division is in the process of gearing up is Microsoft Sharepoint. I am really excited about teachers using this tool as a collaborative communication medium. The tool comes equipped with capability to use discussion boards, blogs, wikis, document sharing, photo sharing, calendar sharing, annoucment sharing, and surveys. I think these tools have the ability to drastically reshape my division's educational enviornment. Many teachers don't do a good job of working on lessons collaboratively and sharing styles of teaching that are effective with various types of students. If the division can get teachers to utilize the Sharepoint site as a collaborative learning environment, I think a shift will occur in the standard of teaching in my division. If teachers had a repository of tried and true lessons on which they could continue to build and expand, I think we would finally start to see more consistent learning among students. The idea that you can go into your classroom, shut the door, and teach on your own for the whole day needs to stop. If teachers can work together collaboriatively the profession of teaching would drastically improve its product.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Session 4 Creativity part 2
This post is going to be specific to e-learning 2.0 - how Web technologies are shaping education an article written by Steve O'Hear. When I read through this article the first time, I got excited about all the different ways that technology can create really awesome learning environments. Then I thought about the schools I work in and wonder how to translate these ideas into things that these teachers will use. I see a big disconnect between technology and the classroom. My job is to bridge that divide, but I am still struggling on how to do that.
The first step, which is outside of my control, is getting the resources into the hands of teachers. So far my division has been doing a pretty good job of getting tools for teachers. The second step is getting teachers comfortable using the tools. I see blogging as a good first step here. Particularly with the Elementary students, a multi-authored blog around some of their reading in language arts would be a good digital step for teachers and students. I was really impressed with the one teacher who managed to get the author to join the learning environment. That is where I see real power in these tools. The third step, is to truly incorporate these tools. I was really impressed with the flickr annotation tool. That has great applicability in the classroom. Also, the ability to create podcasts of information which can then be shared with others increases the learning opportunities even further.
Refelecting more on the barriers to these projects, I really see a need to encourage teamwork and cooperation in the classroom. These are the kinds of projects that need teachers working together. Yet all to often I still see teachers on their own, shutting the door to their classroom when they teach. Administrators need to find a way to encourage more teamwork.
The first step, which is outside of my control, is getting the resources into the hands of teachers. So far my division has been doing a pretty good job of getting tools for teachers. The second step is getting teachers comfortable using the tools. I see blogging as a good first step here. Particularly with the Elementary students, a multi-authored blog around some of their reading in language arts would be a good digital step for teachers and students. I was really impressed with the one teacher who managed to get the author to join the learning environment. That is where I see real power in these tools. The third step, is to truly incorporate these tools. I was really impressed with the flickr annotation tool. That has great applicability in the classroom. Also, the ability to create podcasts of information which can then be shared with others increases the learning opportunities even further.
Refelecting more on the barriers to these projects, I really see a need to encourage teamwork and cooperation in the classroom. These are the kinds of projects that need teachers working together. Yet all to often I still see teachers on their own, shutting the door to their classroom when they teach. Administrators need to find a way to encourage more teamwork.
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