Monday, March 12, 2012
Week 2, Web Conference Reflection
Week 2's web conference I was unable to attend. I was going to attend the Thursday night one, but that got canceled. I was able to watch the recorded web conference and watch the power point through the link that Professor Borel posted in our email and class announcement. It was nice to put faces to names and see my classmates. The video was hard to understand; I don't know if it was my computer or the video itself, but the audio never really "buffered" and was in and out the whole hour and fifteen or so minutes. I was able to see and read the class' chat dialogue and watch the power point but that was it. It's my understanding that we are to do 150 hours of internship? Not really clear on that and the other thing that stuck out to me was that we are also able to do the principal test at the completion of this Master's program??? I'm not really understanding...but that's what I got. This Thursday I will be in Vegas on a quick mini-vacation with 2 other teaching colleagues of mine, but I will be taking my laptop and seeing if I can join the web conference this week. I wish there were 2 per week, but what can you do? I saw this week that a lot of people were having trouble with their mics and knowing whether they were on or not...makes me a bit apprehensive about this whole web conferencing thing. I didn't get to hear the class' introductions; like I said I don't know if its my computer or what the problem with the audio was that night. I hope to have a good experience when I finally get to join a web conference!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Week 2, Assisgnment, part 3-Blog Posting #3-National Educational Technology Plan
The National Educational Technology Plan was released by the U.S. Department of Education on November 9, 2010. Under the Obama administration education has become an urgent priority and it is driven by 2 goals: to raise the proportion of college graduates from about 41% to 60% so that our population holds a 2-year or 4-year degree by 2020 and to close the achievement gap so that all students graduate from high school ready to succeed in college and careers. These aggressive goals were designed keeping in mind that we need cost effective and cost saving strategies that improve graduation rates for millions of Americans.
America has finally heard the alarm and we are waking up to the fact that we are no longer on the forefront of education and technology. Other countries are beating us in engineering programs, graduation rates and technical programs. So the NETP calls for revolutionary transformation.
The NETP has goals in five essential areas: Learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity. The learning focus is to engage and empower the learner. Leveraging the power of technology to provide personalized learning and to enable continuous and lifelong learning. The assessment focus is not just to assess but to assess what matters. We want to point out strengths to grow them more but identify weaknesses while there is still time to improve student performance while involving the stakeholders in the process of designing, conducting and using assessment. Technology driven data can drive decisions on the basis of what is best for each student which will lead to continuos improvement in our entire education system. The teaching focus is to prepare and connect. Technology helps to build the capacity of educators by enabling a shift to a model of connected teaching. Teams of connected educators replace solo teachers, classrooms are fully connected to provide educators with 24/7 access to data and analytic tools with access to resources to help them act on the data provided. The focus of infrastructure is to have access and to enable. An essential component is a comprehensive infrastructure that provides every student, educator, and level of our education system with the resources needed when and where they are needed. This of course in relation to broadband connectivity, servers, software, management systems, and administration tools. The last focus is productivity to redesign and transform our education system. It calls to apply technology to implement personalized learning and ensure that students are making progress so that they graduate. Technology must be used to plan, manage, monitor, and report spending to provide decision-makers with a reliable, accurate, and complete view of the financial performance of our education system at all levels.
Most campuses and states mirror the NETP and are very much alike. I like that the government realizes that we need change in our education system and that they have devised a plan to help attain the goals needed for us to succeed as a nation. I'm starting to "get it"!! LOL
National Education Technology Plan Executive Summary, Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/technology/netp-2010
Week 2 Assignment, Part 3 Blog Posts-Blog Post#2-School Technology Plan
My campus' technology plan mirrors the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technolgy. There are 4 parts to promote academic excellence; Teaching and Learning, Educator Preparation and Development, Leadership, Administration and Instructional Support, and Infrastructure.
The goal is for all learners to have access to relevant technologies, tools, resources and services for individualized instruction 24/7. To use information and communication technologies to collaborate, contract knowledge and provide solutions to real-world problems. To use research based strategies in all subject areas to improve academic achievement. To communicate effectively in a variety of formats for diverse audiences.
For all educators to graduate from educator preparation program that models current technology in instructional and administrative practices PreK-12 and to exit educator preparation programs knowing how to use technology effectively in the teaching and learning process. Also for educators to develop new learning environments that utilize technology as a flexible tool where learning is collaborative, interactive and customized while ensuring integration of appropriate technology throughout all of curriculum and instruction.
The goal is also for all leaders to develop, implement, budget for and monitor dynamic technology plan to meet the needs of a changing workforce and economy. Leaders have to offer expanded curricular and instructional opportunities to students via online digital technology, and a variety of distance learning technologies. Leaders should also expect and plan appropriate technology use throughout the teaching and learning process as well as throughout administration while using data effectively and appropriately in decision making.
An infrastructure system provides: access to all e-learning technologies through ubiquitous broadband resources available 24/7 for all users, just in time technical assistance to support teaching and learning, measures to ensure all data is secure and accurate and that data standards to support interoperability and accessibility for all users.
In an effort to meet this academic excellence E-Rate provides discounts to assist schools to obtain affordable telecommunications and Internet access, but in order to apply for E-rate we must have a technology plan. Our technology plan in Amarillo ISD is overseen by the superintendent and our cluster director in accordance with our Chief Technology officer. The professional development opportunities are coordinated by campus principals and curriculum instructors throughout the district based on need and content area. To ensure that the student is leaning and that the teacher is growing in technology we assess our campus with the Texas STaR chart.
TEA. (2006). Long Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020. 15
The goal is for all learners to have access to relevant technologies, tools, resources and services for individualized instruction 24/7. To use information and communication technologies to collaborate, contract knowledge and provide solutions to real-world problems. To use research based strategies in all subject areas to improve academic achievement. To communicate effectively in a variety of formats for diverse audiences.
For all educators to graduate from educator preparation program that models current technology in instructional and administrative practices PreK-12 and to exit educator preparation programs knowing how to use technology effectively in the teaching and learning process. Also for educators to develop new learning environments that utilize technology as a flexible tool where learning is collaborative, interactive and customized while ensuring integration of appropriate technology throughout all of curriculum and instruction.
The goal is also for all leaders to develop, implement, budget for and monitor dynamic technology plan to meet the needs of a changing workforce and economy. Leaders have to offer expanded curricular and instructional opportunities to students via online digital technology, and a variety of distance learning technologies. Leaders should also expect and plan appropriate technology use throughout the teaching and learning process as well as throughout administration while using data effectively and appropriately in decision making.
An infrastructure system provides: access to all e-learning technologies through ubiquitous broadband resources available 24/7 for all users, just in time technical assistance to support teaching and learning, measures to ensure all data is secure and accurate and that data standards to support interoperability and accessibility for all users.
In an effort to meet this academic excellence E-Rate provides discounts to assist schools to obtain affordable telecommunications and Internet access, but in order to apply for E-rate we must have a technology plan. Our technology plan in Amarillo ISD is overseen by the superintendent and our cluster director in accordance with our Chief Technology officer. The professional development opportunities are coordinated by campus principals and curriculum instructors throughout the district based on need and content area. To ensure that the student is leaning and that the teacher is growing in technology we assess our campus with the Texas STaR chart.
TEA. (2006). Long Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020. 15
week 2 Assignment, part 3: Blog Post#1-Technology Asessments
Technology Assessments establish a framework for how well teachers are prepared to equip students with technology knowledge & skills. These assessments are valuable to schools, teachers, and to students. Without assessments the planning team does not know where to begin. So many valuable things come from assessing a campus. Assessments help plan for future growth too. As the Texas STaR chart helps with state funded grants that schools need so desperately in order to keep up with technology in the 21st century. Without assessments like the STaR chart, the state could not fund schools with grants and monies for technological advances. Data for the STaR chart or other technology assessments reveal overall learning conditions that affect learning, discrepancies in areas that need improvement, and ways to accomplish improvement.
There are way more pros to technology assessments than cons to them. The assessments help schools build on strengths but also focus on what needs to be improved or changed. Companies like Edvantia, http://www.edvantia.org/about/index.cfm?&t=about&c=home, do technology assessments for campuses throughout the nation. They focus on growth and a shared vision of technological needs. This company will assess the teachers and administration and design a plan for growth or an intervention for the school based on analyzing the data from the assessments they conduct. Just like the Texas STaR chart analyzes teacher's and campus' proficiency in technology, Evantia conducts surveys as well. The TX STaR chart tells us a lot about the campus, the staff, the administration and the students. It's survey measures where the campus stands in this 21st century world of technology. After analyzing the results we can see where our strengths are and where our weaknesses are. The only con I see with technology assessments is the time it takes away from teaching and from learning, but the gains attained outweigh the cons.
Without assessments we don't even know where to begin. Assessments are crucial to growth and improvement. Just like we as educators assess our students to gauge knowledge attained, we need assessments to see where we stand in this technology driven world.
There are way more pros to technology assessments than cons to them. The assessments help schools build on strengths but also focus on what needs to be improved or changed. Companies like Edvantia, http://www.edvantia.org/about/index.cfm?&t=about&c=home, do technology assessments for campuses throughout the nation. They focus on growth and a shared vision of technological needs. This company will assess the teachers and administration and design a plan for growth or an intervention for the school based on analyzing the data from the assessments they conduct. Just like the Texas STaR chart analyzes teacher's and campus' proficiency in technology, Evantia conducts surveys as well. The TX STaR chart tells us a lot about the campus, the staff, the administration and the students. It's survey measures where the campus stands in this 21st century world of technology. After analyzing the results we can see where our strengths are and where our weaknesses are. The only con I see with technology assessments is the time it takes away from teaching and from learning, but the gains attained outweigh the cons.
Without assessments we don't even know where to begin. Assessments are crucial to growth and improvement. Just like we as educators assess our students to gauge knowledge attained, we need assessments to see where we stand in this technology driven world.
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