Personal Reflections on New Adventures (Of Educational Leadership and Technology in the 21st Century)

Personal Reflections on New Adventures
(Of Educational Leadership and Technology in the 21st Century)


Course Expectations and Outcomes

The expectations which were present before the course began were far surpassed in the first week when examining the Texas Long Range Technology Plan. Educational technology is so wide and varied and will someday be in the forefront of education as the world becomes more technology minded. The basic expectation for the course was simply a manner in which to do educational administrative duties as in checking e-mails, attendance, grading and finding educational programs for students to do in the classroom. The achievement of expectations was very quickly achieved and surpassed with the detailed and varied technology components which comprise educational technology.

Alignment was not only met with my expectations but alignment was met with the federal, state and local expectations and standards set for technology literacy for teachers, students and districts throughout the United States and Texas.
The outcomes will forever change the manner in which technology is view in the school and classroom. The teaching of the Technology TEKS, the Cyber Ethics and Online safety definitely will be a constant in the classroom. The different educational content programs offered to enhance the curriculum would also be a relevant part of the daily routine in classroom, schools and districts.
The course also demonstrated, with hands on experience what is expected of an educational leader in the field of technology inside the school and district. How the integration of technology will take place will.

Achievement of all was accomplished in this five week course. Knowing how to read and understand what the Star Chart, the Texas Long Range Plan, the District Comprehensive Technology Plan, the District improvement Plan, the School Improvement Plan, AEIS and AYP, assessments and the Project Tomorrow(Speak Up) which encompasses a wide range of data and standards is a vital part of the duties of the educational leader. These data and standards lead one to make a more informed decisions concerning technology in schools and classrooms.


Course Assignments and Learning’s

Desire is an enormous motivator. Strong belief in the intended goal was an immense motivator in finishing the enormous assignments. The assignments are immense. With such complex work, wonderment of how to accomplish it all was top priority. Organization was the key. As organization came, the work seems to have taken on a different form. Lessons learned is that time of reflection within each assignment makes for more understanding of the intended goals. Organization is also a lesson learned in order to expedite the lessons. Fortunately, I have not yet become discouraged with all of it and I have done all of the assignments.

I have learned about the Texas Long Range Plan and students being technology literate by the eighth grade, the Houston ISD Comprehensive Technology Plan, the District improvement Plan, Campus Improvement Plan, the Star Chart, the Project Tomorrow, SETDA and the National Technology Plan and Pre-K guidelines. All these plans follow basically the same structure but within their own setting for federal, state and local standards and goals. Teaching technology in schools also follow certain standards of cyber ethics and online safety, blogs and integration in the classroom.

The extent of the technology skills is very small. E-mail, writing word documents, check text messages and voice mail and use the internet for information is as far as the technology. I was not born in the digital age and am not considered a digital citizen or a digital native. I have to study hard to understand what is happening in technology. Through the course, my skills have skyrocketed and I am more comfortable.

Leadership involves so many avenues. One should know all aspects of oneself to be able to lead others. Technology in school include a vast comprehensive range of meeting federal, state and local standards, core content for student learning, teachers teaching, professional development of teachers and administrators, and the infrastructure. The leader needs to have mastered and be a literate technology person in order to make informed decisions. The leader will sometimes make hard decisions and model while supporting teachers in the classroom. With the federal government having cut funding, the leader will be creative and focus on professional development of teachers and leadership.

The educational leader should have a positive point of view of toward the nitration of technology. The attitudes need to be one of willing to try and use the data. Another way of thinking is to shake off the old traditional ways of teaching and incorporate the new ones. Web-enhanced educational is world-wide and is here to stay and only get bigger as time passes. Therefore, we owe it to our students to become technology literate.



Blogs

Blogs are generally used for an individual to keep updated commentaries, even and graphics and videos. Websites that is easily created and updated are Weblogs.
These websites do not need much technology knowledge. They are mostly used as a reflection tool and to form relationships and collaboration with educators who rarely get to see each other during the day. They also provide for sharing, communication and reflection. Different types of blogs may be used in an educational setting: student, class, faculty and district.
RSS or Real Simple Syndication filters and tracks online resources of groups, for example, Teachers and students.

We need to know and abide with federal laws and district standards when dealing with blogs and posting students’ work. Concerns in blogs are internet safety and ethics. Students are taught how to use the Internet. A list of procedures should be presented to each student and repeated over time for it to be ingrained in the students. Through teaching and modeling and clear policy and procedures, students learn how to use the blogs safely. Cyber ethics are an important part of the training need to have in order to be responsible participants of online users.
Websites that is easily created and updated are Weblogs. These websites do not need much technology knowledge. They are mostly used as a reflection tool and to form relationships and collaboration with educators who rarely get to see each other during the day. RSS or Real Simple Syndication filters and tracks online resources of groups, for example, Teachers and students.
In our district, each school has a new blog in which to share ideas and reflections on classroom ups and downs.
Weblogs expands classroom horizons builds content and participation.
Again, students enjoy learning from each other. It’s available 24/7. It is audio visual.
Student benefits also include using podcasts in the classroom and in the library.

Conclusion

Integrating technology in the classroom is using Web 2.0, providing professional development for educators along with ongoing follow up in the classroom, building an infrastructure, and providing teachers with support in the classroom to integrate the technology, using web-enhanced instructional programs to improve instruction and learning, reaching the special populations students is also very important, blogging for collaboration and information, and having an assessment tool to measure the integration and using the data to improve the integration. Principals must lead the way for educators to feels comfortable in the integration process. Therefore, the educational leaders must also be prepared, motivated and a guiding light.