Course Reflections

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?

I had envisioned that I would understand what the program content would

be and learn to navigate the course ware. I really had not envisioned the

depth of the first course. In retrospect, I should have realized from the

course title “Concepts of Educational Technology”, that I would come

away with a broader understanding of where we were, where, we are and

where we are going.

Since my vision of this course was so different from actuality, I am sort of

shocked and quite overwhelmed at the amount of information provided. I

am even more surprised that I learned a great deal in a short amount of

time. I have not been in an intense learning environment for a decade. It

has been quite an undertaking, at times I thought I had made a mistake.

In summary, my vision of this course was skewed and totally flawed. So,

the outcomes could not possibly be aligned in the most remote way. I can

say that I am enjoying the learning and developing a new passion for the

technological needs of today’s educator.

I enjoyed the way the course is laid out from instructional practices to the

social, legal and ethical use of technology. I think that this graduate

program will assist me in becoming a highly qualified leader.

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?

I am currently the Special Education Director in a small, poor, and rural school district in Oregon. I am the only licensed special educator in the district and serve a very wide range of disabilities. We also have one technology coordinator in the district.

Being in a small district we wear many hats. The administration is very happy to have another person involved in the technology aspect of the district. The teachers are happy to have another person to turn to if there is a glitch in their technology.

I am realizing the need for technology in servicing my special needs students through the use of assistive technology. We as a district embrace the least restrictive environment for all our students regardless of learning styles. I am seeing the many possibilities for the success of all our students with the integration of technology in the curriculum.

Technology is needed by our higher functioning students to create and problem solve in the 21^st century environment. However, it is equally important for our students with different learning styles or abilities to learn academic skills.

3. What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?

My management of time and resources was not what I had anticipated. I am usually quite efficient with the use of time and resources. But, as I mentioned earlier, I have not been in this rigorous a learning environment in a decade.

I have not become real comfortable with some of the Web 2.0 tools that we used in the course and I am still frustrated at times when something goes wrong with the technology I am using. I need to get over the frustration and anxiety and learn to solve these technological problems in a more timely manner and with less outside help. I am sure it will come quicker as these course moves on.

I think that the use of the technology is new to me as is the course ware and navigating through this course has been a challenge at times  for me. The fact that it is online and questions aren’t resolved in the same manner as with a brick and mortar class is frustrating and new to me.

4. Were you successful in carrying out the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?

I completed all the course assignments and I am very happy with my grade. I put in many hours to the completion of this course. I was not aware of the amount of time and resources that would be required of me for this course. That is my poor judgment.

The main concern I had was coordinating meetings with other resource persons at my school and district. We work on a four day week and go 10-12 hours daily to complete our work. The school is in a rural town and my technology coordinator and site mentor Dr. Courtney live out of town and it is difficult to meet with them after Thursday afternoon. My time to work on most assignments is on my weekend and I get them completed by Sunday afternoon. The next possible chance to discuss assignments or get approval is on Monday. This may become more of a problem as the graduate program moves on. I am sure we can work out some way to get it all accomplished.

5. What did you learn from this course…about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes?

The self assessments taken at the start of this course were very informative and enlightening. I learn a great deal about myself, my leadership skills and my deficits in technological knowledge and proficiency. At the time I did not put a great deal of thought as to their importance and benefit. I see at the completion of this course there usefulness as a tool to determine the best direction for my internship plan.

The professional vita allowed me to self reflect on my past education and professional development. The constructing of the vita allowed me to reflect on gaps and deficits in my education and professional development.

The most important thing I learned throughout this course was the fact that I am getting a passion for the way technological integration can help our 21^st century students compete in this digital, global environment. I have been disheartened in the past few years at our lack of success as educators in completing our job of educating the youth of America.

 I see now the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of my students. I am excited about immersing myself in the process of learning these technological skills and competencies. I thank the faculty and staff for their direction and guidance, and giving me back the passion to educate.

Post Web Conference Reflections Week 5

     Prof. Borel went over the requirements of course completion and the assignments in Week 5. The Internship Plan, Principals Skills Chart, and self evaluation. We were reminded to check enrollment in next course and to buy textbook required for next class.
     I would like to thank Prof. Borel for an interesting class and look forward to another of her classes. I enjoyed my first online class at Lamar University.

Web Conference Reflection September 14, 2011

The conference focused mostly on the requirements for the assignments in week 5. I am a little confused about what is needed. However, I think it will be clearer after I read the overview for next week and look more closely at the Internship Handbook and the ISTE book. Prof. Borel went over the hours needed and if I am correct it will be a total of 300 hours. There will be a course embedded 150 hours and Field based 150 hours. She also talked of the plan for next week addressing 33 standards over 8 strands. I will understand more by the end of this week.

Lawrence Wetjen

EDLD 5306/ET8038

Web Conference 9/7/11 8PM

   This week's conference had fewer technical difficulties and went rather smoothly. There was some discussion as to  assignments, and the submission of assignments and internship application to our
 e-portfolio or Tk20.
    There was mention of differences in instructions on syllabus and course overview. It was stated that course overview was latest information and should be referenced often. I know I have seen minor differences in the two documents and I will annotate them as I see them and notify Prof. Borel for clarification and correction as she requested. There was some discussion about not being able to access videos from last weeks conference. Prof Borel asked someone to check out the links and they appeared to be working fine.
     I do enjoy the web conferences. I like to see other members of the cohort and interact by chat and web conference. See you all next week.

Presentation Slide Show Week 2 Assignment part 4

<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_9116235"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/lwetjen/week-2-blog-post-presentation" title="Week 2 blog post presentation.">Week 2 blog post presentation.</a></strong><object id="__sse9116235" width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=week2blogpostpresentation-110902224557-phpapp02&stripped_title=week-2-blog-post-presentation&userName=lwetjen" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed name="__sse9116235" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=week2blogpostpresentation-110902224557-phpapp02&stripped_title=week-2-blog-post-presentation&userName=lwetjen" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/%22%3Epresentations%3C/a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/lwetjen%22%3Elwetjen%3C/a%3E.%3C/div%3E%3C/div>

Blog post # 3

                The National Education Technology Plan lists goals in the areas of learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity.  The plan is to facilitate the education by technology to ensure economic growth for America in a global economy. This is an ambitious plan to graduate all student form high school and 60% holding at least a 2 year post secondary degree.

                The plan is to redesign instruction through technology. Increase accountability, and become more efficient is the idea. The report talks of major gaps in technological savvy among our educators, administrators and shareholders. This leads to major flaws in teaching practices and to budget issues for funding of technology. We must assess our productivity and align our curriculum to state standards. We must continually assess our progress towards the goals set forth in the National Plan.

                The plan talks of ongoing professional development, increasing the infrastructure to expand internet access., This is especially needed in rural and low economic areas. Use collaboration and online learning communities to increase teacher efficiency and knowledge. We need to continually assess our progress as educators, students and as communities as a whole.

                This is an ambitious plan and in my opinion vital to the prosperity of our young people in the global economy. The problem as I see it is the same in many of our major issues. It is the lack of understanding and the agreement on solutions to the problems. We need to improve our technology skills for more effective teaching, That translates to educating  teachers in the use of technology. It means convincing the school boards to fund technology. It means to ask all of the older shareholders to think outside the box. To stop thinking…”when I was in school”. Times have changed and are changing exponentially. We need to step up now. This requires funding and some creativity. We need to change the way we look at education.

Blog Post # 2

I live and work in the small rural Oregon school district of Butte Falls. We serve about 185 students k-12. Living and working here make me a stakeholder, community member and educator.  Our technology coordinator is currently on family emergency leave and the technology plans that I was able to get hold of may have been revised. I have reviewed and summarized this plan.

The first goal was addressing all students having access to technology in our schools. We have two stationary computer labs and one mobile lab, each has 30 computers. Our plan was that 80% of students be technologically literate by 2010 and increase 10% each year through 2012. The strategy implemented was applications that support standard aligned curriculum objectives and provide opportunities for student collaboration. All students by 8^th grade will have successfully completed one year of computer applications courses. Professionaol development will be scheduled , monitored and assessed for faculty and staff.

We have allocated 90% of our technology budget last year for meaningful professional development. The superintendent and the technology coordinator are responsible for  monitoring and assessing the professional development. Time and travel expenses are paid for by the district.

There are phones with voicemail in all classrooms. We have the three labs I mentioned previously. There are Smart boards in 4 of 5 classrooms at the elementary school as well as in the computer lab at high school. There are digital projectors in all classrooms. All teachers have laptops or desktop computers. We currently have 3.2 MBPS bandwidth, which is far from the 10 MBPS recommended by Oregon plan. Doubling this has been prioritized when budget constrictions allow. We use Edline, the company provides web hosting , content management, information portals grade books and storage. These technologies allow parents to access student grades and attendance.

        Most of our software is for productivity. We use Microsoft Office 2003 and plan upgrading to Office 2009 by 2010.

        Budget constraints are becoming more and more of an issue ech year. We have been fortunate with all stakeholders tightening their belts a little. We have allocated 90% last year for professional development. We use Erate for discounted tech services.  We have received grants for Smart boards and digital flip devices. We need to wait for increased bandwidth cost to become more affordable.

        There is scheduled pre and post training assessments scheduled for faculty and staff. The is a schedule of assessments for our infrastructure and hardware capabilities. We will utilize Simple Assessment to test technological literacy of 8^th graders. We as a district realize the importance of reliable assessments and have a committee of stakeholders continually reviewing and researching better, nore reliable and more accurate means of assessments.

Blog Post #1

Proper assessments are good to gather data as to where an entity (student, school or district) is currently at. If we assess at the start of something, whether it be a plan or an intervention or a semester, we know where we started. When we assess throughout the course of the plan or course we determine our progress. The technology assessment, aside from US Department of Education requirement, lets districts and schools see where they are at as far as reaching the goals of the technology plan. They need to know where they are at and what needs to be done to attain the districts goals.

The assessment of teachers’ technology proficiency and knowledge as well as the students knowledge and proficiency are just an integral part of the overall assessment of the district or state. The teachers and students are the front line so to speak. They are the principal players in this overall plan for technology. We need to know exactly where they are at and what their needs are to reach the goals we will set forth.

                The down side of any assessment is conducting an inaccurate, unreliable or irrelevant one. The assessment is merely a tool. The more accurate the data the better we can plan. If a survey is taken on the state of the district’s technology level and perceived needs, and the data gathered is inaccurate or biased, the assessment is flawed.

                I read my district’s initial technology assessment, which is part of the overall School Wide Improvement Plan, and disagreed with the committee’s assessment of where we were as well as why we were not progressing. In my opinion the assessment was not reliable. It was biased in my opinion. There were no supporting facts or documentation as to why we are not progressing. This will hamper our progress more than help.