Week 5 Reflections Writings

Reflections on what I have learned in this course.

While I will be the first to admit that I certainly see the value of technology as an instructional tool, I don’t feel a lot of personal confidence in its use yet in my classroom. I have mainly been using the internet and other technology tools as investigative tools rather than as instructional tools. My expectations of what I would learn in this course really related to ways I could use the latest technology instructional tools in my classroom. What I really learned and experienced was how technology aids educators in the sharing of knowledge and information through the use of those technology tools. I also saw how important it is for the principal on a campus to keep open discussions with teachers and other stakeholders about the use of technology on a campus and the continued advancements in technology and how to integrate them into education.

As I work toward assuming the role of a principal on a campus I do see that I will need to be ahead of the curve on the latest technology tools that have value to education and instruction. As I reviewed our district’s Long Range Technology Plan and how it was integrated into our campus improvement plan I clearly see the role of the principal in technology integration. The organizational chart prepared in week 4 clearly lays out a picture of interaction and cohesion in the purchase of, integration into and support for the best technology tools onto our campuses. Modeling the best practices in the use of the latest technology is important for the principal on any campus.

The assignment for starting a blog was certainly challenging. I have been on blogs of friends as a social tool but I had never really seen the value in it as an educational tool. Posting documents, power point presentations and other valuable information on a blog and then making it accessible to other educators is wonderful. I loved the quote on the video presentations this last week that said students use the internet as a social networking tool while adults use it to check emails and do “business”. What a great descriptor of those two worlds and how the technology has different arms and different uses for different generations. As a member of the baby boomer generation who will be walking into a principal position, hopefully, at a high school where I will be modeling the use of the latest technology both as a social networking tool and as an educational tool it will be important for me to continue the learning curve in technology.

The course assignments were interesting and challenging but also sometimes seemed like busy work! The readings were most definitely useful, interesting and I actually passed a few of them on to other teachers and administrators in my building. The building of and use of my own personal blog was very interesting and I plan to attempt to use this as a sharing tool with other high school marketing teachers and eventually new principals. The discussion assignments were always interesting but as I expressed in earlier course evaluations, the great thing about an online course is that you can fit the assignments and course requirements into your own personal schedule. The requirements that students get the readings done early in the week so they could post their comments and then comment on other student’s comments really curtailed that freedom. Like most teachers, my school days are packed with lesson planning, research and grading and I usually wait till the weekend to do most of the online assignment work. While I do the reading through the week, time on the computer is difficult except on the weekends! I was able to complete the assignments but did not feel I produced the best work possible because of those expectations.

I did learn a lot about myself from a technology standpoint. While I feel comfortable with technology, I know that my students are far ahead of me and I will need to commit to working hard to stay ahead of them. As a campus principal I feel it is important that I am informed about the latest technology and how students are using it. The battle with cell phones and their usage in schools is a hot topic today. The discussion that we want to use technology to engage the 21st century learner and that those students have access to the use of technology that we “ban” from usage in the classroom is certainly a dilemma that will need to be addressed in the next few years. I believe I have solid leadership skills but I will have to work hard to integrate the leadership of technology usage in my future role as a principal.

The value of blogs in education is probably just on the threshold of exploding. Like a lot of new technologies our culture finds the social networking aspect of a new technology first and then others move it into another arena. The blog creation was a learning experience and I certainly see the value of it instructionally and as a communication tool. I have seen blogging as a way of sharing information to lots of different stakeholders in a school district or on a campus or even in a specific classroom. Through the use of blackboard technology teachers can set up blogging opportunities which are similar to open forum classroom discussions. Teachers and administrators will have to continue to develop guidelines for usage of those tools and teach students about what is acceptable and appropriate language and usage of those tools.