Recently I was selected as a district level educational technologist (ET). My primary responsibilities are to support the school level ET’s, educators and administrators with the effective integration of technology in order to promote highest student achievement. I think that all of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) National Education Technology Standards (NETS) for teachers are important and require continual attention because of how quickly technology changes. My current focus in terms of the NETS teacher standards is in the area of professional growth and leadership.
As part of my personal professional development, as well as to support the educators I work with, I will be utlizing the GAME plan method outlined by Cennamo et al. to guide my self-directed learning (2009).
My GAME plan for professional growth and leadership is focused on the following two ISTE NETS teacher standards:
5b – exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others.
5c – evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning.
Goals –
Demonstrate a vision of technology integration and increase the technology skills of ET’s and educators in my district. Increase the use of existing and emerging technologies in order to improve student learning
Actions –
I plan on filming and creating short video examples of effective technology integration throughout my district. These short videos will be shared with all ET’s and educators using a district technology intranet site that I will create.
As part of the district technology intranet site, I will share information and ideas on how to use existing and new technologies in order to promote student creativity, innovation and achievement.
Monitor –
I will gather responses from ET’s, educators and administrators on whether the videos and Intranet site are useful resources for promoting the effective use of technology to support student learning.
Evaluate and Extend –
Through site visits and discussions with ET’s, educators and administrators I will determine whether the technology integration videos and district intranet site are promoting the more widespread and regular use of existing and emerging technologies to promote increased learning. I will look at ways of extending intranets to each school so that educators can share technology integration successes and ideas with each other throughout the district.
This plan will not only give me a chance to improve my own knowledge and skills in many areas of educational technology but it will also assist educators throughout my district with effectively utilizing technology to promote highest student achievement.
References:
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
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Kevin,
ReplyDeleteYour position sounds very exciting. Many teachers will benefit from the ideas that you will share with them. I think that teachers are willing to incorporate technology if they know that it will benefit their students. There are so many ways technology can be used that it can be a little overwhelming. The videos will definitely spark ideas for your teachers. The Intranet site will be a great estension to your plan. Before this program, I was completely new to many of the things we are discussing. I found the In Plain English clips on blogs, wikis, etc.. to be very helpful. Many of your teachers may also gain a better understanding from some of those clip. If teachers had some guidance in these kinds of activities like some How to... documents they would be more likely to incorporate the tools.
Great ideas!
Jenny
Hi Kevin!
ReplyDeleteAs Jenny said, your new position sounds wonderfully exciting! I keep hoping that my school will incorporate such a position, as all schools should in order to fully integrate technology effectively.
The reflective process is crucial to every truly self-directed learner. The best part about having such a solid handle on technology is that you could even keep a digital journal, using voice notes, screencasts, photos, and more in order to monitor your progress in search of what works, and where you could improve as a teacher. You can use these same tools with your team of teachers to show them what to as well as what NOT to do while integrating technology into their classrooms.
Looking forward to hearing more about your great new position!
-Tara
Jenny,
ReplyDeleteIn my district all educators have access to the atomic learning resource: http://www.atomiclearning.com/
This site has numerous short video clips that explain how to accomplish tasks using a wide variety of computer applications. It also has more lengthy tutorials and other resources.
Please share any resources you have found that were particularly helpful as you have learned about existing and emerging technologies. I have many educator’s who have never heard of wikis, voicethreads, etc.
Thank you for you comments.
Kevin
Tara,
ReplyDeleteYes, it is very promising that in my district every school is staffed with an educational technologist (ET) whose primary responsibility it is to collaborate with educators on the effective use of technology to promote student achievement. My primary role is to support the school level ET’s. One of the road blocks for educators with the integration of technology is the amount of time it takes to learn, plan and organize technology infused lessons. This is where the ET can really help the educator and that is why our primary focus is collaboration.
Your comment about voice notes just gave me the idea to give that option to the students working on their web portfolios. I think it would be neat for them to look back at their portfolio in 20 years and be able to hear their voice from the past. Maybe I will suggest that they add an ‘advice for the future’ voice note. Wow, lots of possibilities.
You bring up a good point about “what NOT to do with technology.” I have observed educators using computer labs as free time for their students to go online and play games. Sometimes it just makes my mouth drop.
Kevin