Reflection of web conference: March 20th, 2011

I understand how web conferencing can be effective, but I believe not in the capacity of people that were in the conference I tried to attend tonight. It was in a few short words chaos! I believe there should have been more guidelines established that we could read before even entering the conference. People were typing at random times and the conversation was everywhere, screens flipping back and forth, sound in and out etc. It was quite an experience I must say! I would like to be involved in something like this again, but not with so many people! I am sure it would have been beneficial to see if others had the same questions as me and be given an opportunity to discuss them face to face or simply voice to voice. Also I think it would have been a beneficial educational opportunity to discuss the readings we have had and our reflections on them. I have liked this aspect of this course in the discussion board and I was anxious to see how it would unfold in a context such as this web conference. In hindsight, maybe I should have attended an earlier conference, but life got in the way as it always does. I have read some others reflections on their experiences and they seemed very positive and satisfied. It is unfortunate that my experience was cut short.

Week FourAssignment: Technology Integration Action Plan and Evaluation

Professional Development Planning Chart

Technology Needs	Professional Development to Improve the Gathering, Analysis, and Use of Data	Instructional and Organizational Leadership to Improve Decision-Making in the Integration of Technology
Teaching and Learning: Our campus STaR chart indicated this to be one area of weakness for our campus. We have maintained a Developing standard for the three years surveyed.	Analyze the current STaR Chart rating for our campus Involve teachers in collaborative groups to study the necessary conditions to improve our rating in this area and make a list of needs that teachers feel they may require. Locate staff development opportunities tied to the identified needs. Provide professional development opportunities that involve teachers in practical applications of student led involvement with technology. Refer teachers to the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology that lists Education Service Centers (ESC) across Texas that could be accessed to enlist assistance in meeting the goals and objectives of this area of the Long Range Plan.	Instructional Technology District Specialist Instructional Campus Technology Specialists Principals and Assistant Principals Teachers and Librarians The instructional district or campus technology specialist in conjunction with the principal or assistant principal can present the findings of the STaR Chart and lead teachers and librarians to locate the information they are going to need to list their needs in regards to the area of teaching and learning.
Educator Preparation and Development: Our campus STaR Chart also identified this area as one that needed improvement. We have maintained a developing standard in this area over the three years surveyed.	Prepare a campus wide survey to distribute to staff members to get an idea of what their needs are in regards to professional development opportunities. Meet with the staff and present the STaR Chart findings and share the requirements for the higher standards of achievement. Form collaborative groups to discuss what staff development opportunities would be sufficient to move our campus to an advanced or target tech level for the upcoming year. Refer teachers to specific staff development opportunities they could access through district or state sources to meet these needs.	Director of Staff Development Instructional Technology District Specialist Instructional Campus Technology Specialists Principals and Assistant Principals Campus Instructional Technology Specialists can correlate with District Technology Specialists to create a development plan to present to staff at the campus that correlates to the needs identified by the campus survey. The Director of Staff Development could be brought in to present opportunities to staff members available within the district or state. Principals and Assistant Principals would be present to facilitate the opportunities for the staff and present the current state of need from the STaR Chart data and support the staff in the initiative to improve the rating for the next year.
Teaching the 21st Century Learner With the increasing impact that technology is having on our students, we as educators need to be prepared to face the challenges of teaching the student that our current system was not designed to teach.	Engage teachers in a study of relevant articles tied to educating the ‘digital native.’ Discuss relevant research in how the brain of a 21st century learner differs from that of past students. Share strategies for integrating technology in the classroom that can be largely student-led with support from teachers. Provide staff development opportunities for staff members hesitant to give over control to their students. Hear from students about their views on the integration of technology in the classroom to persuade teachers to seek out the appropriate development to meet their needs.	Instructional Campus Technology Specialist Librarians Classroom Teachers Students Instructional campus specialist can provide the tools and resources necessary to present practical strategies to teachers. Librarians will provide access to on-line resources that can be used to draw teachers’ attention to the needs of the 21st century learner. The technological specialist, the librarians, and teachers will reflect on the views given by students and devise a plan for integrating more technological applications into the classroom.
Digital Citizenship and Responsibility: Along with preparing ourselves to teach the 21st Century Learner, we must prepare our learners to protect themselves within the cyber world.	Review appropriate Acceptable Use Policies and Procedures that teachers need to follow in the use of technology for personal use and within the classroom. Seek out appropriate on-line resources to engage students in learning appropriate conduct while on-line. With a small collaborative group initiate the formation of a campus wide rules list that teachers can go over with their students before engaging in technology use and one that they can post in a prominent location in the classroom. Present the rules list as a campus wide development session and solicit the input of the campus on the rules decided upon. Form a plan for implementation of teaching the rules list to students.	Instructional Campus Technology Specialist Principals/Assistant Principals Librarians Classroom Teachers Students Instructional Campus Technology Specialist and Principals/Assistant Principals can facilitate a PowerPoint presentation to focus teachers’ attention to the Acceptable Use Policies and Procedures currently in place within the district. This PowerPoint presentation could be first presented to the chosen focus group and then used again when the whole idea is presented as a campus wide development session. Librarians and classroom teachers can assist in locating on-line resources to assist them in teaching these acceptable use policies and procedures to their students. Once an initial rules list is formulated, teachers can be chosen to facilitate the presentation of the material to the campus as part of a campus wide staff development session. Together as a campus a final list of rules can be decided upon and a plan for presentation to the students can be made.

On-Going Evaluation Plan to Assess the Effectiveness of Targeted Areas in the Action Plan

Targeted Technology Needs	Assessment/Evaluation Procedures
Teaching and Learning	Techological goals and objectives appear as part of the District/Campus Improvement Plans Training for all stakeholders appears on district websites such as Eduphoria and Aware. Campus STaR Charts Classroom observations and performance assessments of district required student projects. Classroom observations and performance assessments through teacher evaluations/walkthroughs conducted by principals/assistant principals.
Educator Preparation and Development	Technological goals and objectives appear as part of the District/Campus Improvement Plans Campus STaR Charts Training for all stakeholders appears on district websites such as Eduphoria and Aware. Eduphoria Workshop is utilized for recording and registration of staff development, required staff development is offered, and campus specific staff development is offered. Teachers complete required district proficiencies and can provide certification of completion. District surveys can be utilized to solicit whether professional development needs have been met. Classroom observations and performance assessments through teacher evaluations/walkthroughs conducted by principals/assistant principals.
Teaching the 21st Century Learner	Updated and revised Technology Plan. Includes new policies consistent with state standards and technology use throughout the campus. Training for all stakeholders appears on district websites such as Eduphoria and Aware. District/Campus technological development goals are included in the /District/Campus Improvement Plans. Performance based assessment: Teachers complete required district technology proficiencies. Completed integration products by students. Student camps and festivals have been participated in and student products are visible for family and community members to see. Classroom observations and performance assessments of district required student projects
Digital Citizenship and Responsibility	Updated and revised Technology Plan. Includes new policies consistent with state standards and technology use throughout the campus. Training for all stakeholders appears on district websites such as Eduphoria and Aware. Completed integration products by students. Student camps and festivals have been participated in and student products are visible for family and community members to see. Classroom observations and performance assessments of district required student projects

Star Chart Presentation

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Star chart presentation

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Blog Post #3: Reflection on National Educational Technology Plan: Transforming American Education :Learning Powered By Technology

The National Educational Technology Plan outlines the goals and recommendations for the integration of technology in education in five essential areas; learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity. The goals for the plan were comprehensive enough to their purpose but I feel there could have been more practical applications listed to meet these goals. The recommendations were pretty broad and could encompass several interpretations of its meaning to the scope of teaching and learning and meeting the needs of the 21st Century Learner.

The learning goal was to provide engaging and empowering learning experiences for all learners through focusing on what and how we teach and how to match it to what people need to know, how they will learn, where and when they will learn, and who needs to learn. In conjunction with the use of technology, this process will personalize the learning experience for the learner through appropriate selection of curriculum, teaching pace, and instructional practices. The assessment goal was to use technology to measure what matters and use assessment data for continuous improvement. The process will involve the the input of multiple stakeholders in order to provide a system that is comprehensive enough to give adequate feedback to those who employ its use. The goal in teaching involved establishing teams of connected educators to provide them with 24/7 access to data and analytic tools and resources to assist them in making a plan to act on the data they receive from the initial inquiries. A key aspect of this plan is to move learners to be increasingly self- directed by providing them with the appropriate tools and assistance to seek out knowledge on their own and connect them to data, content, resources, expertise, and learning experiences within a community of learners. The infrastructure goal was to provide all students and educators access to the people, processes, learning resources, policies, and sustainable models for continuous improvement through connectivity, servers, software, management systems, and administrative tools. The implication that this makes for educators is that a community of learners must be developed that can coordinate their efforts to make the systems work to enrich the learning environment. The final goal in productivity requires that the education system at all levels will redesign processes and structures to take advantage of the power of technology to improve learning outcomes. Involved in this is making more efficient use of time, money, and staff to accomplish this goal. The technology must be effective enough to assist educators and leaders in planning, monitoring, and reporting spending of resources to decision makers who will be able to use the data to plan individualized learning experiences, reorganize grouping of students, schedules etc, and plan teams of learners to collaborate and support initiatives to improve the educational environment. Each area of the plan addressed the need for focused, collaborative, and continuous staff development for stakeholders at all levels of the educational community for technology initiatives to be effectively used to stimulate and engage self directed learners for the 21st Century.

Blog Posting #2: Reflection on the Progress Report on the Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020

The Long Range Plan for Technology has caused Texas schools and their stakeholders to make significant changes in the way that they approach teaching and learning for the 21st Century Learner. The progress report presents the progress Texas schools have made in providing technological experiences for this type of learner through the employment of several initiatives and strategies focused on following the ideals set out by the four main areas of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology. As stated in the document (2008), "The 21st Century Learner expects content to be relevant and presented in such a way that applies to student's individual learning style. Learning is no longer a one size fits all. It must be tailored to the individual student and accessed through a multitude of learning resources, digital content, and multimedia resources in a variety of learning environments" (p.41). The progress report highlights the necessity for all stakeholders to be aware of and gain the skills necessary for the plethora of opportunities to embrace new technologies to support a positive learning environment for the success of the 21st Century Learner.

Two legislatively mandated programs are outlined in the progress report that are focused on assisting educators and the educational community to provide appropriate opportunities for students and teachers to integrate technology into all aspects of teaching and learning as outlined in the Texas Long Range Plan. These programs are entitled The Technology Immersion Pilot (TIP) and the Texas Virtual School Network (TxVSN). Their goals and objectives are aligned with the Technology Applications Standards (TA), TEKS, SBEC, and No Child Left Behind Mandates, and are monitored and data is gathered to ensure that what they are providing is conducive to the needs of the 21st Century Learner and their educators.

The progress of Texas schools in the four areas of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology were addressed next in the progress report. Through the report's use of Campus STaR Chart data, one can see that Texas schools have shown significant progress in Teaching and Learning, Educator Preparation and Development, Leadership, Administration and Instructional Support, and Infrastructure for Technology. Most campuses were moving towards the Advanced or Target levels of technology implementation, and away from the Early or Developing categories. Actions and recommendations that covered technology literacy, digital content, school library programs, or distance learning opportunities for both students and their educators were given and reviewed to support the findings of the STaR Chart data.

The final section of the progress report listed the twenty Education Service Centers (ESC) across Texas that could be accessed by all stakeholders to enlist assistance in meeting the goals and objectives of the four areas of the Long Range Plan. This also provides stakeholders with more resources for gaining the skills necessary to meet the needs of students in the 21st century.

Texas Education Agency. (2008). Progress report on the long range plan for technology, 2006-2020. Retrieved March 5th, 2011, from www.tea.state.tx.us.

Blog Posting #1: Opinion Piece on One of the Four Areas of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology

Teachers today must be able to prepare themselves to face the new challenges that technologies are placing upon the educational environment. Students are "digital natives", technology has become a part of their daily life and therefore, they crave the stimulation and the challenge it presents when it is applied to their learning situations. As Boss and Kraus (2007) state, "The context may have evolved, but the goal of engaging and motivating the whole student is more important than ever" (p.22). With the assistance of state, district, and campus level leaders, teachers need to be provided with the tools and instruction necessary to assist them in integrating important technological applications into the classroom environment in order to meet this important goal. This ideal is covered in the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology section entitled Educator Preparation and Development. Here it is explained how teachers need to be provided with continuous professional development to acquire the skills needed to change their current instructional practices to meet the needs of the 21st Century Learner.This professional development must include new ways to teach students based on current research, how to integrate technology into all foundation and enrichment subjects through practical applications, and teachers' progression through training must be monitored and documented with support and further training provided should they require it. It is the responsibility of the various stakeholders throughout the educational community to provide for these needs through various avenues to support the teachers acquisition of the appropriate skills to integrate and support the use of technology within the classroom. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) should ensure that requirements and standards for professional development fully integrate technology across all subject areas, The State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) should revise requirements for teacher preparation programs to include integrating technology into all aspects of teaching and support new certification standards that deal with technology. Community service centers or district level educational centers should provide standardized professional development through a variety of mediums that support the integration of technology into learning, and higher education needs to design and implement new teacher preparation programs that highlight the standards that teachers are going to need should revisions be made to such programs mentioned above. Professional development in the area of technology could also be broadened to online and distance learning opportunities for teachers to collaborate with the public and private sectors in hopes of enriching theirs as well as their students educational opportunities with technology in the classroom.

Boss, S., & Krauss, J. (2007). Real projects in a digital world. Principal

Leadership, 8(4), 22-26.