Session 10
Response to Topic:
The diffusion of innovations theory is a concept that makes a lot of sense and as a technology teacher, I can relate every aspect of the theory to my experiences. Learning about how to successfully integrate technology into the curriculum and understand barriers to technology integration was one of my passions as an educator and graduate student. Not having enough time to integrate technology is an excuse/problem/barrier that I seem to hear out of peers frequently when discussing increased use of technology. The Ed Norman syndrome has been apparent in both districts in which I have worked and will continue to be an issue due to privacy issues and content transferred over the internet. Overall, each weeks podcast, blog post, and replies to student posts created a strong social presence in the class and made the content meaningful. The biggest impact this class had on my education was the discussion of management vs leadership. I had not looked at technology integration in that way before and it enlightened me to a concept that I had previously experienced, but had not been able to explain. Using technology is challenging and it takes special individuals to show leadership. I see myself as a potential technology leader in education by continuously improving my knowledge about technology and not being afraid to take risks. As a computer/technology teacher, every 4-5 years programs change, new textbooks are purchased, and I have to learn new software. The only way to keep up with the technology is to never be complacent and be a technology user. I hope to model effective technology use and influence other teachers to increase the use of technology.
Sesson 9
I am sure that we all have been apart of excellent and poor professional development workshops. I can really relate to the positive and negative characteristics of professional development that Dr. Newberry describes in his podcast.
I remember being a first year teacher. I had recently completed my bachelor’s degree and teaching credential and then when I was hired, it seemed that there was endless meetings, workshops, and trainings that I was now required to attend. Often many of the topics I have had experience with seeing that I just exited a teaching credential program. It seemed that all the trainings were poorly executed really not interesting. Senior teachers generally had an attitude like they were not going to follow or implement the ideas being discussed in these trainings and the overall impression of professional development was that it is a waste of time.
It was an interesting time at the school I was first hired on to. The principal ended up leaving the next year and the new principal had a different approach to our staff development time. With the old principal there would not be a scheduled meeting unless there was a need. With the new principal, she took advantage of every contractual required minute to schedule guest speakers. With new strategies being forced on the staff every week, it became frustrating for teachers to even listen to the trainings. One week would be lesson plans, then the next would be classroom management, the next week would be blooms taxonomy, then the week after that would be technology, etc. The staff became worn out and I think overall people refused to implement the training into their practices.
The leadership did not set goals or model the best practices. The staff never knew the expectations of the leadership. Often, one training would contradict another training or show an alternate method to accomplish the same goal. The overall effectiveness of the trainings was poor because the leadership did not follow up on the implementation of the professional development practices. The poor delivery of professional development never improved after 4 years of being employed at the district.
The administration was managing professional development rather than showing professional development leadership.
Hands on training that is meaningful seems to be the most engaging type of professional development. When you create something or learn something that can be taken back to the classroom and implemented is much more worth while rather than listening to a lecture and then having to go back on your own time to create and develop the improvement. Better professional development experiences have goals, briefly describe them, then allow you to accomplish the goals with an expert who can immediately provide support. After the training, there has to be a way to communicate with the expert if there are any problems that you encounter.
Activity Log
1. Posted Projects 1 & 3
2. Brainstorming how to make Project 2 meet the specifications of my learning contract.
3. Listened to Podcast
4. Posted on Blog: Professional Development
5. Commented on other student blogs
Session 8
Response to Topic:
Discuss a way that DDM can be used in my job setting. Positive use and negative use.
Since I began teaching I have always been an early adopter and major supporter of the use of online classrooms. Both school districts that I have been involved with purchased the use of web based communication software for all teachers and students. I found many benefits to using the systems, but it seems to be one of those technologies that are hard to convince other teachers that it is not an extra burden and the benefits outweigh the effort.
Being a school site manager for our web based communication system, the technology itself collected data about all of the users. There were many reports that could be accessed, such as student and teacher logins. I think with the right implementation plan administration could have used this data to help identify who is taking advantage of using the system and who is not.
I saw was that students were excited to use the technology. I have conducted student surveys to show that barrier of students not having access to computers and the internet at home is diminishing. Teachers even received training on how to use and maintain their class pages. Almost every teacher created a class page on these systems. The main problem I saw was that teachers were not committed keep their class pages current or provide meaningful information to students on their class pages. Once students would log into the system and view teacher pages with no new information, then students would become discouraged and not want to log in anymore.
Little did we know that Administrators can show leadership by collecting the data provided to them in the system reports and make decisions that would improve teacher usage. Rather than making use mandatory or attacking teachers who were not using the system, I think administrators could have used the reports to show how many students were actively logging into the system and have the teachers who were successfully using the system show other teachers or support teachers who were struggling. Analyzing the data and awarding teachers for technology use could also have benefited the implementation of the technology.
The positive impact that using data driven decision making in this situation is that it would allow administrators to develop a plan implement the technology instead of allowing the technology to run stagnant. The only positive aspect this data driven decision making process is that teachers may view using the technology as “something more to do” or they may “not have enough time.” Then we are back to dealing with traditional barriers to technology integration.
Activity Log:
- Worked on Project 3 (I decided to skip 2 for more time to work on it)
- I finished Project 3
- Listened to Podcast
- Made Blog Post: Response to topic
- Added link to Project 3
- Read other students Blogs
- Responded to other students blogs
Session 7
Response to Topic:
If you run into the Ed Norman syndrome, what would the issues be? How would you resolve the situation? Our district has an infrastructure that is maintained similar to the way that Ed Norman maintains, but I have not experienced any issues that comprised the integrity of the network. Recently I received an email from a district technology support provider who notified staff about an issue that had occurred at a middle school. A student had accessed inappropriate images using Google images and the short term solution was to ban access to Google. This would solve the problem of inappropriate images slipping past the firewalls and security filters that the district implements to maintain the integrity of the network. Unfortunately, too many teachers and students would be impacted by this decision. Restricting Google images would directly interfere with the searching for quality images to edit for my Photoshop class, not to mention the how this decision would impact all other classes. I was please to see that the next email in my mailbox explained that Google images is too important of an instructional tool to restrict use. This event showed me that my district has a handle on situation that would impact technology such as an Ed Norman Syndrome. I was pleased with the decision by the district to allow Google images to continue to be accessed by users of the network. Restricting Google would impact more than users who seek images, but it would eliminate a popular search engine and disable use to users of G-mail or Google mail. The event that I described above was a positive example of how to clear minds can overcome a situation that can restrict technology use, but unfortunately the outcomes seem to favor how Ed Norman would handle a situation. When sites are blocked, there is not much you can do, but ask for them to be unblocked. Depending on if you have someone who will respond to your request of unblocking a URL in a timely manner is another question. Often you will wait a period of time for your request to be evaluated and nothing happens. It is too bad that negative experiences limit how we use technology in education.
Activity Log:
- Worked on Projects 1 & 3
- Responded to other students
- Took Comp exam on Sat
- Listened to podcast
- Worked on Projects
- Posted Response to topic
Session 6
In my district the lack of computers and other technology is not a problem. Every teacher has a computer, every school has internet, and technical support for the network is amazing. The largest barrier for technology integration would be lack of training and time. I think that if teachers had more time to prepare lessons and learn how to use the technology, there would be fewer barriers for technology integration. Adding more time is not enough; quality training is needed to help motivate teachers to implement the use of technology. Time will always be an issue. You can show someone how to do something and if they are not buying in, they will just say, “That takes too much time.” Understanding the diffusion of innovation theory is important, because we must understand the adoption process of a new technology. Everyone evaluates the technology and determines whether or not they will continue use. I agree with everyone when the say they do not have enough time, but in addition to teaching I coach after school, but I still find time to use technology. I think developing effective training is the key to reduce barriers to technology integration. The training must not only show people how to use the technology effectively, but it also has to motivate them to use the technology. Another problem with training is following up on the trainee to see if they have any questions. Often negative experiences using new technologies will impact the successful implementation of a new technology. The training needs to subdue the excuses: Using technology is too hard, It takes too much time, I don’t work well with computers, etc. Barriers to technology use are difficult to deal with. Sometimes I wonder if administrators would just require teachers to use technology or make technology use mandatory, what would happen? First, you would have bunch of teachers complaining, maybe if they just used the technology they would see the benefits? I wish it was that easy.
Activity Log:
- Listened to podcast
- Worked on Project 3: reading the district technology plan
- Began to summarize and analyze the plan outlining information on a powerpoint.
- Responded to topic: Barriers to technology integration
Session 5
Technology Best Practices:
A technology integration best practice that I have used has been the creation of online classrooms using web-based communication systems provided by the school district such as blackboard and eChalk. I enjoyed using blackboard when I was taking college classes working on my teaching credential. When I was hired I noticed that the district technology integration coach was promoting an web-based communication system eChalk that provided schools with a homepage and teachers access to create class pages. After about 6 months of using the software my class page became and example for how to effectively integrate the communication system.
I found it useful because it creates a way for parents to access course information at home. I post daily agendas, class work, homework, grades, and implement the use of discussion boards and email communication. Currently I have changed districts and I have continued my usage of online classrooms by taking advantage of the availability of blackboard. I have been able to continue my practices continuously improve my use of technology in the classroom.
Being a technology teacher you are expected to know how to use the new technologies supplied by the district and often train others how to use the technologies. When I first was hired I took it as my responsibility as a new teacher to familiarize myself with technology. As time passed I would attend training to further my understanding of the technology and eventually I was asked to be a school site technology manager. Be the site manager, I was expected to provide others with technology support.
Why isn’t everyone doing it? It takes time. I have an advantage, because I teach in a computer lab. I have every student sign into their blackboard accounts as soon as they sit down in their seats. Other technology teachers have been resistant to use an online learning environment every day like I do because it takes time to update the information on a daily basis. Some teachers don’t feel they have time to dedicate themselves to constantly updating the class page. I hate writing on the white board, so typing my agenda into a textbox works better for me.
I could see teachers that have a computer/laptop and projector in their classrooms project their agenda and require that students log in at home. Another barrier is that you cannot require every student to have a computer and internet access at home. Most cases students can at least get to a computer in a reasonable amount of time whether it be a neighbor, friend, library, etc. I wish more teachers would see the benefits to using an online classroom. I fear that if more teachers do not use the system, then with all the cutbacks, technology will go first.
Activity Log:
- Read other students Blogs
- Commented in other students Blogs
- Listened to Podcast
- Wrote Response to Topic
- Conducted research on Topic for Project 1: Discussion Boards
- Reviewing District Technology Plan: Professional Development for Project 3
Session 4
Response to Topic:
Identify yourself in one of the 5 categories and give examples:
I would have to consider myself an early adopter. Teaching as a business/technology instructor has forced me to become a person that others will go to for advice about technology. When you are put in this position, you have to educate yourself or you will not be respected in the field. Early adopters are often leaders and model technology use. In my first years as a teacher I was appointed to technology leadership committees. Since our school was faced with new technologies being purchased by the district, someone had to figure out how to use them, and I was the teacher that couldn’t say “no” to the requests. I attended numerous trainings on a variety of technologies and quickly became the “expert” at the school who would support others use the technology. I do not see myself as part of the early majority, because every time a new technology becomes available, I try to be the first to try it. I continue to model successful implementation of new technology into the classroom to encourage others to try. If innovators and early adaptors do not get the rest of the group excited about using technology, the technology can easily be rejected. With districts looking to cut back funding this year technology will suffer. Districts are faced with many decisions and if people are not accepting technologies, then they will be eliminated.
Being involved in the instructional technology masters program at CSUSB, it has encouraged me to develop characteristics of an innovator, but I still feel that the early adopter category suits me best.
Activity Log:
- Listened to Podcast
- Read email from Dr. Newberry & edited my Project Plans
- Working on research for Project 1 and implementing the use of discussion boards in my classes.
- Responed to topic: Diffusion of Innovation
- Reply to other students Blogs
Session 3
Project 1 Proposal:
scott-usher-projectproposal623-11
Project 2 Proposal:
scott-usher-projectproposal623-22
Project 3 Proposal:
Response to Topic: Technology Hierarchy
When I think about the varied levels of technology integration by teachers I see how they can be classified into a hierarchy. Even though Dr. Newberry expresses that his research was conducted 10 years ago, I feel that it still holds up today.
There are still teachers who choose not to use computers and would fall on the adjunct or peripheral use of the hierarchy. Most of these teachers are an older generation who did not begin teaching with computers. The increased use of email and entering attendance on a computer are examples of technology integration that has forced teachers to change their attitudes towards using technology. So many teachers at this level do not take advantage of using computers to improve instruction and learning. Using computers for games and free time still exists.
A majority of teachers currently fall into the “Use as a teacher tool level.” Computers have proven to be useful tools for teachers to use when organizing lessons and development handouts, worksheets, and other materials.
I am not too sure how the non-integrated use as a student tool level fits into a current technology hierarchy. The only example I could think of is at the middle school level I know students would have to take STAR tests to assess their reading and math proficiency. These assessments would work with Renaissance Learning programs such as Accelerated Math and Accelerated Reader.
Integrated use as a student tool is used occasionally by a lot of teachers who assign projects. Students will have to develop a report or presentation by using a computer to research information.
Transformational use can be found in online learning environments or classrooms taught in a computer lab. If you take blackboard away from ETEC 623 it would impact how we function. In a computer applications class if you remove the computers or the software it would greatly impact the way students learn.
Activity Log:
- Listened to Podcast
- Commented on Topic
- Read other students Blogs
- Responded to student Blogs
- Updated Blog list
- Project Proposals
