ISTE+Standard+VIII

Ten years ago I think most teachers would think I was a lunatic if I suggested there would be big movement to incorporate video games into a K-12 curriculum, but that's exactly what is happening according to the latest Horizon Report ( Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., 2011). Education is obviously changing and the following quote sums up my entire experience with the Lamar program: "In the absence of a strong vision for effective use, technologies will be underutilized" (Williamson, J. & Redish, T., 2009, p. 178). As a technology leader on my campus, with aspirations of moving up in facilitation, I must be willing to contribute the vision of the campus. It is my duty to make sure that wherever we are headed as a campus, technology integration is helping guide our students to that destination. We have many technology resources on my campus, and I want to make the most of these resources. Our vision must included and exemplify the importance of technology in the learning of our students. I actually got to participate in some planning sessions with our technology facilitator and librarian who has taken on a larger role with our technology resources this year. I helped them present our visions during staff development sessions, as well as present new forms of technology available to our faculty. I enjoyed sharing some of my learning with them. Most of our staff was quite receptive to the ideas presented and excited to use these technologies in their own classes. Actually, this past week we attended a training for Edmodo. Edmodo is a social network that looks and feels like Facebook. The purpose is to bring classes together online. I can create online resources and assignments for my students and I can even grade their assignments online. Parents can access the information as well to see what their children have been working on in class. I really like the site because it is extremely user-friendly and it does not allow students to talk back and forth, so everything is public and monitored which helps limit the opportunities for cyber-bullying. I had the students sign up for the site in the computer lab and complete an online reflection. From what their reactions, and what they told me later, they absolutely LOVED using the site. I suspect that love came from the similarities to popular social networks. I think the classroom will resemble the social networking format very soon. Online learning is becoming very normal and many more schools will be adopting online learning programs. I think it would be foolish to ignore the interest created with online learning and the social media craze.

Something I have referred to regularly during these final reflections has been what some call a "Shared Vision" (Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J., 2010, p. 3). This is the foundation upon which school improvement is based. The vision on my campus is heavy with ideas for technology integration. As a technology leader, it is my job to promote technology integration and training to my peers. Teachers need to feel comfortable using technology before they can effectively use it in their lessons. I know that I must contribute my ideas when it comes to these meetings and discussions about budget, technology and leadership on the campus. I know that I must lead through my actions and integrate technology as well as come up with new ways to incorporate some of things my district has spent so much money buying.

References:

Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2010). //Examining What We Do To Improve Our Schools//. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education, Inc.

 Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011). //The 2011 Horizon Report.// Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). //ISTE’s technology facilitation and leadership standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do//. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.