the final week...

I will admit that I was unsure about this class, I didn’t think there was one like this in the degree I had chosen, and suddenly here it was. I did learn something from this; I learned that the questions I have, the questions that others have towards the problems they face in their campus and classrooms others have asked them, on the same or higher level than I have. It’s great to know that with a question and a process I can possibly make a difference at my campus, as beginning teacher with the look of a freshman, I know with the right presentations I can cause more than a change in my classroom and the programs my students feed into at the vocational school. I hope with this and continued studying of action research I can do more than simply use the real world, and those that work in it to try and push it on the administration as needed, it’s something that others need to know, and see outside of me.

wk 4 reflections

Who is the site supervisor?
I have yet to meet this elusive fellow, but I am told they do exist, still does anyone know?
....
Help please.....

So far, technology and it's use in education should be something that will help someone exceed. Not in the manner of a word program or learning to create a power point presentation with an excel sheet. That's something taught in training for a job, what I want to see is technology being used to it's maximum potential for a student. There should be engineering programs, animation, adobe, sound engineering. Things students will see later on in the higher education fields. I's hard to write what i want to say, but a student with a computer and a student without isn't detrimental to education, a student with a computer is more than likely doing something not very educational friendly, unless there pushed.

for example, in high school the video tech teacher let us play with animation,sound engineering and video editing equipment. it was amazing that we were taught to use these programs, it helped us we created short films, basic(talking shapes) animation for opening credits for the school news and soundtracks, that helped us more than learning to use excel.

Than there's this, a student needs a computer to speak for them, no one will provide it. A campus has a computer lab, that is rarely allowed to be used. A teacher wants to use a computer program to enhance an understanding of balancing a checkbook and understanding of loans, by having her students rent their seats from her. she's denied this because there is no computers available for her to use this, there is no care for this. I see this from the perspective of a student and a teacher in a school that is labeled as high-risk.

wk 3 reflections

While this is remarkably late, I have learned something of great importance, it is difficult to create an action research plan. When you think of an idea and plan it out, even when looking at different examples and templates, it's difficult. You have an idea, you know what you want to ask and know. you just don't know how to say it, you repeat it to others and have them give you feed back, some do and others leave you simply staring at your working and nonworking school email account wondering, am I doing this right?

wk 2 reflections

The more I hear about data driven education and the effect of effective and ineffective teachers to student achievement the more I begin to wonder about the data, and how it's used. For some the data is only part of the student, there are environmental factors that effect the students learning or ability in the classroom. From those that want to learn and then those that don't care about school and plan to drop out. To others it's only the data that matters. It's sometimes confusing to me, but hopefully after awhile I'll understand. Thankfully I'm not a core class, not that it means I don't try my hardest to provide the best education for my students, for the ones that will continue in art and those who are simply there.

educational leaders and blogs

• What have I learned about action research and its many applications? The greatest part of action research or administrative inquiry is it’s all in-house, so to say. Action research isn’t something some professor or random writer who may have no or very little educational or classroom experience put together as some band-aid to a problem, they have no idea about. Action research allows the administrator or principal to fix something on campus that they have witnessed firsthand. This allows the principal to participate in their solutions to problems they have seen in education at their campus. This gives them the advantage of being able to adjust their solutions by the changes they see implemented or the changed data. Using action research shouldn’t be that hard. The first step is to come up with an idea, a solution to a problem that is seen in education, in the classroom, even on campus. After that a plan is formulated, how is the problem going to be solved? What can be done about it, and how can the success or failure be measured to ensure that the next try will provide a greater chance of success. Lastly, after all the data is collected, it should be looked over again. Is there something that needs to changed, is the solution believed to be the fix, in need of a new hypothesis? After all is said and done, it will either be implemented or not, to me that process should be applied to the use or misuse of technology in school.

• Blogs are basically an online diary that can be read by any one. Each entry is documented in the order of last/newest post. Older posts can be pulled up simply by keyword or archive searches. Images, texts and links can be placed with the entry, given not only writer but readers, information that either supports or disproves the idea.

Blog 3

The summary of the draft plan to transforming American education is to ensure that the number or percentage of graduates and college applicants are raised. To do this they must close the achievement rate. Meaning the students regardless of parent income, home situation, location/neighborhood, and race graduate. To do this the educational system must be held to certain standards. The school districts and the schools must be clear about the outcomes they seek. School leaders must collaborate to redesign the structures and procedures they already have in place to achieve effectiveness, efficiency and flexibility. Have a form of monitoring the progress, and a system to ensure accountability for the progress or lack of it. What this means for learning is that the how, what, where and who of learning is met with the use of technology. Technology is meant to close the gap by engaging, motivating, and inspire students and personalize their learning experience. For the educators this means not only a change in how the teaching is done but where it takes place. Accountability and the use of effective teaching have always been around, just in different forms and jazzed up wording. Technology is now a must to teaching, no longer is the education just left the teacher and state requirements of what needs to be taught. While resources are now available in all forms any time with a connection to the internet, it can also be used to connect classrooms and teachers to another. This empowers the educator to create, manage assess and provide real world connections. This requires that the educators and learning community is up to date on current and evolving technology, meaning professional development provided by the districts and outside development by the sole educator to achieve the requirement. What is my opinion on this, the issue I have is deciding what is relevant to the student learning, where the technology will come from, where the funds will come from and will they be used for this of magically moved to fund other programs. Also what is the line drawn for the student and teacher regarding the use of technology? Are videos and information provided fact or opinion and believed truths by the person providing it, is this program up to date, they change every year and is the computer updated to meet the evolving needs of system requirements. In other words, what is needed, how will it be provided and who will be in charge, and will the student be held responsible for their own learning and failures?

Blog 2

The schools and libraries program of the universal service fund or E-Rate is a federal program administered by the Universal Service Administered Company (USAC). Is the budget sufficient, when there is no federal budget the cost of the services falls on the school, not really, unless they apply for the program, which is difficult if they are not a high-risk school and receiving the funds from No-Child left behind. Professional development is provided by the Universal Service Administered Company , the librarian is in charge of coordinating the program and the funds (at least where I work). The professional development dates are p[osted on the site, located and available to specific states at a specific time, at least that was my understanding, from the site and the librarian I chased down to speak to about this program. Through audits the use of the funds are ensured, the system requirements; computer, speakers and phones need to be provided by the school. To be eligible for the program the school needs to be under state law, public or private, operate as non-profit business and can not have an endowment exceeding $50 million. The assessment of the telecommunication services, hardware and other services, occur with the documentation. The location of the equipment must be kept updated, listings of the model, location, installation date and the identification number. The equipment must work and be using the services provided and paid for, in most cases by the Universal Service Administered Company. Precautions are kept in place by permission slips signed by the student and parent, saying that not only can the student use the service (internet, computers and software) but will not commit misuse of the services. If so they are to removed and disallowed use of the services, the same is asked of the teachers, by the monitoring of the websites that are visited on the educators desk or lab top.

Blog Post 1

Technology assessments, what are the pros and cons, what should we be looking for to assess? Once might say we must assess the value of the educators technology leadership knowledge and skill, also don't forget the assessment of the students knowledge, skill level and their perceived needs? Depending on which side of the fence you're sitting on, it could go either way. Before the assessments there will be the professional development training, to several including me we're already seeing the word con blinking in red. But, it might not be that bad, if we follow the same or close to professional development of the SEDL, and use the ATRL (Applying Technology to Restructuring and learning), we have a better chance. The ATRL aim is straightforward as Mary Burns writes "to help the learner-centered learning environments supported by technology." in her article "From compliance to commitment: Technology as a catalyst for communities of learning."Through this teachers are given hands on learning on how to operate the technology with the same disadvantages the students and school faces. The pro to this, it means the professional development wont just be listening to someone talk and show us the same power point with a new name and jazzed up wording over and over and over again.The con, as shown towards the end of Mary Burns article the higher the tech skills of the teacher the lower use of learner-centered approaches are used. Meaning the lower the tech skills of the teacher the higher the learner-centered approaches are used. As an example if we are using Photoshop in class, if I am proficient the less likely I am to have the students gather around in learning groups and "play" with the program to learn. Since I know the program and showed them a tutorial "step-by-step" of everything they are to be doing. At least that is what my opinion is, technology assessments to me will always linger in the gray area between pro and con, I need to see more evidence than studies of a controlled group.

post 1 test

this is only a test...