Week 5 Assignment, Part 2: Course Reflections

1.) What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?

As badly as I wanted to start up Graduate School again, I was hesitant about doing a program that was entirely web based. In the past, I had attempted a distance-learning course but was unsuccessful in completing it. Coming into this course, I had envisioned learning new web 2.0 tools and learning how they can be implemented into the classroom. I also envisioned learning how other students in this course might use them in their classroom as well. Now that the first class is wrapping up, I can look back and see that I learned what I hoped to learn. Unfortunately the concepts and tools are not as exciting for the teachers that I share it with at work. However, there are a handful of teachers that are interested in using some of what I have learned in this course. I am looking forward to what future courses have to offer and excited about how I can make a difference on my campus.

2) To the extent that you achieved the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?

Most of the outcomes of this course were positive to my school. I am the Technology Teacher on campus; so, much of what I learned from the first course could be directly applied to what I do. One of the major points of this course that is currently relevant to what I do is the Texas STaR Chart. This week we have to conduct the STaR Chart survey district wide. One of the many questions that I get asked is, “What is the STaR Chart for?” Thanks to this course and unlike last year, I can now give teachers a confident answer in why this survey is needed and how it is useful to the district. I am hoping that it is this way for future assignments as well. I feel much better telling a teacher why we do something, rather than just telling them that it was something that Administration told me to send out.

3)What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?

One of the main goals that I wanted to achieve with this course was being able to network with other students. Unfortunately the only time I was able to do this was in the web chats or with responding to someone's Wiki. I basically wanted to network with them because I did not want to go it alone with this course. I wanted some accountability to make sure I was doing things the correct way and also to be able to assist if someone had a question. As far as what prevented me from doing so, I guess it could be the fact that I did not make time to do so. At the end of the school day, I just wanted to do my assignment and move on. However, looking back and moving forward, I realize how important networking and collaborating with other students is. Having us work in groups did actually "break the ice" in us having to get to know each other. I am hoping to make some "social adjustments" and branch out to others in future courses.


4) Were you successful in carrying out the course assignments? If not, what prevented you or discouraged you?

Going into this program, I had a hunger to learn. I told myself that I wanted to give 100% and not just try to get by. I did not have any major problems carrying out the course assignments, however it was just a major adjustment having to do everything on the computer and come up with original answers rather than discussing a problem in a group and giving an answer based on what a group decides. I did find myself becoming more confident in myself and in my assignments through out the five week period. As skeptical as I was in participating in the web chats, I did find them very useful. I had no idea what a "TK-20" was used for (or its importance to my progress) prior to the web chat. I am learning to take advantage of any collaboration opportunities that are made available!


5)What did you learn from this course... about yourself, your technology, and leadership skills, and your attitudes?

I learned fast that I do not know as much as I thought I know about how using technology in the classroom. I also learned that throughout the course of this Internship, I cannot go at it alone and that I will have to collaborate with my fellow teachers and administrators in order to be successful. I also learned that I need to work on my time management skills. I would normally start on Wednesday and let assignments linger until Sunday. However, I think that is taking the wrong approach, especially if I want to be successful. It was funny because one of my co-workers told me that, "You really do not have to care about your work, all you need is a "C" average and you can have your Master's Degree." As tempting as that might have sounded, I do not think that is a good service to myself, the students or to my campus. Thank you professors and faculty for bringing out the best in me this semester!

Week 2 Assignment, Part 4: Creating and Posting a Slide Presentation

E-Rate / District Technology Plan

View more presentations from achavezedtech.

Blog Posting #3 – National Educational Technology Plan

The National Education Technology Plan is a plan put together by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Technology that focuses on two long terms goals. The first goal is to raise the number of college graduates from where it is currently at. The second goal is to basically have students ready for life after graduating high school. This plan is composed together of 5 major components: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure and productivity. Component 1, learning, is basically stating that technology should be used in all content areas. Component 2, assessment, is measuring what student knows and improving on it. Component 3, teaching, show how teachers should prepare and find relevant ways to become better educators. Component 4, infrastructure, talks how district needs to maintain a comprehensive framework for both student and educator. Component 5, productivity, shows how a district should maximize their use of technology but being financially responsible in doing so.

One of the major things that concerned about this plan was the fact that it had talked about both federal and states reducing revenue for the future. This is worrisome to me only because that it takes money to implement many of the ideas that are thrown out there. If the cash stops coming in, then how can we plan to meet this our goals as mentioned earlier? From just talking to students and parents, it seems like the idea of going to college is being pushed to the back burner. If that trend rises, then we need to make sure that our high school graduates are receiving the proper tools to find a skill or trade to help them better succeed in the workforce.

Adan Andres Chavez EDLD 5306 September 2, 2011

National Education Technology Plan 2010 . (n.d.). ed.gov. Retrieved September 2, 2011, from www.ed.gov/technology/netp-2010

Blog Posting #2 – School or District Technology Plan

My district's Technology Plan was developed in 2010 and is projected to run until 2013. Our goal for that timespan is to provide technology services for literacy, integration, and transformative learning to help prepare students to successfully live learn and work in the Digital Age. According to our 2010-2013 Technology Plan, we have numerous amounts of strategies that will help us reach or exceed that goal. For instance, our Kindergarteners will learn the basics and fundamental technology skills. Our first thru fifth graders will use district adopted curriculum and keyboarding software to build skills to help reinforce basics subjects. Our seventh and eighth graders are offered a Technology Applications course so that they can build on their previous technological skills. As for our high school students, they will be offered at least the minimum number of Technology Application courses established by the TEA.

Our second goal is to provide teachers with SBEC standards though quality professional development. Innovative technology usage will be encouraged 100% of staff though incentives and training. It seems as the biggest push for this goal is to provide online training opportunities that focus on technology integration into our curriculum. As far as telecommunication services, hardware etc, our plan did not lay out specifics, however the costs of these services are estimated to be about $125,000. E-Rate will contribute 80% of this cost if approved.

As far as professional development is concerned, we do have a Technology Coordinator who leads many different seminars throughout the summer. However, our teachers have 24/7 access to various trainings on our district’s website. Our district also relies on our yearly STaR chart information to help them navigate to where we need to be in terms of technology. In the past few years our district has made great strides to help get teachers and students where they need to be in order to meet our 2013 goal. With the generosity of E-Rate, I believe this goal is obtainable!

Adan Andres Chavez EDLD 5306 September 2, 2011

Sheldon ISD Technology Plan. (2011, April 1). Sheldon Independent School District. Retrieved September 2, 2011, from http://goo.gl/MX5LQ

Blog Postings #1 – Technology Assessments

As much as technology is changing these days, it is crucial that districts perform technology assessments every so often. While performing these assessments may provide valuable information, there are many pros and cons that can be associated with them. A common advantage of taking a district technology assessment is obviously looking at what a district has. This will help a district see where they are lacking and in what areas they can improve. Another advantage of taking a technology assessment is that a district can observe how the technology is being used in the classroom. When observing my campus STaR chart information, we were advanced in some areas, however still lacking in other areas.

As good as conducting a technology assessment might sound; I do believe that it can have its drawbacks as well. For example just because a district has technology does not necessarily mean it is being used in the classroom. This argument could range from anywhere to having technology just “sitting there” to an educator who is too afraid of 21st century technology tools. Another disadvantage that might be considered of a technology assessment is just that, it is an assessment. As we all know school finance has been a bit tight lately and districts are having to cut where they can. Unfortunately our district did not receive its yearly technology allotment for this fiscal year. Basically a district can assess as much as they want, but if there is no money to go around to purchase new technology, then all you have is data.

Adan Andres Chavez EDLD 5306 September 2, 2011

EDLD 5306 Blog Assignment

1) I believe a blog is a reflection of one’s self. With boundaries, a student can tailor make his or her own blog to where they are actually proud of showing it off. Although a 21st century learner might be used to writing reflections in a paper journal, I believe a student will appreciate it more when it is saved online. Commenting on each other’s blog might be a positive way to reinforce and encourage learning as well. If you think about it, if a student wanted to comment on a regular notebook entry, this process might be very time consuming. However, if students were connected to each other’s blogs, it would just be a matter of minutes for students to comment on their peer’s work.

2)One of the biggest concerns I can see with using blogs in education is the fact that it doesn’t seem to appear to be widely accepted just yet. I am assuming it is a privacy issue or it may not settle well with parents. Another big concern is that it has the potential to be accessed 24/7 by a student. This could possibly be an issue if one student is holding a grudge against another student to where he or she says something inappropriate about that student on his or her blog.

3)A blog can be a direct reflection on a school. It is essential that a webmaster, etc always portray their district in a positive way. A blog could let a stakeholder know what is going on across the district. It could be used to show how a district is making strides throughout the year. If open to the public, it could also host parent feedback and ideas. If I were a company wanting to give a school district money, I would much rather give funds to someone who was using technology (ie: blogs and social media) than a district who did not use these resources.

Adan Andres Chavez EDLD 5306 September 2, 2011

Web Conference #2 (required)

Earlier this week I had the opportunity of taking part in my first official web conference. Things started off well, however there seemed to be a lot of technical difficulties. Since the audio was going in and out, I could only hear the professor speak about every 20 words or so. As a back up plan, there was a chat box on the right hand side of the screen that students were able to communicate through. I guess having 40 - 50 students in on video conference would place a small burden on my internet connection. We did discuss things such as the GRE requirements and something called the TK20. Although I was a bit hesitant at first, I honestly felt that I was on the "right track" after the video conference. We did also talk about seeking out a mentor from our campus who would help us with our internship as well as finding out information about our internship.