I envisioned outcomes of learning an overview of what is expected of me throughout the next 18 months of the Educational Technology Leadership Masters program. I also expected to learn some new tools that I would be able to take back to my campus with me. Both those expectations came to fruition. I now have a better idea of what I will be doing over the next 18 months and I do have a few more new tools that I have taken back to my school and have implemented. What I learned in addition to these two items are my leadership style, learning style, and through an assessment of my technology skills, I found that I am more proficient than I had previously imagined. These outcomes are some of the stated outcomes. However, there were several other outcomes listed that I also achieved. Such as learning the nature of 21st Century learners and the difference between today's students and my fellow classmates from my generation. All in all, the class met my expectations as I have learned so much. I know I will continue to learn more in the weeks and months to come.
The outcomes I achieved through this course are relevant to the work I do in my school. Our students are mostly those students who seldom, if ever, stayed in a traditional classroom setting. Instead, they are now in an separated from their families and society in an educational setting that is different that is non-traditional. These kids have disengaged not only from school, but many have disengaged from their futures and lives. The outcomes listed in the course syllabus and those which we have studied over the past five weeks are extremely relevant to what I do on a daily basis. Most of our teachers are retire-rehire teachers. They are "digital immigrants" with a very thick accent, as Marc Prensky would say (2001, pg. 3). I know that part of my job is to help these teachers transition from the old way of teaching and learning to a more modern way. This course has given me more tools to use to help the teachers make that transition.
I do not believe there are any outcomes that I did not achieve in at least some part. There are some in which I should improve my skill and level of confidence. Among those, examining and analyzing data resources to make technology decisions. Also, while I have gained insight into leadership skills needed to move my school toward integrating technology into more classrooms. The reason for not improving as I would like is due in part to the depth of information available and time needed to properly examine it. I have little experience examining and analyzing data. I have not developed the confidence needed to properly make sound decisions based on some of the data. With more practice, as I will get in the next year or so, I believe I will become more confident with research data and analyzing it. I will also gain more confidence with leading and being a good model for my fellow teachers so they become more comfortable teaching with technology.
I successfully carried out all my assignments. I did become a little discouraged at times because there is quite a bit of work in this course. I also had never completed a curriculum vitae before this class. It was something I was not comfortable doing since I tend to be introverted and do not really like to reflect in an open forum. I guess that is my digital immigrant accent showing itself. The nature of posting any writing on a public media such as wikis and blogs is also outside my comfort zone. Writing in general is an activity that I usually do not share with anyone. To put it up on the World Wide Web took a lot of opening up of myself and exposing what I've done, or how much I have done. I have become, obviously, more comfortable with posting on blogs and wikis. Since beginning this course, I have started two wikis and have plans to start a blog when I a little time.
When the course began, I felt pretty comfortable about my technology skills as long as the issue was within my comfort zone. I was not comfortable about myself as a leader which also affected my attitude toward my leadership skills. I did not view myself as a leader. Now I do see myself in a leadership role in my school, though I am still not comfortable with it completely. I know which leadership skills I need to improve on such as being able to confront people in a constructive manner as soon as possible. I also have realized in a new way how important modeling can be for both training and leading. I need to walk the technology walk as well as talk it. I need to make the time to follow up on new skills teachers may have recently learned or when they need the support to start a new project of which they are not comfortable. As far as technology skills, I learned that there are tools on the internet that are easy and can be very helpful in the classroom. An example is Wordle. I had never done a Wordle before, so when we did one and I found how easy it was. My attitude has changed in that I have become more open to trying new tools and in that I see how important it to make time to spend with teachers so they become more comfortable with technology.
References
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants: Part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6.
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