Field+Based+Activities+Reflection+V.B

Standard V.B is about evlauating and reflecting on professional practice to make informed decisions regarding the use of technology in support of student learning (Williamson & Redish, 2009).

The activiiy that supports this standard involved allocating funds from my technology budget based on the needs in the building. The preparation for this activitiy took place over several months, as I became familiar with the unique situations of a performing arts magnet school. My prinicipal recruited me to help bring this school to the next level with regards to technology integration. Being brand new to the job and the school, I had a monumental task to decide the best way to invest the technology funds allocated in a way that supported sudent learning - not just helped teachers' productivity.

For the implementation I had to consider professional development. While it is a major component, and teachers complain about getting new stuff and not knowing how or where to use it, they are very protective of their time. Knowing that p rofessional development is most eﬀective when it occurs in the context of educators’ daily work (Mizell, 2010), I considered ways for teachers to get the meaningful training they needed.

One of the problems with developing the budget was not knowing where the district was going. Were we to be part of the one to one inititive? If so, there would be no need to budget for wireless access points, as the district would be providing those. Nor, would there be a need to purchase more student computers for the library, since students would have their own.

And, what direction is the district going with the one to one initiative? If students receive laptops, will they be PC's or Mac's? Or will they get tablets? Or hybrids? Those were questions tht remain unaswered. The only part that I know is that my school is not participating in the one to one initiative for the coming year.

References:

Mizell, H. (2010). Why profesional development matters. Learning Forward. Retrieved on May 10, 2014 at []

Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). I // STE'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.