Deciding to go back to school late in life has been a struggle for me. I have waited for the right time and I believe it is now or never. With the budget crisis in Texas Education a hot topic; and when technology specialists across the state lost their positions, I began to realize that having the certification to go along with the job was probably a smart option. I was not afraid of the online learning environment because I am confident of my skill level, but I was concerned with the time commitment. I was prepared to use current technologies in this course and I love the way they were incorporated in each week’s assignments. This offered a great example of how teachers can use web 2.0 tools within their learning environment. I was familiar with almost everything that was presented in the five week course, however, I appreciate the in-depth look at the national, state, and local technology plans as well as the STaR Chart and e-Rate. I feel that I gained new knowledge about each of these that will help in my current job position. I was not aware that at the end of this master’s program, I could take the Texas Principal Certification test. This came as a total surprise. After much consideration, I am very excited about this aspect of the degree plan.
Although this has been one of the most challenging courses, I feel that the outcomes far outweigh any negative experience I had during the five weeks. Time management is crucial to the success of the course. Everything that was presented in this class is relevant in my current job status. From the first week when we looked at learning styles to the inventory on basic computer skills and web 2.0 tools until the last week when we developed our internship and principal competency plans. Each week taught skills that I feel necessary to pass on to my staff. This course has made me look at how I perform my job currently and how I want to perform my job in the future to best serve students. Educating students has to change. We are preparing students for a different world than what we knew 20 years ago. I appreciated the relevancy of the articles each week to help reinforce the importance of changing school atmosphere to educate 21st century learners.
One of the beautiful aspects of education is the willingness of educators to share. When I learn new material and cannot share it with others because of filtering issues at school, it is very frustrating. This is not a new obstacle, it is an ongoing battle. Unblocking blogging websites is something that I will continue to address at LISD. Thanks to Concepts of Educational Technology and David Warlick’s book Classroom blogging: a teacher’s guide to the blogosphere, I have acquired new knowledge about the importance of this tool and the relevancy it has for the 21st century learner. I plan to continue to find avenues for students to collaborate and hopefully “unblock” the blogging world within our district. I understand the necessity to protect our children, but I also know from relevant articles presented within this course that it is our responsibility as educators to teach students about cyber ethics and how to use the technology responsibly.
I can say with much joy that I was successful in completing the course work for EDLD 5306. As with anything new there is an adjustment period. I felt completely overwhelmed at the beginning with the amount of time each task took within the assignments. It did not help that this was also the first week back at work from the summer vacation. Time management is very important and a skill I am thankful to have acquired. It helped tremendously to break down the assignments and accomplish a certain amount each day. One of the most discouraging parts of the course were all the different locations you had to look and compare to make sure you had everything completed. The course work within Epic did not always match what was reflected in the week assignment. The course overview could also have information that had not been included in the week assignment. It was frustrating to have to wait for a couple of days before the week overview was available on the discussion board or it was emailed after a request. It is important with managing a family, a career, and a master’s degree program that the information presented is consistent and timely.
Overall, this course was very enlightening to me from the first week. To take a look at my learning style, my leadership skills, my technology skills, and my technology literacy skills was an eye-opening experience. I feel that knowing the strengths and weaknesses of these has helped me grow considerably over the last five weeks. I have become more aware of the areas of leadership that I need to improve and continue to strengthen. I feel that the first course of the master’s program will help me improve on my job performance considerably and will enhance technology integration throughout my campus. My technology skills are strong but I feel it is important to continually seek out and strengthen the skills that I maintain. From this class, I have obtained much information but most importantly I have discovered that being a life long learner is essential in the field of technology education.
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