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Back to Reflections for Technology Facilitator Standards

What we discovered after analyzing the survey and the campus star chart is that most of the teachers felt that the computer labs needed replacement computers. Our students visit the lab daily, so it makes it quite difficult for students to participate in the activities assigned to them when they don’t have access to a computer. Furthermore managing an small group instruction in the lab becomes quite difficult for teachers as well. At the last CLT meeting for 2009-2010 school year, the purchase of replacement computers was discussed. Everyone agreed to most of the technology budget being spent on this.
 * Technology Facilitation Standard VII ** “Focuses on the managerial and technical tasks associated with providing educators and students with high-quality access to technology” (Williamson & Redish, 2009). During my field experience I took on several projects. One however deals with planning for the technology needs of our teachers. I created a survey that I administered to the teachers on our campus. The survey was two-fold. One part of the survey was to help the principal and I determine the professional development needs of the teachers; the other was to help the principal and the Campus Leadership Team (CLT) make decisions about how to spend the budgeted technology monies we have for the upcoming school year. Standard VII states that technology leaders need to plan for the technology needs of the campus (Williamson et al., 2009).

With respect to the courses in the program the web development class is going to help my campus. Standard VII, performance task A.4, requires technology leaders to use technology tools and software in their classroom. As I went through the process of developing a web page, I realized the importance of this tool in engaging children. The Web 2.0 tools I had to put together into the web page, along with the wiki skills that I’ve developed over the course of the program will enhance my teaching in the upcoming years. I’ve already created a wikispace for my students that I started using this past school year. With the new skills I developed in my web development class, I know that I will create an more engaging classroom in the years to come. I'm concerned about what the change in my classroom environment will do for my students on their TAKS tests. This concern stems from the difference in environments between the two, one is technology-based and the other is not. What affect will this have on their state assessments?

Since I didn’t get an opportunity to fully launch a website in the web development course, I’m puzzled a little about the benefits to launching a website as opposed to using a wiki in the classroom. Also, which of these two tools are more user-friendly for our students?

Resource Cited:

Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). //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.