Technology Assessments

Prior to taking these two assessments I would have said that my main strength as a leader on a campus, pertaining to technology, would be that I have more exposure to the newer kinds of technology that are beginning to be more common to our youth. As a new teacher and leader coming up from a younger generation, I am more familiar with many programs that a lot of our more experienced teachers and leaders must undergo many training sessions in order to understand. This does not make me any better than another teacher or leader, it just gives me an advantage because of my greater familiarity. What I learned and gathered from these two assessments will definitely be of benefit to my learning and knowledge of what direction I need to go in regards to technology education and implementation.

The first assessment was useful to me because it showed me that, while I am familiar with many of the standard and simple functions of many educational programs and software, I realized that I am not even close to understanding the full range of capabilities and options that these programs come equipped with. The second assessment, the SETDA Teacher Survey, showed me that my school and our teachers are not using technology enough in my classroom, and we are not evaluating the effectiveness of the technology that we are using. Another big problem is that when I am developing lesson plans I am not necessarily thinking of ways I can incorporate technology into the lesson. It is more like an added bonus when I am able to use it.

I believe that I will also need to engage in some training to more fully understand the range of possibilities of simple word processing or presentation tools as well as some of the other programs that are more specific to education.

I agree with these assessments because, up until the time I became a teacher, I only ever used the necessary technology either as a student or for recreational purposes. My focus on the use of technology needs to change and be geared towards making it useful to my students and helping them become technology literate and proficient.