Technology Applications Skills Assessments

A already knew before I took the technology assessments that my skills were going to be low. I am not the most technology savvy educator and basically only do the bare minimum to get by. After completing my technology applications inventory, I had more no's than I did yeas and most if my yeas were in the foundation area. In the areas of information acquisition, solving problems, and communication, I obviously had more no's. What does this mean? It means what I have already stated above, that I am not the most technology savvy person. Sure I can perform simple tasks such as create and save files, keyboard proficiently, and use boolean searches. I can even even create and use audio, video, and image files; plan, create, and edit documents using a word processor; and use fonts, font types, and font sizes as well as effectively use graphics and page design to effectively communicate. However, these are simple tasks and are as far as my computer knowledge extends. I do not know to design and create interdisciplinary multimediapresentations for defined audiences including audio, video, text, and graphics;
create a document using desktop publishing techniques including, but not limited
to, the creation of multi-column or multi-section documents with a variety of textwrapped
frame formats; determine and employ methods to evaluate electronic information for accuracy and validity; or delineate between the various digital file formats including, but not limited to,
.wav, .mid, .au, .doc, .txt, .gif, .jpg, .mov, .cwk. From this assessment I see that I have a lot to learn personally and professionally if I want to be on the cutting edge of technology. After completing the building survey, I realized that my campus is not necessary up to par on technology either. Sure our students have to take a technology application class to meet graduation requirements but we do not have any surveys or anything in place to see exactly what students know once they leave those classes or how much information they retain. Sure there are students in my school that thrive on technology and know everything there is to know about computers but all of our students should be given the same opportunity to have this same knowledge base which is something that is not true on my campus. I realize from both surveys what my strengths and weaknesses are. I need to learn more about the digital technology that is available to me in order to make education more appealing to students on our campus and I need to work on assessing what students know, do not know, or want to know. We have to prepare our students for the technology competitive world they will enter when they leave high school. People are living longer, working longer, thus making the job force more competitive. As an educational leader I need to know what to equip my students with, get everyone involved, and get my students prepared for the 21st century. These assessments have both been extremely helping because I know when it comes to technology I have a lot to work on and these assessments have showed me the exact areas that I need to concentrate my efforts.