What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?
This course has been quite enlightening for me. There is so much that I have learned from it that I will be able to integrate into my everyday professional life. I was amazed at my ability to create something so simple such as a blog. When I first saw that one had to be created for this class, I totally freaked out. I have already stated that I am not technology savvy and just the mere thought of creating one gave me a headache. I thought it was going to be extremely difficult and almost impossible to complete. However, the step by step instructions were easy to follow and allowed me to easily create my own blog. I really enjoyed doing this and I hope to soon be able to create a blog in which I am able to communicate with my parents on a daily basis. I was also enlightened by all of the course material we had to cover and read. It gave me knowledge and insight into current trends and updated me on what is happening with technology in education. This course was much dreaded but in the end I really enjoyed it. Once again I look forward to using all that I have learned in my professional life.
To the extent that you achieved the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?
The information obtained and learned in this course is very relevant to my professional life. The interviews conducted in week three with Dr. Abernathy, Dr. Jenkins, and Ms. Cummings were insightful and allowed me to learn how other educators are viewing this technology transition. The course readings, although plentiful and long, allowed me to learn what is expected, obstacles that occurring, and trends that are taking place in technology world. Due to what I have learned in this course, I will now actively be able to participate and offer insight into the planning and development of technology programs that are being implemented in my school. Prior to taking this class, I would have just sat in the shadows and not participated because I would not have had a clue about half of the things that were being discussed. Now, however, my knowledge base has been deepened and broadened. I not only read and learned new information from my reading but I was also able to learn how to do new things because of the assignments given in this course.
What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?
My biggest outcome not achieved in this class was the action plan that was part of week 3's assignment. Anytime I post a chart onto the assignment page on my computer, it does something weird, strange, crazy. The lines do not all align and information just seems to scatter all over the place. I even tried to delete the entire chart and repost it, but I was unable to even successfully do that. I think it is more of a technical issue and I just did not have the technical knowledge to do it correctly. I tried for two hours to post that part of my assignment correctly but the harder I tried, the worse it became. I finally just became extremely irritated and just submitted it as it was. I was experiencing the beginning stages of the flu and I do not know if that made me more irritable or if I just simply did not know what I was doing. Regardless, this was the most frustrating part of the class that I experienced and I am sure the solution was very simple.
Were you successful in carrying out the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you? I am not going to lie, sometimes after I would read the assignments, I would become scared, almost petrified. This fear often caused me to procrastinate in doing my assignments because I was afraid of the outcome. However, through the grace of God, I was able to successfully complete each assignment and when I actually started working on them, they were not as hard as I expected them to be. The action plan from week 4 is the only assignment that I feel gave me trouble. I had a very hard time posting the chart onto the assignment page and to this day, I do not understand why. Besides that one glitch, I was able to successfully submit each and every assignment after I overcame my initial fear. Often times, I would have to contact my instructional technology specialist and ask her for assistance to help me get through some of my assignments. It is strange because the ones I thought I would need the least amount of help on, I actually needed the greatest amount of help on.
What did you learn from this course…about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes?
I learned from this course that I am not as technology unsavvy as I first thought I was. By far, this is the most challenging course that I have taken in this program because the reading was intense, the assignments were long, and it was about what I presumed to be my weakest link, technology. However, this course actually motivated me and taught me some things about myself that I really did not know. I learned that I am not exactly one of those people that is in the less experienced category when it comes to technology like I first thought. This class also helped my attitude concerning technology and helped me realize to not go in being fearful but simply to embrace the transition. I also learned what is expected of an educational leader in terms of technology. Leaders can no longer stay in the background but must now come to the front and help guide their faculty and staff into the right direction and help them to meet the goals and challenges of the long range plan.
What is the educational value of blogs and blogging to the 21st century learner?
Blogging is a great tool to use in the 21st century. It is more than my space or face book. It can keep everyone connected and involved. A blog site can let parents and the community know what is going on in your class or school and it can keep the learner connected at all time. It is a great source of information for learners to be able to access after the traditional school hours if they have a question about an assignment, homework, project, or need help studying for a test. Blogs are so much more than a means gossip but they are a great educational tool that can be used to greatly enhance the learning of a student and keep everyone informed and involved. Tutorials can also be done via blogging for those students who may not be able to attend the traditional tutorial hours set up by the teacher. Blog sites are blocked at my school but once I learned how they can greatly enhance classroom learning, I hope to serve as a catalyst for change to get them unblocked.
What are the concerns of blogs and blogging in education?
Most who have issues with blogging are those that are not that up to date with technology trends and happenings. They feel it is more of a social website or a way of gossiping via the internet not realizing all of the positive implications that come along with it. They also worry about the security of such sites for their students and worry about negative happenings being the outcome. In other words, they worry about students and teachers misusing the blog sites for misproper and personal uses. I feel like administrators feel as if blogs will be used more as a social networking system instead of as an information/help site. Also, some administrators may feel that all teachers will mot utilize the blogs. This means that some parents and students will have access to information about their child 24/7 and some will not. All children will not be treated equal. This is when staff and professional development would be utilized to bring everyone into the 21st century.
How can you use blogging to communicate with school stakeholders?
You can use blogging to communicate with school stakeholders in much the same way that you can use it to communicate it with parents and students. Stakeholders may be able to communicate desires and concerns via blogging. Blogging would allow instant collaboration and feedback to take place as well. Blogging would also stakeholders to see or learn what is being taught in schools as well as other resources that teachers and educators have to offer for student success. Blogging is an open form of communication that allows all those involved in the educational process to have valuable input and receive valuable information concerning the education of our students. Blogging may also allow stakeholders who are interested in helping or contributing to notify educators in an easy, non invasive manner. What is excellent about blogging is that it once again allows dialogue to take place and the conversations are not simply one-sided and based on one person's thoughts, ideas, or views.
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