Creighton Response

Chapter 1: Principal Leadership & Successful Technology Implementation

1. What does the author state as the “theme” of this book?  (p. 1)  Do you agree or disagree that this theme is an important concept for technology leadership?  Why or why not? The theme of this book is that effective integration of technology has more to do with teaching pedagogy, and very little to do with technology.  The author further says that we see the use of technology with an absence of relationship to instructional objectives and learning outcomes.  After reading this chapter, I do agree that it is not about and should not be about technology (the box and wires, as he states) but the incorporation of the programs and how they are used to enhance what is being taught.  It is very important that as a technology leader, we let other teachers know the difference and how easy it can be to incorporate technology into what they are already doing instead of making it something new.
2. What must a principal believe, know or be able to do in order to lead a successful technology program in a school?  It is important for the principal to help teachers recognize, understand, and integrate technology with teaching and learning in the classroom.  The principal must allow learning time so teachers know how to use the technology and then can integrate it in a way that is natural, not forced.
3. What must a technology specialist believe, know or be able to do in order to lead a successful technology program in a school?  Technology specialists need to know what the teachers and students need and what technology can be used to enhance or teach to those needs.
4. To what extent would the necessary skill set for a technology specialist differ from that of a principal?   It shouldn’t differ that much.  According to Creighton, it is important for the Principal to know just as much about the technology standards and how to utilize technology as much as the technology specialist.

Chapter 2: Are School and Technology Leaders Doing Enough?

1. What does it mean when people refer to a “digital divide?” A digital divide refers to a difference in the amount of time/activities that differing groups have with technology.
2. The digital divide, in the most basic way, can refer to student’s access to modern computers.  However, the author extends his discussion of the digital divide to what other areas?  Wealthy School vs. Poorer Schools, Boys vs. Girls, Low Achievers vs. High Achievers, ESL Students vs. English Speaking Students, Special Needs Students vs. Regular Ed. Students
3. Can you think of any other areas that the “digital divide” discussion might apply?  He covered a lot. Race could be a digital divide in some schools.
4. How would you describe the difference between a “perceived” and a “documented” digital divide?  I would think that a perceived digital divide would be seen based on someone’s view of the classroom.  For instance, in observation, which students tend to be at the computers the most and for what reason.  What are the activities they are asked to do while there?  A documented digital divide should have data showing what student groups had computer time and what activities were addressed.
5. Review your list for questions 2 & 3.  Which digital divides would best be described as “documented” and which as “perceived?”  Documented could be:  Low Achievers vs. High Achievers, ESL Students vs. English Speaking Students; Perceived could be: Boys vs. Girls, and Wealthy Schools vs. Poorer Schools (there is documentation, but the perception is there too and it seems that the reason for not having higher achievement is because of a difference in priority, not because of not having sufficient tools).
6. What are the most compelling kinds of evidence that a “digital divide” exists?  Data was stated throughout the chapter to support those areas suggested as digital divides.
7. If you wanted to document a “digital divide,” what kinds of things could you do?  I could go from class to class to see how technology was being used and see if any of these digital divides were obvious.  I could ask teachers how they implement technology and ask specifically what students in different groups were doing with the computer and technology in the room. I know that the computers are being used in several classrooms as a reward system for those students who have difficulty staying on task.  I know computers are being used for those students who are finished with their work before others.  Taking this data and showing how the technology is being used would be a way to show the digital divides in our school.
8. Which “digital divide” is of greatest concern to you? The digital divide of greatest concern to me is the Low Achievers vs. High Achievers.  I teach a class with both regular education students and EIP (Early Intervention Plan) students.  I want my students to have equal access to technology and be able to show that the expectations are high for all and they all can achieve when given the tools. What actions might help close the divide and why?  Keeping my expectations high and giving them equal opportunities to use technology should aid in closing that divide.

Chapter Three:  Why Do Technology Programs Fail?

1. According to the author, what were the reasons that technology programs fail? Inappropriate leadership – too little or too much; Moving too fast, without sufficient and supportive staff development; and Failure to get the right people on board
2. Do you agree with his claims?  YES!
3. Are there any other causes of failure that you’d add to his list? No, I think a lot of different things can be summed up by these 3 causes.
4. Rank your final list of “reasons for failure” from the greatest cause of failure to the least cause of failure? Greatest cause – Moving too fast without sufficient support.  I don’t believe there to be a least cause.  I think that Inappropriate leadership and Failure to get the right people on board are equal to each other and fall right under the moving too fast cause.
5. Many have approached this area from another angle.  Instead of listing causes for failure, they have listed the conditions needed for successful technology programs.  How does the content in this chapter relate to ISTE’s “Essential Conditions” that you read for a prior assignment?  They are very closely related as it was stated in the prior reading that:  Skilled Personnel and Ongoing Professional Learning are two of the essential conditions necessary for achieving the NETS•S.

Chapter Four: Strategic Planning for Technology

1. Does your school or school system have a technology plan? The school system has a technology plan, but our school does not.
2. What are your experiences with “Technology Planning?” My experiences with technology planning are not as they are laid out in the book.  I plan for what technology will be incorporated into the lessons that I am teaching and decide what the best way is to easily incorporate different technological learning experiences. My principal sent out our School Strategic/Improvement Plan recently and asked that everyone take a look at it to make sure the things we discussed as our goals for the year were addressed.  After attending the first class for 7410, I asked her about the fact that we did not have any technology listed in our planning or goals.  I told her that with the installation of the Smartboards this year, it would be great to incorporate that into our plan.  I did not get a response back, but will definitely look into that.  I see what Lemke is saying when she said “there should be no technology plan, there should be a school improvement plan that has a technology component in it”.
3. Do you think a school-level technology plan is necessary for success?  I think it is important to have a school-level plan either in the form of goals in the School Improvement Plan or as a more formal plan that is extended from the School Strategic/Improvement Plan.  Why or why not? We have to have plans for everything we teach.  Technology is no different.  If we have a school-level plan we can see where we are starting, the reasoning for a plan, and where we would like to end up.  If we do not have a plan, what is the purpose for teaching/incorporating it and how can we be held responsible?
4. What do you think of Cheryl Lemke’s quote on p. 28 “There should be no technology plan, only a school improvement plan that has technology as an important component in it?”   Funny that I had not read this question yet, but had already included it in my answer above in question 2.  I like what she says.  I think that is an easy way to incorporate technology into what we plan to do for the year.
5. Can you think of any practical challenges to having an integrated school improvement/technology plan?  I think our challenges are what Creighton stated:  the leader knowing how to guide effectively, having support to make sure we know how to best use and incorporate the technology for ALL students, and getting everyone or most everyone to make the effort to follow the plan. If so, how might these challenges be overcome?  I’m not sure yet.  I feel like I am a small role in the plan and getting everyone on board.  I hope that my enthusiasm will get others excited, too.  I cannot control how my principal will act in regard to the plan.  I know she would love for our test scores to improve and for everyone to be using the technology that we have access to.  She has arranged for someone to help us with learning and maintaining our knowledge of the Smartboard, but there are other technologies we are asked to incorporate that we are not as comfortable with and do not have the time to sufficiently practice.
6. Whether the technology plan stands alone or is imbedded into the SIP, the author points out some common pitfalls of technology planning.  What are they?  Failure to Tie Technology to Instructional Mission and Priorities; Failure to Get the Right People on Board; and Excessive Focus on Technical Detail
7. What other pitfalls, if any, would you add to his list?  Can’t think of any others specifically at this time.
8. What “strategic planning” advice does the author give us in order to avoid the pitfalls? He advises us to use the SWOT analysis which helps us identify our - Strengths available to help implement our plan; Weaknesses that need to be corrected if we are to achieve our goals; Opportunities that exist that may not have utilized before; and discover the Threats that would keep us from achieving our goal.

9/9 Post

Several things stood out to me from the reading we had for this week.  First, was a quote by Muffoletto saying "Technology...is not a collection of machines and devices, but a way of acting".  Wow, do I need to change my view.  I really want to get to this way of thinking.  I'm not there entirely, but definitely on my way.

I liked the technology in education timeline and found it very interesting that the first computer used for education was in 1950 and was a flight simulator.  This was interesting to me due to the time, use of technology, and the fact that my father-in-law is a retired pilot who has talked to me about using this technology to train pilots in similar programs.  Another point that struck me was the fact that the World Wide Web is only 17 yrs. old.  In technolgy that's pretty old, but in comparison to how long we've had access to it, that's not long at all.  Another statement that hit home for me was that we cannot raise student achievement simply by using technology, we have to implement it in the right conditions and with appropriate applications. So true!

The other readings had to do with our technology plans and laying the framework for how that was to be done and what types of things need to be addressed and included.  This seems to be a very daunting task to me when layed out in this manner.  I am using technology at my school and believe that I am using it in ways that are more advanced than a lot of the other teachers at my school and still I recognize that there is so much more that I could do.  I see teachers who are using the SMARTboard as glorified big screen tv's (which is fine in some instances), but they don't realize all the possibilities that are at their fingertips.  I have several teachers at school who are simply overwhelmed by technology and will even refuse an ELMO simply because they break out in sweats just thinking about something else that is new and foreign to them.  Thinking about these teachers and the fact that I will be learning how to step up and sway them over to the side of technology and all it's enlightenment is going to be a challenge.  Not a challenge for me to show them all the wonderful options and possibilites, but a challenge to make them use it in the same ways that I do.  I know several of them want to learn, but wanting and doing/implementing are totally different. This was also evident in an article I read recently through Google Reader about teachers who thought they were using technology, but the students had a different opinion:  http://www.convergemag.com/classtech/Tech-in-Class-Report.html

Every week I am inspired to do more and learn more in technology.  I am so happy to be involved in this program and am excited about all that knowledge I'll have when this program is finished.  The funny thing is, now that I think about it, with the way technology advances this will continually be life-long learning.