Technology Facilitator Standard VI: Social, Ethical, Legal, and Human Issues
TF-VI   Social, Ethical, Legal, and Human Issues
Educational technology facilitators understand the social, ethical, legal, and human issues surrounding the use of technology in P-12 schools and assist teachers in applying the understanding in their practice.
Self –Assessment
Standard IV (Williamson and Redish, 2009) requires technologist to help schools and districts in the realm of social, ethical, legal, and human ...
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TF-V          Productivity and Professional Practice
Educational technology facilitators apply technology to enhance and improve personal productivity and professional practice.  
Self –Assessment
Some key points from Chapter Five, Productivity and Professional Practice (Williamson and Redish), that learned and need to remember as technologist are: 
    •Students benefit indirectly when educators use technology to enhance their own productivity and professional practice.  When teachers know a...
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EDLD 5368  Instructional Design

Self-Assessmentt
Instructional Design is a course I really enjoyed, even though my grade does not reflect it.  I learned the basics of creating effective instructional design for online courses and professional development and the principles of instruction design. The assignments taught me a new way to approach instruction, in that I learned about designing a lesson with the end product in mind.
I learned from the Teaching Style Inventory (Texas Collaborative for ...
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TF-III          Teaching, Learning, and the Curriculum
Educational technology facilitators apply and implement curriculum plans that include methods and strategies for utilizing technology to maximize student learning.
Self-Assessment
I teach Web Mastering, therefore, I understand the importance of using technology daily in my classroom.  My lesson plans must include the use of technology.  As technology leader on campus, it would become my job to make sure that all teachers understand and impl...
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EDLD 5364 - Teaching with Technology
Self-Assessment
Teaching with Technology was one of my favorite classes because I teach Web Mastering.  The class allowed me to collaborate and create a solution to a scenario-based group project.   This involved creating a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) lesson using the CAST Lesson Builder.  I created an e-book as part of our design (Scott, 2011).  I learned many practical applications to help me challenge my students.  This includes looking at constru...
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Reflections - EDLD 5362 Information Systems Management

Self-Assessment
This class, Information Systems Management, allowed me to get a better look at the importance of student data. I already knew the importance of student data because I was the registrar prior to becoming a teacher. The class confirmed the adage, student data is what pays the bills, plain and simple. We must get this right for everything else to be right. Additionally, I learned that, "Four key ideas continually surface when i...
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Reflections - EDLD 5333
Leadership for Accountability

     I developed an action plan for the purpose of improving student achievement and developed a statement of my personal vision of leadership. To accomplish this, I visited the Texas Education Agency (TEA) Web site and located and analyzed Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) data for our campus. This involved looking at various sections of the AYP report including scores, attendance, and graduation rate. Our school is rated "acceptable" at this ...
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Reflections - EDLD 5306
Concepts of Educational Technology

To borrow words from the assignments for EDLD 5306, I examined the role and responsibilities of an educational technology leader in the 21st century information landscape. Each week focused on different elements.
Week 1: looked at educational technology in terms of the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology, the Technology Applications TEKS, and the Technology Applications Inventory.
This was my first occasion to really look at these items....
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Final Reflections - Teaching with Technology
 
The course, Teaching with Technology, has taught me how to integrate technology in all aspects of education for all students. I teach technology, so, for me, technology is integrated in every aspect of my class from daily blogs to exams. I have drug a few of my fellow technology teachers along in that they are now paperless, as I am. But, even as I work with technology each and everyday, I did not consider the students in my class or school who str...
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Week 4 Reflections

I like the videos assigned this week! I especially enjoyed the interview with Larry Rosenstock[1]. I viewed this particular video several times, not just to get quotes correct, but because the content is powerful. His point of view is very unique to education as I know it. Rosenstock understands that technology and academics can co-exist. He feels that we should not have a non-college bound track. I tend to agree with him; one of my friends was a special needs counselor a...
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Reflections - Week 3

This week was extremely trying because it is our spring break. I had to try to stay focused, especially since others were depending upon me to do my part of the lesson. I re-worked my curriculum for How Coyote Stole Fire using Cast UDL Book Builder Web site. "Universal Design for Learning is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn. UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, an...
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Reflections - Creating an E-Book using Book Builder

The e-book was challenging to create. I tried to use all elements suggested in Book Builder as I designed each page. My task was to write for blind and hearing impaired students. I focused on finding sound clips to add to my story. This is not easy! There are a few places that offer sound clips free of charge. Those places do not have the sounds I needed. I worked on the project for about five hours once I decided on the concept. I also lo...
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Reflections - Creating Curriculum Using CAST Lesson Builder

This week I re-worked my curriculum for How Coyote Stole Fire using CAST's Lesson Builder Web site. "Universal Design for Learning is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn. UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone--not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can...

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Do we meet the needs of all of our students?  That is a question that plagues educators, whether they admit it or not.  "The challenge posed by greater diversity and greater accountability is to enable students with widely divergent needs, skills, and interests to attain the same high standards. "(Rose and Myer, 2002.)  As I reflect upon the diversity of our campus, I feel that sometimes we forget that we do have high standards to attain.  The needs of our students are as divergent or differe...
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Constructivism, Connectivism, and Cyborg Theories.

I watched three videos that discussed these theories. Most in education, including me, are acquainted with Constructivism as taught by Vygotsky. The other theories, Connectivism and Cyborg, were foreign to me.

Constructivism Theory suggest that we construct learning by actively being involved in learning[1]. This notion is counter to traditional learning theories where teachers impart knowledge while students sit and listen. Constructi...

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Reflection One: Educational Leadership Constituent Council Standard 2 “ELCC Standard 2: Candidates who complete the program are educational leaders who have the knowledge and ability to promote the success of all students by promoting a positive school culture, providing an effective instructional program, applying best practice to student learning, and designing comprehensive professional growth plans for staff.
Curriculum management is essential to success in our schools. The information...
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What has been your experience in using data to make decisions about curriculum and instruction?  I had to focus on data while preparing my 6th grade students for the reading TAKS test.  I would work with the other 6th grade reading teacher to try to find stories and strategies to help our students be successful.  We also looked at ways to include technology and were instrumental in getting Read180 implemented on our campus. Our principal insisted that we looked at disaggregated data from  ele...
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What is curriculum management?  According to Dr. Elvis H. Arterbury,  Professor, Department of Educational Administration of Lamar University, "It is the process of providing leadership on the development, implementation, and evaluation of curriculum and assessments that focus on academic success for all students. (2011)"

This week I looked at the six components of the Texas Education Agency Learning System including the minimum state provisions, desirable local provisions for each of the six ...
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The assignments for Digital Graphics, Animation, and Desktop Publishing were fun to create though some were challenging. 

The first project was to create my "personal brand."  I was able to work on the logo for my side-business, my travel agency.  I think I liked this project because it forced me to focus on a project I started at least a year ago.  It also forced me to focus on adjectives that describes me.  I learned how to apply the elements of design to creating a logo.  I teach the ele...

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Today's classrooms are becoming more academically diverse in most regions of the United States (and elsewhere, for that matter). Many, if not most, classrooms contain students representing both genders and multiple cultures, frequently include students who do not speak English as a first language, and generally contain students with a range of exceptionalities and markedly different experiential backgrounds. These students almost certainly work at differing readiness levels, have varying inte...
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There is skepticism in the educational community regarding the applicability of gaming to education. Games have been shown, in numerous studies and in homes across America, to both excite and motivate students. What impact does this have on the education community?
The education community seems to be asleep at the wheel when it comes to gaming. I do not think that teachers like the idea of allowing students to play "games" in class. Many of the old-school principals are not tech-savvy; their y...
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This has been a challenging process.  I know that I am good with computers.  I even know how to construct and edit a letter. But, a newsletter is a totally different.  I had to consider elements of design in the process of creating my newsletter.  I chose to create a travel related newsletter.  The name is "Myles Travelogue."  I used MS-Publisher to create the newsletter. I started with a blank publication, though I had to refer to the template to get a feel for how to set it up.  I then had ...
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Creating animations for this week was a little taxing.  First I searched for free animation software.  I decided to use the software found on http://scratch.mit.edu.  I had to download the program to my computer, which I hate to do ... I have so many programs on my computer that I am not using.  I then viewed some of the tutorial available on the scratch site.  After looking at the tutorial, which seem to have been created by kids and made me feel even more stupid because I could not create s...
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My list words that describes: Happy, content, motivated, loner, quiet, reflective, entrepreneurial, independent, traveler, stable.
My goal in creating the design: My goal was to create a logo my travel site. The logo should be sleek and have travel themes without being too prefabricated. I wanted my logo to incorporate rest, relaxation, flair, and be whimsical. I wanted to say all this with pictures.
The elements of good design included: The elements I tried to incorporate included the followi...
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The most relevant student-management issue is Internet use.  Access to technology and the Internet is vital for students.  These skills are essential in all aspects of their lives.  Our school has a problem with students accessing unauthorized sites while at school.  Many of our students do not have access to the Internet at home.  According to Bissonette (2009), a "digital divide" exist between households and schools that have access to the technology and those who do not.   This divide can ...

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My view of educations's role in society leans toward schools helping "to teach students to think and express themselves independently. (Hopson, M.)" Schools must have a delicate balance of both "marketplace of ideas" and "value inculcation." Students need to be able to express their ideas and viewpoints in the safe environment of the school. But, school leaders must have the ability to censure that expression if it is biased or harmful. I grew up in the 60's and graduated from high school in ...

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Our group worked together to create a PSA that is relevant and practical.  We all worked on voice-over narrations and finally chose narrations recorded by me and Jack Robertson.  We re-worked the opening scene because it was a little dark in a macabre way, shot one, was shot and edited; entire video was pieced together and edited along with voice-over narrations,  background music, and scrolling end credits.  The four of us on this team have communicated through our group wiki, trading ideas ...

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The outcomes I envisioned for Multimedia and Video Technology does not match the information I have gained.  When I looked at the pre-course self evaluation, I realized that there is a lot I did not know about multimedia and video technology.  As a matter of fact, my total score was 24.  The outcomes far exceeded my expectations.  I envisioned learning how to do more with video editing.  I did not know I would learn the following skills:

• instructional design skills to determine the go...

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"Whether you’re creating a Hollywood feature film or tightening a vacation video, the challenge is to take raw footage and within the limitation of equipment and budget, transform it into something compelling and watchable (Lonquist, 1994)."

I found this quote memorable because I 'try' to edit videos of our Sunday worship services. I do try to transform what I have captured, raw video, into something compelling and watchable. This quote validates what I try to do with our worship video...
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Creating a personal digital story was a new experience for me.  The process of writing a script helped to focus on what I wanted to say.  Having a time limit kept me from adding too many unneccessary details to my stoy.  When I wrote my script, I wrote down everygthing I wanted to say. 
My first process was to decide what my story would be about.  Then I found the images I wanted to use.  As I wrote the script, I played in my mind, what I wanted to see.  After finding the pictures, I placed th...
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Quality Indicator 1

Context of Study: PAISD, as well as many other school districts, have a large teacher turn-around rate.  This is due to the fact that new teachers leave the district in record numbers after the first two years in the profession.  This may be from burn-out or frustration.  Sometimes they may feel that the demands are too great or they have no one to talk to for support.  Whatever the cause, I think that effective professional development can help prepare new teacher...

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• Please share one specific topic of your greatest insight or new learning – what really caught your interest.

• Please share one specific area where you still want to learn more.

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Professional Development as a Tool for New Teacher Retention CARE Model: Planning Tool

Identify Concerns that must change (look to the future)

(Assign points to concerns from 1 to 3 in the order of the most important issues to consider.)

1.         New teachers leave the district and school within 2 years

2.         Training is not relevant

3.         There is a lack of support from administrators and veteran teachers

Identify Affirmations that must be sustained (look to the present)

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• teacher apathy
• time constraints
• lack of commitment from mentors (mainly due to the above, time constraints).