Future as a Learner: From Teacher to Educational Technology Specialist
By Lindsay C. Simpson
I consider myself a lifelong learner because I am always taking classes or volunteering as part of an organization and I never limit myself to learning in only a school-based setting. I take every opportunity to learn from the situation that I am faced with, whether it is working in an orphanage in South Africa, living with a host family in Spain, or taking classes towards my Master’s of Art in Educational Technology degree. Therefore, I have always thought that my own learning would continue long after I am done with my degrees.
It is because of my desire to learn that I have such high hopes for myself when it comes to my future goals and plans. Before this program, I had never really considered myself as a leader. I was very content simply being a Spanish teacher and maintaining that role without taking on any leadership positions. In fact, I was strongly opposed to becoming part of an administration because I viewed that as not being as involved with the students as I would have liked it to be. However, those goals have changed now that my journey in this program is coming to an end. Although I may not want to be a principal or a dean, I would like to become a part of the administration as an Educational Technology Specialist. In addition to being a teacher I have also been an Educational Consultant in the past; however, in this position, I didn’t get to work with schools or students face to face because everything was done over the phone and through computers.
Now, I would like to become a leader at my school and take on the role of working with teachers and administrators in order to help them properly understand Educational Technology implementation in both the classroom and the school as a whole. I would also like to work directly in the classrooms in order to help students understand Educational Technology as well and the proper policies and procedures of such technologies. I would like to work one on one with teachers to personalize their use of educational technology with their individual students and work with administrators, as well as hold professional development workshops for everyone at the school, which would include bringing in outside specialists as well. This would be beneficial for students, teachers, and administrators.
In order to achieve these goals, I believe it would be extremely important to further my education in the following topics: relationships among all employees within the school in order to better communication amongst all staff members when implementing educational technologies, educational technology implementation in elementary classrooms because I am only certified in secondary education currently and would like to know how technology implementation in elementary classrooms differ, and professional development opportunities in educational technology for the school as a unit because it is important for all staff members to stay up-to-date on 21st century technologies.
Communication and strong relationships are absolutely necessary when it comes to running any business but many times communication is lost amongst employees within a school. It has been my experience that employees are frequently required to fulfill multiple roles, which can cause a strain on communication by diluting that employee’s focus on primary functions within the school. Therefore, communication between administration and all of the different academic teams, teachers, support staff, etc. can easily fall by the way side. However, as someone in a leadership role, especially someone who will be implementing a new Educational Technology program within a school, it will be my role to ensure that everyone at the school has a strong relationship with one another and is in constant communication with each other, and with myself, to ensure that the implementation goes smoothly. To ensure my own mastery of this topic and to encourage communication among my colleagues, I visited the website for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and found a helpful article specifically about this topic: Improving Relationships within the Schoolhouse. This particular article addresses the many types of relationships within a school, how we can improve them, and consequently, how these relationships can improve communication and promotes a culture of collegiality within the school.
This image is the cover of journal that houses the article "Improving Relationships within the Schoolhouse."
Currently, I am a middle school Spanish teacher and therefore don’t work with any elementary students. Consequently, when it comes to becoming an Educational Technology Specialist within a K-8 school, it’s extremely important that I become very familiar with the process and implications of implementing technology in elementary classrooms. Therefore, I decided to use two different articles as references when learning more about this specific topic to further my own education: Meaningful Connections: Using Technology in Primary Classrooms and IT’s Elementary! Integrating Technology in the Primary Grades. The first article addresses technology’s place in the elementary classroom and how this can be beneficial for children in primary grades. In addition, it provides specific tools that can benefit primary students, such as digital imagery, presentational software and tools, research tools, and concept mapping software. This article also provides real-life examples of how technology has been implemented in primary classrooms. The second article provides a lot of research as to why technology integration in primary classrooms can be beneficial for both students and teachers. The author also addresses what integration is, the requirements for integration in a primary classroom, and where administrators, computer teachers/coaches, and classroom teachers should start when it comes to implementation.
This image is a great example of primary students interacting with technology.
Lastly, as an Educational Technology Specialist in my school I would like to both provide and conduct professional development sessions about educational technology that will benefit administrators, teachers, and students. Consequently, in order to be trained in providing and giving professional development sessions, I need to be able to know specific guidelines about Educational Technology in Florida as well as how to incorporate outside organizations and policies and procedures into our professional development trainings. In order to accomplish this, I looked up The Technology Integration Matrix provided by the Florida Department of Education Division of Technology and Innovation. The technology integration matrix provides videos to use in the classroom, evaluation tools, and professional development, which can be provided face-to-face or online. The actual matrix that they provide is something that I can use to introduce, adopt, adapt, infuse, and transform the educational technology for our curriculum.
These images display The Technology Integration Matrix itself.
In addition to using this matrix, I also found a Technology Integration Professional Development Guide provided by Edutopia. This guide includes information about why a school should integrate technology, what technology integration is, how to integrate technology, different workshop activities to include in the professional development, and lastly different resources to use for technology integration.
This picture displays the six sections of the Technology Integration Professional Development Guide provided by Edutopia.
Although I know it won't necessarily be possible to achieve all of these goals right away, I hope to continue my own learning on a consistent basis focusing on the goals listed above. I know my future as a learner is by no means complete and I look forward to the many learning opportunities that I have to look forward to!