Going into ITEC 7470, I was a little overwhelmed and nervous about what this class entailed. I have to say looking back on the semester, it definitely was not anywhere near what I thought it was going to be. I was under the impression that we would be reading and analyzing research for most of the course and learning about things that I could not apply to my own educational setting. I was pleasantly surprised at all of the useful information that I gained from this course. I see how valuable educational research is in making decisions at the school and district levels. This helps in the decision-making process of tools and initiatives that are chosen. It also provides support to a change in the program and helps with teacher buy-in to be able to back up the decisions. I now have a better understanding of how a technology coach goes about selecting the technology to teach the teachers. It is not an easy process, but a necessary one to vet the tools. Teachers want tools that are there to improve their classroom and student achievement. I did not realize this, and it has made me analyze decisions that have been made by our school and district.
ITEC 7470 has enabled me the skills to conduct research as an instructional coach to help with the process of selecting technology for our school and assist in developing the school improvement plan and shared vision. Through this semester, I have become more involved in the school’s technology plans and am now serving on the technology committee that was created. The course has given me knowledge and skills to examine and recommend tools based on all of the research that I have conducted to support what the teachers are wanting to accomplish. I find myself discovering new tools to try out and then looking for peer reviewed articles over them to see how other teachers use them in their classroom and how it impacted their classes. It has greatly assisted me as a technology leader at this school because teachers will email me asking for tools and I can provide them not only with the tools but with some research to support it, which has been extremely helpful for the teachers. I am looking forward to implementing the capstone project with my school as it is going to teach teachers how to use one of our new tools in a new way that will improve their uses of it. With all of the research and development of the course, it will allow teachers to see how important that these features are to help them meet their goals and improving student achievement.
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
January 2024
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