Standard 1: Visionary Leadership
Candidates demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to inspire and lead the development and implementation of a shared vision for the effective use of technology to promote excellence and support transformational change throughout the organization.
- Element 1.1 Shared Vision - Candidates facilitate the development and implementation of a shared vision for the use of technology in teaching, learning, and leadership.
- Element 1.2 Strategic Planning - Candidates facilitate the design, development, implementation, communication, and evaluation of technology-infused strategic plans.
- Element 1.3 Policies, Procedures, Programs & Funding - Candidates research, recommend, and implement policies, procedures, programs, and funding strategies to support implementation of the shared vision represented in the school, district, state, and federal technology plans and guidelines. Funding strategies may include the development, submission, and evaluation of formal grant proposals.
- Element 1.4 Diffusion of Innovations & Change - Candidates research, recommend, and implement strategies for initiating and sustaining technology innovations and for managing the change process in schools.
FRIT 7232: Technology Plan Evaluation
My Technology Plan evaluation was completed in FRIT 7232. I worked with a group of three other students to choose and evaluate a technology plan. After researching and creating an annotated bibliography of resources to aid in the evaluation, we chose to evaluate the technology plan for Social Circle City Schools. The Social Circle City Schools plan is a three-year plan. We worked together to create a rubric for evaluation and then evaluated the plan in the following areas: goals, professional development, assessment of telecommunication services, hardware, software, and other services needed, accessibility of technology resources, budget, and ongoing evaluation. It was interesting and eye-opening to see that so much thought and consideration has to go into creating a technology plan. I admit that I didn't even know that school systems had a written technology plan. Looking closely at this plan and then examining my own school system's plan made me realize that in order to have an effective technology program, a plan must be devised and carried through. I chose to include this assignment because the elements of Standard 1 that were covered by this assignment were Element 1.2 Strategic Planning and Element 1.3 Policies, Procedures, Programs, and Funding. Element 1.2 was covered because we evaluated a technology plan. Element 1.3 was covered because we researched and made recommendations where we found areas of weakness in the plans. One of the areas we addressed was the need to address the accessibility of technology resources.
Technology Plan Evaluation
FRIT 7232: Technology Grant Proposal
In FRIT 7232, I worked with a group to complete a technology grant proposal. I had actually written grants in the past, but they were much smaller in scale and I didn't really know what I was doing. Our grant proposal was written to fund the purchase of iPads and professional development to aid the teachers at Smith Elementary School with integrating technology into their Daily 5 literacy routine. My first obstacle to overcome with this project was becoming familiar with exactly what Daily 5 is and how it is implemented in the classroom. Although I am an elementary teacher, my school does not utilize the Daily 5 method. I did not realize there was so much involved in "real" grant proposals. I learned that there needs to be a demonstrated need, goals and objectives, a plan of operation (this included a timeline of professional development and was the source of a lot of discussion), and evaluation plan, and the development of a budget. This assignment incorporated elements 1.1, 1.3, and 1.4. Element 1.1 Shared Vision was covered when we developed a plan for implementing the use of ipads and digital literacy programs to enhance teaching. When we researched and came up with a plan that included a budget with funding sources we met the requirements of Element 1.3. Element 1.4 was covered by the initiation of a strategy that would positively affect the literacy program at the school.
Technology Grant Proposal
FRIT 7232 Technology Advocate Presentation
The technology advocate presentation created in FRIT 7232 was a project that I really enjoyed creating. I chose to create a presentation advocating the use of Seesaw, a digital portfolio tool. This was one of my earlier presentations and it definitely shows. Thankfully, I am not using this as an example for digital learning environments or professional learning. In order to advocate for new technology I learned that it is necessary to thoroughly explain the benefits, costs, and uses of the technology. It is also a good idea to include standards that can be met by using that technology. In this case, Seesaw is a free Web 2.0 tool that is blocked by our school system. My goal with this presentation was to demonstrate the usefulness of Seesaw digital portfolios so that the school system would consider unblocking this tool. To meet Element 1.1, I facilitated and encouraged the implementation of Seesaw digital portfolios. Element 1.4 was met because I researched and recommended the digital portfolios as a new technology that could be used to track student learning in an innovative way.
Technology Advocate Presentation