EDLD+5306

Before beginning this course, I was not completely sure what to expect from it. Based on the title of the course, I was expecting the course to just cover how technology is being taught and used in the classrooms. After the third week of class, the course surpassed my expectations. I learned far more than what I had anticipated. I had no prior knowledge of the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology or the Texas STaR Chart. This course allowed me to see through the eyes of the educators in relations to technology. Being in the fifth week of this class, I now have a new understanding of how important it is to have a strong communication between technology facilitators and educators. After completing this course, I will begin using blogs and wikis to communicate with teachers instead of our emails. I obtained a lot of new knowledge from this course, and I am more excited about future courses in this program. Being a PC Specialist for my school district, I would not have imaged that the knowledge that I obtained from this course would be as beneficial as it is. After reading postings and replies from my classmates in this course, who are mostly teachers, I can relate and communicate better with the teachers at my schools. I now am aware of some of the needs that they have that are not being met. Learning about the Texas STaR Chart in this course has given me motivation to want to help my schools improve in the area of technology. Before learning about this chart, I had no idea that schools were being scored based on how well technology is being used on the campus. After learning about blogs and wikis, I have now been able to get teachers involved in posting comments and concerns that they are having in relation to technology on their campus. This has created a window of endless possibilities and benefits for the teachers. I gained a lot of new knowledge from this course. All of the expectations that I had set for this course were accomplished after only the third week of class. I experienced a web conference for the first time while being in this course. I had always heard about web conferences, but never was a part of one. I will share this experience with my department. Maybe we will one day try experimenting with web conference meetings. With this being my first online course, I also overcame the fear of taking classes online. I gained a lot of insight from the articles from the assignments in this course. They all made me more aware of how students are being affected by technology in the school districts. I am now excited about the future courses that I will take in this program. If I gain as much knowledge from future courses as I did in this one, then I will be in for a treat. The assignments in this course were very enlightening. I gained a lot of knowledge from each one. After completing this course I will be able to take this knowledge and apply it to my everyday duties at work. The assignments taught me about the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology, Texas StaR Chart, TEKs, blogs, and wikis. I obtained a great deal of information from the articles and videos in this course. Being successful in carrying out all the assignments, I have now overcome the fear that I had with online classes. I will now be able to better communicate with teachers and other faculty members in relations to students and technology. The Texas StaR Chart will inform me on what areas my schools need help. I will now be able to effectively communicate with my CTMs and teachers through the use of blogs and wikis. These tools will greatly benefit them as it relates to using technology. After completing this course, I learned about the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology, Texas STaR Chart, TEKs, blogs, and wikis. I also had to learn how to effectively use time management in order to complete the assignments on time. Before taking this course, I had not been involved in a web conference meeting before. This course allowed me to experience and participates in a web conference. I learned a lot of valuable information from all of the articles that I read in this course. This course made me aware of things that I did not know as it relates to technology. I also learned that my leadership skills will greatly improve after becoming knowledgeable of the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology and the Texas STaR Chart. I now will have the knowledge to effectively train my CTMs and teachers. This course has greatly changed my attitude towards technology. I always knew technology was very important to the school district, but now I have a new understanding of its importance.