Reflections - EDU 781 Technology Leadership Project

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Soooo......, I am just finishing my 2nd to last endorsement class at Dominican which is EDU 781 Technology Leadership.  The class project was useful, practical and challenging.   Basically, I had to make a change within my class/school/district that involved technology.  

I decided to develop an internet safety program of instruction for the special education program that I work for.  Why?  Because the state of Illinois requires that all schools provide internet safety instruction for grades 3rd and up and my special education cooperative isn't doing this.  Also, studies show that the special needs population is even more vulnerable to predators or bullying online.

The program that I teach for is the Communication Development program.  My program has six classrooms ranging from grades K to 8th grade.  I teach a 2nd/3rd grade class of 12 boys.  Yep, you heard me right, 12 squirrelly boys that I think the world of.  

NetSmartz - 

Missing and Exploited Children

I chose to use the NetSmartz program. What I liked about NetSmartz is that it has separate presentations for K-2nd grade, 3rd-5th grade, and tweens.  The presentations are fun, covered vocabulary and age appropriate topics.  

I found the whole process of completing the project rewarding and beneficial.  I have actually been wanting to do something like this for quite a while and was grateful when this opportunity came along.  The most challenging part was working with the other classrooms in my program.  The six classrooms in the CD program are located in two different schools that are within two separate districts. It was difficult coordinating with the other program teachers.  I ultimately worked with the program social workers which was very helpful.

It is my hope to keep this program going year to year.  As our students travel through our program they should have a thorough education on internet safety and be better prepared to interact with this ever changing online world.

As I am finishing my Technology Specialist classes, I am hoping to transition to this roll within my cooperative.  I really want to stay within special education and apply what I have learned to my cooperative and the special needs population.  My cooperative is really behind the times and I would really love the opportunity to help bring it up to speed.

To Lead or not to Lead - Technology Leadership EDU 781

https://www.westerncenter.org/domain/75

So my newest course is EDU 781 - Technology Leadership.  I never really thought much about my hopeful, future position as a technology specialist to be a leadership type of role.  I always knew that technology specialist's could run/manage school IT departments, but I never thought about myself in that kind of role. 

The list of responsibilities that a technology leader has is quite extensive.  Here are a few of them.....

• Plans, organizes, and directs operations and school personnel that make up the technology department
• Establishes and enforces policies and standards for use of and acquiring new technology 
• Prepares proposals for the purchase of new equipment
• Coordinates the scheduling of training for support staff in the effective use of current and new technology
• being a "change agent" by helping improve or take the school system in a new direction in regards to the use of technology

The list goes on and on.  The hardest part of all of this for me is the whole idea of being a leader.  I have never thought of myself as a leader.  I like to think of myself as more of a coach.  That being done by providing support, encouragement, and direction to teaching and support staff in how to best incorporate school technology along with district curriculum.  

The main project for this course is to bring about a "change" within my classroom/school/district.  The change that I decided to make has to do with the special education cooperative and program that I teach for.  Basically, the state of Illinois mandates that all schools are to provide internet safety instruction for grades 3 and above. The special education cooperative that I work for has not provided any kind of direction in terms of making this happen.  I have a two fold plan:

1. Meet with the cooperative curriculum and technology directors to inform them of the mandate and to suggest the need for a staff technology specialist to help carry out the mandate cooperative wide along with a multitude of other potential responsibilities.

2.  Set up resources and units of instruction to be implemented by the program that I teach for.

So far, I have initiated a meeting with the directors, as well as, gathered resources and units of instruction to be carried out by the teachers within my program.  This week I will distribute the resources to the teachers and follow-up with them to see if they need farther help with implementing the units of instruction.

This project, and others like it, that I have had to complete in my graduate courses are a lot of work but very helpful.  They make me push myself and have experiences that I would most likely run into when working as a technology specialist.