EDT6040+-+Special+Topics+in+Educational+Computing

=Special Topics in Educational Computing =

The course focuses on professional capacity while developing and sustaining local and global learning communities to exchange ideas and methods related to creative application in technology. Candidates will use digital tools to research a technological problem or practice to promote the use of existing or emerging digital tools and resources that contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self-renewal of a learning community. The problem/project-based curriculum requires candidates to use digital tools to collect data/information, build websites for shared decision-making and collaboration, and design a prototype; and to demonstrate their mastery of technology skills acquired in other technology courses. Topics and theories explored include change theory, strategic planning, data-driven decisions, legal issues with technology, group dynamics and organizational development of the change process, and professional leadership capacity. Candidates will review and critique work of their peers for selected projects and self-assess personalized professional development plans.

Online Workspace for the Delaware Technical and Community College Web 2.0 Initiative
=Strategic Plan Project Reflection= This class and this project, in particular, challenged my abilities to seriously develop and implement an education technology plan. Because I am currently a trainer and not a full-time instructor in a higher education environment, I believe I had to view this assignment from a different perspective than most of my cohorts.

Because higher education plays by a different set of rules, most of my resources concerning members of my committee, types of Ed Tech support and other variables varied from the traditional K-12 environment. This made it a bit more challenging for me to relate to the material as a whole. It was very helpful to break each section of the plan down and apply it directly my work / training environment.

The creation and maintenance of my Planning Committee was, by far, the most challenging part of this project. The instructors in my environment come from varying disciplines and are not necessarily in touch with the 21st Century Skill philosophy we have used as the foundation of this entire program. We are not held to the same standards as K-12. It is not that we do not follow a set of standards, we certainly do because of accreditation issues, but they are not in the same scope as K-12.

It was very difficult for the Committee to formally meet because of scheduling issues and, therefore, comments and suggestions were made within the plan blog itself. Many of the topics we were asked to address did not necessarily pertain to the initiative because they would not be part of the scope of the plan in our current environment. We have various departments that are charged with some of the tasks covered in the plan template. These tasks would not and could not be the responsibility of the Plan Committee. These tasks involving computer maintenance, grant writing, etc. would fall under specific departments within the college.

All in all, I enjoyed writing this plan because training instructors in the use of technology and particularly Web 2.0 tools is a true passion of mine. A lot of instructors seem to be averse to learning these new tools and the methods that go with them, but I feel that this mindset is mostly caused by a lack of support and follow-up by the people who are training them. We, as Educational Technology Specialists, need to make sure that the people we train are not left to fend for themselves when the formal training is complete. We need them to know that we want them to succeed on this new journey just as they want their own students to succeed.