Week 5 Reflection

What an amazing experiment it would be for teachers and students to be given laptops, curriculum manuals/materials, etc. Even if the equipment was below average, it couldn’t be any worse than learning what could be. In higher education, so much of what we use revolves around advanced technology. If the leaders were resistant of the equipment and the cost was high, it would be a very difficult transition. In order to have a successful transition from not having these materials to suddenly having these materials, proper training should be given to the teachers not only on how to use this equipment, but how to teach others about using it. Methods and instructions should be clarified prior to putting a lesson plan together on how to best use the technology.

I can see this project imploding for the simple fact that some teachers age difference, seniority, and simply not wanting to learn more about the technology they have been given. Many tenured educators at least that I know have a set way of teaching, many of which use limited technology if any at all. This experiment would be a difficult sell to those that are set in their ways and have no wiggle room. They feel their way of teaching has been successful over the years and they don’t need the assistance of technology nor are they interested in learning the pros of what technology can bring to the classroom and to their lesson plans.

In addition to the educators lack of wanting to learn about the technology and resisting the benefits, what back-up costs would this technology have? Would there be additional positions filled by technology specialists if it were to break down? That is another concern that must come up from this scenario/question. Technology is very expensive but unfortunately, backing up technology with constant support if needed can be even more expensive. To employ an individual as the lead IT person could cost more than the technology itself in most cases, it just depends on what credentials would be required to work within the school system. There are many pros and cons to this situation and I firmly believe the cons outweigh the positives that would come about implementing this system. I am all for technology, but it seems like this overhaul of technology would be too overwhelming for everybody to carry out effectively.

After reading this project, I started to think about an effective plan that could be carried out over time to ensure it would work. I strongly believe if this project was spread across a 3-5 year span, implementing one piece of technology at a time, it could be successful and not as overwhelming for the educators and students. Below is a plan I put together that I feel could be helpful for everyone involved to successfully carry out a 3-5 year plan.

Year 1

-Meeting to discuss goals of technological implementation within school system

-Identify target dates

-Hire IT staff to assist with implementation and training

-Train staff on stage one technology

-Implement stage one of four stages of technology

Year 2

-Follow up meeting to discuss goals and pros/cons of technology implementation within school system for year 1

-Additional meeting to discuss changes for stage 2 implementation and training

-Hire additional staff if needed

-Train staff on stage two technology

-Implement stage two of four stages of technology

Year 3-5 (Repeat year 2 with modifications)

Clearly there would be some revisions and more detail put into this plan to implement this technology, but I believe the best way to carry out implementing a lot of technology would be to set forth goals and carry out those in organized time increments.

As part of this assignment, we were asked to add photos using flickr or photobucket and this font want dark, therefore it blended into the background before. It's now white and you can view my photos on flickr by going clicking HERE.