Week 1, Technology Assessments

After analyzing the Technology Applications Inventory my strength was definitely in Information Acquisition with 100% of my responses being yes. The other strengths were in Foundations and Communication with 83% each. My weaknesses in those categories were in understanding the difference between operating systems, awareness of the Copyright Law of 1976, the Fair Use Guidelines for Multimedia and knowing and abiding by Acceptable Use Procedures. Other weaknesses were in designing and implementing procedures to track trends, set timelines etc. and selecting representative products to be collected and stored in an electronic evaluation tool. There was one category I had to say no to but was reluctant. The digital file formats were very familiar to me but because I couldn’t recognize two of them I felt it necessary to say no. My weakest category was in Solving Problems with Technology tools with only 72%. While I make presentations and movies and such on a regular basic I was unclear on the difference between linear and non-linear multi-media projects. I also do not have any experience using interactive environments, using technical writing or using groupware, collaborative software and productivity tools to create products. There was also the item regarding integrating acquired technology into language arts, science, math and social studies curricula. If I taught a core course then I would be able to answer this with a yes but because I teach an elective I was forced to say no.

The SEDTA survey was far more extensive and required a bit more analysis. My school has recently undergone a huge renovation and expansion and with it new classrooms have been equipped with more computers, one or more projectors for each department are now available, school cameras are available for check out from the library, and we now have several computer labs and mobile carts available throughout the school. Because of these new additions my art department has been blessed with our own computer lab and a new large format scanner and a large format printer soon to come. They have also uploaded Adobe CS4 to every computer in the lab. You would think that with all this new equipment would come with some training or professional development, but I have yet to see or hear of either. As far as I can tell there are no plans for any in the near future and there seems to be no system of tracking technology use on our campus. Another thing that was apparent through this survey was the lack of technology being integrated into curriculum. I know that in my classroom we used technology at the beginning of the year as a way to integrate it into the curriculum but we were never required to do so, nor were we given any guidelines for integrating technology.

Overall, I would say that the assessments were fairly accurate with a few minor exceptions. I would like to see more training and professional development on technology offered at my school. I would also like for data assessments to be developed to see how effective technology is being used in the classroom.