April+Internship+Log+and+Reflection

April-http://docs.google.com/View?id=dggtpmb5_21dn7n5zhn


 * Week 1-** My site mentor Renee Fawcett arranged for me to attend the monthly Technology Skills Specialist meeting with her. Attending the meeting not only presented me with networking opportunities that helped me obtain my new position, but gave me some insight into what I can expect my new job to be like next year. The meeting had two main focuses, the first being a student presentation on the use of Web 2.0 tools on their campus, the second being the three new technology initiatives that the district will be putting in place starting in August.

The three new initiatives in place for August include a new web based gradebook, a new SMS called Eduphoria, and NetStart, a program which teachers will use to create and maintain their own websites. It was very interesting to listen to updates on the process of transferring from the old programs to the new ones. The presentation not only focused on the timelines, but the rationale behind the changes being made as well as the benefits and challenges of making the change. Sitting in on this presenation was more than just interesting, but informative, as I will be in charge of not only learning how to use these new systems, but I will have to train the teachers on my new campus how to use them as well.


 * Week 2-** The activities in Week 2 may not seem incredibly interesting or meaningful, but that is not the case as seen upon looking deeper. By working with Ms. Fawcett on the work orders, I may not have gained a tremendous amount of technological insight or knowledge, but I was reminded that being a technology leader is not always done while fixing something or training someone. While filing workorders is not an enjoyable task it is an important one, a leader, technology or otherwise must stay on top of their responsibilities and not neglect anything.

A side benefit of working with Ms. Fawcett on the work orders was experience with the help desk. While this may not sound like a lot, it was my first experience with the communication between Technology Skills Specialists and the central office. In my first year as a Skills Specialist next year, there will be a lot of questions that I won't be able to answer on my own, it's good to know before hand who to contact when this happens.


 * Week 3-** The activities that I did in Week 3 are easily the most important thus far. I was asked by Ms. Fawcett to help her start training the teachers on campus to use the new NetStart program, the first step in this process was to design the training. Ms. Fawcett and I worked together for two days after school training ourselves in how to use NetStart. As I was designated as the lead trainer, I tried to think about what skills the teachers needed to learn from me, the best way to teach those skills, and what their websites should look like and have when the training was completed.

I decided to keep the training simple, I did this for two main reasons, the first I didn't want anyone to feel overwhelmed, like they weren't capable of doing what was being asked of them. The second reason that I kept the training simple was because I wanted the teachers to take the basics that they had learned and expand on them on their own, I didn't want my training to in any way curtail their creativity.

I feel that the time I spent with the NetStart training serves as a culmination of what I have been learning in the Educational Technology Leadership program, every decision that I made was made with the lessons I learned from this program in mind. I developed the training by keeping the end goal in mind while trying to anticipate any problems or objections that the teachers may have. The opportunity to deliver the NetStart training will not only help me with my new position for next year, but further on into the future as I pursue other opportunities as in professional development or Ph.D. programs.


 * Week 4-** I received the opportunity to sit in the SLC class and observe how the Special Education teachers use assistive technology to help our students on campus who have severe disabilities. This was my first opportunity to ever see technology used in this setting. I received a lot of valuable insight into how technology can be used to help all of our students at all different levels. I was very glad to have this opportunity as it exposed me to valuable concepts and insights that I have not been exposed to thus far in this program.