It has been seven years since I graduated from Texas Tech with my BBA and what a journey it has been. I have been contemplating a Graduate Degree for several years now, but most of the degrees offered were in School Administration. I really have no desire to become a Vice Principal or Principal. I left the business world, because I did not like politics, and I do not want to move into school politics. When I saw the Educational Technology Leadership degree from Lamar Univ., I got very excited. This was the first degree I had seen that focused on technology. The first course was Intro to Ed Tech. I was nervous about going back to "school" and all the things that come with it like the books and tuition, the research papers and everything else. I was excited though and I thought this will be great. The class should teach me about using technology in the classroom and how to lead other people in using technology. The class was slightly different than I thought. I did learn some new technologies and have already started incorporating them into my class. But the class discussed much more than specific technologies. The topics ranged from national technology standards to budgets to performance indicators and an internship. Come to find out, this degree is an administration degree with an emphasis on technology. It's not exactly what I had in mind, but I think it will work. At the end of the class, I will be able to test for my administration certificate. Again, I have no plans to become a school administrator, but I do think this will open doors for jobs of technology facilitator or leader at the District level. The pace of the course is very fast, and my head is still spinning. They have crammed a semesters worth of material into five weeks. I will definitely have to get used to work quickly and efficiently on my assignments, so that I do not get behind.
There have been several assignments in this course that have been useful and some that will eventually be useful. At first, I did not enjoy creating a Wordle (www.wordle.net) or an Animoto (www.animoto.com). I felt these activities were basically used in ELA classes and they were a waste of time for me since I teach Math. However, I have already incorporated a Wordle into a vocabulary activity for my math improvement class. I haven't touched Animoto again, but it will be in the back of my mind for later use. There were also the research assignments on the national technology standards and other budgetary things. In my current position as a math teacher, these topics don't help me that much. But, I eventually want to transition to a higher level job in the district and these topics should be very useful then and show that I am a knowledgeable and qualified candidate. I also found it very interesting in the technology standards that are written for administration. We have several administrators that are very knowledgeable in these, and we have some "old school" administrators that have some work to do.
One of the assignments in this course was to write a brief two-page paper on a given topic. I chose to write about cyber ethics, but the paper did not really ever get written. I basically ran out of time. With the class only being five weeks long, we have a new assignment every week. And these are multiple part assignments. Some weeks were a little easier than others. But this paper came at the end of a longer assignment and it just didn't happen. I analyzed the rubric for the assignment and figured that this paper wasn't as important as the other parts of the assignment and it got pushed to a back burner. This is completely my fault and caused by my lack of time management skills. This is definitely something I will have to work on in my next class. I do think cyber ethics are an important part of the technology learning process, but I dropped the ball on completing this paper.
However, I would say I was successful at carrying out 90% of the course assignments. I have an A in the class so far, and I feel I have done a decent job. It was a very steep learning curve and I am writing this last part of the Week 5 assignment at 8:45pm on Sunday. This class officially ends at 11:59pm this evening. And this is how most of my assignments have gone. It has been very hard juggling a full time teaching job, with a wife and a 14-month-old daughter. So far it has been work all week, have family time on Saturday and cram the assignments in on Sunday, then rinse and repeat. I am still trying to figure out how to juggle all these things and still be successful. I will definitely need to start working on the assignments during the week so that it is not all crammed into the weekend. What scares me now are all the Internship Requirements. When am I going to have time to go to School Board meetings and everything else? Luckily I have a very loving and supportive wife and an extended family that will step in and help whenever we need it.
The lack of time management skills aside, I have learned much about the technology landscape and myself. I have learned that I really do know a lot about technology and that I should be a great resource in helping others incorporate technology into their classes. I have also learned that I am lacking in skills at seeing the broader picture. In meeting with my site mentor, I am always focusing on the implementation level, and not on the leadership level. My site mentor has been great at making my look at the bigger picture. He has suggested to me "to find an area of change, get involved, and then to ride that wave...There will be voids in these areas [of technology], and if you position yourself correctly, you will have some great opportunities to learn and grow." I know I also need to work on my leadership skills. I typically shy away from responsibility and do not like being in charge. I really like being a support person. I will definitely be "pushed" throughout this program. But, I am riding this wave to end. Hopefully I end up on a nice cushy beach and not being slammed into the corral reef by the wave.
