Embarrassed.....

Wow! I am a bit embarrassed to write a reflection on my results from these assessments! Being a classroom teacher and pushing technology to my students, it is clear that I have some work to do on my own!

The first assessment, Technology Applications Inventory, had questions in four major areas: Foundations, Information Acquisition, Solving Problems, and Communication. I’m sure you can surmise from my comment above, I scored poorly in knowledge on them. My scores were: Foundations (44%), Information Acquisition (30%), Solving Problems (44%), and Communication (20%). The crazy thing is, I couldn’t even tell you what they were asking if I knew because I had never even heard of them, let alone how to teach someone else how to implement them!

The second assessment, SETDA Teacher Survey, I did not score as badly, however, I do believe that I can do better in learning and passing on the information to students as well as assisting them better when they have questions. I tend to offer technology as supported learning in my class and I assist in a computer learning lab two times a week. In the lab, the assignment has already been set and I merely assist the students with learning. I believe that by allowing students to learn the technology and requiring them to use it in the classroom, more value is added and the students seem involved and connected. We also have two staff members on our campus who assist us with technology issues should any arise; this I have found invaluable.

When comparing and contrasting these two surveys, the Technology Applications Inventory was shorter and easier to answer, whereas, SETDA is longer and more time consuming.
It is clear that I really do not have any strength in technology. My highest area on these assessments is keyboarding skills and basic word processing and browsing the internet. My weaknesses however, lie everywhere; mostly communication and information acquisition and using technology tools to solve problems or create products. As a future administrator, I see the value in becoming proficient in technology and the need for future performance of administrative tasks and modeling the importance of technology to my staff.

As far as whether I agree or disagree with the assessments, I agree. I have not made it a priority to further my knowledge of technology or the skills that go with it. At this point, I believe that many of my students and my children for that matter know more than I do! I have learned from this assessment process that I need to make this more of a priority if I intend to expect my staff and students to keep the ever changing world of technology forefront and up to date.