Techie in Primary

Pilot Experience This is the end of my EDU781 class and the completion of my pilot experience for this class. My proposal was a big one that would require systematic change for my entire district - using E-Learning days for snow days. This was an interesting project because the more I worked on it the more my idea changed. In the beginning I just thought about using E-Learning for snow days but then I realized that this protocol could be used for students that are at home for extended time due to illness and injury. It could also be used for when schools need to be closed down due to the spread of illness and they need to sanitize the entire building. Sadly, sometimes schools need to close due to a threat declared on social media. There are so many reasons school might be shut down and they all disturb the flow of learning in our students.  My first goal was developing an appealing slideshow to persuade my fellow staff members that this could be a a good choice for our distric...

I am currently in a new class, EDU 781, called Technology for Leaders. In this class I am learning about the different roles and responsibilities of being a technology leader in a school. Our main project in this class is to design and implement a technology related change for our building. My proposed change is to use E-Learning days in place of missed snow days. These E-Learning days would count towards the mandated attendance days in the school year. The E-Learning opportunity would also be used to bring lessons and materials to students who are stuck at home due to prolonged illnesses or injuries. The challenge to implementing this project is that for full implementation, this would realistically be a year long process. We have about 4 weeks left in my EDU 781 class. So, for the remainder of this class I am going to be focusing on educating staff on the benefits of E-Learning. Then, I will gain feedback and see what parts of my proposal need tweaking. This is a really important p...

I have come to the end of my EDU777 class and have finished my technology proposal project. I have spent the last 7 weeks of class working on each part of this technology proposal. Some aspects of the project were easier than others. Trying to understand the challenges to the proposal left me feeling doubtful that it would be successful. However, this was obviously a very important aspect of building the proposal, tweaking and adjusting the proposal as needing and thinking of all the pros and cons.  This project has helped me to better understand the role of a technology specialist in a school. Especially, the scope of the job as well as the many hats a technology specialist might wear. The research, planning, and organizational work that was necessary to create the technology plan showed me how complex the position can be. In addition to coaching teachers and planning technology instruction for students, the technology specialist is also a problem solver and may be relied on to...

What are Digital Spaces? Digital spaces are the online tools, resources, media, and social networks that people use in their daily lives. The author David White came up with the terms digital resident and digital visitor as terms to describe how people interact with digital spaces. A visitor uses an online tool to accomplish a task or gain a piece of information and then goes on their way, not leaving a trace behind. A resident, on the other hand, is online to connect and interact with other people and they are more visible. A resident will leave a "footprint" behind, perhaps a blog post or comments, while visitors do not. People are usually a mix of both resident and visitor, depending on which digital spaces they are using, their preferences, and their habits. Also, the resident and visitor descriptors exist on a continuum, so individuals can exist somewhere in the middle as well. According to David White's website , a visitor and resident (V&R) mapping activit...