Assessing your school's educational technology culture
MAT 2015-16
Aaron Schmidt Andrew Fischer Brad Tombers Brian Gehring Brianna Bierma Caroline Bradshaw Colleen Caroll Dylan Peterson Elizabeth Carmichael Ezra Gibson Heidi Brook Hunter Scholtz Jake Newton Jasper Nelson John Brunn Jordan Kendall Joseph Mainardi Karli Dreer Katelyn Heller Keane Richards Kristin Vantrease Lindsay Clark Luke Gunkel Makenzie Moore Maureen D'Armand Michelle Snyder Mike Hoyt Mostapha Beya Ruth Hogle Ryan Flanagan Scott Grant Sophia Butler Stephen Fink Svetlana Filkova Terri Draeger Tom Honer Assignments- on-going 1. ePortfolio development 2. Online community 3. Professional library Assignments, scheduled 1. School edtech culture eval 2. New media development 3. Individualized learning project Resources, info 1. Evaluation, grading 2. Schedule, timeline 3. Rubrics and assessments 4. ISTE NET T Standards Model ePortfolios Alysyn Thibault (Wikispaces) (2011-12) Callie Wilder (Weebly) (2013-14) Emily Buck (Google Sites) (2011-12) Rebecca Hartwell (Google Sites) (2011-12) Spencer Beckman (Weebly) (2014-15) Model digital stories Gabe Bailey The Matanuska Colony Mara Early Elizabeth Peratrovich Abe Olsen Aleutian Relocation Chris Frank The Vital Marine Highway System Rebecca Hartwell Salmon Troller Emily Buck Confessions of a Runner Layne Sarvela Double Replacement Reaction Crystal Ahlstrom The Moose Hunt |
Time frame: A fixed assignment (vs. one that is semester long). It is the first assignment of the semester.
Essential question(s): What attitudes toward the use of technology are present in my educational environment? How does this environment function as a technology culture? Objective(s): To complete the AnthroTech Assessment research form, which will help you understand your educational environment as a technology culture, in practical, legal and philosophical terms. ISTE NETS Standards This activity reflects the following standards:
Project Overview Teachers and educational organizations have educational technology philosophies. Whether they know it or not, teachers have educational technology philosophies. You will have a chance to tell us what yours is in the last assignment for this semester, creating an educational philosophy video. But organizations also have philosophies. Each educational environment - whether a school, school district, learning organization or department of education - is a unique technology culture driven by its own unique perspective about digital citizenship and the use of technology in teaching and learning. The technology culture of your school will determine what is expected, possible, supported, encouraged and discouraged, for you and your students. It will determine everyone’s rights and obligations, as well as limitations and opportunities, as digital citizens. Formal vs. informal philosophy. Typically a school has a formal philosophy in the form of a vision and mission statement that sets the direction for an entire school community. Some schools and districts take digital citizenship and technology leadership seriously, and address issues of technology and learning in some detail. Others don’t. The quality of leadership in an organization in large part determines how importantly technology is viewed in an organizational context. A second, less formal philosophy can be inferred from classroom and school activities. The formal philosophy describes intentions and policy, while classroom activities provide a “dashboard” reading of a school’s actual health. Just as you expose your belief system in the decisions you make that you don’t have time to think about, an organization exposes its core belief’s in the operational decisions it makes about what it supports in classrooms. What’s your school’s technology philosophy? The goal of this assignment is to understand your school’s technology philosophy. You do this by becoming an anthropologist who seeks to understand the nature of your school community as a technology culture. Find out what technology your school has, who uses it and why, who the technology leaders are, what policies and standards guide technology’s use, and what customs and rituals are observed in relation to using technology in teaching, learning, administration and interacting with the public. The goal is to see the technology culture in which you work, and to understand how technology and digital citizenship are viewed by that culture. Once you have gained that perspective, you have a much better chance of being a successful practitioner. Assignment Please download and use the AnthroTechAssessmentGuide 9-1-2015 v2.doc to address a series of questions about the ed tech culture and philosophy where you teach. This file is a Word file so you can just add your answers to it. Downloading it appears to be a two step process. Clicking on the link brings the document up on your screen, then you need to click the the down arrow to actually download it. The school educational technology culture assessment questionnaire has two parts:
Approaching the project Can you work with others in collecting the data? Yes! Please do. If, for example, a number of you work at the same high school, then work in groups (3-4 members max), so you don't have to bug the same people at the high school for answers to the 17 questions that comprise the questionnaire. Post just one copy of all questions (except the reflection) that you collectively produced on Google Docs. Make sure it is clear who helped to create it. But, each of you must create your own reflection. As explained above, the data collection instrument is in two parts: data collection and reflection. You must do your own reflection. Bottom line: Collect together, reflect alone! What to post where
How will my assignment be evaluated? Generally I use holistic evaluation, and "check off" grading- if your work is reasonably well-written and you have met the assignment criteria, I will check it off as done. I almost always provide comments. If I feel I need to do a more structure assessment of your writing, then I will use evaluation standards that can be found on the Rubrics and Assessments page. Why Google Docs? It's free, open to anyone, easy to use. If you have an alternative to Google Docs, I am happy to consider it. New to Google Docs? Then watch these short online tutorials about what it is and how to use it.
Thank you Common Craft and eHow! They provide marvelous, free how-to videos that cover many of the skills you will want to have in terms of using social media and the tools of the Internet. Use them! |