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Running head: MASTERING A MASTER’S DEGREE PROGRAM ONLINE
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Mastering a Master’s Degree Program: My Virtual Journey at Lamar University Jeff Liwag Lamar University
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Mastering a Master’s Degree Program Online: My Virtual Journey at Lamar University My name is Jeff Liwag and this is a chronicle of my journey in attaining a graduate degree. The journey happens (not “happened,” as it is in the present, i.e., it is still happening) virtually, but the work, the countless hours I have spent earning it, and everything I have learned are all too real and the fruits of my labor all actual, authentic, and physical. While the medium is considered ephemeral, this treatise aims to communicate topics and learnings that have left an enduring mark in my mind – as well as my goals and other things I have learned about myself. I was born and raised in the Philippines in the tiny town of San Miguel, Bulacan, which is in Luzon, just one of the 7,107 islands that comprise the Philippines. I spent literally half my life in a Catholic school. Despite adamant discouragement by the nuns, I went to a state university – the University of the Philippines where I understood why they did not want me to venture out of the sterilized confines of the Catholic world. I learned to question everything and more than that, how to think for myself. This is also where I met my wife, and where I realized what to make of my life. I took up Special Education. Uprooting myself and my family of three happened in 2003, when we decided to move to El Paso where I took up an Alternative Certification Program in the University of Texas in El Paso (UTEP) to be able to teach Special Education in Texas (even though I majored in Special Education -- but life just works out that way sometimes). A year and a half in the desert helped us realize that nothing is quite the same as living in the tropics so we moved closer to the water, to Galveston in 2004 where we still work and play until this day. Seeing and being with children with a plethora of special needs all these years have helped me realize how lucky I and my own children are. Not only do I learn lessons in patience
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and humility every single day, but in celebrating successes, no matter how small, as well as appreciating every single person and thing in life, for better or for worse. Sadly, I have made the transition out of Special Education and into the field of Educational Technology. Every year, the “accountability” rules that the “No Child Left Behind Act” put in place de-motivate and infuriate me. These rules run contrary to the act’s original intent of not leaving children behind. I would rather move to a nascent field where I can still help people become successful. My other passion has called me and I heeded it. I enrolled in Lamar University’s M.Ed. Educational Technology Leadership and soon after, our district won a grant to establish magnet campuses and hiring Campus Instructional Technologists was a part of it. I applied and got lucky enough to get hired. Learning from books, Lamar professors, and my classmates in addition to learning on the job has been priceless – a wonderful concurrence of opportunities that can be capsulated into the cliché, “learning on the job.” While some people learn in a classroom, others learn by practice, I am actually enjoying the best of both worlds. Although I wish I could make this treatise a living document of my trials, travails, and tribulations while performing my jobs and duties, the best I could do for now is to chronicle my journey in Lamar’s program and the growth I have attained – so far.
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Goals I am currently the Campus Instructional Technologist for Oppe Elementary School in Galveston, Texas. I intend to stay on this position until the end of our magnet campus grant in October of 2012. After that, I am still undecided as to pursuing a District Instructional Technologist position or a higher position in another district, but my ultimate goal is to work at Google as part of their Google Education team and make my mark there. Students today deserve and need more than what we have been doing in the classroom and we need to prepare them to be productive, responsible, and successful citizens in the 21st Century, so we all need to learn more about technology and how to integrate it seamlessly and effectively in the classroom. During my tenure in my campus, I intend to attain every goal and objective written in our grant, as well as make every classroom in my campus fully technologyintegrated. As a leader, I have always wanted to improve teaching and learning by being able to design and implement research-based strategies to improve and increase the integration and implementation of instructional technology. My primary motivation for seeking a Master’s Degree of Education was to become a better instructional leader. A few years ago, I enrolled in a Master’s of Education in Educational Psychology, mainly because I am fascinated with learning, cognition, and the human psyche. When my first daughter was born, though, I found myself needing a job. I got a job as a Technical Support Engineer for Microsoft, and that stint rekindled my love of and for technology. In that job, I have learned tremendously from my colleagues who were mostly Computer Science or Engineering graduates and that love affair only became more profound when I built my first computer during this period of my life.
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During my teaching days in a Resource classroom, I have found that my students -- not to mention my fellow teachers -- were most excited when they get to use the computers. Furthermore, those with Reading Disabilities were truly helped by a program called Read180, for which technology plays a big part. It made me realize that technology truly has the potential – if not the ability, to enable the disabled and level the playing field for all students and schools. My passion for technology and my fervent desire to help my students -- both educational and personal -- truly underlie my motivation in this current endeavor of mine. Thinking forward, if successful in accomplishing my own goals as well as the grant’s, school improvement will occur at all levels.
The Horizon Report: 2011 K-12 Edition and My Vision The New Media Consortium, along with the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), has just released the Horizon Report: 2011 K-12 Edition, their third report on “emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe” (Johnson, Adams, & Haywood, 2011, p.3). This report placed such technologies into three categories, divided according to when they will likely be widely adopted in the K-12 environment: near-term, mid-term or those in early stages of adoption (within two to three years), and far-term (four to five years out). The technologies considered to be adopted in the near term are cloud computing and mobile devices. Cloud computing is not mere data storage on the Internet (which is what “cloud” signifies or represents) -- it also includes processes normally processed locally such as “database, information, process, application, platform, integration, security, management / governance,
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testing, and infrastructure” (Linthicum, 2010, para. 2). Mobile devices include cellular phones, tablet computers, and other portable devices that enable access to data, social networks, learning tools, and other applications for education, entertainment, and productivity. My vision would include students bringing their own mobile devices that have access to the cloud, which would mean ubiquitous data access as well as fewer physical and financial resources. This would be accompanied by other issues, however, such as Internet security, activity monitoring, and that it would be near impossible for the Information Technology Department to maintain standards. Mid-term, or within two to three years, the report forecasts that game-based learning and open content will be the technologies that will see widespread adoption. Games have always been used in classrooms, but within two to three years, the report asserts that “massively multiplayer online games and alternate reality games” will be integrated into academic curricula for their “ability to foster collaboration and engage students deeply in the process of learning” (Johnson, Adams, & Haywood, 2011, p. 7). Open content, which is a trend that started when universities began releasing their course content for public consumption, will take the place of expensive textbooks that are not up to date, inconvenient, inaccessible to everybody, and restrict student choice (Nagel, 2011, p. 2). I envision eliminating textbook adoption and using the aforementioned mobile devices to access curriculum content and educational games. Five years may not seem to be too long, but in terms of technology and innovation, it is a long time. In this horizon, the report foresees learning analytics and Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) to be commonplace. Web sites and applications currently employ web analytics to measure activity, engagement, and tracking other performance data. Learning analytics would function the same way but within the context of learning, and such tools would empower teachers and administrators with a tremendous amount of information to revise and
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customize the curriculum and lessons for improvement in various aspects of student achievement and school progress. PLEs are similar to Learning Management Systems (LMSs) and Personal Learning Communities (PLCs), “but focus less on the ‘ephemera’ of learning (calendars, assignments, and such) and more on the learning itself and ‘experiences at an individual level’” (Nagel, 2011, p. 2). This technology will be very important as it can enable students and teachers to customize lessons according to their learning styles and abilities. My vision includes computers and mobile devices that support real-time learning analytics that can be aggregated and PLEs that cater to any and all learning needs in the school as well as anywhere and at anytime. The report also identifies trends and "critical" challenges facing education in the near future. Fleming (2011) stated that one of these is teachers’ changing roles “as educators in sensemaking, coaching, and credentialing” (“Key Trends,” para. 2) largely attributed to how the Internet has facilitated access to resources and relationships. Another important trend the report detailed is an increased perceived value of creativity and innovation, which may prove to be a valuable insight as this will affect educational and career choices that our students today will face in the future. We teachers and administrators have to keep abreast of these trends and innovations so that we may become adept at handling these challenges and in turn, educating our students to be successful individuals in their chosen field. This will be a monumental and arduous process, but as an educational technology leader, it is my ultimate goal to facilitate this process for our teachers, students, and fellow administrators.
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About Me: My Skills and Attitudes This degree program has brought out the best and the worst in me. When I started out, I would go through all of the readings every night and stress about the assignment day in and day out. I adjusted to this new independent learning and new modality when I figured out my learning style and time management abilities after the second course. There were those inevitable times when we would go on vacations or conferences when I would have to put off my assignments for the weekends. It was like college all over again – sleepless nights of cramming, frantic reading and typing. This time, however, I had to show up early for work the next day. Having neither a choice nor the luxury of time, I am forced to sit and concentrate on the task at hand. However many nights I lost sleep or how excruciating it was for me, my reflections will show that I have learned much and that I am capable of performing under pressure. As for my technology skills, there were moments when I was left disappointed in the course. During those moments, I felt that the task at hand was not challenging my technology skills enough nor was I learning anything new. Then there were those harder assignments when I felt the opposite – when the assignment or task was unnecessarily hard (or hardly necessary, for that matter). I have never met a school administrator who designed their own personal logo, created their own ebook that follows Universal Design for Learning Principles, nor analyzed their school’s accountability data). I have pondered both scenarios and I must say that thinking back, each and every assignment was necessary, that I only failed to see that each task represented a subset, sub-skill, or facet of the job any educational technology administrator would face and that I needed to learn all and sundry within that context. Add to that the fact that an administrator would have to lead and train others to learn the very same skills that I have learned and/or used and that these experiences would help me – by being in their shoes once
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myself, I am learning how they would probably feel if they were my students, as it were. I have long known that I am a very patient teacher and colleague, but these lessons, tasks, and frustrations have honed (and still honing) my leadership skills while sharpening my technology skills. Six Courses I honestly believe that all of the courses I have taken in this graduate program have all been beneficial, if not necessary, in my professional growth. As I am asked to pick, though, I choose the following courses, although in no order of preference: EDLD 5306 Concepts of Educational Technology It was very apropos that the program started with this course, as I have learned the foundations of technology in an instructional setting. The very first assignment that made me feel like I dove in headfirst was the STaR Chart Analysis. Completing this assignment in my first course
of the program was an eye-opening, learning experience. Each year Texas teachers are required by law to complete the Texas STaR Chart, but I only learned of its importance and significance through this course. Not only are educator preparation programs equipping beginning teachers to use a wealth of technology, all professional educators are also expected to master the State Board for Educator Certification's Technology Application standards that support lesson planning, classroom management, and administrative tasks. The use of technology is no longer an option, it is now an expectation to promote student achievement and track student progress. Williamson and Redish (2007) point to the importance of well-prepared, capable technology professionals in shaping PK-12 technology integration for improved student achievement and warn that without these qualified staff members, schools will lose out on the potential learning benefits of modern technology (p. 19).
One more thing I learned is that the use of technology in the classroom can be a valuable tool to help learners assume responsibility for their personal learning, while developing personal
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skills including the ability to self-assess as well as develop and achieve goals. Jones (2007) found that an increased use of instructional technology motivated both teachers and students while building students’ problem solving and critical thinking skills. Teachers who see instructional leaders modeling the use of technology, who witness the increased student involvement and achievement that result from technology integration will be more likely to recognize the benefits of using technology in their own classrooms. One insight I really appreciate was regarding distance learning and using it to level the playing field for students by providing an equitable access to quality education and instruction. This will be especially beneficial to an instructional leader who is guiding technology use and integration in a district or campus trying to operate with limited resources. When attempting to procure funding and administrative support for technology use and integration, presenting the benefits of distance learning as both a tool for students to expand their educational opportunities and as a professional development option for teachers seeking to expand and enhance their skills can really help. We have started to do just this with Atomic Learning for our teachers' professional development a few months ago and teacher participation was almost 100%. Upon analyzing the STaR Chart data, I was able to determine baseline knowledge, skills, and understanding of technology related concepts among teachers on my campus as well as our resources and infrastructure. Creating the wiki site for this assignment provided an opportunity for me to demonstrate an advanced understanding of technology operations and concepts. I am in the middle of coordinating the formation of our campus technology committee comprised of teachers from my campus who will use my wiki as one source to evaluate the existing technology infrastructure and resources, discuss application of district/region/state technology practices, collaborate on improving our productivity and professional practices, and develop a
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shared vision for integrating instructional technology. I was encouraged by the enthusiasm my colleagues have showed for this endeavor. However, a district-level administrator somewhat dampened our spirits by taking it upon herself to make decisions, including purchasing items that we were planning to decide. This will not stop us, however, and we will go forward with forming a relevant and responsible Campus Technology Committee. EDLD 5368 Instructional Design As high stakes testing and accountability, economic pressures, and budgetary constraints force teachers and administrators to look for alternative teaching and learning methods or modalities, I have learned that online learning is one thing to consider. As online learning becomes more prevalent than it is today, we, as educators, need to be prepared to design lessons for that – as with any – environment. It has distinct advantages such as flexibility and consistency (Shank & Shitze, 2004, p. xviii), the ability to reach a greater number of students than might fit in a classroom at any given time regardless of their location (thus decreasing the cost of delivery of instruction), and the ability to employ multimedia for differentiating instruction (i.e., visual learners can take advantage of visual material, auditory learners can use audio material, those with dual learning styles, etc.). Besides, children nowadays are exposed to multimedia and expect the same for any interaction which they engage. If educators are trained in designing and implementing online learning, students would have more options for learning experiences, and they would have the flexibility and the freedom to learn at their own pace and in their own learning styles. Students who have participated in online learning courses stated that they enjoy the time-saving aspect of online learning among other things (O’Malley & McCraw, 1999, “Conclusions,” para. 2).
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For this class, I designed an online course that can be used for educator professional development, and I intend to do just that in my capacity as an instructional technologist. However, all I can do at the moment is to submit it and if approved, it will be a part of summer professional development courses offered by the district. I will promote and implement more online professional development courses to not only give teachers the chance to engage in personal enrichment and career advancement, but also to help them keep up to date with the current issues and skills in this constantly-evolving field. Because of this class and my new learnings, I have become convinced of the value of distance learning and I will promote and implement online professional development – as part of or integrated with personal learning networks that are currently implemented in the district (although done quite haphazardly). I also plan to convince teachers of the value of integrating online learning if only to supplement and/or complement classroom instruction since most of our students either do not have access to a computer at home or have parents who do not take them to the library. I have learned a lot through the assignments, readings, and discussion board interaction, but plenty of questions remain that I deem are worth pursuing. First, how practical and feasible is this in low socio-economic areas? Granted, connected computers are – or if not yet would be – available in schools, but online learning at home (not just for homework, but also for truant students and/or the home-bound) is still the best-use case scenario. One cannot make online learning mandatory for financial reasons. Another question is how to monitor and enforce task compliance (not just task completion). Much like the Epic LMS player that keeps track of progress and performance, is this an option available in systems like Schoology, Moodle, and the like? Furthermore, I strongly doubt that online learning will gain tremendous buy-in and
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acceptance, especially from veteran teachers. Are these obstacles insurmountable? If they are, are they worth surmounting? I will apply these learnings in my current position. Apart from online learning, I also intend to use the “backwards design” model as put forth by Wiggins & McTighe (2005). Planning lessons with the end in mind and deciding exactly what it is that we want our students to achieve is quite possibly the best practice (p. 17). Teaching should not be about “covering the material” and assigning activities; we should continually reflect on our goals and objectives and focus on the six facets of understanding (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, p. 82). Moreover, assignments should be interactive, authentic or performance-based, and require active participation. This process may be time-consuming, but this practice is ingrained in Special Education anyway. In the end, the benefit of increased understanding by the staff and students’ makes it all worth it. EDLD 5364 Teaching with Technology I have long been enamored of technology. Gadgets, processes, and information have been to me what sports and recreation are to most people. I got excited about taking this course because it is about two topics close to my heart: teaching and technology. Although I confess that I was initially disappointed when I eventually realized that the core topic or aspect of educational technology was different from my idea, the special education teacher in me basked in every single topic pertaining to that field. Technology – specifically computers and the Internet, have proven to be the great equalizer of our age. Success stories abound of otherwise ordinary people living mundane lives who have utilized technology, not to mention innate and unique talents, to further their careers and attain fame and fortune in their respective fields and interests. In the classroom, it can enable
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the unable and those with limited abilities and "teachers who have brought technology into their classrooms are aware that it provides an opportunity to differentiate instruction and change their classrooms into dynamic learning environments" (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 2). An added benefit of using technology in the classroom is that it not only enhances any lesson and augments abilities, but it also motivates the indifferent as well as addresses individual differences. There are numerous new learnings from this course, but then there are also some that are not so new yet I gained a new perspective. Constructivism is a topic I have long been familiar with being an Education major in college and in graduate school. However, though this course I have come across two more theories: Connectivism and the science-fiction sounding Cyborg theory. Constructivist theory holds that students come with a set of knowledge gathered from information around them upon which they build new knowledge from information while deciding what information fits their own set of knowledge and that this occurs in “multiple ways, through a variety of tools, resources, experiences, and contexts” (Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, 1999, “Learning as a Personal Event,” para. 4). Connectivism, according to Siemens, is how students make connections to information they already have. The author believes having the knowledge of what and how things work will not be as important to be able to master as having the knowledge of where to look for the information will be (2007). This is becoming more and more true in this day and age of the ubiquitous information access via the internet. No longer do we need to memorize large volumes of facts and other data because we can all retrieve information online. Now what we need to learn is how to look for pertinent information and how to use it accordingly.
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The Cyborg theory according to Warwick will increase human’s ability to sense items unattainable now with the help of computers and other components attached to or implanted in the human body. He himself has experienced this ability and believes that all humans will want to be cyborgs some day. Being a fan of science fiction, this theory appeals to me but not as a learning theory that stands on its own. Though it may become true one day, the human brain is far more capable and more complex for humans to rely solely on attaching robotic parts to develop. Watson, the super computer that beat two Jeopardy! champions, took 10 server racks with 90 servers, 2880 processor cores equivalent to 1440 dual-core computers, and 500 gigabytes of data storage just to perform this task, it will take a lot of time and resources to truly supplant a single human brain, which is estimated to be between one and 1,000 terabytes which is equivalent to twice up to two thousand times more storage than Watson (IBM, 2011). Regardless of whichever theory one prefers, no single theory has fully summarized and encompassed human mental capacity. We need to explore and understand all of these theories in order to have some sense of appreciation for what human beings are capable of when it comes to learning and any other endeavor. Throughout the process of writing the book and uploading it to the Book Builder, I had the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in mind (so to speak): Recognition Networks, Strategic Networks, and Affective Networks-- the what, how, and why of learning, respectively (CAST, n.d.). My book has pictures and words that are related to a specific topic to address the Recognition Networks; the scenario and the organization address the Strategic Networks; and the pictures, the whimsical “coaches” and the jokes were added for the Affective Network. If the Book Builder only had the features I enumerated above I could have made a true multi-sensory/multimedia book, but it was not built that way. In the future, should I have the
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opportunity to make another book, I will definitely make every effort to include other media and deliver a product that will address the needs of learners of all abilities. By now, after teaching for ten years, writing a lesson plan should be second nature to me. This activity, however, had an added requirement: that it had to follow the UDL principles. I have long held the belief that Mathematics is the best subject for multi-sensory teaching/learning and differentiated instruction. For this reason, I decided to design a UDL lesson introducing multiplication. I have another confession: for roughly nine of those years teaching, I have only had to make weekly lesson plans where I did not have to detail every single aspect of the process -- from planning to implementation to evaluation. I started out a little rusty, but I quickly adapted and finished my lesson plan. This lesson is one that I can proudly say is multi-sensory and caters to a multitude of learning styles. It has visual, auditory, tactile, and even kinesthetic components built in. Howard Gardner was one of my heroes in college, and seeing him in one of the videos aroused in me the idealist educator I was back then. I consider his work on Multiple Intelligences to be one of the major milestones in pedagogy and educational theory, and one which I have a personal connection to since his theory really influenced and helped me understand myself and more importantly, my students. In the video, Gardner talked about ethics in digital media and found that the ethical issues fall into five categories: a sense of identity, a sense of privacy, ownership/authorship, trustworthiness/credibility, and what it means to participate in a community. His project, Good Play, aims to understand and explore how young individuals and ethical challenges in their participation in digital media and virtual communities (2009). He mentioned that ethical challenges arise as soon as one becomes a member of a community -which is not new, but digital tools have made this easier and more convenient so the challenge is
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to teach ethics so that these digital participants can reflect on “the ethical implications of their online activities” (“Good Work Project,” n.d., “Research Profile: The GoodPlay Project,” para. 2). The most useful sections of the book “Web 2.0” are all the examples of things teachers can do in the classroom instead of big sweeping ideas without specific steps or places to look. One of these is Harry Tuttle’s “Authentic Assessment Made Possible by Web 2.0,” wherein he lists very specific examples of such along with subjects and grade levels (as cited in Solomon & Schrum, 2007, p. 169-170). Helen Barrett’s “Authentic Assessment with Electronic Portfolios using Common Software and Web 2.0 Tools,” wherein she defines electronic portfolios and how “the Web 2.0 metaphor” applies to electronic portfolios as used for assessment for learning, is also very helpful (as cited in Solomon & Schrum, 2007, p. 171-175). Also, being a Special education teacher, I found the section, “Students with Special Needs” tugging at my proverbial heartstrings. I agree with Hasselbring’s sentiment that in many cases, “students with disabilities have a greater need for accessing technology than do their non-disabled peers.” He adds that “the multimodality of these tools allow students to learn in ways that best meet their learning styles” (as cited in Solomon & Schrum, 2007, p. 163). Indeed, multi-sensory learning materials have long been the biggest tool in the special educator’s toolbox, and technology holds great promise in delivering personal, just-in-time, and individualized teaching/learning experiences that are, in fact, multi-sensory. We often mock the saying, “A for effort,” when glancing at work of obvious poor quality, but Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski (2007) posit that of people’s innate abilities, assistance of others, luck, and effort, it is the “wisest choice of someone who intends to achieve success or maintain it as it is the only one within an individual’s control” (p. 155). Again, being in special
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education, I for one appreciate effort like no other because I see it every day in the child who can barely name all 26 letters of the alphabet yet try his best to remember the sounds of each one he knows. The child who has barely learned how to count up to 100 yet try her best to multiply by repeated addition. The child who can barely compose a paragraph that follows a logical sequence write five paragraphs practicing for the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Writing test. I could go on, but I cannot state enough how much we value effort and how we take that into heart every single day. These are but a few things I have gained in this course. As I sally forth, I realize (increasingly) that I not only become a better student and teaching professional, but that I become a better learner. All the readings, the various digital tools and multimedia, the interactions with my classmates on the discussion boards, and the work we have done as a group when we collaborate online have inspired me to pass on to my students and fellow teachers about the plethora of resources, ways, and means that we can use to our advantage and pass on to the next person. EDLD 5365 Web Design and Development As someone who, as the old saw goes, “flies by the seat of my pants,” this course was truthfully, overwhelming for me. I have never been subject to, much less used to, that much organization. For the course’s final assignment of planning, designing, and launching a website re-design, we had to perform or complete a project charter, project scope, project objectives, project estimates, website content inventory, site launch plan, project plan and timeline, and a project management schedule. After all of that, we even had to organize activities pre-launch, during launch, and post-launch. I am not complaining, though, as I know all of these tasks are part and parcel of the end task.
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One of the first tasks was to review my school’s Web policy with a committee. This policy should address security, legal requirements for the website, and provide clear guidance to protect against copyright and intellectual property misuse. At the time, my principal and some teachers comprised the campus website committee. Kaiser (2006) stated that a website project’s success depends on the organization of the tasks at hand, beginning with the purpose, tasks, and assigning each tasks to different members of the committee. Again, the necessity of organization is reinforced. Instead of working with said committee face-to-face, I interviewed the committee members via email after reviewing our school district’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). I have come to the conclusion that our website was simple enough (scant and barely used by teachers) that it follows our Web policy faithfully. Going forward though, I will form a “real” committee that will truly review the policy to audit and make revisions and/or updates to accommodate the ever-changing uses for the Web. Furthermore, this committee will discuss the AUP and its reinforcement every day. This course was and is very beneficial for me as I have learned a lot of things aside from how to be organized. Deconstructing a website, an AUP, and putting together all of those documents are all tremendous learning experiences that I am only glad that I have fulfilled and overcome. One thing I have learned about me is that I do not see web design and development in my future, besides my personal or professional blog. I may be my school’s webmaster, but I only know enough (and frankly, interested enough) to be able to perform an audit, but not to become a web designer or developer.
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EDLD 5362 Informational Systems Management This was a great learning experience for me. It was a class that allowed me to fine-tune my technology leadership skills and enhance my knowledge of school information systems practices. During the course, two assignments stood out and really helped me achieve the desired outcomes. During week one, I interviewed an instructor who has been a teacher for more than 30 years to learn how the Internet has changed instruction. During week two I conducted interviews in the process of evaluating my school district’s Student Information System. As we look for ways to improve teaching and learning, it is critical to understand the effect the Internet has had in the modern classroom. One method I used to discover the effects of this new information system on teaching and learning was interviewing an educator with extensive classroom experience both before and after the invention and proliferation of the Internet. During the course of the interview, I learned that in many ways the Internet has the potential to improve the field of special education more directly than I had realized. As my interviewee Clare Massey pointed out, a lot of subjects are participatory -- wherein one learns by doing. The Internet lets students with special needs benefit from multimedia content, perform virtual experiments and see the results of those experiments, and other interactive ways that textbooks and videos alone could not accomplish. This new information led me to see the Internet in a different light; I always knew that the rich variety of media and experiences available on the Internet could improve instruction, but had never thought of the Internet as being so important in providing authentic hands-on experimentation through virtual experiences. In the future, I will look for new ways to use participatory and virtual learning experiences to address
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science needs in my district; I now appreciate the Internet as a vehicle capable of delivering authentic, engaging, and participatory learning experiences. The relationship between my old and new learnings has really made this assignment stand out. Doing this assignment has made me realize that while I have much to teach and show my teachers and students about how to safely and appropriately use the Internet, I have much to learn about how to integrate the Internet into instruction in meaningful and transformative ways I may never have considered. The interview approach upon which this assignment was based was very useful, as it led me to think about the process of inquiry much more than I would have during a normal conversation. For instance, I asked Mrs. Massey what her concerns were regarding using the Internet to teach those with special needs, and he expressed concern with the necessity of having to teach students how to evaluate information for valid and ethical content. Carroll and Witherspoon support this concern, as they state that “not all information on the Internet is quality information, or appropriate for use with students” (2002, p. 33). Before this assignment, I would not have thought of that being one of the most critical issues in the mind of a Special Education teacher. The strategy of asking questions that are guiding yet open-ended worked well, and has improved my ability to interact with teachers as we evaluate software and other technology components. As a learner, I learn best by gathering visual information and analyzing it to determine the best course of action. By using the interview process to gather qualitative data, I performed the teacher interview assignment and the evaluation of Galveston ISD’s Student Information System (SIS). The interview process helped me gather the opinions and concerns of other staff members, including the Director of Management of Information Systems, our school registrar,
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and a few teachers. Gathering the qualitative experiences of others was particularly critical to me during the SIS evaluation, as I had not been involved throughout the system’s evaluation, purchase and deployment, and had formed my own opinions of its advantages and disadvantages. Interviewing others and thinking through the inquiry process helped me to critically evaluate the systems from multiple sides. Even though I had not been involved in the initial evaluation and purchase of GISD’s Skyward and aware! SIS systems, I have learned a lot about the features and performance of the software itself during this assignment and also how my colleagues view the system. My new learning and interaction with my colleagues have influenced my performance on these assignments very positively. While seeing the SIS through my colleagues’ eyes, I realized that it touches aspects of education in ways I had never considered, particularly where student performance data is concerned, so I gained a broader perspective of how these systems impact individual students. I also learned that I must open myself to possibilities and viewpoints I had not considered, and that I must truly listen to my teachers and staff to learn how to best support them. As I carried out the various tasks during these assignments, I learned a valuable lifelong lesson that teaching students digital citizenship skills is on the mind of all teachers, not just the computer teachers. The 21st century student is being raised in an age of instant gratification, and I will try to remain keenly aware that it is the job of each and every one of us as educators to teach them the patience, persistence, and diligence necessary to keep searching and not just accept the first answer found on Google. This problem continually becomes more difficult; as Ebenezer and Lau (2003) state, “An increasing number of Web sites are added each day to the Internet, thus making it more difficult to find relevant information” (p. 3).
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My past interactions and collaborations with colleagues who teach special education have opened my eyes to the importance of computers and software to help students learn. While these past interactions were valuable and helped me support the technology needs of my colleagues, my interactions during this class opened my eyes so that I now see myself more as an instructional partner with my colleagues, capable of directly helping them to use technology in ways I had never thought of to improve learning. As Mrs. Massey pointed out, there are experiences that the Internet and other information systems enable that cannot be duplicated by any other means. Johnson (2003) expounds upon this point, stating that “students can explore the wide world of science by finding out about scientists’ ideas and discoveries, experiencing virtual field trips, virtually meeting scientists of the past and present, and virtually observing them as in actual time as they think, work, and write. Many of these explorations and experiences would be lost to them or difficult opportunities to achieve without the Internet…” (p. 1). Through the assignments in Informational Systems Management, I learned that all information systems, whether in the classroom or business office, provide appropriate information to fill the immediate needs of the user, and as such must be managed properly in order to provide the greatest impact on teaching and learning. Informational systems management requires me as an instructional leader to view all systems holistically, and to be open to non-traditional uses of information, with classroom information benefiting the business department, business systems providing feedback to the classroom, and all data being used in district and campus improvement initiatives. In my future learning, I will endeavor to use both the quantitative data gathered through traditional means as well as the qualitative data gathered through other means (including the interview process) to set the direction I will focus on as a leader. As a lifelong learner, I continue
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to struggle to integrate more of the human element -- the qualitative data, into my decisionmaking processes which have traditionally been more data-driven. EDLD 5362 Informational Systems Management has helped me to see a subject I always viewed as quantifiable from a more human, qualitative perspective. I will continue to delve more deeply into how technologybased information systems impact and can benefit instruction, as well as how I can use qualitative data to improve my management of these systems. EDLD 5363 Multimedia and Video Technology This course, by far, had the most interesting (if not challenging) assignment of all the courses I have taken through Lamar University. I had to join a group and produce with them a 60-second public service announcement video, or PSA, on any topic of our choosing. I was lucky enough to be able to find group mates easily so that was not too much of a hurdle. The hurdle came up when we had to draw up a script. It was not that difficult for any of us to generate ideas or to write a draft. On the contrary, it was quite a challenge to pick the best ideas and limit our script to fit within 60 seconds or less. Suffice it to say that we discarded roughly half of the original script, even though the resulting video was literally packed with information in the form of captions/subtitles. On the production side, we were quite fortunate to have a Video Production teacher in our ranks. Needless to say, we exploited this and delegated the task of video direction and recording to him and his students. The resulting raw footage totaled more than 2 minutes long in 7 segments. Editing proved to be quite the challenge. It took two of us to perform this arduous task, and despite that, reducing our video to a minute was still difficult. Neither one of us had done
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video editing in any sense, so we really identified with the following quote from Desktop Video Guide: "Starting out in video editing is tough. I know... I've been there. Importing a video clip takes forever, you're confused by the video editing timeline, menus, buttons and all that jazz" (“Desktop Video Guide,” n.d., “Conclusion,” para. 1). Armed with nothing but a graduate student's ardent fervor and CyberLink Power Director (after converting the MP4 video file to WMV with Windows Live Movie Maker), I was able to splice and trim the raw footage down to 1:08 and include subtitles to add content before I posted it for the other editor to apply his newfound editing skills using Sony Vegas as well as provide the voice-over narration. Despite our best efforts, we could not trim the video down to one minute... until today. It took two people and five days to trim eight seconds of video fat. After this ordeal, I have found a new appreciation for video editing. I now put Hollywood-caliber video editors up on the highest pedestal. Having said that, I continue to be baffled at the celebrity status of “mere” actors. Looking back at the group work, I cannot get over the novelty of writing, producing, and editing a video with a group without meeting any member face-to-face. Thoughts on the Degree Program As I have previously stated, this course has brought out the best and the worst in me. When I started out, I would go through all of the readings every night and stress about the assignment day in and day out. Yet, that course (EDLD 5306, Concepts of Educational Technology) earned me my lowest grade – 93. Soon after, I adjusted to learning independently and the new modality when I figured out my learning style and time management abilities, which happened after the second course. Of course, there were those inevitable times when we would
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go on vacations or conferences when I would have to put off my assignments for the weekends, but I was still able to catch up and meet deadlines, even those when we worked in groups. I have been really impressed at the level of instruction and the rigor of this program. Our assignments and projects were sophisticated enough to impress those who were already in the profession. Our books and readings are authoritative and current that they are the same sources the experts use. We are expected to know the same technology facilitation standards that these experts and authority figures know and practice. Looking back, I cannot even wrap my head around the fact that we completed all of those assignments, read all of those books and readings, took all of those examinations and quizzes – and did all of those projects in a span of eighteen months. Sure, it is in real life experience that we will really learn all there is to learn about this field, but I firmly believe that this program has equipped me and my classmates adequately to be ready for whatever this so-called “real life” has in store for us. My Personal Professional Development Plans Being immersed in this technology world has rekindled my love for everything related to it. I am contemplating taking up another graduate degree – this time in Computer Science or Engineering. Whether I take action upon this desire remains to be seen, and is conditional upon whatever job I hold after the end of our magnet campus grant. If I can get another job with a secure salary, I might pursue this dream, but my last recourse is to go back to the classroom as a teacher. Aside from attending conferences such as those for Texas Computer Education Association and Magnet Schools of America, not to mention also having sent applications as a presenter to both conferences, I am deeply immersed in my Personal Learning Network (PLN) online. Not only do I keep up with instructional technology materials, I am also very active in
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posting articles, tips, and tricks on Twitter and Diigo. After graduation, I intend to add my blog to these channels. I have been very lackadaisical when it comes to my personal blog but I want to catch up and keep it updated. Being a Campus Instructional Technologist, I am tasked to train my school’s teachers on anything and everything related to instructional technology, but I also send them regular emails that contain activities and lessons, tips and tricks on becoming efficient and productive, and most importantly, celebrating every little triumph by recognizing those who put in the effort to use any and all technology tools in the classroom as well as their personal lives. I firmly believe that it encourages the most timid and the most reluctant when they see their fellow “Digital Immigrants” (Prensky, 2001, p. 2) be bold, successful, and recognized in their endeavors.
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References Carroll, J., & Witherspoon, T. (2002). Linking technology and curriculum: Integrating the ISTE NETS standards into teaching and learning, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall. CAST (n.d.). Three primary brain networks of the universal design for learning. Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html Desktop Video Guide (n.d.). The various stages of creating a digital video. Retrieved from http://www.desktop-video-guide.com/video-creation.html Ebenezer, J., & Lau, E. (2003). Science on the Internet: A resource for K-12 teachers, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall. Edutopia.org (2009). Big thinkers: Howard Gardner on digital youth. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-howard-gardner-video Fleming, R. (2011). What the future holds - The horizon report 2011 schools edition. MSDN Blogs: The Education Blog. Retrieved from http://blogs.msdn.com/b/education/archive/2011/05/31/what-the-future-holds-thehorizon-report-2011-schools-edition.aspx Galveston ISD. (2008). Internet acceptable use policy. Retrieved from http://www.gisd.org/1636208210819777/blank/browse.asp? A=383&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&C=54999 IBM. (2011). What powers Watson? Retrieved from http://www-943.ibm.com/innovation/us/ watson/watson-for-a-smarter-planet/watson-schematic.html Johnson, Carolyn (2003). Using internet primary sources to teach critical thinking skills in the sciences. Westport, CN: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.
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Johnson, L., Adams, S., and Haywood, K., (2011). The NMC horizon report: 2011 K-12 edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. Jones, E. (2007). Strategies to put instruction ahead of technology. Principal Leadership, 7(6), 35-39. Kaiser, S. (2006). Deliver first class web sites: 101 essential checklists. Melbourne, Australia: SitePoint Pty. Ltd. Linthicum, D. (2010). Selecting the right cloud: A step-by-step guide. Cloud Computing. Retrieved from http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/selecting-the-right-cloudstep-step-guide-692 Nagel, D. (2011). 6 technologies that will change education. THE Journal: Technological Horizons in Education. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/05/17/6technologies-that-will-change-education.aspx O’Malley, J. & McCraw, H. (1999). Students’ perceptions of distance learning, online learning and the traditional classroom. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, II(IV). Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter24/omalley24.html Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon 9(5), 2. Price, G. (2011). Emerging technologies in education: The NMC horizon report: 2011 K-12 edition is now available. Retrieved from http://infodocket.com/2011/05/17/emergingtechnology-in-education-the-nmc-horizon-report-2011-k-12-edition-is-now-available/
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Roscorla, T. (2011). The top 6 emerging technologies in K-12 education. Converge Magazine: Technology in Education. Retrieved from http://www.convergemag.com/policy/HorizonReport-K-12-2011.html Siemens, G. (2007, September 2). The changing nature of knowledge. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMcTHndpzYg Shank, P. & Shitze, A. (2004). Making sense of online learning: A guide for beginners and the truly skeptical. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: New tools, new schools. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education. Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, (1999). Learning as a personal event: A brief introduction to constructivism. Retrieved from http://www.sedl.org/pubs/tec26/intro2c.html The Good Work Project. (n.d.) Research profile: The goodplay project. Retrieved from http://www.goodworkproject.org/research/goodplay/ Warwick, K. (2008, April 14). Cyborg life: Kevin Warwick. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB_l7SY_ngI Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd ed.), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Williamson, J., & Redish, T. (2007). Building technology facilitators and leaders. Learning and Leading With Technology, 22-26. Williamson, J., & Redish, T. (2009). Technology facilitation and leadership standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.
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Appendix JEFF LIWAG
2615 Cobia Ct., Texas City, TX 77591 | (409)995-0215 |
[email protected] |
[email protected]
EDUCATION Lamar University M.Ed. in Educational Technology Leadership University of Texas in El Paso Alternative Teacher Certification Program GPA of 4.0; with 19 hours leading to a degree in M.Ed. Educational Psychology or Special Education University of the Philippines B. Secondary Education Major: Special Education Minor: Social Sciences TEACHING EXPERIENCE Galveston Independent School District Campus Instructional Technologist Provides just-in-time professional development on technology integration for core area teachers; works collaboratively with the core area teachers to integrate technology into the curriculum; provides mentoring and peer teaching on instructional technology as related to the magnet theme integration into the curriculum; facilitates the integration of technology tools and techniques into the written district curriculum; facilitates the goals and objectives of the magnet school grant. Teacher, Resource classroom Facilitated instruction in Elementary Resource classes (Reading, Math, and Language Arts); provided supplementary instruction as Helping Teacher in General Education classrooms; developed and implemented Individualized Educational Plans. Ysleta Independent School District High School Teacher, Special Education Department Provided supplemental & complementary instruction for all academic subjects in a high school content mastery classroom; developed and implemented Individualized Educational Plans.
2011 2004
2001
2011
2004-2011
2003-2004
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PlayGym / FasTracKids International Academy Special Education Teacher, Pre-K Inclusion Class Provided Special Education services, such as Individualized Educational Plan development and implementation, in an inclusive preschool class; assisted the resident Speech Pathologist in Speech Therapy / Communication Program. RELATED EXPERIENCE Private, Quezon City, Philippines Home-based Special Education Tutor Provided home-based one-on-one instruction and intervention programs for a child with Down Syndrome. Sykes Asia Incorporated, Mandaluyong City, Philippines Technical Support Engineer Provided telephone technical support to Microsoft software and internet services consumers. Cupertino Center for Special Children, Quezon City, Philippines Practicum Trainee Assisted and taught children with various special needs; handled one-on-one academic instruction and intervention; devised and implemented lesson plans.
2002-2003
1997 – 2002
2001 – 2002
2001
Center for Developmental Intervention Foundation, Inc., Quezon City, Philippines Teacher Aide 2000-2001 Facilitated and assisted instruction of children with various special needs in a hospital-based school. PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS March 3, 2011: Study Island and FASTT Math Oppe Elementary School Staff Professional Development April 7, 2011: Study Island Oppe Elementary School Staff Professional Development April 14, 2011: TAKS and Tech Oppe Elementary School Staff Professional Development April 21, 2011: Introduction to Gaggle Oppe Elementary School Staff Professional Development June 6, 2011: Google and Gaggle Oppe Elementary School Staff Professional Development
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June 7, 2011: Digital Creations! Oppe Elementary School Staff Professional Development June 8, 2011: Virtual Field Trips and Skype Oppe Elementary School Staff Professional Development PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS Texas Computer Education Association Texas AFT – American Federation of Teachers University of the Philippines Sigma Rho Fraternity University of the Philippines Junior Marketing Association LANGUAGES English and Filipino – native languages Spanish – speak, read, and write with basic competence