Personal Assessment (Assignment 1, Part 2)

Through the completion of the three suggested technology surveys, I was able to establish my strengths and weaknesses in regard to my personal, professional and speculated use of technology. In the first survey, the Technology Application Survey, I analyzed my personal use of technology. I have always thought of myself as fairly technologically advanced. I tend to stay up to date on the latest technological advances, and tend to be somewhat of a “gadget guy,” wanting to at least try the latest and greatest new products on the market. As I completed the survey, I was not surprised to find that I consider myself very well-versed in producing standard work-related and personal documents with fairly common software. I regularly use a word processor, and spreadsheet programs to compile data and convey information. I also regularly use presentation software as a communication devise in my classroom and for professional development. I found my major weaknesses to be in the area of creating databases and really understanding the more technical aspects of computer networking. I feel that this is probably my greatest weakness because I do not have much experience in working in these areas.
As I approached the second survey, the SETDA Teacher Survey, I focused more on how I use technology in my classroom. I have always thought that I have used technology successfully, to impact the learning of my students, but as I got deeper in to the survey, I began to question the frequency of my use of technology. In the past I have used technology to create presentations for class, and even had students create multimedia presentations for their peers. Additionally I have used technology based assignments such as web-quests and research projects, but most commonly, I have students use the word processor in my classroom because it lends itself easily into incorporation into the English classroom. My technology lessons are usually limited to three to four uses per six weeks period, and this survey made me question ways that I could make more proficient use of the technology that is available at my school.
In the final survey, “Rubrics for Leadership,” I assumed the persona of a technology leader on my campus. Luckily for me, the technology leader on my campus is very proficient at her job, and is able to juggle all of her duties while still being available to train teachers in new technology and assist them in applying it to their classroom setting. As I evaluated my campus and its use of technology, I found that for the most part, we fall within the mastery level of proficiency. We are very technologically advanced campus, with access to a variety of technology. The problem is that many of the teachers on our campus are unwilling to change some of their old ways to incorporate technology into the classroom, so that holds back the campus as a whole. It seems to me that some teachers will only use technology is they are required to do so, such as to take roll, or to post grades. Luckily, we have a principal who is very technologically savvy, and willing to commit resources to expanding our technology horizons. He has ensured that teachers receive any software and hardware that they feel they will use on a regular basis in their classroom. He has also worked with our technology leader to offer a variety of staff development sessions on how to incorporate technology into the classroom. They have even gone so far as to offer different levels of staff development for teachers who are more confident in their abilities, and for novices.
Basically, through the completion of these surveys, I found that although I am doing a good job at incorporating technology into my life and classroom, I could be doing more. There is always a newer, more interesting way that I could make use of technology to make my life easier, and to improve the quality of learning for my students.