Technology Facilitator Standard VIII

This final standard is perhaps one of the most crucial for technology leaders and facilitators as it is woven into everything we do. I found in my reading that this standard works hand in hand with Standard VII in an administrative focus, but the difference comes in how the two are carried out. Standard VIII focuses on the leadership and vision needed to bring technology education into potential. "Research suggests that current instructional models are more teacher-centered than student-centered" (Williamson and Redish, 2009, p. 179). Keeping instruction teacher-centered goes against the research and training of new teachers that instruction should be student-centered. Having a strong vision for the effective use of technology will help with this by utilizing the very tools that so many of our students thrive in outside of their school day.
I began working with this standard as a parent in my daughters' school district. Just last spring, they were reviewing the vision for the district and I volunteered to work on the technology component. Working with a variety of teachers, other parents, and educational stakeholders made it very easy to see the benefits of technology that were desired for the students in the district. We met several times throughout a one month time frame to come up with goals and strategies to further this vision. The focus of the district's vision was always on student learning, and I was able to bring in information from the different courses I had taken through that time to offer as additional research and some best practices. One of the most valuable pieces of information shared in these meetings was "students like their classes more and develop more positive attitudes when their classes include computer-based instruction" (Schacter, 1999, p.4). I kept several of the ideas brought from these meetings in mind as I worked in my own classroom this year. Just a few short weeks ago, my own principal has asked for my assistance in completing a needs assessment of technology use at my campus. I have started to build my team to help me through the process and have created a short survey to get a feel of the staff's attitude toward technology use on our campus. This will help my committee to set some goals and develop our own unique strategies for increasing technology implementation at the campus level. Teachers, like our students, "like having goals they want to reach, doing rather than listening, getting involved with the real world, ...[being asked] about their ideas and opinions, creating products that are important to them, and thinking seriously about their futures" (Prensky, 2008, p. 45). This new task will likely take me beyond my internship timeline, but the task is such a worthy one to complete for a campus where I have grown as an educator to a facilitator and hopefully leader.
I am going to continue to take the ideas and learning that I have gained through my research and participating on this committee to help me to grow into more of a leader in technology. I have stayed pretty in line with the roles of the technology facilitator at my campus, but I now wish to further challenge myself, with the help of my administrators and district technology leaders, to grow as more of a leader to be of continued service to the students and teachers. "If we don't stop and listen to the kids we serve, value their opinions, and make major changes on the basis of the valid suggestions they offer, we will be left in the 21st century with school buildings to administer - but with students who are physically or mentally somewhere else" (Prensky, 2005, p. 13).

Resources:

Prensky, M. (2005/2006, December/January). Listen to the Natives. Educational Leadership, 8-13.

Prensky, M. (2008, March). Turning on the Lights. Educational Leadership, 40-45.

Schacter, J. (1999). The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement: What the Most Current Research Has to Say. Santa Monica, CA: Milken Exchange on Education Technology.

Williamson, J. and Redish, T. (2009). ISTE's Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards. Washington, D.C.: ISTE.