Course+Final+Reflections+for+EDLD+5364

1. What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned? When I started this class, I was assuming that I would learn a bit more about how to use technology in my teaching, and how as a leader we can help teachers with technology. I think one of the greatest avenues for my learning was the discussion board. Through the discussion board I was able to hear about how others use technology and gain new insights into how it can be successfully implemented. Though others comments and then the videos and readings I could see a new vision of where education needs to go. I feel that my district is on the right path to get to where we need to go and I think that now I am better equipped to help our district along that path. 2. To the extent that you achived the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not? One of the out comes was learning about how to work with technology for all student levels. Learning about this is extremely relevant to what I do in my work currently. I teach computer science to all levels in the high school, so that means that I have to work with students ranging from 9th grade to 12th grade. This year as well I have 3 special ed students in my classes. So learning use technology with all different levels is needed very much this year. One of the things I have tried in my class is using online tutorials to let more advanced student go ahead, while provided step-by-step guides for those students that work at a slower pace. This was and is an effective tool but is one that cannot be used too often. Much like other tools if it is overused, the students start forget the effectiveness of it. 3. What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them? One of the performance outcomes that I did not achieve was the first one. “Participate in the optional web conference.” The reason that I did not do this was because they were always held at times that were inconvenient for me. I am a wrestling coach so I was not able to make it to the Saturday conferences. In addition, the evening ones were usually starting right as I was ending practice. Sadly, I was not able to make it to those times. I think that it could be a useful event to verbally communicate with the other members of the class. During the last year I feel that our class has been able to come closer together, yet I still do not know what any one looks like or sounds like. The other thing that would be good about doing the conference would be to learn about getting the conference set up and participating so it would be easier to do it during a class. 4. Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you? I was successful in completing the course assignments. One of the reasons that I think that I was successful was because of the group that I worked with. This is the group that I worked with for some of the other classes as well. We have learned how to work together and we are all proactive in getting our work done. Usually we finish our assignments by Wednesday and have a few days to think about the final work and to make final revisions. Each member also understands how they are part of the group and so we work hard to see that the group has success. This working together is a good reminder of how students feel when they are given group work. I think it is important to help the students see how they fit in with groups and how their strengths can be used so that each member will be a successful contributing member. 5. What did you learn from this course: about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes? I learned a few things about myself while doing this course. In my group, I was the group leader. This provided an opportunity to set thing up and ensure that the group corroboration was successful. I found that it is much easier to be a leader of a group that wants to be together. I have had opportunities in the past to be part of groups that do not want to be together and when this happens; you spend more time “putting out fires” than you do of actually doing work. I think there is a time and a place to learn about putting out fires and a time to learn about leading a good group. When doing group assessments of learning I think there should be a certain amount of allowance in the students picking the groups so that they can focus more on demonstrating their learning instead of how their groups are working together.