1.3+My+Educational+Technology+Vision

** Position Goals and Horizon K-12 Report **
 * My Educational Technology Vision **

Forecast: This is a special weather bulletin. On the horizon, ground breaking storms of technology use like never before is coming our way leaving educators no choice but to weather the storm and equip themselves with tools that will engage the learner in unprecedented ways. After reading the //Horizon K-12 Report//, my excitement for technology integration and the path I have chosen only intensified as I received confirmation that there is really no turning back to education as we once knew it. I told of my desire to work in a campus based setting directly involved with the teachers and students and hands-on integration. The report gave six technologies that I am aware of and have used personally such as e-books, mobiles, augmented reality, game based learning, gesture based computing, and learner analytics. Because of these trends, I believe my position as a technology facilitator is solidified. Consequently, the demand for use of these tools in education will create positions that require my expertise, skills, and savviness of use as a facilitator for professional development as schools seek to incorporate them. I began with a metaphor for this initiative as a storm because, like a storm, the hands-on opportunities that technology integration is creating are torrential. I referenced the word, “torrential” through Google and found the definition at Dictionary.com which means “falling rapidly and in copious quantities” (“Torrential,” Dictionary.com). With that in mind, the global community can get ready for the “gusher” as new technologies and opportunities surge.

** Leadership Goals and the Horizon K-12 Report **

“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” -Old English Proverb

People, like horses, will only do what they have a mind to do. With this consideration, I inspire to be the kind of leader that will affect the minds or consciousness of educators I am entrusted with knowing that they may not initially have a mind to embrace these various and new technologies, but I must create one. The //Horizon Report// informed us of the impact of the six aforementioned technologies and stressed how difficult it is to keep up with them because technology is ever evolving. Since this is happening at an overwhelming rate, users are creating their own guides along with the experts causing an abundance of information to sort through over the internet. Hence, leaders will be needed to assist teachers in sorting through this and staying current with changing trends. The report confirmed, “There is a greater need than ever for effective tools and filters for finding, interpreting, organizing, and retrieving the data that is important to us” (Johnson, Smith, Willis, Levine, & Haywood, 2011, p.4). As a leader, I would gain more experience in task, TF-IV.A.2, which calls for me to “assist teachers in using technology to improve learning and instruction through evaluation and assessment of artifacts and data” (Williamson & Redish, 2009, p. 90). Although presenting these tools are not enough, as Williamson and Redish (2009) emphasized, I know I must create “desirable uses or best practices” for these tools. This, in turn, will prepare me to lead with foundational skills that consequently propel me to constructing and designing curriculum models as a technology curriculum specialist.

Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011). //The 2011 horizon// //report//. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. Williamson, J, & Redish, T. (2009). //ISTE’s technology and leadership standards: what every K-12 technologist should know and be able to do.// Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

Torrential. //Dictionary.com//. IAC Corporation. Retreived April 24, 2011, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/torrential.