EDUC818 Ed Tech Foundations

EDUC 818 Goal Statement

Educational technology has been the main focus of my career for the past several years and this course will support my pathway to achieve my Ed.D. as well as support my professional development. Educational technology has various levels of meaning to me. Initially, I consider the specific online, computer/device-assisted applications that are used to augment student learning. However, I also consider the decision making process that is involved to select and use these applications.

Yet, as I have advanced in my various positions, I have seen the influence of decisions and/or lack of decisions and how they have impacted online programs and educational technology in higher education. I see similar issues occurring in k-12 levels. Administrators, government officials make decisions that impact teaching and learning. How do they make these decisions? What influences their perspectives and choices?

I have a keen interest in how technological choices are decided and more specifically how they are implemented and if they achieve their purpose.  I am also very interested in how specific applications can improve or hinder student learning by understanding the relationship between cognition and technology. Furthermore, I truly believe that one key element that is missing from our discussion is curriculum theory and how it is seemingly overlooked in our modern discussions of education.

Therefore, my initial goal statement for this course is to review with great scrutiny the Standards and Plans that are currently promoted and to begin to determine how and when these standards are used for decision making.

One key article that will guide me is

Richardson, J., Bathon, J., Flora, K., & Lewis, W. (2012). NETS*A scholarship: a review of published literature. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 45, 131-151.

Quoted from article abstract:

To date, no systematic analysis of the current body of literature has aimed to understand the extent to which school technology leadership is being investigated. This review of the literature presents a content analysis of articles published from 1997 through 2010 housed in the Education Re­source Information Center (ERIC) database on the topic of school technology leadership. …    We   conclude that more scholarly efforts need to focus on topics germane to the technology standards for school leaders.

Below is my initial framework for dissecting educational technology decision making. What needs to be considered when formulating technology/educational policies and what guiding frameworks currently exist?