Reflections

Module 1 - Implications of Research for Your Role as a Leader

How can I implement the content learned to better support teachers and impact student learning?

Implementing the different kind of educational research methods I learnt in this module, I hope to identify the good pedagogy that impacts the student learning. Descriptive research like case study gave clarity on small group projects.

What benefits might be realized by implementing the information I learned?

The information I learnt will benefit me in becoming a better facilitator. The research method helps me to predict the outcomes and how beneficial the result data can be used for future reference

Who are the key players that I need to share this with in order to help ensure that these benefits take place?

The key players are teachers and students. Also sharing the information with administrators will help in classroom environment stressing the importance of building and maintaining the proper infrastructure.

What challenges might I face? How can these be overcome so that teachers are better equipped to integrate technology?

Teachers have hesitation to try new teaching methods using technology as they are concerned if that would affect their existing good pedagogy. Which turns out to be a great challenge for an IT director to establish a trustworthy connection with teachers. To overcome this issue IT director should have applied various research methods before proposing an Idea. By providing support in implementation and collecting feedback will result in positive transition mindset among teachers to integrate technology

What am I currently doing that conflicts with this information? How can that be resolved so that the best environment/culture can be developed for my teachers and students?

The conflict that I am facing is lacking in establishing connection with teachers. Currently i am a good facilitator but I need to qualify myself as a leader. The conflict gets resolved by understanding the responsibility of being a leader and learning the techniques to establish connections with peers which will lead to a healthy school environment.

What was my 'aha!' moment from the module?

Explaining each research methods with examples, by understanding the examples i felt 'aha' so here is how the research works and gave me ideas for implementation.

Module 2 - Effective, Engaging Professional Development

How can I implement the content learned to better support teachers and impact student learning?

I will share the capacity matrix with teachers to identify the areas of interest and plan a PD session following the tips and techniques learned through this module. Teachers attending the PD will have to fill in the capacity matrix to keep track of progress. Teachers will implement their learning in the classroom environment thereby impact student learning.

What benefits might be realized by implementing the information I learned?

By implementing the information I learned the benefits are : There will be a structured planning in PD session, Information regarding Adult learning are beneficial in presenting a session effectively. I am benefited through the techniques discussed throughout the module.

Who are the key players that I need to share this with in order to help ensure that these benefits take place?

The key players are leadership team and teachers. Leadership team should identify the need for change and organize the supporting PD for their teachers to adapt the change.

What challenges might I face? How can these be overcome so that teachers are better equipped to integrate technology?

To enable teachers to really change the way they work, they must have opportunities to discuss, think about, try out, and hone new practices by:

• • Building new roles (teacher leader, peer coach, teacher researcher)

  • Creating new structures (problem-solving groups, decision-making teams)

  • Working on new tasks (learning about assessment, creating standards, analyzing or writing case studies of practice)

  • Creating a culture of inquiry, where professional learning is expected, sought after, and an ongoing part of teaching and school life.

What am I currently doing that conflicts with this information? How can that be resolved so that the best environment/culture can be developed for my teachers and students?

I am currently delivering a content without interacting with audience. I was teaching to them what to do and how to do which some times turned out to be boredom. This can be resolved by including a brainstorming and reflection activities.

What was my 'aha!' moment from the module?

I was excited to know that including a video into the presentation will have a huge impact on attendees and got surprised to know about the techniques to trim the videos and deliver the exact content. That was my "aha" moment as one simple step will make a huge difference

Module 3 - PLN for IT/Technology Directors

How can I implement the content learned to better support teachers and impact student learning?

I learned the importance of sharing the learning. I have a plan to implement by creating a newsletter and sharing technology tips with teachers thereby they are aware of latest technology updates and identify the matching tools.

What benefits might be realized by implementing the information I learned?

Teachers are benefited through tech tips by knowing the relevant abstracted information and enhance their classroom experience by implementing the tools. Students learn through interesting and interactive activities. I felt pocket tool as beneficial for me to collect all my resources in one place

Who are the key players that I need to share this with in order to help ensure that these benefits take place?

The key player is me, I have to be active in social networks and share my thoughts in community. It will be beneficial when every educators realize their importance of accelerating the shared vision and shaping the social media flow.

What challenges might I face? How can these be overcome so that teachers are better equipped to integrate technology?

A couple of challenges I might face are:

• • I have to spend a quality time in searching and filtering the required information and find ways to share with teachers and students in nutshell. I can overcome this by becoming members in community and learn from other school implementation.

  • Teachers find it challenging to prepare a lesson plan integrating tech as they always require a backup in case if it fails. To overcome teachers should be open minded for adaptive learning and be proactive for the changes.

What am I currently doing that conflicts with this information? How can that be resolved so that the best environment/culture can be developed for my teachers and students?

Currently I am serving teachers and students upon request, which conflicts with the information of sharing the learning in community. This can be resolved by weekly tech notes and involving students in PBL. As a first step to resolve the issue I started to follow Google tribe community podcast and developed a skill tracker for teachers.

What was my 'aha!' moment from the module?

"Share and Shape the Flow" content got me interested to dig much into it. I learnt tips and tricks of locating the source of information and ways to share them efficiently in community. I found many useful tech tools that supports my purpose in smart way.

Module 4 - Personnel Management

How can I implement the content learned to better support teachers and impact student learning?

This module helped me to identify my personality and gave me a chance to reflect myself. By understanding my strength and working towards the weakness paves way to be an Efficient leader. The content taught various ways to build a good team. The thread of process gave a clarity on leadership role of the management.

What benefits might be realized by implementing the information I learned?

Personally I feel the relationship with my colleagues will be healthy. The awareness of everyone doesn't work in the same determined way made me realize the importance of flexibility and constructive positive feedback.

Who are the key players that I need to share this with in order to help ensure that these benefits take place?

The Key players are my team members. Establishing a rule and enforcing the expectations among the employees benefits for productivity. In some process like hiring the HR team and management plays a vital role in decision making

What challenges might I face? How can these be overcome so that teachers are better equipped to integrate technology?

I feel it is hard for me to send a memo to the employee because considering rule 1 and the efforts invested repeatedly to improve the performance of the employee, the tone and the intention of the memo should be clearly drafted. Also having an employee for years will feel like a family member and if the personality of the employee is good then stating the performance and expectation in the form of a memo is really a challenging task.

It can be handled with the point of clarifying the employee about it is a feedback on the particular performance and not subjective, Also signing will be a formal way to realize the importance and need to meet the expectations. Having mentioning their strength and ensuring that the employee is a reliable resource will help the whole process to lean towards a positive outcome.

What am I currently doing that conflicts with this information? How can that be resolved so that the best environment/culture can be developed for my teachers and students?

I am a realistic and constructive person, and I expect my team members to be the same. Sometimes when things don't go as determined it was stressful for me to handle the team and to finish the work.

From the module I learnt the process and personal management. Tips on the documentation process were super helpful which resolved my issue by establishing the expectation clear and getting into the documentation process. Ideas for team building are outstanding

What was my 'aha!' moment from the module?

Rule #1: The goal of documentation should be improved work - NOT firing.

This was the moment where i felt the humanity. Understanding the hurdles of the employee and providing support for their skill growth recognizing their hard work are some amazing take away of the module

Module 5 - Using Key Performance Indicators to Inform Your Work

How can I implement the content learned to better support teachers and impact student learning?

The different kinds of KPI helps me to categorize the measurement of work in analysis. The structured procedure involved in each kind of KPI brings clarity and the result provides validated data. By implementing the strategy, the metrics can be measured that supports the organization in development.

What benefits might be realized by implementing the information I learned?

The analysis helps us to identify the areas of improvement. By dividing each section into subsets and implementing the various KPI methods we get data on the best practised method and lack of interest.

Who are the key players that I need to share this with in order to help ensure that these benefits take place?

The entire organization should play the key role. As every idea is interlinked across sections and needs a vertical team to identify the requirement. The support provided needs to be documented for analysis for better understanding of the process which finally will be turned into a matrix.

What challenges might I face? How can these be overcome so that teachers are better equipped to integrate technology?

The challenges are when we are in half of the process and the expected outcome is not met we need to imply additional supportive methods to keep the analysis on track. This involves financial expense, extended deadline and having a qualitative KPI.

What am I currently doing that conflicts with this information? How can that be resolved so that the best environment/culture can be developed for my teachers and students?

The analysis is made during the end of the year and it is a time consuming process. This can be resolved by developing the KPI for sections and establishing the expectations among the employees. Having the data accessible for everyone helps us to collect enough data points supporting the metrics. So during the end of the year we will have the graph representing the needs.

What was my 'aha!' moment from the module?

This module introduced the KPI concept and the importance of implementing it. I was excited after understanding how KPI supports the well being of employees and growth of organization

Module 6 - Hardware, Software, and Network Management

• How can I implement the content learned to better support teachers and impact student learning?

The importance attached to educational technology include, improved open access to education, including access to full degree program, it also develops once designs proper and accurate curriculum for the attainment of specific goals, it also analyses and evaluate the teaching learning processes.

• What benefits might be realized by implementing the information I learned? Who are the key players that I need to share this with in order to help ensure that these benefits take place?

In recent times our educational needs have grown beyond the competence of our teachers know how. Since no education system may rise above the quality of its teachers and the training facilities, teacher education and the training facilities are being continuously given major emphasis in all educational planning and development.

In these crucial endeavour teachers need help by being provided with instructional materials, which will enhance effective teaching and learning at all levels of education i.e primary, secondary, post-secondary, and tertiary - from the local, state and the federal governments. Educational technology can be considered either as a designed science or as a collection of difference research interested in addressing fundamental issues, of learning, teaching and social organizations.

• What challenges might I face? How can these be overcome so that teachers are better equipped to integrate technology?

One of the main challenges for schools and teachers is to take full advantage of the technology they already have available, so that a positive impact on the training required by students today is achieved. Used creatively, technology can be one of the engines that transform teaching and learning.

• What am I currently doing that conflicts with this information? How can that be resolved so that the best environment/culture can be developed for my teachers and students?

Another challenge for all educational leaders is to evaluate the technologies that are emerging and integrate them effectively in the educational proposal. It is not about having the latest robot or drone model available, the essential thing is that each technology brought to the reality of the educational institution supports the work of teachers and strengthens the fundamental competencies that our students need: creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication, among others.

The challenges in educational technology are many and it is necessary that all the actors of the institution assume an active role: the vision and leadership of the managers, the willingness to innovate of the teachers, the interest of the students to learn, the good specialist advice and support of families with key issues such as digital citizenship.

• What was my 'aha!' moment from the training?

On many of the topics, a deep understanding only comes through years of experience. But, you don't have to have years of experience to be able to understand some of the key points about a topic. Knowing those key points can help you ask better questions and locate those more skilled than you to get the information and guidance you need. As you go through each of the three topic categories (Important Trends, Must Know, Things to Be Aware Of), you'll be provided a variety of resources.

As stated in the module, all the resources are super helpful. I understood the abstract of many key terms and got an overview of the topics. The categories helped me to prioritize the resources.

Module 7 - Cyber Safety and Security

How can I implement the content learned to better support teachers and impact student learning?

Develop and promote policies on responsible use.

Before students, teachers, or staff access the school’s or school district’s networks and systems, they should be aware of any policies, rules, or laws regarding their use.

Store data securely to ensure that the whole school community’s data are kept private and to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Ease of access to and use of cloud-based software makes this issue especially important, as this technology allows teachers and staff members to easily store and share students’ personal information. Schools and school districts also need to regularly back up their data in case of accidental or deliberate corruption or destruction of data.

Create firewalls and an approved list of individuals who have access to the school’s or school district’s networks and systems. The list should be regularly reviewed to ensure that only those individuals who have permission to access the systems can do so.

Monitor networks continually to assess the risk from cyber threats.

What benefits might be realized by implementing the information I learned? Who are the key players that I need to share this with in order to help ensure that these benefits take place?

Ensure your workforce is well equipped with the knowledge to keep your organization safe. All Schools, no matter what their size, need to know everyone is up to date on the latest cyber security threats, understand what’s at stake and follow best-practice. Whether you employ a permanent cybersecurity team to meet your needs or provide regular training for all staff (or of course, both), use a specific framework to work towards our key goals. This will help us to achieve and uphold the highest standards, reducing the risk of a data breach, empowering employees and maintaining trust.

What challenges might I face? How can these be overcome so that teachers are better equipped to integrate technology?

With the challenges of poor funding and a lack of resources, the Education sector should focus their efforts on minimizing the risk of a cyberattack, rather than a reactive attitude after one has happened.

Training

Providing basic training for all users of your network is one way to mitigate the effects of a lack of funding and resource. Giving people the necessary information to protect the network at all access points, could reduce the number of incidents caused by human error.

Authentication

Another cost-effective way to protect the safety of your institution and its students is to implement a user-friendly multi-factor authentication (MFA) tool. If users can use a platform self-sufficiently, there’s less likely to be a need for administrative support, so education facilities can save on overheads without compromising network security. Including that extra security step for users who are logging onto the network will help prevent unauthorized access. An easy-to-use platform should be high on your list of things to look for in an MFA provider.

What am I currently doing that conflicts with this information? How can that be resolved so that the best environment/culture can be developed for my teachers and students?

One way is by educating students, faculty, and staff about scams. For instance, some students may have a lot of information about themselves available online, either through a college website or through social media. Thieves can mine this information and sometimes figure out answers to security questions.

Unfortunately, most institutions of higher learning provide very little cybersecurity training for students. To be sure, few students have access to education records and the institution's financial information, so it's not as pressing to train them as it is with faculty and staff. Further, training students -- who will be around a limited time -- is prohibitively expensive.

As you progress through your cybersecurity courses, your understanding of the threats that you and your fellow students face will increase. You may even think of ingenious new ways to protect yourself. You can also institute your own security procedures, such as avoiding emails that ask you to send a file or personal information, or creating stronger passwords and not sharing passwords.

What was my 'aha!' moment from the training?

I felt “aha” When I realized about The Cyber Security Program. Cyber security combines the studies of computer science, and computer programming to protect networks, computers, programs, and data from attack, damage or unauthorized access. The idea is that students will be provided access to an online-accessible Virtual Lab (VITAL) to facilitate extracurricular and self-learning activities.

Module 8 - Budget and Finance

1. How can I implement the content learned to better support teachers and impact student learning?

By following a definite school budget preparation process such as:

1) Develop a realistic timeline for the entire annual school budget process

2) Estimate projected revenue for the next school year and obtain confirmation of additional funds

3) Invite coordinators and cluster leaders to submit their requirements for the allocation of funds

4) Match requests with available resources

5) Submit final proposals to the school council or board

6) The school council approves the final budget

2. What benefits might be realized by implementing the information I learned? Who are the key players that I need to share this with in order to help ensure that these benefits take place?

Establishing the annual school budget should be to create a budget that supports appropriate funding for all educational programs so that the students may benefit and learn from quality learning experiences based on educationally sound and fiscally prudent planning. A school budget is a fiscal managerial document used to plan for the projection of expenditures that will be incurred during a designated period of time. The time period is referred to as the fiscal year.

School staff is responsible for:

(1) determining program requirements and assessing what students will require for learning and teachers will need for teaching; (2) initiating and supervising an assessment of program needs relative to staffing and scheduling; (3) obtaining community perspectives and opinions concerning school needs; (4) recommending a school based budget that allocates funds in a manner best-suited to achieving the school improvement plan; and (5) supporting school-based budget statistics with the plan for school improvement.

3. What challenges might I face? How can these be overcome so that teachers are better equipped to integrate technology?

A budget is only as useful as we make it. If we create a budget every year and set it aside, it won’t help us at all. It’s important that we not only follow that budget closely throughout the year but pay close attention to how accurate the forecasting was. Otherwise, its simply wasting our valuable time. In most schools, budgets are not being effectively monitored to the extent that numerous budget amendments and adjustments are being done without the requisite authority’s approval. We can overcome using Budgetary control methods, Finding the Right Budgeting Tool and by Resolving Common Budgeting Problems.

4. What am I currently doing that conflicts with this information? How can that be resolved so that the best environment/culture can be developed for my teachers and students?

As of now we are having finance team and IT manager working in the budget process. As others have no idea about the budget allocation, sometimes we result in excess amount. So getting the entire team involved from the start of the year to the end is the best practice. Everyone should be aware of the budget set for that year. If we have a specific budget difficulty in one of your departments, communicate with the leaders of that section and involve them in helping to troubleshoot it. Bringing the leadership team in on the initial goal-setting meeting as we prepare to begin next year’s budgeting process, and make sure we taken their own requests under consideration.

In addition to the initial budgeting session, we should also periodically meet with leaders to discuss the finances stand. Having a quarterly meeting, will be able helpful to occasionally look at areas where we may be overspending and get them under control before its gone too far over budget.

5. What was my 'aha!' moment from the training?

I realized the importance of the budget by understanding its impact in the school. The school budget is a financial plan that involves strategic planning, receiving funds, expenditures and evaluating the results. Through the use of a budget as a standard, the school ensures that program are implemented according to set plans and objectives. Budgets don’t guarantee success, but they certainly help to avoid failure. Schools rely upon good solid budget plans to survive the inevitable twists and turns that the school year provides. School districts must make sure every student is given an equal chance to succeed.

Module 9 - Project Management Fundamentals

1. How can I implement the content learned to better support teachers and impact student learning?

Project management in the education sector is not only about writing schedules, but it can also be anything from lesson and curriculum planning, to working on a new building or campus.

The implementation of project management fundamentals are (1) project initiation—defining the problem, (2) determining project feasibility, (3) activity planning and control, (4) project scheduling, and (5) managing team members. Selecting a project is a difficult decision, because more projects will be requested than can actually be done. Five important criteria for project selection are (1) that the requested project be backed by management, (2) that it be timed appropriately for a commitment of resources, (3) that it move the business toward attainment of its goals, (4) that it be practical, and (5) that it be important enough to be considered over other possible projects.

2. What benefits might be realized by implementing the information I learned? Who are the key players that I need to share this with in order to help ensure that these benefits take place?

Educational project management requires constant communication between professors, teachers, students, departments and sometimes between geographically dispersed campuses. Educational project management assists to overcome problems with organization, communication, and tracking.

3. What challenges might I face? How can these be overcome so that teachers are better equipped to integrate technology?

Be Part of Something Vital

It’s critical that everyone on the team feels protected, so they will have the confidence to innovate. Learning and intelligent risk-taking must always be rewarded, even if all you learn is that the project isn’t feasible. In an innovative culture, the distinction between the people manager and the project manager becomes blurred. The PM can’t treat the practitioners as cogs. Your team members will often be crossing disciplines to invent their way out of a problem. This requires much more communication and trust.

If the team feels that failure is not an option, they will not take the risks necessary to find an innovative solution. Stakeholder may be concerned with wasted time and effort if a concept doesn’t pan out, but an effort is only wasted if we learned nothing from it. By building a plan that doesn’t assume that the project follows the happy path, where everything goes right. If we do, then ideas that don’t pan out lead to delay and disappointment.

4. What am I currently doing that conflicts with this information? How can that be resolved so that the best environment/culture can be developed for my teachers and students?

Project planning includes the estimation of time required for each of the analyst’s activities, scheduling them, and expediting them if necessary to ensure that a project is completed on time. Preparing a systems proposal means identifying all the costs and benefits of a number of alternatives. To overcome the challenge the systems analyst has a number of methods available to forecast future costs, benefits, volumes of transactions, and economic variables that affect costs and benefits. Costs and benefits can be tangible (quantifiable) or intangible (non quantifiable and resistant to direct comparison). A systems analyst has many methods for analyzing costs and benefits, including break-even analysis, the payback method, and cash-flow analysis.

5. What was my 'aha!' moment from the training?

Project management is the process of leading the work of a team to achieve goals and meet success criteria at a specified time. The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all of the project goals within the given constraints. The primary constraints are scope, time, quality, and budget. The secondary challenge is to optimize the allocation of necessary inputs and apply them to meet pre-defined objectives.

One of the main reasons of project management goals are so important is to have a specific, defined target. With a more defined target, it’s easier to direct the team’s attention and work toward reaching that target. This can help improve performance within the team. In addition, creating measurable goals (and implementing tools for measuring performance) can significantly improve ability to complete projects on time and on budget.

Module 10 - Social Media and Schools

1. How can I implement the content learned to better support teachers and impact student learning?

Starting from elementary school up until university graduation, social media has the role to empower parents, students and teachers to use new ways of sharing information and build a community. The benefits of social media in the education process doesn’t have to stop at the teacher-student relationship. There are a lot of other benefits that can be extracted from the use of social networking at higher levels as well. For example, principals or administrators can find a new way to integrate social media. Like sharing school news via social networks, holding online meeting with the parents or even starting fundraising for different projects. Which in turn builds a A Stronger Community Through Social Media

2. What benefits might be realized by implementing the information I learned? Who are the key players that I need to share this with in order to help ensure that these benefits take place?

Social media and technology are integral parts of daily life, and integrating the use of these into the classroom is more natural than before, given how acclimated many students are to them. Social media provides a smoother, more direct communication tool between students, teachers and parents, who can check in and ask or respond to questions.

Social media allows for more e-learning opportunities as well. As remote jobs and online classes are becoming more popular, training students to work from a distance is an important lesson, and social media can help with that.

3. What challenges might I face? How can these be overcome so that teachers are better equipped to integrate technology?

Instructors cannot make assumptions about students’ proficiency with social media. Student proficiency must be taken into account when designing activities. For example, they may be proficient at communicating informally, but may not fully comprehend what is required to critically assess information, engage with information and present findings in an academic environment. Other challenges include:

• Lack of technology skills or support

• Online abuse

• Time required to monitor

4. What am I currently doing that conflicts with this information? How can that be resolved so that the best environment/culture can be developed for my teachers and students?

Implementing social media has some conflicts. For instance, activities and assessments should be designed carefully, based on appropriate learning outcomes. Comments and posts on social media platforms are public. Having a discussion with the students about communication expectations, boundaries and what is not acceptable helps to prevent online abuse, students should also be reminded that online behaviour is subject to the Student Code of Conduct.

5. What was my 'aha!' moment from the training?

I felt surprised when I got to know about Create a Social Media Class. While it may be challenging to bring a social network like Twitter into your classroom or school or flat out disallowed by your school district, another option is to create a social media class. With a structured environment that the teacher controls, there is a tremendous opportunity to teach students about using these platforms as creative writing and communication tools.

Module 11 - Building a Technology Vision and Plan

1. How can I implement the content learned to better support teachers and impact student learning?

Technology can streamline managerial processes in a school district as well as enhance instructional outcomes. Supporting a school vision is important and technology can be used to attain measurable goals such as:

• Data. Data-driven decision making is an important part of a school vision and is the foundation for instructional outcomes that affect learners of all ages. Software can be used to enter, code, and analyze data to determine areas of need, strength, and concrete ways to improve outcomes.

• Student Information Systems. Technology to manage the volumes of student information and data may not seem to support instruction but an efficient system and process allows time to be spent on learning instead of data entry. A good student information system provides quick information for educators to access data that is needed, allowing for more time on instruction.

• Student Use. Effective use of instructional technology is only effective if there is adequate technology available for student use. Many districts rely on 1:1 computing programs, which provide a laptop or tablet for each student. Other use Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Programs, which allow students to bring devices from home to use on the school wireless network. Another option is a shared cart environment, allowing students to use computers or tablets in school from a cart or computer lab but does not necessarily guarantee personal use at home.

2. What benefits might be realized by implementing the information I learned? Who are the key players that I need to share this with in order to help ensure that these benefits take place?

Students are engaged in a challenging curriculum that is focused on inquiry-based, hands-on learning. Students are comfortable using technology. Students take responsibility for their own educational success.

Teachers use technology to support all learning across the curriculum. They function as coaches, mentors, advocates, and managers of information. Through on-going, comprehensive professional development, all teachers acquire the knowledge and skills to integrate technology into a challenging and interdisciplinary curriculum which addresses students' specific needs, developmental levels and learning styles.

Administrative functions, including those performed by instructional staff, are fully automated, thereby allowing more of the school system's energy and resources to be focused on student education.

The schools become an environment where all students and staff have ready access to a full range of current technology, software tools, and applications. The schools have knowledgeable staff and external resources (such as parents, community members, business, higher education, and network resources) to further the curriculum goals.

3. What challenges might I face? How can these be overcome so that teachers are better equipped to integrate technology?

To truly understand the benefit of technology use for learning teachers need to be able to appreciate the benefits of technology as a tool for learning. They need to view the tool, as beneficial, enabling their students and themselves to perform their jobs more effectively. Classrooms must support learning environments that reflect an understanding of what keeps children in eager pursuit of knowledge.

4. What am I currently doing that conflicts with this information? How can that be resolved so that the best environment/culture can be developed for my teachers and students?

With so many roles to play, there is a shortage of time to practice with new and ever-changing technologies. The already existing teaching models are rigid to be transformed. So by providing educators with sufficient training and proper technical support we can efficiently support the student learning.

5. What was my 'aha!' moment from the training?

Three factors outlined as major considerations in the future of technology in education are Equity of resources, teacher training, and student involvement. They have always been cornerstones of every educational system. As we integrate technology into education it is important that teachers keep doing what they know to be educationally effective.

Module 12 - Technology Leader Book Study

• How can I implement the content learned to better support teachers and impact student learning?

Making time for thinking, using a language of thinking, and documenting the thinking processes are just some of the ways that help me to create cultures of thinking in the classrooms. School reform and improvement efforts often ignore the impact that classroom and school culture play in promoting learning. As the book says, any curriculum succeeds or fails depending on the culture of the classroom in which it is enacted. While culture enables us to teach the curriculum, it also shapes us as thinkers and learners. I hope to Understand this process of enculturation that holds the key to the creation of dynamic learning communities.

• What benefits might be realized by implementing the information I learned? Who are the key players that I need to share this with in order to help ensure that these benefits take place?

As an effect of this book, we had an optional professional development program to practice cultural thinking. we have a group of 15 teachers signed up and 2 facilitators. There were 5 sessions, each of which explained the 8 cultural forces. we had a small group discussion across grade levels to understand the benefits. As reflection teachers shared evidence of practicing a little part of cultural thinking in their classroom. The case studies in books encouraged teachers to implement and they were happy to see the outcomes. My school always supports student thinking, this book acted as a reference to understand the enhanced ways of cultural thinking.

• What challenges might I face? How can these be overcome so that teachers are better equipped to integrate technology?

The major point that the book explains is about transformation using cultural forces

“I believe that culture is the hidden tool for transforming our schools and offering our students the best learning possible. Traditionally, policymakers have focused on curriculum as the tool for transformation, naively assuming that teachers merely deliver curriculum to their students. Change the deliverable—Common Core, National Curriculum, International Baccalaureate Diploma—and you will have transformed education they assume. In reality, the curriculum is something that is enacted with students. It plays out within the dynamics of the school and classroom culture. Thus culture is foundational. It will determine how any curriculum comes to life.”

The eight cultural forces are always present in our classrooms, and by becoming aware of them we can learn how to more effectively leverage them in order to create and build a culture of thinking.

• What am I currently doing that conflicts with this information? How can that be resolved so that the best environment/culture can be developed for my teachers and students?

My prior knowledge of “Cultures of Thinking” is where a group’s collective as well as individual thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted as part of the regular, day-to-day experience of all group members. It helps in building dynamic learning communities that engage students, promote deep understanding, and sustain a lifetime of inquiry. We are in the throes of curriculum reforms designed to transform education. However, these efforts generally neglect the vital role of the classroom and school culture play in promoting learning. Any curriculum, good or bad, will sink or float on the culture of the classroom in which it is enacted. Culture matters not only to realize curricular goals but also as a shaper of students' development as powerful thinkers and learners.

• What was my 'aha!' moment from the training?

“Listening and questioning are the basis for positive classroom interactions that can in turn shape meaningful collaboration, which can then build a culture of thinking. At the heart of these two practices lies a respect for and interest in students' thinking.”

As a goal of practicing to set up “Cultures of Thinking” classrooms, this quote gives me an impression that reflection can go beyond just voicing opinions and feelings. It involves describing the object of reflection and noticing its key features, connecting what is new to what one already knows, and examining the event or object of reflection through various lenses or frames. It involves making the learner’s thinking visible.