Educators seek opportunities for leadership to support student empowerment and success and to improve teaching and learning. The program shall prepare candidates who:
(i) Shape, advance, and accelerate a shared vision for empowered learning with technology by engaging with education stakeholders;
(ii) Advocate for equitable access to educational technology, digital content, and learning opportunities to meet the diverse needs of all students; and
(iii) Model for colleagues the identification, exploration, evaluation, curation, and adoption of new digital resources and tools for learning.
My years in this program have certainly prepared me for affecting change in technological practices seen by students and educators alike. Through the shared projects, analysis of technology programs, and training development lessons, I have learned the many facets of technology integration in both educational settings and other professional settings.
Learning how to create a grant proposal, compile accessibility and diversity resources, and align resources with a common goal of 21st-century learners in mind has been essential to becoming the technology leader that educators and students deserve. During my time in the program, I have applied leadership expectations to a wide variety of scenarios. Some of those scenarios are documented on the page below.
The Diversity and Accessibility assignment was probably the most impactful assignment on learning about equitable access to information for all students. I learned about peripherals and software that can meet the needs of those who have a disability that would directly impact their ability to interact with a digital activity or resource.
Advocating for technology resources in a public setting often means having the knowledge of budgeting and finding funds that can be used for training and products. The Grant Proposal assignment had us apply the knowledge of instructional planning and practices combined with grant writing to draft a proposal that would provide funding to a program.
Overall, I believe that I have had the experience needed and the knowledge obtained to be an effective leader in instructional technology. Included in that will be the ability to model how to follow these techniques as shown in my artifacts below.