Teaching+and+Leading+Beyond+Boundaries+Project+Final+Reflection


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Introduction
This is my culminating reflection, as I look back and evaluate my overall experience and accomplishments in the U.M.U.C M.Ed in Instructional Technology program that has prepared me to teach and lead beyond boundaries.The reflection will help me to look forward to the kind of leadership qualities I intend to exhibit in the future, as a result of my U.M.U.C. experiences. The knowledge, I have acquired is related to the six objectives of the U.M.U.C. Conceptual Framework. These objectives are: Teaching for Learning, Analysis, Reflection and Continuous Improvement, Technology Integration, Creativity, Innovation, and Adaptability, Local, National and Global Community, and Leadership.

Teaching for Learning
This was an educational journey for me from the traditional format of learning to a modern virtual way of learning. The U.M.U.C. M.Ed. in Instructional Technology program is made up of eleven courses and I have done them all also, each one of them was a challenge. The first course was E.D.T.C. 600:  Foundations of Technology in Teaching and Leading. This course taught me how to use technology in the classroom by culminating an essay evaluating two field-based experiences. Carrying out a complete observation/interview to extend the real-world experience about how technology-integration can advance student learning and improve instructional practice. It was interesting to meet teachers with technology in their classrooms and not being utilized because they do not know how to use them in their teaching or have other unknown reasons. Selander (2008) speaks of moving from the traditional format of designed information and teaching to developing designs for learning. By designing instruction that merges pedagogical theory, best practice in instruction, knowledge of content and understanding of the learner, educators may design comprehensive systems of learning support that result in success for all students. I agree with the author, teaching for learning is important because it provides students with instruction that meets their learning needs and captures their imaginations. The activity that had the most lasting impact was the classroom website project. Up to this point, I still use this website with my class. While this site has undergone many transformations over the past two years, I still publish and update it once in a while. It has become one of my most valuable tools as a portal for many audiences beyond just my students. The website has become a hyper resource for keeping important information such as lesson plans, websites, and students’ educational game sites. Here is the website URL. []

E.D.T.C. 605:  Teaching Information and Media Literacy in the Digital World was another course in the program. I had an opportunity to interview a local librarian and discussed different ideas of making use of the library to the benefit of the students. This was a way of developing a learning community beyond the school for supporting the teaching of information and media literacy in the classroom. The course gave me ideas of what to plan for in future. I have always wanted to be a librarian and learn how to use technology to help the local community.

Analysis, Reflection and Continuous Improvement
Analysis, reflection and continuous improvement, is an on-going process which focuses on the process of which supports the attainment of the Unit’s outcomes in its insistence that there is always a way to increase student achievement, decrease achievement gaps, and improve processes of teaching and learning. The course helped me to truly understand the learners and develop instructions to meet specific physical, intellectual, emotional and social needs of the individual. Assessment of learning, which provides information about what has been accomplished in a unit of study that has been completed, but also assessment for learning, which provides formative information about student constructions of understandings and involves students directly in their own assessment (Stiggins & Chappius, 2006). Formative and summative assessments aligned with learning goals (which themselves have been aligned with curricular standards) provide useful information for data-driven instructional decision-making and continuous improvement of instruction.

E.D.T.C. 615 Data-Driven Decision Making Project was the course that covered the Phases I, II, and III. The first Phase was about making graphs and tables and analyzing the data. Phase II was about collaborating in study groups towards initiating Homework Completion, Attendance and Reading Proficiency. Then, Phase III level looked at ways to plan step-by-step actions for implementation of a level-wide data-driven improvement plan for students. I learned how to analyze any given data, how to use Microsoft Excel to make graphs and best of all to collaborate in groups. Bracey (2006) gives the principles of data which are important to consider when dealing with students’ data collection and analysis. According to him, data get abused in many books because authors tend to generalize information. Teachers are advised to interpret data thoroughly giving all the specifications, details, checking the arithmetic, sort out distortions and show the accurate data. Such effectiveness is important to bring out results that will improve the students’ learning. Multimedia projects, rubric, portfolios, and group assessments are assessments ways that can be applied.Team work helped me to understand more about learning communities. Learning Communities are places where individuals engage in active inquiry and exchange of ideas whether in the classroom or Web Tycho /online. The classroom does not exist in a vacuum, it influences and is influenced by the environment where it is. It all starts in the classroom, building positive relationships and developing a spirit of community through appropriate activities and learning objectives. Facilitating safe engaging activities, respectful and challenging learning environment because these are key factors in the successful promotion of student learning.

During this course E.D.T.C. 610  Designing Online Lessons for the K-12 Classroom, I have learned how to design my own web pages/lessons. It will be a pleasure to share my knowledge about designing online to someone. Web Lessons is an easy-to-use learning management system that transforms the chaos of the Internet into a safe, structured learning environment for the teacher and students. Instead of a normal browser Window, Web Lessons give students an organized, step-by-step learning path complete with instructions, study questions, vocabulary, quizzes, and inquiry-based projects. Students stay on track and stay on task with engaging sites and relevant subject information. They can even turn in their work online. On the teacher side of things, Web Lessons let teachers plan a complete web curriculum, assign topics, and track student progress. Each lesson includes a comprehensive Instructor's Guide with additional Web resources and ideas for extension activities, document based questions (DBQs), and whole-class learning. Best of all, there's nothing to configure, nothing to install. All what is needed is a current Web browser and plenty of curious young minds. According to Harris, (1998) Teleresearch can serve several purposes in a web lesson. It may also play a key role in telecollaboration and project-based learning. The six purposes presented in “Educational Teleresearch A Means, Not an End” (Harris, 1998) are: To practice information-seeking skills, To answer a specific question or find out more about a topic, To review multiple perspectives on an issue, To generate data needed to explore a topic, To help students solve an authentic problem, and To publish synthesized or critiqued information overviews for other students to use. If a web-based lesson meets these criteria, then it will be worth it. The first thing to do is to install the Dreamweaver on your computer by following the tutorials on this link:[].
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Highlight the file(s) to be moved.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Click on the Get [[image:http://polaris.umuc.edu/gmgt/EDTC/dw/cs6/images/get1%20.gif align="bottom" caption="external image get1%20.gif"]] button to move the file(s) to the Local side (your computer).

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<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Technology Integration
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Technology integration offers many possibilities for working beyond boundaries of time, place and tradition. It also provides tools that can be used to prepare preK-12 students to control their own learning, make choices, and work with real-world and complex problems, all of which foster creative connections and understandings (ISTE, 2007; 2008; P21, 2009). The Technology Integration objective ensures candidates will demonstrate selection, fluent use, application and integration of technology to maximize student achievement while assuring that preK-12 students meet technology literacy proficiencies. UMUC MEd in Instructional Technology program is all about the use of technology in the classroom and the program has equipped me with all the knowledge needed to go out there and put the knowledge into good use. Traditionally, technology has been used most often in classrooms to deliver content (Duffy, 2008), but technology has a greater potential to provide a student-centered, student-guided experience that allows for collaboration and creativity. With this view of technology, I have seen the students moving from being consumers of content to producers of content. Technology can also facilitate student-generated assessment, evaluation and personalization of information, on demand access to media, and communication.

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">E.D.T.C. 620: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;"> Technology in K-12 Education: Synchronous, Asynchronous, and Multimedia Technologies is the course, I have learned how to design web resources. These web resources will be used in my classroom to enhance and motivate the students’ learning. I have made different webpages which include the Hypermedia Scaffolding Exercise, Life cycle of a Monarchy Butterfly, Hypertext and non-linear media and used Tufte's principles for analysis on Graphics. Creating this website was a challenge to me.[] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">First of all, I had to make sure the Dreamweaver and Fireworks servers were in place. I had to follow the tutorials step by step to set up the account. The space in the Dreamweaver was not enough to upload too much stuff so; I had to delete all my previous webpages to create space for this project. The Site Window is used for standard file maintenance operations, creating new documents, moving files, creating and deleting files and folders, and managing your site map. Also, I had to use Dreamweaver to publish to Polaris. Besides, I have learned how to use visual constructivism; students must be active participants in their learning by linking prior knowledge and experience with what is currently being taught. PowerPoint is an example of visual constructivism which is complete presentation graphics package. It gives you everything you need to produce a professional-looking presentation. PowerPoint offers word processing, outlining, drawing, graphing, and presentation management tools- all designed to be easy to use and learn. (Alesandrini, 1994, June; 1992) Introducing new concepts and information to learners is easy with the use of visual constructivism. As constructivism reminds us, the most important thing is for learners to relate those new concepts to prior knowledge using images, graphics etc. Alesandrini talks about the importance of using the technology in the classroom to serve its intended purpose. The PowerPoint for example works very well to introduce concepts and information to the class. Visuals are good at motivating, if they are well-designed and appropriate visuals facilitate learning for students of all ages. I made Power Point about Gettysburg address (1863) the Monarchy Butterfly PowerPoint.
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 * Converted presentation in Adobe Acrobat. ||

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">E.D.T.C. 625 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;"> - Hardware and Software in Instructional Development: is the course that we learned about Assistive Technology and I had to interview a Pre-K-12 Special Education Teacher to acquire practical guidance in the school system about technology and equity, particularly, technologies used on a daily basis to meet the needs of students in the jurisdiction. I was able to identify school and district policies and procedures for accessing Assistive technologies. I have been taught to go above and beyond to help break down the “limitations” that the students might have. It is my job to learn how to teach them effectively by introducing multi-cultural aspects into the classroom, so students will feel the same and be accepted by their classmates.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Creativity, Innovation, and Adaptability
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Creativity is linked to a concept that involves deep understanding, “Getting evidence of understanding means crafting assessments for transfering, finding if students can take their learning and use it wisely, flexibly, creatively” (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, p. 48). As graduate students, we are expected to develop creative learning assessments for students that measure the achievement of content-related learning objectives. The abilities creativity and innovation promote adaptability and depend upon content-specific as well as general knowledge and skills. These are vital 21st century skills to be identified and nurtured in students as part of the modern learning process.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">E. <span style="background-color: #ffff00; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">D.T.C.640 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">: Leading Technology Change in Schools is the course that introduced creativity and innovativeness, promoted adaptability. I designed a website to demonstrate the technology expertise and knowledge of this course. https://courseedtc640.wikispaces.com/Home+-+Title+Page <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">The workshop features the District Technology Training Plan and the presentation. It provides the Syllabus, District Technology Training Plan and Presentation, Active and non- active days with activities for users, Knowledge materials, References, Projects, Newsletters and Evaluation. Goals and Objectives of the Workshop included to: <span style="background-color: #ffff00; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">E.D.T.C. 630 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;"> Administration of Technology: Planning, Budgeting, and Evaluation .This course’s primary objective was to, “Lead and work with others to develop a vision for technology integration in schools, including designing technology plans and budgets, assuring access, and acquiring resources” (U.M.U.C, 2011-2012). This course offered more practical knowledge than I thought it would. I wrote the latest version of our school’s Acceptable Use Policy based directly on what I learned in this course. Furthermore, taught me how to source or go about searching for funding for any future school projects.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Implement data-driven decision making skills in the making of graphs using excel spreadsheet. ||
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Participate in five active days activities of the workshop. ||
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Acquire knowledge from web materials, study group newsletters and websites to use in the classroom. ||
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">List and evaluate guidelines for developing and using E-Learning programs for teacher training and classroom instruction. ||
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Use Multimedia principles in the development of instructional materials and strategies for teachers, administrators and other staff members. ||
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Participate in five days non- active activities including an example of a lesson plan. ||
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Utilize the web for staff development focusing on materials design and technology integration using principles of e-Learning. ||
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Engage in reflective survey to evaluate their previous experiences with the workshop. ||
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Model effective professional development techniques including the use of multimedia tools. ||
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Develop materials that are culturally-sensitive, socially responsible and that reflect a global perspective. ||

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">**Local, National and Global Community** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Establishing a learning community is essential to the work of education. Through the Local, National and Global Community objective, we were encouraged to engage learners in ever-widening spheres of learning communities using technology. Global perspective looks at the study of the larger world and our society’s place in it. It offers students and teachers an approach which takes into account the whole of human society and the environments in which people live. Global issues take into account change, interdependence, identity, diversity, rights and responsibilities, peace, poverty and wealth, sustainability and global justice. Looking at the educational technology aspect, students learn cooperative learning and action, and shared responsibility, critical thinking, communication, values and attitudes, important skills and active participation. (Commonwealth of Australia, 2008)

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">E.D.T.C. 645 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Integration of Technology: Global Perspectives is the course that introduced me to the global community. Global issues bring people together and have the respect of human rights, environmental needs, peace and justice around the world. My current standpoint about global issues was very limited but after completing the course I developed a different point of views. As I see it, Globalization is real and so teachers/educators have responsibilities of preparing students to function and make contributions in the global world. To foster this global awareness in students, teachers should incorporate the use of technology in the content and pedagogy of the curriculum. Schools must prepare teachers in processes related to global education and this include strategies and methods for teaching inquiry-based learning, resolution-building among students and for teaching controversial recent issues such as the problems the world is facing today concerning diseases, war, hunger and natural disasters. The technology offers a vast of opportunities of fostering global awareness. Because of its network of multimedia, video conferences, social action projects, virtual network of students and numerous web-based hyperlinks, teachers are able to use in their teaching strategies. Here is my research I compiled on this website URL: https://globaledtc645.wikispaces.com/ it was anIT research between China and the USA education system.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 20px;">Leadership
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Teacher leadership is a crucial element of Teaching and Leading beyond Boundaries because they have to serve as an effective classroom leader of students but the knowledge of how to advocate for change to benefit students, schools, and the broader profession. Teachers must be classroom and school leaders: leaders of their students and leaders of their colleagues in breaking down boundaries for students to promote success for all. (University of Maryland University of College, June 28, 2012) Without the teachers’ full participation and leadership, any effort to reform education has little chance of success. Higher student achievement, even as defined by traditional measures, increases in schools with strong teacher leaderships.

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">E.D.T.C. 650: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;"> Teaching and Learning in the K-12 Virtual School is the course that introduced us to the virtual world. I was able to interview the administrator of a K-12 Virtual and learned about what is really involved in these schools. According to Barbour-Reeves, (2009) there are so many models/forms/types of Virtual Schools as State-sanctioned, state-level, College and university-based, Consortium and regionally-based, Local education agency-based, Virtual charter schools, Private virtual schools and For-profit providers of curricula, content, tool and infrastructure. Laws and policies vary state-by-state, district by district, there are not virtual schools in all states, and some states may have virtual schools in some areas but not others.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">There is a growing national trend in public school districts to provide an online alternative to the brick and mortar classroom for Kindergarten through 12th Grade students. (Calvert Partners, April 2011) This is because parents and students are seeking academic alternatives and there are more and more solutions from which they can choose from. Virtual schools have become the fastest-growing trend in education. As the graph shows, the students’ enrollments have gone up to two million as from 2010 and 39 states had virtual school initiatives in operation providing over 450,000 course enrollments. The virtual schools have so many benefits which include: higher levels of motivation, expanding educational access, providing high-quality learning opportunities, improving student outcomes and skills, allowing for educational choice and administrative efficiency. (Barbour and Reeves, 2009). At the same time, online learning has its challenges which Berge and Clark (2005) classify as administrative in nature: the high start-up costs associated with virtual schools, access issues surrounding the digital divide, and the approval or accreditation of virtual schools. As a whole this was my best course of the program. I enjoyed it so much that as soon as I graduate, would to apply for job in the virtual world. === <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 20px;">My identity as a technology integration teacher & leader in this reflection === <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">After completion of the U.M.U.C. M.Ed. in Instructional Technology program, I feel confident and ready to put the knowledge in purposeful use. My next step is to move into the virtual world where technology is always in good use. If I will remain in the traditional face-to face classroom then, I would like to turn my classroom into a flattening classroom and incorporate all the connections, communications, citizenships, collaborations, choices, creations and celebrations. My identity as a technology integration teacher & leader has moved to a higher level. I have become the Millennial or Digital Native whose main characteristics are relying heavily on communications technologies to access information effectively and efficiently using multi-tasks. The program also taught me the best strategies of group collaborations. I enjoyed working with others making my contributions and considering and incorporating their contributions as well. I am looking forward to use the study group strategy with my class. My main goal is to proceed with studies to the next level. I have gained so much knowledge about special education and it is one of those areas I would like to do in future.
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 * Virtual school enrollment growing fast according to iNACOL.org ||

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 20px;">Conclusion
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">At this juncture, I feel that I have accomplished all these goals while in this program. I have been able to integrate many of the technology concepts within my classroom. My students are still learning how to use some of the technology software applications I have learned in this program. As an educator I find myself taking on many positions, collaborating with colleagues on best practices, coming up with ways to diversify lessons for students who are struggling, finding ways to integrate technology into the curriculum, or communicating with parents. With the use of technology, everything is possible striving and constantly pushing my students to go beyond their comfort zones and truly get the best in them. To conclude, I would like to thank all the instructors who helped me in making my journey successful especially Dr. Green for giving me this opportunity to write this capstone project.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 20px;">References:
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Alesandrini, K. (1987). Computer graphics in learning and instruction. In H. A. Houghton & D. M. Willows (Eds.), the psychology of illustration, Vol. 2: Instructional issues (pp. 159-188). New York: Springer-Verlag <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Barbour, M., Reeves, T., (2009). The reality of virtual schools: A review of the literature. Computers and Education, 52, 402-416. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Bracey, G. W. (2006) How to avoid Getting Statistically Snookered. Reading Educational Research. Portsmouth: NH. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Calvert Partners, (April 2011) 7 Steps to Starting Your Virtual School, Calvert Education Services (CES) Maize Virtual Preparatory School (MVPS) Kansas. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Commonwealth of Australia (2008) Global Perspectives: A framework for global education in Australian schools. Curriculum Corporation. Carlton South Vic 3053: Australia <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Harris, J. (1998). Educational teleresearch a means, not an end. Learning & Leading with Technology, 26(3), 42-46. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">International Society for Technology in Education (2007) National educational technology standards for students, 2nd ed. Retrieved from[] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">International Society for Technology in Education. (2008) National educational technology standards for teachers, 2nd Edition. Retrieved from[] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Selander, S. (2008) Designs of learning and the formation and transformation of knowledge in an era of globalization. Studies in Philosophy & Education, 27(4), 267-281. Retrieved from[] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">Working Draft (January 24, 2011) Conceptual Framework. Teaching and Leading Beyond Boundaries. Department of Education. Adelphi, MD: Author. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px;">University of Maryland University of College (June 28, 2012) Conceptual Framework: Teaching and Leading Beyond Boundaries. Professional Education Unit. Adelphi, MD: Author.