EDLD 5362 Information Systems Management Reflection

In this particular course there were some interesting assignments that I felt could really help me in the long run.  I enjoyed my interview with a veteran teacher.  The particular teacher that I chose was my department head.  This was really my first time to sit and talk with her since I’ve been at the school.  It was interesting to hear how things have changed since she has been in education and at the same school.  I ended up gaining some insight on how my campus has functioned in the past and how things came to be.  Speaking with her, I gained some valuable knowledge on teaching, nothing related to technology when everything was all said and done.  During this class I also got a chance to discuss school networks that I can use.  Currently I use two of the networks.  Both types have been imperative to helping my students succeed.  The one site that has shown the most promise is Epals.  It is like Facebook, except it is used for education.  My students have really enjoyed communicating with other students around the world.  I find that once my students have another person to talk with, they frequently send messages outside of the school setting.  “Interestingly, less than 1% of online teenagers who go online from school say that school is their only location of access.  This means that while many teenagers do go online at school, very few rely exclusively on their school’s internet connections.” (Hitlin & Rainie, 2005)  The last network has been difficult to get my co-workers to buy into it.  It’s a forum for teachers to share their successes with others.  “Increasingly, America’s wired schools are turning to the Web as an efficient way to disseminate information about the school, specific classes, and activities.” (Arsham, 2002)  I think they view the site as extra work.  Most of the information I gathered from this class was new.  I had an idea about some of the educational networks; I just didn’t know the correct terminology when discussing them.  I knew I would have success when dealing with the Epals network because of the popularity of social networking.  In week 3 of this class, the assignment called for the evaluation of our districts student information system.  This information was interesting because I had never considered all that went into selecting a SIS.  It was one aspect of my job I’ve always taken for granted.  Outside of taking roll and grades, I never thought twice about the information system.  Because of the assignments I had in this class, I am more knowledgeable about other aspects of my district.  I now have an understanding of the student information system and all that it entails.  I also had a chance to research my campus current technology plan.  In the process of researching, I have established strong professional relationship with my school technology leaders, which can be beneficial to my career in education.  Last, I had a chance to visit with a veteran teacher at the school about how technology has changed the educational environment.

            I had to plan ahead to complete many of the assignments in this class because of time and conflicting schedules.  To conduct the interview, I had to send my department head the questions ahead of time.  Because of our schedules, we had a small window of opportunity to conduct the interview.  Since we had never spoken for any major length of time prior to the interview, I wanted to let her know the purpose of the interview.  The interview took place in her class and the conversation was casual, so we were both relaxed.  Because of the atmosphere, the interview ended up being an enjoyable experience for both.  I also had to visit with the director of student services to discuss the student information systems.  The planning for this was similar to my interview with my co-worker, mainly because of schedule conflicts.  I met with him at his office during my conference planning period.  From him, I was informed about a whole other aspect of education that teachers rarely think about.  Still to this day, there is much more to the process but our discussion helped me gain a general understanding along with the assignment template.  The remainder of the assignments in this class was fairly easy to complete.  The big deal would be time management because of my other duties.  I had to stay on top of everything and be diligent about getting something done each night.  With my learning style, the assignments in this class were perfect.  I am a tactile and kinesthetic learner.  By conducting the interviews and creating a  power point, I had a chance to be creative and moving.  During this class, I did have a chance to communicate with people who I normally don’t visit with.  There contributions had a huge affect on my performance.  We didn’t have a chance to conduct the interviews via technology, everything was face-to-face.  I don’t think I could’ve gained the same experiences conducting the interview any other way besides face-to-face.

            I know that for me to gain an optimal experience when learning something new, it has to involve movement.  This is not to say that I will not be successful if information is presented to me in a traditional classroom format, I just prefer a tactile approach.  In the future, it will be best for me to be actively involved in any new learning experience, if possible.  I believe the interview approach will be good because of the active engagement and interaction.  I think one of the major positives that I experienced in this class was the opportunity I had when visiting with our director of student services.  Because of his knowledge and experience, his information was invaluable to my class and to my career.  “Experienced leadership.  While investing in technology accelerators is important, successful planning, implementation and operation of theses investments require skilled leadership.” (Moore, 2006)  As I move forward, there are many aspects of information systems that will be pertinent to my career.  But I believe the aspect that will affect me directly will be the future implementation of my districts technology plan.  I’m curious to see which way we will go and how we will go about meeting our goals.  I also hope I will be an integral part in determining our direction.

References

Arsham, H. (2002, March). Impact of the internet on learning and teaching. USDLA Journal,16.3. Retrieved on January 26, 2012, from http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/MAR02_Issue/article01.html

Hitlin, P, & Rainie, L. (2005). The internet at school. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved on January 26, 2012, from http://pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2005/PIP_Internet_and_schools_05.pdf.pdf

Moore, R.J. (2006, August). The five best accelerators in school. School Administrator, 63.7, p8