Week3ReadingReflection

Technology Facilitator Standard V : Productivity and Professional Practice   It is the responsibility of the technology facilitator to enhance and improve personal productivity and professional practice. Software improves teachers and assists teacher to do their jobs faster and better. At one point these tasks, scuh as grading, e-mail, budgets, communication, organizing data, and accessing information were at one point impossible or impractical (Willimson & Redish, 2009).  The barriers to productivity and professional practices include teacher experiences with the applications. They do not feel they have the time to learn these applications. Teachers do not spend the time to see how these tools will help meet their needs and the purposes of these tools. The second biggest barrier is the amount of time it takes the educators to master the applications. Many educators find these applications difficult to master. This can cause frustration for the educators as well as those “promoting educational advancement through technology” (Willimson & Redish, 2009). High learning curve explains why the software is underused. Technologist can purchase scaled down versions of the software, but the trouble is that can prevent educators from going beyond basic learning of the software.  “…[E]ffective practice must be focused on shared goals uniting workers in a common purpose. In order to do so organizations need to be able to measure accountability and provide feedback to its members. In standard five “technology facilitators are asked to structiure both formal and informal professional learning environments” (Willimson & Redish, 2009). Technologist are always learning about technology, but in this particular standard it is their duty to assist others in learning technology.  Tools are widely misused. It is the technologist role to model and contextualize the software of their peers. It is the facilitator’s duty to “…help other educators learn about technology and learn with technology” (Willimson & Redish, 2009). Facilitators apply technology to improve and enhance productivity and professional practice and leaders design, develop, evaluate and model products.   (Willimson & Redish, 2009).  Technology Facilitator Standard VI : Social, Ethical, Legal and Human Issues   It is part of the responsibility of the schools to demonstrate equity, which means schools must provide computers at an equal rate around campuses. Although we have done a good job of having rather fair numbers of high-speed internet capable computers, we are lacking in some areas. The use of software and online subscriptions are not as equal as well as equal chances to use the provided technologies and internet connections. There is also and unfair advantage that schools don’t all have educators with the same knowledge of technology and the desire to use it. It is the facilitator’s role to monitor these concerns. “Too often, race, gender, income and locale continue to correlate to digital inequities” (Willimson & Redish, 2009). These inequities include less technology resources and support in and outside of school, students in high-poverty settings do not have the same higher-order thinking opportunities, shortage of software, less home internet access, and technology budgets being cut.  Student data is collected, reported and stored in many ways involving technology databases. Educators are obligated to protect student data due to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). It is the role of the school technologist to ensure that the campus’ computers are secure. New technologies provide more security risks. Technologist must be careful how data is represented in order to do whatever is allowable under FERPA.  Another issue that confronts students when web-based technologies are introduced into the classroom is online safety. Specifically, students are now engaging in activity that could put them at risk from pedophiles because they enter social networking sites. “Encounters with cyberbullies, cyberstalkers, inappropriate material, and vulgar language represent other reasons for caution” (Williamson & Redish, 2009). The use of social networking sites and internet in the classroom also creates numerous issues that might implicate FERPA, especially when photos of students or groups of students are placed on internet sites, including teachers’ personal websites. Because of these dangers posed to students, districts are facing the dilemma of whether or not to promote the use of internet and web technologies in the classroom, usually choosing not to do so or limiting the use of the technology for fear of endangering students. As a result, technology facilitators must balance the use and availability of the technologies with the benefits and potential dangers posed by the technology. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">A final concern with the widespread use of technology is the potential for the infringement of copyrights and plagiarism by educators in text, graphics, as well as audio. This continues to be a concern because educators do not fully understand copyright law, and are therefore unable to model these practices for their students. The legal language and obligations behind the Copyright Act of 1976 make understanding of the law difficult to comprehend, and as a result, educators ignore or do not understand they are potentially violating the Act. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">In order to address the above issues, technology facilitators must implement policies and procedures and advocate the laws as well as educate the faculty on the policies and procedures. It is also the technologist’s responsibility to stay up-to-date with the latest legislative processes because it is continually evolving. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The technology facilitator should understand the issues surrounding the use of technology to help teachers understand the same issues. “A final role for facilitators includes making recommendations related to the healthy, safe, ethical, and legal use of technology in schools” (Willimson & Redish, 2009). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). ISTE’S technology facilitation and leadership <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">standards : What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.