EDLD+5370+reflections+on+assignments+in+EDLD+5362+Information+Systems+Management

When I first looked at the title of this course, I thought we were going to be learning a lot about servers, networks, etc. I was a little surprised and somewhat disappointed when I saw that we were not learning about these things in general, but about the information systems used in education only. I thought it was going to be a very boring course. As I stated completing the assignments from week to week, I began to find the course very interesting. I use different information systems in my classroom daily, but I never thought much about them and their importance. I began to find out that there was a lot of information that I did not know about the systems I use daily. Completing the assignments got me more interested in the systems that I use at my school. I actually started exploring more with those systems in an effort to see its full capabilities. Until this course, I had not interest outside of just doing what I needed to do in that particular system.

In the first week of this course we had to interview a teacher with 20 or more years of experience and ask them to compare and contrast their teaching methods before and after the availability of the internet in schools. I was really excited about during this, especially since Prensky (2001) states that many of today's teachers are Digital Immigrants and the students are Digital Natives. Although I had read what Prensky (2001) had stated about teachers and students, I was still shocked to discover that many older veteran teachers had not incorporated the use of the internet into their teaching. Many stated that they did not have the time to try and figure out how to put in the technology. My plan is to show them that if they take a little time now to implement technology, the long tern benefit will be priceless. Because of this concern for time, I hope to help create training, that will be done during staff development time, in which these teachers can be shown how to implement technology. This will not require any more time than they already have to give up.

In the second week, we had to create a power point on Educational Networks. Until this assignment, I had no idea of the number of educational networks that existed. There is something for everyone. This is truly a valuable resource that I will use from this point on. Because I had no idea of where to start, I Googled the words "educational networks" and this opened up an entirely new world. I chose a network that dealt with science, since I am a science teacher, and a network that deals with web 2.0 tools in the classroom. On the science network, teachers are able to exchange ideas, post videos of experiments, and just discuss what they are doing in their classrooms. I actually got a few good ideas of some experiments that I can do in my own classroom. The problem is that these might be viewed as social networks and eventually blocked by our district. I hope to change this because there is a lot of good, useful information that can be used from social networks.

In the third week we had to evaluate our school district's Student Information System (SIS). It was at this time that I learned that we are in no way using the systems we have to their full potential. One of the reasons for this is that there are only a couple of people per campus that have been trained in how to use the systems. Now this is a two fold problem. One, others will be limited to what the trainees can remember when they were trained, and two, they are so busy involved with their daily duties that they don't have time to get around to train others. So the result is that no one knows how to use the software the way it was fully meant to be used. This is another area I want to address by using staff development hours to train staff on the use of these systems instead of listening to some of the other useless information that is provided.

In week 4 we had to create a model classroom that we might see in the next 5 years. We looked at many of the things that were discussed in the //Horizon Report 2010 K-12 Edition//. I discussed many of the things that will one day be common place in the classroom in the very near future. Some of these things include blogs, wikis, instant messaging, etc. Solomon and Schrum (2007 p. 56) state that "blogging is the new way to express oneself and have an authentic audience". I set up an assignment through an online course management system call Schoology. The students seemed to really enjoyed it, but it was very time consuming so I did not continue after that assignment. I plan on revisiting this once again at a later date. Since I am a kinesthetic learner, I learn best and quickly by actually doing the work and practicing. I am one that just jumps right in and figures it our as I continue working.

In the final week of the course we had to create a power point with audio about our district's network and technology goals. This was the first time I had ever seen the network and technology goals. This allowed me the opportunity to see if the district was meeting its technology goals. I saw that our district still has a long way to go to obtain its goals. By completing this assignment I also learned how to add voice to a power point presentation. I never knew how to do this before.