EDLD+5370+Reading+Reflection+for+Technology+Facilitator+Standard+VIII

===Standard VIII of ISTE's technology facilitation and leadership standards addresses leadership and vision. Without leadership and vision, every plan is doomed to fail. One of the biggest obstacles one will face is to get others to buy into your vision. Because it is your vision, you have to get others to see what you see and that can be very difficult. "Technologies having the greatest potential to enhance education today were not available when many educators, parents, and policy makers were elementary and secondary students themselves. Consequently, stakeholders often have difficulty imagining how new technologies can support educational endeavors. This limited awareness may create apathy, or even resistance, to technology programs" (Williamson & Redish, 2009, p. 179).===

===The article //Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants: Part 1// by Marc Prensky sheds light on some of the things that may be obstacles in the vision and leadership of the technology facilitator. Teachers are described as //Digital Immigrants// because they are new to much of the technology. They were not born into this technology as were their students. Therefore it is like a foreign language that they have to learn. Most of today's resistance to technology comes from the teachers themselves. Most teachers teach the way that they were taught. This is where the problem exist because the technology and resources that are available today where not available back then.===

===Throughout the 18 months of this degree program I have had to share my vision about technology and its use in the classroom. Many of my colleagues thought that the ideas I had were great but the most common question was, "when are you going to have time to do all of that?" This question gave me the indication that no matter how great the idea may be, time will be their excuse as to why they could not implement the vision. This is where I had to lead by example. Many of the ideas I had were implemented into my classroom so that others could see the impact. I also spoke with my principal about using our staff development hours to teach the other teachers about the benefit of using technology and help them get it implemented. The problem is that there is no one that is exclusively a full time technology facilitator on our campus. I teach a full load as well as others. So, when teachers have issues that arise, there is no one that can get to them immediately to help them. This leads to frustration and teachers giving up on technology. This is the hurdle we as facilitators must be able to overcome.===

References:
===Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). ISTE’s technology facilitation and leadership standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education, p. 179.===