Technology & Learning - April 2008 - (Page 40)

Ask yourself and your team, “What are the current productivity and skills training in our district? Our buildings? At various grade levels or departments?” move between the facets of the model, while gaining the techniques and leadership necessary for success in the classroom. First, at the local level, start by asking yourself and your team: “What are the current productivity and skills training priorities in our district? Our buildings? At various grade levels or departments?” These staff development opportunities help educators understand the benefits of specific tools—both hardware and software—and how to use them. Next, check with your curriculum design teams and ask the question: “What are the critical areas in immediate need for technology enhancement across grade levels and/or departments?” Find out where areas of concern as related to student achievement are. Establish dialogue with those representatives on how technology may be a catalyst for improvement. Identify leaders within the organization. Chances are your district has techlearning.com For resources on and ideas for creating and implementing educational technology individual development plans, go to techlearning.com/april “go-to” faculty members. These individuals are usually creative problemsolvers and often highly respected by their peers as effective integrators of technology. Who are they? What are their strengths? And what are their needs? The best professional development sessions are often led by someone who teaches “down the hall,” who has innovative strategies and practices that most likely are being implemented in isolation, but who would love to teach their peers as much as they do their students. This strategy of technology leadership provides the impetus for a district to become technologically innovative, from the inside out. What could be better than having one of your own educators lead professional development sessions? Whether it’s an integral part of a district/building technology plan or part of an overall school-improvement plan, your technology professional development plan should be anything but just an add-on. The plan ensures that professional development is considered an essential factor in your district, and that technology is used effectively to create new opportunities for learning and to promote student achievement. Educational technology is not, and never will be, transformative on its own. It requires the assistance of educators who integrate technology into the curriculum, align it with student-learning goals, and use it for engaged learning projects. Teacher quality is the factor that matters most. So professional development for teachers becomes the key issue in using technology to improve the quality of learning in the classroom—where “knowledge” is truly embedded within a structure that effectively integrates educational technologies into our pedagogy and curricula. Ken Brown is vice president of Innovation and Technology at Sterling College in Sterling, Kansas. 40 | www.techlearning.com http://www.techlearning.com http://techlearning.com/april http://www.techlearning.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Technology & Learning - April 2008

Technology & Learning - April 2008 Contents New @ techlearning.com Editor's Desk News and Trends Digital Age Assessment: Part 2 Anytime, Anywhere Learning Caught on Video Cover Story: Plan and Deliver Cutting Edge in Carolina Product Guide Reviews Best of the Blogs What's New LOY Profile Series

Technology & Learning - April 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.