Unit 1 - Individual Technology Assessment

Question:

As an educator, what are your present strengths and weaknesses in technology? How do you plan to use your strengths? How do you plan to address the weaknesses?

Definitely, one of my technology strengths is the fact that I’m extremely energized about all types of technology. I’ve found that this attribute is not common for my generation; I’ll be 60 in a couple of years.

Unfortunately, many educators are reluctant, or even stubborn, to learn/utilize new technology, even those teachers who are quite a bit younger than I. My response to those individuals is that whether we feel comfortable with new technology and/or think it is a necessary tool or not, it’s here to stay! If we are going to instruct students who are technology natives, then we need to immigrate as quickly and as knowledgably as possible. When an educator is enthusiastic about the technology he/she utilizes for instruction, the learning environment is greatly enhanced for the students. Fortunately, learning/teaching new technologies are two areas in which I am quite passionate!

My ultimate plan is to obtain a position in my middle school library as an educator of technology and information management. (I’ll have to convince my school district first!) As an educator of technology, I would assist teachers in learning technologies new to them, help them become comfortable, and aid in implementing their new technology skills into their lesson plans and classrooms. My mature age should help me to connect with those older generations of teachers who feel like they are too old to learn new technology or who feel that learning/utilizing new technologies are a waste of time. I would focus on teaching new technology to the middle school students as well.

As an information manager, I would educate both teachers and students in the access, retrieval, and evaluation of information. It is amazing how many educators do not know how to handle our current information overload! If teachers were more knowledgeable in the area of information management, then they could better instruct their students.

As far as my weaknesses, I find that I need to work more diligently to schedule sufficient time to integrate the different types of technology in which I’m interested. Another weakness is that I must be more proactive in designing lesson plans which allow time for the students to be more involved in the type of student-led learning which utilizes cutting edge technology.

Therefore, I must first become more adept and comfortable with new technologies, especially those types which lend themselves to student-led instruction. Then, I must schedule sufficient time for the students to become adept and comfortable with the technology prior to the assignment or project. In a perfect world, this issue would not be such a challenge. In a public middle school, this issue can be quite daunting. Nevertheless, I must make it one of my top priorities. Collaborating with other educators who are as interested in implementing new technologies as I should help to reduce the overwhelming hurdle of the time factor.