Technology Assessment

As a future principal, I do have areas of strengths and weaknesses in educational technology leadership. One of my greatest assets is my willingness to learn. I am open to new ideas. I am not afraid of change. I think that it is important to embrace new technology and take advantage of the opportunities it has to offer. My greatest weakness is a lack of experience with technology use. I believe that this is due in part to limited technological resources at the districts I have been employed at. This has limited my experience and contact with technology and its effects on education.

The first assessment I completed was the Technology Applications Inventory. When analyzing the results of this inventory, I agree with them very strongly. When breaking down the results of each domain, I can easily identify the domains of weakness that I need to address. I largely understand the concepts that fall under the Foundations domain. I understand basic operating systems, creating and saving files, copyright rules, and types of storage. I do however have limited experience with Boolean search strategies. My weakest domain is solving problems with technology tools. I do have a strong concept of using word processor and using all editing tools involved. I need to improve areas such as designing and implementing procedures to track trends and evaluate progress. I struggle with the creating linear and non-linear multimedia projects. For the Communications domain, I can create spreadsheets and use editing tools. However, once again this domain covers implementing ways to track trends, set timelines and evaluate products. This is a weak area that I need to address with further training and development.

For the second assessment, I opted to take the SETDA Teacher Survey. I agreed with the results this survey yielded also. I was already fairly much aware of my technological capabilities and to the level of which I understand most areas. I know that there are several areas that I need to improve upon as I make the transition from teacher to principal. My understanding of multimedia tools is limited and I would greatly like to learn more in this area. Another area that I could strengthen is the ability to track trends and progress. This would be a very beneficial tool for me as a principal. For my current position as a teacher, I use technology in my classroom in a very limited manner. I use it more for grading and attendance more so than instruction. Our school as a whole is behind on technology. Few rooms have smart boards and projectors. The computer to student ratio is about 1:25 on the high school campus. This ratio is much higher on the junior high and elementary campuses. We definitely need to close the gap so we can better aid our students.