Nadia Williams

ITEC 7500: Capstone & Portfolio

Fall 2015
Standard 1.2
Standard 1.2: Strategic Planning
Candidates facilitate the design, development, implementation, communication, and
evaluation of technology-infused strategic plans. (PSC 1.2/ISTE 1b)
Reflection
I alone created this Instructional Initiatives Template as part of my studies in the
Summer of 2015 as part of my ITEC/EDL 7305 course while using shared documents
from the East Cobb Middle School shared drive as well as my administrators as
reference.
The Instructional Initiatives Template lists and evaluates the many ways in which
students at East Cobb Middle School are currently engaged in the use of technology as
a means for enhancing or supplementing classroom instruction. These include schoolwide initiatives such as Project Lead the Way, a project-based learning initiative
supported by a foundation of the same title, to the STEM class offered to students as a
Connections class, to the initiatives of individual teachers such as ClassCraft which
gamifies classroom management and incentives. This chart also serves as a means for
communicating the options to teachers school-wide and could be used with parents
and community leaders as evidence of what currently exists so that these current
initiatives can be used to the fullest to enhance student instruction. Research has
indicated that with the current atmosphere focusing such heavy emphasis on the
elevation of raising test scores that technology has been pushed aside in favor of more
traditional instructional strategies (Creighton, 2003). That said, technology alone does
not enhance student learning. The implementation of technology used in a manner that
stretches students thinking and problem-solving skills enhances their learning
(Creighton, 2003). For this reason, exemplary schools [versus lower-performing
ones]...seem to place higher priority on technology with frequent use of higher-level
activities such as Internet use and Web page construction (Creighton 2003).
No technological initiatives or technology-infused strategic planning could
effectively be implemented without first knowing what exists within the school. Prior to
my departure from East Cobb Middle School, teachers were being encouraged to
individually implement the use of technology within their classrooms based on their
needs and the needs of their students. Thus, the design and development of the
plan I was working on for myself as well as the plans of some of my colleagues
stemmed from the use of this template. On a less global scale, the artifact itself
contains a column illustrating the items serving as evidence of the implementation of

each tool and in the column that follows, information has been included showing how
one could evaluate the usefulness of this tool for use within their classroom.
Furthermore, it identifies the amount of teachers for whom each tool would be relevant.
For example, a tool such as ClassCraft is open to any and everyone, but it is not a tool
offered by the school as a whole nor the district. Thus, one of the drawbacks is that
individual teachers would have to pay out-of-pocket expenses to support the use of this
tool within their classrooms. That said, it may not suit all student populations. English
Language Learners may find the interface to be challenging, while gifted students may
not. However, that is to the discretion of each teacher. On the other hand, a tool such
as BrainPop is supported by the school and offers differentiated support for a variety of
teachers for integration into his or her lesson plans. This falls in line with the
aforementioned research by Creighton stating that an educator must implement
technology-infused strategic plans that stretch and support student learning, and
not ones that solely replace less-digital teaching strategies.
I have learned that it is easy to overlook the many ways in which schools like mine
utilize technology as a means for supporting student learning. What I found most
interesting was the fact that many of my colleagues were ignorant to the multitude of
tools available to them at the school and district level. This highlighted a pervasive
challenge in that within large schools and even large districts such as the Cobb County
School District, clear and effective communication can be challenging, especially when
there is so much information to distribute. With regard to the technology tools available
to schools, teachers, and students, I learned that this template of initiatives could be
utilized as a means of communication and reference for such stakeholders. With this
in mind, I would have loved to have been able to expand it so that there was a portion of
this inventory that identified the ways in which stakeholders could learn more about
these varying items.
By compiling this information during my course, I found that it forced me to look at my
role as an educator differently. As an emerging technology leader at the time, I should
have been finding ways to bring attention to more of the resources available to
teachers, students, and administrators. Thus it impacted my school environment on a
small scale by shifting my perspective. Once I shared it with my colleagues, this
impacted professional development at my school because it not only supported their
work practices but I also found that it helped them realize the breadth of resources
available to them. This impact can be assessed in my most recent observations. I have
since seen some of my colleagues using these tools in their classrooms in amounts
proportionate to their technological comfort. Beyond that, in my current work at the
District level, I have found that this artifact has armed me with a better understanding of
the array of already-existing resources and how such resources can impact teaching
and learning. The impact of this could also be assessed in the resulting increased use
of the identified resources.

References
Creighton, T. (2003). The principal as technology leader. Thousand Oaks, Calif.:
Corwin Press.