I would also like to mention how I have never though of a school as a business. Now, after taking this course, I cannot simply separate the two, as they are so closely connected. I did not mention it as one of my major take aways, but I think that this may be the most important take away for me because I feel that everything else branches off of this idea. I feel that I never saw it before, but our business is the success and safety of the students. Throughout all of these modules, I feel that this is what will stick with me the most. Just as any business, an EA plan must be present, appropriate to the mission or vision, communicated, and reevaluated in an appropriate manner according to the given business. 

What are your three most critical discoveries for this course? How will the learning you have gained serve you in your role as an educational technology leader?

My three most critical discoveries for this course:

1)   Communication and collaboration is more crucial than I even realized when it comes to a business. One cannot just simply count on the leaders of the business to take care of it all. There were so many areas regarding decision making that I never realized I should know about as a stakeholder. Our school does an amazing job at keeping us in the loop, but when thinking about other schools, I worry about their communication and how much or little those teachers understand about their school.

2)   More goes into choosing a tool for technology than I realized. Collaboration with nearby and distant schools can save your school money and a lot of hassle. Do not forget the mission and vision of your business when choosing these tools.

3)   If you want true feedback, and to encourage any use of technology or further growth in general, support as well as continuous communication are crucial. For success of anything new, one must feel comfortable that they are not doing this on their own and be reminded of the many learning curves.

 

• Provide an example of a successful (or unsuccessful) implementation due to strong (or weak) executive and stakeholder involvement. What occurred?

I do not believe that I have enough experience to provide an example of an unsuccessful implementation however I can explain my thoughts on what I believe to be successful implementation of a Learning Management System. I was able to have joined the Health Sciences High and Middle College team four years ago. At that time, they were just being introduced to Haiku, a new LMS that was said to help staff stay connected to each other, their students, organize, assess, and much more. I consider Haiku to be a success story even if we end up going in another direction later on. I feel that the stakeholders were all of us. To start from the top on what made this successful, our leaders had met with out technology coordinator prior to meeting with the rest of the staff. After feeling that this could be a good fit for the school, they opened the discussion up to all staff members. I remember hearing them be very clear on the fact that this was not something we were stuck with so we need to be clear and honest on how we feel about this system. Teachers were very open to bring questions to the table regarding possible pros and cons. Connecting the leaders, technology coordinator and staff, there were continuous opportunities for professional development regarding use of this new tool. What was also found to be a contributing factor to the success was the fact that this was not just used by the classroom teachers but was a tool for support staff as well. Starting as a Reading Specialist, I was able to upload resources for all the students whom I worked with and any others as an additional tool for the English department. Continuing down the line, we come to student voice. Having this connection with the students not only offers this tool as a means of blending the online classroom with the brick and mortar but allows for collaboration, communication, and could not have been so without student feedback as well.