Digital Learning & Leading

Digital Learning

When I studied education in college I still used transparencies and overhead projectors in my lessons. By the time I began my first year teaching I had upgraded to computer projectors and PowerPoint presentations. As I entered into my current position one of my goals was to become an expert (or at least more knowledgeable) about instructional technology. I began researching on my own, attending professional developments, and integrating what I learned into my classroom. By continually working to learn new information on technology in the education field I was able to become one of the most technologically advanced classrooms on my campus.

At first I started off researching digital mediums that were similar to what I already knew. I began creating a Prezi for every unit in my curriculum. This took me a couple years to complete and with each Prezi I began incorporating more tech savvy tools and focused on presentation. I soon ventured out into graphic design creating visuals and infographics for my classroom. Eventually I had a desire to just use technology in my classroom but have my students use technology to enhance their learning through PBLs.  The last couple years have been the greatest feat I’ve taken… videos! I turned my classroom into a modified flipped environment. Due to lack of internet service in most students homes I had to adjust the full idea of a flipped classroom. However, I was able to create teacher made videos that allowed students to watch the Prezis I had created, listen to my voice, and answer thought provoking questions at the same time. By producing a video my students were able to watch the video multiple times in case they missed something the first go-around. This allowed for differentiation in every flipped lesson given.

Digital Leading

As I grow into an educational leader I am looking at how I can take those skills I learned for my classroom and use them in a leadership role. I believe modeling in professional development sessions for teachers is one of the best ways to help classroom teachers learn new skills. When interviewing for an Assistant Principal position in the last couple weeks I was asked to give a 5 minute presentation on the use of formative assessments in the classroom. I treated the task as one that would occur in my own classroom. I created a presentation using an online presentation creator. I was able to seamlessly integrate an example of a formative assessment. Furthermore, I was able to embed this presentation into my newly created ePortfolio. I know that going through the small trouble of incorporation instructional technology into my presentation and interview gave me an edge over candidates.

Looking forward to my career as an educational leader I am hoping to continue to grow just as educational technology continues to grow. I plan on using technology as part of the professional developments I will be required to present. I also plan to use it to advance the classrooms in the departments I am leading. I hope to be able to bring new ideas into those classrooms that enhance what the teachers are already achieving.

A large part of my personal growth plan is to incorporate this ePortfolio. When I first began creating my ePortfolio I assumed it would just be created for a grade and that I’d never use it again. As I have further reflected on the benefits of using an ePortoflio I’ve decided that I will incorporate my site into my professional developments. This will create a virtual record of everything that my staff needs to know and allows them to access that information at any time in one place.

On a larger scale I hope to help integrate the idea of student ePortfolios as a part of student assessment and evaluation. I believe an ePortfolio will allow students to show their own creativity and learning in a unique and advanced way. I also believe the skills they will learn creating their ePortfolio will benefit them once they have left the campus and venture out into the real world.

I know that as our world progresses it is my job as an educational leader to make sure my teachers are equipped with every tool to prepare our students to enter an every changing technological world. I will continually learn new digital tools that can be used in education and I look forward to the time I will be able to spend working towards becoming a digital leader.