TP4 :: Wikibook Thinking and Planning

First off, so far, I have learned more about this field and position than I ever knew before. I absolutely have finally stumbled on something I can really sink my teeth into. I look forward to the final wikibook project and researching thus far has been rewarding already.
The hardest aspect for me personally will have to be budgeting. Budgeting has never been my strongest suit. I have always been more of a visionary, constantly thinking creatively about the big picture and trying to make things happen before thinking of money. If I had to design a new technology program, my approach would be to create my ideal situation and my minimum situation and shoot for somewhere in between to make sure I at least get funds for the minimum situation.
Since this post is about our wikibook, I am going to focus this post on what I believe is the most challenging in my team's section. Setting expectations seems easy at first glance. I figure, inform all staff, students, and teachers of the purpose of the program and exactly what is expected of them. Simple enough? After thinking about it again, there is much much more to take into consideration - perhaps so much so that this section appears to be a bigger challenge then maintaining the program itself. In fact, maintaining a program effectively partially hinges on the technology coordinator's ability to train teachers, students, and staff in the expectations as well as enforce the expectations.
Setting expectations is more than just creating an email or information packet with a list of what is expected of all parties involved. Expectations should play an integral part in training. For example, I expect teachers to have a solid working knowledge of computers, both Mac and PC platforms, and a very fluent working knowledge of each platform's operating systems. I believe that expectations like this should be assumed, but in many cases even today, some teachers have trouble figuring out how to use a mouse. I believe that these basic skills are critical in order to train teachers how to operate and troubleshoot software that they must use on a daily basis both for themselves and for the students. If students have questions about advanced software, I want the teacher to be resourceful and not be hindered by basic computer operation. However, I cannot merely demand this expectation and not train the teachers appropriately. So it is the technology coordinator's (or his or her staff) responsibility to train the teachers and work with them to reach these expectations. Once the teachers meet expectations, the process still continues. Newly hired teachers will need to be trained or screened for these abilities before they can enter the classroom if at all possible. Constant evaluation and maintenance and support needs to be happening and available for all teachers to ensure teachers continue to grow and nurture their skills, and that they ultimately continue to meet or exceed expectations.
The big question is, how do you do this effectively? The old adage is still true, time is money. So training and quality control would almost have to be a budgeted expense due to the requirement of more inservices, training sessions, and general support throughout the year. I am really looking forward to further investigation into how this is done effectively. So far, there seem to be many different approaches, and those approaches seem to vary mostly on the demographic and structure of the school district.
In my own research this week I came across a fantastic article about implementing technology into the curriculum and the article spoke about expectations for students as well as teachers. The article detailed seven (7) essentials for technology in schools. The article can be found at http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/WCE/archives/jameslyn.php. Some of this article will most certainly be featured in my team's section of the class Wikibook.

Thoughtful Problem #3

If I was in charge of technology in classrooms for a high school like where I graduated from, I would design a project for the economics department. In today's world, the economy is moving so far past the basic free market, open market strategies into the global market strategies. Any country around the globe can have an impact on all the other economies of the world. I would appeal to the federal government for the grant.
The initiative would provide laptop computers for each student so that each student could learn by seeing the stock market work in real time, learn by reading about, understanding, and then observing market trends, how those trends impact our economy as well as the global economy. They will also have the opportunity to take part in a new web technology called the "Rich Man Game" where each student is given 100,000 dollars to start out and needs to invest in firms, businesses, and markets. The game is a massive multiplayer game, a new emerging technology , in which the winner is the person who makes the best investment decisions and is worth the most in net assets by the end. The grant would also provide television for each economics classroom so the students can watch the stock market in real time as well as hear and see the breaking news on the stock market floor. The big picture goals are to promote full understanding of our economy, the global economy, and how it operates.
I would appeal to the federal government for this grant, expecting to ask my school for as much as I get rewarded from the government. It should be an easy sell, since by students understanding and being able to contribute positively to the global economy, this will benefit our country as a whole.
Even my knowledge is limited in the field of economics, but I understand enough to know that great things could be expected from such an initiative.

Thoughtful Problem #1

What attracts me to educational technology first and foremost is my own extreme love for media, computers, computer-based communication, and especially the internet. For as long as I can remember there has been a computer in my home supplemented by an atmosphere that fostered exploration and experimentation with such technologies. I am still unsure at this point - the beginning of my graduate journey - exactly where I would like to end up.
I know for sure that the internet and technologies associated with it is, and has been, the most interesting piece of the puizzle for me. I strongly believe that if used effectively in the classroom the internet can unlock the virtual door of the classroom which is locked by the teacher's own knowledge limits. By using this technology effectively, the teacher is no longer the end-all of all knowledge. If there is something that I do not know, I can take that opportunity to have the students look it up on the internet and together we can find the answers.
My love for learning and sharing what I know or have learned with others will be my strongest suit strongly followed by my existing and growing knowledge of the internet and web technologies.
My biggest challenge will be staying organized. After reading "Emerging Technologies" I realized just how much there is to think about including many other factors I never even thought about before. Historically I have not ever been the most organized person and it requires tremendous discipline on my part to stay organized. Given that this field is one I love, the task will not necessarily be monotonous, but with so many things to keep in mind, I will need to be able to lay everything out in an orderly fashion so to make an educated decision when planning for technology in a classroom as a technology coordinator or just a teacher. I look forward to continuing to grow and learn and improve both my strong and weak suits.