Running head: Final Reflection
Final Reflection of the Ed. S. Program and My Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT)
Barry D. Thibault
University of West Georgia
Introduction
The University of West Georgia’s MEDT Program in Instructional Technology has provided a fantastic learning experience that I will continue learning from by sharing the technology knowledge that I gained. A very important opportunity that I learned through this program is the ability to share my knowledge I have learned with other school colleagues and my theater students. I hope to be able to create a collaborative environment at my school and help the staff toward effective multimedia/technology instruction through professional development and technology training sessions for my Fine Arts Dept. There are many technology related tools and applications to share and use with my classes and I have learned in this program. I also graduated with my Master’s Degree from the University of West Georgia in spring of 2010. There were several strengths in my original SWOT assessment that I gained from my Master’s Program in Instructional Technology and this additional degree continued to align my strengths while working on some of the weaknesses.
Initial SWOT
The Instructional Technology Program prepared me with the necessary tools to learn how to search and implement the delivery of instruction in a fun and creative way using the latest technology with my classroom. I have confirmed the fact that I have always been willing to try new things when it comes to using technology and this was what I first noticed about my use of technology with the initial SWOT analysis. I am never intimidated with unfamiliar technologies like many colleagues and students in fact; I value the challenge of a learning a new piece of equipment and often times, I have a preference to teach myself through trial and error without the manual. This puts me in control and in charge of the learning processes. I have always valued the idea of using new technology in my lessons with students. The initial and final SWOT both confirm the fact that I do have much patience in explaining technology to others including my students and colleagues.
Strengths
After reviewing my initial (SWOT) strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and had each analyzed, I began to notice that the strengths and opportunities outweighed the weaknesses and threats. I knew exactly what I needed to focus on for the remainder of the program. I also tried to cater my projects to the strengths that I possessed while also trying to develop the necessary skills that were lacking with other projects. The program has made me aware that my technology integration strengths helped me master the necessary skills to be a successful teacher by allowing me to develop the foundations of presenting and integrating technology into my theater classroom environment.
I still believe that multimedia is an important part of any classroom and the strengths I developed while studying technology integration will give me more confidence in producing and designing class video, sound animation and hyperlink options on class web pages and school class blogs. I learned how to develop incredible lesson plans utilizing the latest development tools while helping students use the latest web 2.0 tools for a more diversified approach to the study of theater. My students are able to contribute to a class web page and design blogs, wikis and understand the value of a digital portfolio. The lessons learned allow my students to feel motivated in their own learning keeping them interested in finding out more as the latest technologies develop.
Weaknesses
In terms of weaknesses, I cited my lack of understanding of the school and district network and the purchasing of new equipment and software needs for my students. Initially, I discussed the lack of knowledge about the integration of the latest network equipment and hardware into my classroom. I have since learned a great deal about the network and how to access and even troubleshoot problems that arise because if the system. By trial and error, I have learned about the components of computers that I need to be able to repair. Technology and computer hardware can be a nice tool but as more people are using them on a daily basis I have learned that things will go wrong with them. I have learned how to stop feeling intimidated because of the problems they can cause in a classroom setting when they breakdown. I can fix many issues on my own now and do not need to rely on a school technician to respond to my technology issues.
Opportunities
In terms of SWOT technology opportunities, I initially cited purchasing and having access to computer hardware and software for my classes to us. This is still an issue when working in public education with budgets that are constantly being cut. I do believe that I did learn about ways to help combat these problems with the help of classroom grants and programs also developed to help interested teachers. I learned that good training is an important goal for all successful programs. It is also very important to learn how to find and use online resources that may be available through educator blogs, sites and podcasts. Of course threats are always possible but I even learned how to prevent most of these and use them as a learning opportunity to find ways to prevent them if at all possible. I can no longer use lack of training and time as an excuse to not get things done with technology integration as I once did in my initial SWOT analysis.
One of my favorite areas for Instructional Design is the opportunity to help the design and implementation of online courses and their evaluation and development. A valuable lesson to me since the initial SWOT was the Henry County Project that allowed me the opportunity to work with a group to learn about the evaluation of this type of distance learning in the state of Georgia. Also, I have been able to practice and develop interactive classrooms for my own Theater/Music students. I have learned how to work well with online collaborations that I will be able to teach with my own students as they prepare for distance learning. An important piece of technology integration is learning how to develop and use class Blogs, Wikis, Web Pages, CoursDen, Blackboard, Moodle software and other web 2.0 applications and learning tools.
Another reason I selected the Instructional Technology program was to be able to learn how to integrate exciting technology into the lessons to develop fun, creative multimedia projects that could lead to a positive change for my students. I have certainly learned a great deal of web 2.0 tools and software application to allow them the creativity in the classroom while using the technology in a variety of new ways in the future. Technology including multimedia is developed to aide in common tasks as well as used as a tool for entertainment and educational purposes. The values of multimedia presentations are most valuable to classrooms with diverse populations and they can be of great value to students with special needs. I have learned to involve all stakeholders into my technology diffusion and get the most support possible from all. This includes my students and their families, community, colleagues, administration, local government, state, federal, district and school board for their support and technology implementing ideas and/or funding.
Professionally, I decided to get the additional degrees to increase my pay and learn some new tools for my lesson implementation. However, after the past several years I have learned to love this area of teaching and seek other ways to integrate and develop my skills. As a result, I am glad I learned the tools for presenting more technology resources to my classes that will help make the learning even more relevant. Consequently, I am ready to take on the challenge of training teachers on a daily basis and to be able to help them with the integration of technology and resources into their own lessons. The Ed.S. Degree in instructional technology program has allowed me this opportunity to share my love of technology learning with my colleagues and to make a positive impact with for my students.
Final Technology Goals
The values learned in this course and program will be beneficial to me, as well as my colleagues and students through my implementation of the technology concepts learned. I believe that teaching the important parts of technology integration to my colleagues would help keep me motivated to keep up with my own action plan for achieving all of my technology goals. One of the most critical aspects that I learned from the program is how important it is to get to know my students and their needs. I plan to make use of better lesson plans by implementing these latest technology elements into my own planning. I believe that this holds true to all educators, once the student's needs is understood you can cater to their needs and this will have a better outcome for teaching the desired lessons.
Conclusion
I have been able to learn new ideas while developing the skills of technology integration that will be part of every classroom for all student ages in the near future. As technology advances, so will the need to learn new skills and in order to keep up with the new elements. Technology can be utilized in many classes and used in all types of environments including business, educational and the entertainment media and industry. This final analysis of the Ed.S. Program allowed me the opportunity to expose my strengths, plans, goals and learning opportunities while eliminating most threats in my environment.
Personally, I have grown as an educator and value the ideas I gained from the courses, professors and UWG colleagues that I have been privileged to work with. They were all part of my learning process and allowed me to share my talents and abilities with them as we worked out projects and class discussions together. Their collaboration, advice and lesson integration ideas will give me the opportunity to continue to share my theater lessons while personalizing and differentiating instruction for my students.
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