It’s somewhat difficult to determine what stage I’m in as a
technology integration specialist because I’m not regularly planning lessons
and instruction for students. I usually assist teachers when they already have
an idea in mind for a lesson or when they need help finding a technology resource
or modeling different technology tools. With this in mind, I would say that I
fall in the Adaptation level of integration for most areas. As a technology
integration specialist, I was hoping to at least fall completely in the
Adaptation or Infusion levels, but based on how I assist teachers, I would say
that Adoption is probably the more appropriate level.
By the end of the year, I believe I could reach the Adaptation
level for some of the independent characteristics, but maybe not reach that
next level entirely. For example, I’ve noticed a lot of teachers have students
working independently. They can use various technology tools, but they often
use them while working alone or with limited collaboration. By the end of the
year, I think it would be easy for me to reach the Adaptation level of
collaboration while assisting teachers with lessons.
To reach this goal, I feel that it may be best for students
and teachers to use tools they are already mostly familiar with in the
beginning. For example, My Big Campus allows students to create blogs and
discussion boards to collaborate and share with their peers. I think it would
be great for teachers to use My Big Campus and other technology tools to not
only allow collaborative work between students in their classrooms, but also
outside of the school as well.