EDUC 5243: Blog Week #3 (Admin of Learning Technologies)

Introduction: 

Creating a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound) to address the technology use in my classroom is a way to unpack and identify obvious or less obvious gaps that the classroom, teacher, students, campus, and district has in their integration. As a CTE teacher for almost ten years, I have yet to fully analyze or create SMART goals for my classroom that zeros in on how can we better implement the use of technological hardware, software, and general concepts. Taking this opportunity to do so in this class would set a new and beneficial precedence to see the outcomes and success of these specific goals. 

To get into the specifics of my SMART goal, I am currently teaching a Commercial Photography II courses for 11th and 12th grade students at a prominent charter school in Texas. This is the 6th different type of CTE courses I have taught and it is one that I am quite passionate about and excited to continue building upon. I inherited being our campuses CTE liaison so any items that fall under the umbrella of pathways, alignment, or technology integration will be coming from myself and pushed out to the other CTE classes (and hopefully also the core classes in the future.) 

GOAL: 

Under the scope of commercial photography, my SMART goal is focused on the idea to more intentionally, effortlessly, and seamlessly integrate the use of DSLR cameras/photography with real world applications PER enrolled student. 

Specific: 

Teaching many areas of CTE level classes, there was lacking a sense of real world/life integration to the objectives being given in class each door via our district aligned curriculum. By creating a strict focus on actual life applications, I believe more impactful learning can be the direct result and outcome as students as introducing their world to the object rather than the object to their world. 

Measurable: 

100% of students will focus on one main project per yearly quarter that will be solely focused on their own parameters of subject and area of photography. This annual timeline is the ideal, but a trial run will begin with only a 16 week period to test and measure this properly prior to full roll out. Teacher will give a rubric as guidance to certain requirements, but the foundational topic will NOT be given by the instructor. 100% of students will take ownership of the topic of this said project and utilize their personal interest or real world experiences as the catalyst to weave in the usage of photographic hardware and software. All students in the advanced level CTE course of Commercial Photography II will be required to partake in this new integration (pending results, pathway classes of Commercial Photography I and Principles of  AV/Technology will also eventually join in this aligned integration). 

Attainable: 

In regard to the hardware usage, this goal is about 80% attainable for this year as my class has barely enough tech to go around for 1 to 1 usage. Our district has applied for large CTE grants and we're funded a $10,000 award per CTE teacher to utilize for classroom supplies, material, and field lessons. We have decided to purchase more DLSR cameras, lenses, tripods, reflectors, memory cards, card readers, and printers. Once these items come in, we will be better aligned and more successful for this SMART goal. 

For software, this goal is about 90% attainable for this year as our district technically purchased access to all Adobe Cloud products for all campuses, however we are currently dealing with some difficulties in accessing this resources. Alternative (more importantly, free) file managing and editing software will be used in the mean time while this is being taken care of. 

Aside from the hardware and software attainability, students may deal with issues of integrating themselves and their worlds with the materials. Students may not feel as comfortable sharing their point of view in a vulnerable way by creating a project that focuses on their interests, thoughts, and feelings. This may be eased by offering potential alternatives to the assignment by using someone else's POV to focus on or with other accommodations via instructor's assistance .We want to be respectful of student boundaries as these intimate projects may feel too intrusive, but also have options to accommodate those who may request it so to still partake in the assignment. This may be ran more successfully if teacher commits to creating their own version of the project to share as an exemplar, but also to show how successful projects may result in if they are willing to be open and vulnerable in their art. 

Relevant:

There are many facets, genres, and sub genres of photography that can fit almost anyone's specific style or visual, artistic narrative. Although this class is focused specifically on commercial photography, students will get an array of different projects to experience many levels and categories of photography that they may be interested in and fall in love it. That is why having a SMART goal focused on how students can specifically have the autonomy to choose what type of project they want based on their personal interest and background is so critical and relevant. Just as we were told when creating projects or papers to pick a topic and area that we enjoy because it will make the work a bit more enjoyable; same concept here. However, the integration is a lot more hands on and personal so students will feel a sense of ownership and much more enjoyment for the content and the learning objectives. 

Time-bound:

This trial run of this SMART goal will be done in class of about 50-60 students total across 5 class periods for about 16 weeks. Throughout this time, there will be a maximum of 3 personalized and integrated projects that students will decide on and run themselves for their main extension in incorporating their own personal worlds. The start time for this trail may be delayed as we would prefer to have 100% in all areas ready prior to beginning so students and instructor fell prepared with the amount and quality of materials and supplies. 

Action Steps:

1. Obtain the proper hardware and software materials for all classes and student usage for the proposed goal. Receive/submit proper documents and POs for new materials and align with those in charge to see if there are any gaps or issues in any needed items. (1 week, ongoing)

2. Unpack the aligned evaluation (Triple 3) and frameworks standards (ISTE) to all stakeholders (students, instructors, admin) to provide the appropriate rationale for new methods and tech integration.  Weave in hands on activities to help more easily process this large and potentially confusing material. (1 week, ongoing).

3. Mark key areas in the curriculum that can be flexed and formed into our SMART goal objective and ensure there is enough implementation for individualized practice and mastery before, during, and after each fully integrated project. (13 weeks)

4. Collect physical and in person surveys of all stakeholders involved (staff, students, admin, families) to self reflect on the process and to make the appropriate adjustments needed to a full campus rollout. (1 week)

ISTE Educator Standards Aligned:

Learner: 2.1.a 

Set professional learning goals to explore and apply pedagogical approaches made possible by technology and reflect on their effectiveness.

Leader: 2.2.b 

Advocate for equitable access to educational technology, digital content and learning opportunities to meet the diverse needs of all students.

Citizen: 2.3.b 

Establish a learning culture that promotes curiosity and critical examination of online resources and fosters digital literacy and media fluency.

Collaborator: 2.4.c 

Use collaborative tools to expand students' authentic, real-world learning experiences by engaging virtually with experts, teams and students, locally and globally.

Designer:

2.5.a Use technology to create, adapt and personalize learning experiences that foster independent learning and accommodate learner differences and needs. 

2.5.b Design authentic learning activities that align with content area standards and use digital tools and resources to maximize active, deep learning. 

2.5.c Explore and apply instructional design principles to create innovative digital learning environments that engage and support learning.

Facilitator 2.6.a

Foster a culture where students take ownership of their learning goals and outcomes in both independent and group settings.

Analyst 2.7.a

Provide alternative ways for students to demonstrate competency and reflect on their learning using technology.

Triple E Framework Aligned:

Engagement: 

If the learning goal here is to ensure full integration of the technology with the SMART goal of students real world life and experiences, then the alignment must match. The technology used (DSLR cameras and all items that are connected to it as well as any software to edit or manage images) and the purpose or focus students select for their project concentration must help each other achieve the ultimate learning goal. Engagement will occur between teacher and students, students to students, and students to whatever subject they decide on choosing for their project. 

Enhancement: 

The quality of tech usage is more vital than the quantity of tech usage. Students need to be pushed in a way to engage their critical thinking skills and following the standard curriculum tends to leave that out. Instead of students solely taking notes and watching videos on how to shoot impactful images, they must be more integrated into the learning by hands on working with the materials and trial and error. By getting there and making mistakes, they can then enhance their learning capabilities much more than other students who are not actively engaging with a multitude of ways with the content. As far as the SMART goal, students need to be challenged to think outside of the box, to open their minds, and take control of the open options that are available to them when integrating their world with the technology. In my veteran teacher status, student ownership in the classroom is drastically lacking, this fill engagement in the content is as well. The hope of this SMART goal is to encourage and assist all stakeholders to align and fulfill its mission. 

Extension: 

This is where our SMART goal is fully rooted. By incorporating the ISTE standards with the Triple E framework, we can find success in our projected outcomes to encourage and foster more active and involved tech learners. It is proven that if students learn in an authentic and unique ways, their understanding of the content and material is far greater. We must be the essential key to planting the seeds for each student so they can look at education and the subject through a different lens and perspective for more foundational learning. 

If you made it this far, I thank you. Hopefully it was an easy (although thorough) read and you could enjoy my little gifs to make it a bit more enjoyable. Until next time! 

Citation 

Kolb, Liz. “About.” Triple E Framework, 5 Jan. 2015, www.tripleeframework.com/about.html.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2017).  ISTE Standards for  Students:  A        practical guide for learning with technology. ISTE (ISBN:978-1-56484-398-2)