Pablo
Vazquez
EDU697:
Capstone: A Project Approach
Professor
Keith Pressey
January
13, 2014
This activity will
demonstrate the attainment of Program Learning Outcome 8 “The ability to make informed decisions regarding the use of technology
in support of learning and leadership”
The inclusion of
technology in the classroom is slowly rapidly shifting the paradigm of the
traditional classroom and transforming it into an advanced technological
learning environment of the 21st century. Through its innovations,
students are now able to have more control of their learning, empowering them
to go further into the understanding of the content they are learning. This
allows them to grow into a role of leadership in education, something that also
empowers the educators that would guide them. For this paper, I have selected a
prior MATLT activity that demonstrates attainment of Program Learning Outcome 8
“demonstrate the ability to make informed decisions regarding the use of
technology in support of learning and leadership”. Redesign the activity using
instructional design principles and theory.
I will also include an explanation of which principles and theory I choose
and why. Additionally, I will include a discussion of any design and
implementation challenges experienced during the redesign process.
When implementing technology into this new style of
classroom, educators have to remember the most important aspect of its use.
Technology is not a gimmick to attract students, instead; technology needs to
be in the service of learning and of benefit to the students. Technological
leadership in schools isn't about procurement of the latest software and
technologies and it isn't really about getting people to use these technologies
either. Ideally, what is truly needed are
leaders who will help communities think very carefully about what learning
goals they have for their students, their faculty, and themselves, and then
look at how technology tools can support those learning initiatives (Reich,
2012). It's not about that the technology is set for engagement with direction.
This can only be achieved with the creation of dynamic instruction that will
effectively engage students but also by tackling the fundamental issue of how
do we think about the kind of learning experiences that will prepare people for
work, for our democracy, and for a well-lived life, and to what extent can
technology support those kinds of learning experiences.
Educators must be supportive of learning and leadership
with technology because it definitely becomes an essential and important part
of today’s teaching and learning environment. This also encompasses the ability
of educators to make knowledgeable decisions when it comes to the use of
technology in support of learning and leadership theory and instructional
design principles. Such is exhibited in the Program Learning Outcome 8
“Demonstrate the ability to make informed decisions regarding the use of
technology in support of learning and leadership;” This is why learning and
leadership must be promoted thoroughly in education in order to inspire both
students, teachers and instructional designers to continue creating this
effective technological environment were students are engaged in active
learning.
The activity I have chosen for this week’s assignment is
from my EDU658: Instructional Leadership activity in which we were tasked in
creating an Executive Summary that will discuss in detail the
change project that is being undertaken in my fictitious school, The Jorge Lucas
Dual Language School. Here I was tasked with communicating a “small win” in my
change strategy implementation to stakeholders in the organization as well as a
description of my change strategy, an explanation of the “small win”, and the
benefits of the win. In the paper I also discussed the shared value for all
stakeholders, relevant data and results, how the win would be publicized and to
whom and finally, the next steps for making continuous progress. Below is the
original assignment.
Literacy in the Jorge
Lucas Dual Language School
A Change for Improvement
Our
Goal: The Jorge Lucas Dual Elementary School has
undertaken the task of improving the levels of Literacy amongst their students
by implementing effective strategies for change through the “Literacy Now”
Initiative. With these, the school aims to create an academic environment were
all its students will be able to improve their work in school by enhancing the
skills needed for reading and writing.
Challenges
For
several years, the Jorge Lucas Dual Language School had seen its literacy
levels decrease gradually amongst their students, a problem that stemmed from
the fact that many students were not proficient in English due to their
cultural background. The school began to see negative results amongst test
scores and many students found themselves unable to advance forward. It was not
long after this that teachers began to become concern for their students’
academic progress, but it would take more than just the teacher’s efforts to
see an improvement. A change needed to be implemented, one that would be school
wide and involved everybody that had a stake on the success of the school and
its students; more importantly, the learners themselves. Looking forward, after
establishing the “Literacy Now” initiative, we have a long road ahead and there
is much work to be done. Teachers must now engage in collaboration between all
stakeholders involved in improving literacy amongst our students. We will also
need to implement effective and proven strategies that will help students
improve in this area through the use of culturally relevant instruction,
collaborative projects and collaboration between teachers and parents. Most
importantly, the school will also be implementing the most advanced and
efficient instructional technology custom made to fit the learning needs of
each individual student.
Early
Victories
Our
school has struggled for a long time now, but the tides have begun to turn to
our favor. After several months of dealing with the school administration and
several Educational tech companies about budget and licensing concerns, the
Jorge Lucas Dual Language School has finally begun its implementation of the
new “E-Chalkboard” Learning Management System (LMS) created by Windu
Educational Technologies. This LMS system is designed to support student
learning by analyzing the student’s learning style and creating a unique
“Learning” account for the child to log in and practice according to their
academic needs. The system was created by collaboration efforts between,
teachers, instructional designers and Windu EdTech programmers with the purpose
of presenting students with interactive academic content that will include
collaborative projects, bilingual content, and other features that are tailored
to each student according to their learning style. Already we have seen major
breakthroughs in student success and adaptation to the usage of this program.
Primary student assessments has shown that students have begun to score higher
marks in language acquisition projects thanks to the immersive educational
technology custom fitted for each child learner.
Signs
of Advancement
So
far our school has already begun to see success in its endeavor for changing
what once was failing literacy scores. Our Gates-MacGinitie scores, which were
used to determine reading achievement, have
improved drastically from an average 5.6 grade-level equivalent to an average
8.7 grade-level equivalent. Even
though these scores do imply that there is still room for students to go
farther and achieve higher scores here at J. L. D.L.S., we are definitely strengthened
by the fact that the average student now beginning to read more than two grade levels higher than two years ago. In
addition to these positive initial results, our academic institution finally
met our state accountability targets for the first time in seven years. New York City uses its official
accountability score, the Educational Performance
Index, to boost the city’s school performances by placing an accountability target for each school based on its
assessment results. In 2006 –2013, with a baseline score of 443 and a target of 465, The Jorge Lucas Dual Language Elementary
School achieved a score of 470 (Fisher, Frey & Williams, 2002).
Moving
Forward
The
Jorge Lucas Dual Language elementary school is resilient in its pursuit of excellence
and the through the “Literacy Now” initiative it is evident that we will
continue on the brilliant path to success. Still, the need for change goes
beyond simply implementing strategies and the aid of instructional technology
within the school. It requires for every stakeholder to reach out to the
community and create awareness for the need of literacy and academic
excellence. For these very reasons the Jorge Lucas Dual Language Elementary
School has established several extracurricular programs in association with the
New York Academy of Arts. One of these extracurricular programs is called
“ReadACT” and it is designed as an after school program to get students reading
and collaborate with each other by putting on performances of their favorite literary
works. The New York Academy of Arts further motivates our students by providing
them the tools and resources voluntary acting coaches, stage props, costumes,
and other useful items necessary for progression in their literacy skills.
Finally, we know very well that elaborate school
improvement plans that do not focus exclusively and directly on curriculum
implementation and improving instruction are not helpful to improving student
achievement. For these very reasons, it is essential that we remember that this
is an evolving process were different approaches will be taken, all of these of
course proven to be successful in the past. There is no doubt, that our effort
and determination to succeed in the perusal of helping every student in the
Jorge Lucas Dual Language Elementary School read is strong and will not be
denied.
Revision
of the Assignment:
This
executive Summary was designed in accordance to some of the best-practices for
leading organizational change. With this summary the school has demonstrated
their commitment by leading for a change that will benefit not only the school
as an academic institution but also the future of the students who attend it.
By ensuring demonstrated leadership and sponsorship commitment such as the
shared values shown within the summary, the Jorge Lucas Dual Language
Elementary school is certainly on its way to success in its goal of fixing the
low literacy scores that have affected them for years (Spiro, 2011).
One of the first revisions that I would do to this activity
is to take an action that was not taken during the first time. That would be
publishing the Executive Letter in the school’s Blog and Newsletters so that
everyone can read the about the schools current achievements and the progress
the school is having in correcting the low literacy levels in the Jorge Lucas
Dual Language Elementary School. The Letter also informs every one of new technology
courses for their learning to participate in and changes that are taking place
as instructors learn and use technology as a tool to enhance learning. Goleman
explains that, “the fundamental task of leaders, we argue, is to prime good
feeling in those they lead. A leader creates a pool of positivity that releases
the “best in people” (Goleman, 2002). (The revised portion of the activity can
now be accessed on the Blog website: http://thejldls.blogspot.com/
).
Another change that I would implement for this activity
is to further elaborate on the new and innovative instructional model and how
it will be of benefit to our students by focusing on the multicultural and
cooperative aspects of the schools new program and how it will be applied to
our mission for change and the improvement of literacy in our fictitious
academic institution. In addition to the Moving
forward section of the executive letter, I will write about these aspects
of change brought on by leadership with the following statement:
“While
we work to expand the success of literacy within our school, it is also
important that our primary focus remains on the curricular success of our
school. Our powerful instructional model is built around a cooperative-learning
framework that engages students in rich discussion and motivating challenges
every day. As of now, we are currently finding more ways to engage students by
widening the scope of our Multicultural and Cooperative Learning and enhancing
their lessons so, teachers can prepare students for learning. With the use of
questioning and modeling, teachers will lead students through the new content
they will need to complete through the rest of the day’s activities, whether
reading a novel, conducting research, or working on a team product (Success for
All, 2012). We will also be seeking new ways to help students of all cultural
backgrounds within the Jorge Lucas Dual Language School, ingrate faster
socially amongst their peers thus increasing their potential for acquiring the
desired levels of literacy. This they will achieve together in collaborative
learning projects that will provide them with the empowering chance of taking
control of their learning.”
This
is activity revision supports the theories and principles of cognitivism and behaviorism.
The intention of the Executive letter’s goal is to “communicate or transfer
behaviors representing knowledge and skills to the learner (does not consider
mental processing) and instruction is to elicit the desired response from the
learner who is presented with a target stimulus” (Dabbagh, N. 2006). For these
very reasons; “Learning happens when a correct response is demonstrated
following the presentation of a specific environmental stimulus and emphasis is
on observable and measurable behaviors” (Dabbagh, N. 2006). The new revision
also places focus on Multiculturalism and how the school is planning to focus
on helping students of diverse backgrounds acquire English as a second
language.
One
of the most difficult challenges for this assignment was finding the proper
activity were one could display leadership and learning as the focus. This
assignment was perfect because although it was not the type of activity were
students are engaged in academic content, this Executive Letter demonstrates
what the an academic institution is doing to improve the quality of education
in their schools as well their concern in improving literacy for multicultural
students. One more challenge was finding a way to implement technology for this
assignment. I realized that this executive letter could be placed in the
schools blog in order for all the students, parents and people involved in the
school to see how the institution is progressing and how educators are taking
on roles of leadership to promote learning with education.
In
conclusion, it is important that educators take on stronger roles of leadership
in order to carry further the effectiveness of academic instruction through
innovations that will enhance and improve education for the students, for
example in the area of literacy in a school, like mentioned in my Revised
activity. The executive letter shows leadership, informs the people involved of
the goals accomplished. It also motivates and encourages behavior expected of
them for a desired outcome. In this paper I have, I have selected a prior MATLT
activity that demonstrates attainment of Program Learning Outcome 8
“demonstrate the ability to make informed decisions regarding the use of
technology in support of learning and leadership”. I have redesigned the
activity using instructional design principles and theory. I have included an explanation of which
principles and theory I chose and why. Additionally, I included a discussion of
any design and implementation challenges experienced during the redesign
process.
References
Dabbagh,
N. (2006). Instructional design knowledge base; Classweb. Retrieved on January 12, 2014 from http://classweb.gmu.edu/ndabbagh/Resources/IDKB/models_theories.htm
Fisher,
D., Frey N., & Williams, D. (2002). Seven Literacy Strategies That Work;
Manatee County School District. Retrieved on August 6, 2013 from http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/staff_development/criss/prin_phil/7%20Defensible%20Strategies.doc%20%28Read-Only%29.pdf
Goleman,
D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2002). Primal Leadership: Learning to lead
with emotional intelligence. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.
Reich,
J. (2012). Leadership in Technology is Really Leadership in Learning; Education Week. Retrieved on January 12,
2014 from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/edtechresearcher/2012/07/leadership_in_technology_is_really_leadership_in_learning.html
Spiro,
J (2011) Leading Change Step by Step: Tactics, Tolls and Tales; San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass.
Success
for All Foundation (2012). Our Instructional Design; Successforall.org. Retrieved on August 6, 2013 from
http://www.successforall.org/Elementary/Powerful-Instruction/Our-Instructional-Design/
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