Running head: REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS

Reflective Analysis
Deborah Bishop
Liberty University
EDUC 638

March 8, 2015
Reflective Analysis
As an Educational Technology and Online Learning student, one has learned to
appreciate the use of technology as a viable tool for collaboration and communication between
teachers, administrators, students, and parents. Scheninger, E. (2014) stated, The Internet is not
the only thing that continues to change. The advancement of existing technologies as well as the
introduction of new tools has created a rich market for schools to utilize. (p. 5 para. 2)
The following questions and answers were used to expound on the course activities that
were required by the EDUC 638 class:
The first question was, Why is planning important when implementing a district /
school-wide initiative? It was very important to plan any changes in a school or district. The

main thing was to lessen uncertainty what the initiative would provide for the school or district
that may arise in the stakeholders and to increase cognizance of how the change would affect the
stakeholders involved. The end result of an initiative does not just happen, it requires finding out
the needs of a district or school, goal setting, surveys, to find the pros and cons of the initiative,
and formulating strategies to achieve a positive end result of ones goals. Tubin, R & Edri, S.
stated, Planning is a human behavior aimed at reducing uncertainty. Planning involves future
thinking, decision making, integration, and formalized procedure. (Mintzberg, 1994)
(Introduction, para.1)
The question, What did you learn by creating a district technology plan? Made one
think of doing a district technology plan as terrifying, but as one delved into the process and
worked with a positive team, and a positive team player, the fear subsided. Learning to use
Hangouts was a challenge because of ones network carrier constantly failing. However, to
research other districts throughout the United States technology plans and talking to two
principals and schools tech support, the load was lighten. Collaboration and cooperation was
needed to make the goal possible. Creating boundaries and not being afraid to take a chance for
new ideas to formulate was well worth the work. The different sections to develop a plan were
tedious, but they made the plan come positively together. The focus on student learning, teacher
preparedness, effective data, administration preparedness, infrastructure and technical support,
were the keys to putting the proposal together.
The next part of this assignment asked one, Is it important to involve a wide range of
individuals such as teachers, administrators, and community stakeholders? Why or why not? It
is emphatically important to involve a wide range of individuals such as teachers, administrators,

REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS

and community stakeholders with the implementation of an initiative. It is important to involve

stakeholders from every level of education for input and representation at their level, in order to
meet the educational needs and input of the stakeholders. The parents involvement would see
how technology involvement might improve student learning, and increase school and parent
communication, (administration, teacher, student, behavior, homework, 21st Century learning).
Describe the difference in cooperation and collaboration. Which is more important?
Why? Did your team cooperate, collaborate, or both. Provide specific examples from your team
experience to support your response. The difference between collaboration and cooperation is,
collaboration is when one work as a team to find or solve problems and cooperation is working
together to accomplish or complete a problem. They both are very important because the goal is
to assign parts from each members strong points, that will come together to accomplish a
positive result of the problem. Example: The Sunshine District Public Schools, committee
worked collaboratively and cooperatively to meet the goals of a proposal. Each group member
had a part to develop and contribute to the end result of the proposal. This was cooperation. The
parts were submitted in Google Docs and/or File Exchanged and the group collaborated on the
editing of each part. The parts were selected on the strengths of each team member, like a
football team, then touchdown, the goal was positively achieved as a team!
The next set of questions are: What are the benefits and challenges of working together?
Why is it important to be able to work as a member of a team in education / business /
government? The benefits of working together are the group of minds working together to
accomplish one goal. The injection of a pool of knowledge from team members, makes the
combination of perspectives into one perspective, and everyone can develop their own voice.

REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS

The challenges of working as a group are some students have not worked as a group and
their ability to communicate with a diverse group might be limited. The lack of patience from
some high achievers, which can annoy some and make others that are intimidated revert to an
inner self. Some students goals might be different, and some students might have the need to
work alone. It is important to work as a team in any industry. According to Madigan, M. (1996),
As many American firms have already discovered, working in teams is efficient, empowering,
and highly productive. (para. 2)
It is very important to formulate norms when starting any team, group, or classroom
because, it develops coordination, priorities, commitment, respect, accountability, and success of
working effectively together. Boissier, Colombetti, Luck, Meyer, & Polleres, (2013) indicated,
norms, in contrast, can be regarded as what may be called agreed policies in a community.

(2.2 Norms section. para.1) Technology aides in viewing each group members documents and
working on the changes in the documents, while collaborating on the web, such as Google
Hangouts. Twitter and other social media, are tools for collaborating and finding other views on a
topic that one might post. 21st century tools such as Wikis, Twitter, OneNote, Prezi, and
web/video conferencing aids in influencing, improving, and appealing learners. The learner uses
these tools and the teacher facilitates and regulates, for the positive direction of the learner. The e
student can become as creative as the educator allows, with these interactions,
The next question asks, How does technology (Wikis, Google docs, OneNote, Prezi,
Twitter, web/video conferencing, etc.) contribute to the development of "21st Century" skills:
Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity? Twitter is a new, yet old tool
for the author of this paper. It was new because the author never used it before. It was old

REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS

because it worked somewhat like Facebook. The author used Facebook, but never considered
using social media as a tool for collaborating with educational stakeholders, or world-wide
answers to problems in a classroom. The discovery of so much information from others using
Twitter, such as Professional Learning Board, (2015), where one can post a question and
educators anywhere in the world can answer the question and give examples.
Wikis, Google docs, OneNote, Prezi, Twitter, web/video conferencing, were tools used in
this EDUC 638. The constant use of Google docs, Twitter, and web/video conferencing, opened
the eyes of the author to see clearly how these viable tools could be used in education. The tools
aided in collaborating and developing papers and communication of on the spot thoughts, during
web conferencing and texting. While on Hangouts, ones peers were developing critical thinking
skills to help implement a proposal that was astounding, and minds were creatively putting
together ideas and resolutions to make a proposal for a district technology initiative come
together.
Which of these skills, if any, did you use to complete the Collaborative
Technology Plan Project / the individual screencast assignment? The part that the author
of this paper worked on, was to research the Mississippi and ISTE standards, the goals of
the standards, how the Mississippi and ISTE standards were related and how to bring the
standards of The Sunshine Public District Schools up to the 21st century technology
standards. There were goals and strategies used to reach the pinnacle goal. The author of
this paper also worked on helping to edit the proposal by using Hangouts as the
audio/video source, Google Docs as a viewing and editing source, texting, for on the spot
questions and answers with the groups or individual response, texting for planning and

REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS

rescheduling collaboration meetings, and putting all of these tools and collaborations
together to form the proposal to view on Prezi as a video presentation and Camtasia as
the video and audio presentation. The author of this paper had to learn how to navigate
Prezi, by using YouTube and Prezis directions on how to move through the site and
insert words.
The instructor asked, Why is skilled communication important? One of the most
important life skills is communication. To be able to transmit information and receive it is the
degree of how professional and or good ones communication skills are. This starts as a child and
develops throughout life from ones professional life to ones private life. Even in ones private
life, one may meet someone that may aide on the progression of their professional life. To
improve the most important skill in life is to develop the quality of life.
The last question is one that the author of this paper has had to answer before. How can
you use the information gained in this course 1) in your current position? 2) in a school or
district leadership position? There are many reasons why people go back to school, but the
author of this paper is retired, but loves to continue the dream of a Doctorate degree. The author
is 67 years old and has a grandson that is four years old, which the author has started the four
year old with comprehending technology. There is also the church, where so many children
attend and there is a technology classroom that the author would like to give free classes for all
age groups. The 21st century is here, whether one believes it or not and it is an educators duty to
continue to give of their passion of learning and transferring the information that is learned, to
anyone that needs that information or will listen to it.

REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS

References
Boissier, O., Colombetti, M., Luck, M., Meyer, J., & Polleres, A. (2013). Norms, organizations,
and semantics. The Knowledge Engineering Review, 28(1), 107-116. Retrieved
from doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0269888912000367

Madigan, M. (1996). Interiors. Retrieved from search.proquest.comezprocy.liberty.edu. para 2.

Scheninger, E. (2014). Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times. Corwin, A
Sage Company. Thousand Oaks CA.

REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS

Tubin, D. & Edri, S. (2004). Teachers Planning and Implementing ICT. Based Practices
Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/docview/218750507/abstract?
accountid=12085 Introduction. para. 1.
Skibba, K, Moore, D. & Herman, J. (2013). Pedagogical and Technological Considerations
Designing Collaborative Learning Using Educational Technologies. Research and Best Practices
in Educational Technology Integration.
http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/ps/retrieve.do?
sgHitCountType=None&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=vic_liberty&resul
tListType=RELATED_DOCUMENT&contentSegment=9781466629899&isBOBIndex=t
rue&docId=GALE|CX3743300010#3
Professional Learning Board. (2015). Retrieved from
https://k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com/tlb/how-do-you-teach-students-to-useinfographics-in-the-classroom/