1.1 Technology Assessments

The Technology Applications Inventory from TEA is divided into 4 domains, foundations, information acquisition, problem solving, and communication. The questions in these domains accurately reflect technology knowledge needed by educators. However, I believe the simple “Yes or No” responses limit the functionality of this survey. The first question provides a perfect example of why. “I understand the difference between operating systems.” While I do understand the difference between Mac OS, Windows, and Linux, I am unfamiliar with the newer open source operating systems. Also, I understand the basic differences, but I am just now using Windows Vista and have not upgraded to Windows 7, so I don’t completely understand its capabilities. The same is true with Mac OS. I am fluent with 10, but I have only used Leopard sparingly. It is difficult to answer this and many questions with a simple yes or no. I believe a likert scale would provide more accurate results. Our district has its own technology measurement rubric. Teachers and administrators complete the rubric annually to analyze their current technology levels. The questions and strands are similar with the Technology Applications Inventory, probably because both are based on ISTE’s NETS-T Standards. With only 12 “No” answers out of 58 total questions, I agree with the assessment that I am fairly fluent in the use of technology. The area of weakness exposed in this survey is problem solving. I found this strange since I feel like I am problem solving technology issues for my campus on a daily basis. In reflection, maybe my campus is too dependent on me to solve the problems; therefore as a whole, our problems solving skills are weak.

The SETDA, like the Technology Applications Inventory, contains yes or no responses and is based on the NETS. It is much more detailed, but is not organized as well. After completing the survey, I found myself wondering, “What do I do with this now?” I completed the Building Survey. I was able to answer many of the specific questions about skills and grade levels because our district has created a “Teachers Guide for the TA TEKS.” The TA TEKS are written for grade level groups (K-2, 3-5, 6-9). Our guide breaks them down into specifics for each grade level and identifies which skills are new and which are reinforced. The questions about the amount of use for students and teachers were insightful for me. I might share some of these with my staff. Often I hear the excuse, “our students don’t have computers at home.” My response is “Ask them if they have a Facebook, Myspace, or other social network type account.” My point is, “If they want to use the computer for something, they will find a way to access it.” The questions that provoked the most reflection for me were about collecting data to measure if technology is impacting student achievement in core content areas. We measure the technology knowledge and skills of our students in 8th grade. Not before, not after and not in relation to their knowledge in core courses. This is definitely something I will investigate further.