1.4 Diffusion of Innovations & Change
Candidates research, recommend, and implement strategies for initiating and sustaining technology innovations and for managing the change process in schools. (PSC 1.4/ISTE 1d)
Artifact: Coaching Journal
Reflection:
The artifact “Coaching Journal” was created in ITEC 7460 Professional Learning and Technology Innovation. This artifact detailed my work as a technology coach with a teacher at Kell High School. This journal encompasses several months during the spring 2014 semester. Throughout those months, I worked with the teacher, Ms. M. to review her teaching with technology profile and her adopter level survey. We also looked at resources such as Socrative, an online testing site, EverFi, online modules on various subjects such as internet safety, entrepreneurship, and government, and Sheppard software on maps.
The element of Diffusion of Innovation and Change under the Standard of Visionary Leadership was mastered with this artifact in several different ways. While working with Ms. M., I spent a number of hours researching various resources to recommend for her use. When several of those garnered no interest and it began to appear that Ms. M. could be rated as a “laggard” in technology innovations, I changed direction and began to explore her existing technology usage. As Ms. M. became more comfortable in our meetings, I recommended other strategies for implementation, such as the Sheppard software. As I came to understand Ms. M.’s reservations about technology innovation, I was able to better adapt our meetings such that initiating and sustaining technology innovation has now become a possibility.
While completing this artifact, I learned that researching and recommending strategies for technology innovation are not the end goals of a technology coach in a school. To fully understand Ms. M.’s needs, it was necessary for me to let go of my own preconceived notions on how this process should work and begin to fully listen to Ms. M.’s opinions on how technology should work in her classroom. Knight (2007) advocates a partnership approach to educational coaching, and I found that this is more difficult to achieve than I had at first imagined it to be. To improve this artifact, it would be necessary for me to devote more time to fully exploring Ms. M.’s needs instead of feeling that I had done enough of that by simply having her fill out two surveys and discussing those responses.
The work that went into creating this artifact will impact faculty development and, in turn, student learning in a number of ways. Ms. M. is now more comfortable with exploring technology innovations in which she can see a value. This will, in turn, impact student learning as students will gain additional avenues of exploration in Ms. M.’s subject matter. Further, as a coach, I have discovered my own weaknesses, and I am working to overcome them by fully listening to teachers’ needs before jumping in with my own ideas. This will impact faculty development as it will enable me to offer technology coaching in areas that are highly sought after by teachers.
Reference:
Knight, J. (2007). Instructional coaching: A partnership approach to improving instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
The artifact “Coaching Journal” was created in ITEC 7460 Professional Learning and Technology Innovation. This artifact detailed my work as a technology coach with a teacher at Kell High School. This journal encompasses several months during the spring 2014 semester. Throughout those months, I worked with the teacher, Ms. M. to review her teaching with technology profile and her adopter level survey. We also looked at resources such as Socrative, an online testing site, EverFi, online modules on various subjects such as internet safety, entrepreneurship, and government, and Sheppard software on maps.
The element of Diffusion of Innovation and Change under the Standard of Visionary Leadership was mastered with this artifact in several different ways. While working with Ms. M., I spent a number of hours researching various resources to recommend for her use. When several of those garnered no interest and it began to appear that Ms. M. could be rated as a “laggard” in technology innovations, I changed direction and began to explore her existing technology usage. As Ms. M. became more comfortable in our meetings, I recommended other strategies for implementation, such as the Sheppard software. As I came to understand Ms. M.’s reservations about technology innovation, I was able to better adapt our meetings such that initiating and sustaining technology innovation has now become a possibility.
While completing this artifact, I learned that researching and recommending strategies for technology innovation are not the end goals of a technology coach in a school. To fully understand Ms. M.’s needs, it was necessary for me to let go of my own preconceived notions on how this process should work and begin to fully listen to Ms. M.’s opinions on how technology should work in her classroom. Knight (2007) advocates a partnership approach to educational coaching, and I found that this is more difficult to achieve than I had at first imagined it to be. To improve this artifact, it would be necessary for me to devote more time to fully exploring Ms. M.’s needs instead of feeling that I had done enough of that by simply having her fill out two surveys and discussing those responses.
The work that went into creating this artifact will impact faculty development and, in turn, student learning in a number of ways. Ms. M. is now more comfortable with exploring technology innovations in which she can see a value. This will, in turn, impact student learning as students will gain additional avenues of exploration in Ms. M.’s subject matter. Further, as a coach, I have discovered my own weaknesses, and I am working to overcome them by fully listening to teachers’ needs before jumping in with my own ideas. This will impact faculty development as it will enable me to offer technology coaching in areas that are highly sought after by teachers.
Reference:
Knight, J. (2007). Instructional coaching: A partnership approach to improving instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.