Candidates collaborate with teachers and administrators to select and evaluate digital tools and resources for accuracy, suitability, and compatibility with the school technology infrastructure. (PSC 3.6/ISTE 3f)
Reflection: For my emerging technologies evaluation project, I evaluated the Microsoft Surface Pro. Throughout my evaluation of this emerging technology, I researched the features of the Surface Pro and listed many ideas as to how implementing this tool would benefit classrooms at our school. To further support my claim, I also included video clips demonstrating the functionality of the Surface Pro. I also discussed how the implementation of this tool supported Carroll County School’s vision for 21st century technology implementations. I listed and detailed several benefits of utilizing the Surface Pro in the STEM lab and classrooms and also identified learning targets through the utilization of this tool as well as the equipment needed, Technical Support required, challenges that we would potentially face through the implementation, the cost, potential funding sources, and how personalized learning and differentiation strategies could be implemented through the utilization of Surface Pros in classrooms. This artifact demonstrates mastery of standard 3.6 because by creating and sharing this presentation with the school leadership team, instructional coach, and school administrators, I was able to collaborate and communicate with them and discuss how this tool would benefit both our teachers and our students. We discussed many ways that student learning goals could be met, as well as the barriers that we would face through the implementation of this product. We were able to devise goals for the implementation of the Surface Pro, determine which grade levels and subject areas would benefit the most from implementing them, and ultimately decide how this device could be utilized to address the action steps devised within the technology improvement section of our school’s improvement plan. Following these discussions, we constructed a list of benefits that the students would receive from the implementing the Surface Pro and which grade levels and classrooms would benefit the most from implementing the Surface Pro into their lessons. We also constructed a list of potential barriers that we could encounter from implementing the Surface Pro and possible actions steps we could take to address the barriers. We determined that after viewing the content of my presentation and discussing the benefits and barriers, that we would purchase ten devices and pilot them in a fourth-grade classroom to determine if they would enhance learning experiences for the students as well as enhance technology utilization skills. Teacher and student observations would be discussed at the end of the school year regarding the effectiveness and a determination would be made amongst the fourth-grade teacher implementing the Surface Pros, administration, and the instructional coach if more devices would be purchased the following year. Throughout the creation of this presentation, I learned how important it is to thoroughly research a product before proposing a purchase of the tool or resource to administrators and colleagues. While choosing an emerging technology to research, I learned that many tools and resources may look like they are beneficial and useful, but in reality, they are not useful for the elementary classroom setting. As with any digital tool, to avoid undue stress and ensure that instructional time is being maximized, I learned that digital tools should be thoroughly investigated and researched to ensure they will be beneficial to reaching learning goals of students, easy to implement and teach, and easily accessible for the students. If the Surface Pro is purchased at our school, the technology skills the students will both gain and refine through using this product to reach learning goals and targets directly aligns to the technology improvement section of our school’s improvement plan. The impact can be assessed by the student’s products at the conclusion of the project. The impact can also be assessed by teacher and administrator feedback and commentary following the presentation.