Laurie RobertsMay 29, 2009ITEC 8530Article Summaries

Grimes, R., & Smith, S. (2004, January). The Impact of Standards- Based Technology

Professional Development. T.H.E. Journal. Retrieved May 29, 2009, from

http://www.thejournal.com/articles/16588

Research Article

Summary

This article started off by explaining the background of the study that they

completed. They wanted to see how much of an effect on the classroom that technology

standards- based professional development would have. They used Bloomsfield’s four

stages of technology as criteria to go by. They then chose 10 classroom teachers to be

technology coaches. The coaches had some requirements that they had to complete. One

of the requirements was that they had to attend workshops. When this first began, the

teachers were asked to complete a survey. When it was over, they were asked to

complete the survey again. The results were that after implementing technology

professional development, a gain was shown in the usage and implementation of the

NETS by district level teachers.

Critique

I felt like this was a beneficial article. This would help us all come up with ways

that we can learn about technology and then share ideas about implementing it into the

classroom. I feel that any media specialist or technology specialist would benefit from

reading this article because it gives a background of professional development and shows

results of the professional development being implemented. I also felt that it was very

interesting and portrayed some important information. I think that this was a useful article

because it set the guidelines for ways to go about providing more technology based

professional development. I think that it was neat to actually see a real school being

used and this study being proven true because it is something that would benefit us all.

However, I did feel that they could have gone into more dept on that different ways that

presented professional development. From a future media specialist’s perspective, this

gave me an idea of how to educate teachers on ways to integrate technology into the

classroom.

Anderson, R. E., & Dexter, S. (2005). School Technology Leadership: An Emperical

Investigation of Prevalence and Effect. Educational Adminstration Quarterly, 41,

49-82.

Research Article

Summary

This article was about how important leadership is when referring to educational

technology. It stated that good leadership contributed to the success of the school

technology program. There was a huge emphasis in this article on the importance of the

principal being knowledgeable of technology and being up-to-date on the latest

technology. The article stated how leaders in a school should have a vision of educational

technology. The other thing that was touched on was how the technology leaders should

be working towards creating environments that support collaboration and higher level

thinking. This article did include a model of technology leadership. There was a section

that included the results of the technology leadership survey which included the eight

technology leadership components and characteristics. They reported about how school

demographics may lead to differences in technology leadership. The results were that

smaller schools may not have as much leadership or technology because they are

informal. They also reported about private schools saying that they did not have as much

technology leadership due to the support of the public. Many indicators were included

that they used to determine if the schools contained technology leadership and if not,

why. The ending results were that technology leaders need to be actively involved in

technology.

Critique

I was very impressed with this article. I think that this article would be good for

anyone involved in administration at schools or on the leadership team in schools. I think

that this article does a good job of explaining whether or not a school has good

technology leadership and if not, the factors that go into determining it. I also liked that

they mention the fact that demographics play a role in this. This is something that most

people never mention, but in my opinion, matters. I think that if there is no support, then

the technology and funding is not there. I really liked that they mentioned that leaders

needed a vision and that anyone involved in technology needed to work towards creating

environments that involved collaboration and higher- level thinking. The main thing that

I saw wrong with this paper was that it was worded weird. I think that it should have

talked more about how the presence of good technology leadership skills and the lack of

these skills contributed to the success or failure of the programs.

Anderson, M. A. (2002, November 1). The Value of Staff Development. School Library

Journal. Retrieved May 29, 2009, from

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=articleprint&articleid=ca2

54380

Professional Practice

Summary

This article was about the importance of staff development. It stated that staff

development was one of the newest responsibilities of technology specialist. It also

stated that if technology specialist present information for staff development, they are

more likely to be viewed as leaders. They also made the point that because this society is

so involved with technology, we really need to grasp these concepts so that we can use

them to catch their attention and learn. It listed 5 reasons why media specialist/

technology specialist should be involved in staff development.

Critique

This was another one of my favorite articles. I liked it because I am a firm

believer that this is the main way to reach teachers and to be viewed as a leader. They

will view you as someone that they can come to and feel comfortable asking for help

when they run into a problem. It listed some very good reasons to become involved in

staff development. One of the reasons was that it is a way to connect technology and

curriculum. The other one was that is has a positive impact of instructional strategies and

students learning. The reason behind this was because teachers will become eager to

learn about technology when they what it does and the impact that it has on student’s

learning. I have really learned that this year with the smart boards. I have been amazed

at how much more eager the students are to learn. I enjoyed reading this article and felt

that all of the reasons were fully supported and explained. I did not find any problems

with this paper or the content.

Hofer, M., Chamberlin, B., & Scot, T. (2004, October). T.H.E. Journal. Fulfilling The

Need for a Technology Integration Specialist. Retrieved May 29, 2009, from

http://www.thejournal.com/the/printarticle/?id=16981

Professional Practice

Summary

This article began by listing all of the names that a technology specialist goes by.

It then went into the current role of a technology coordinator. It then went into the

reasons that the schools need a technology coordinator. It listed how the usage of

computers for instruction had increased from 1990 to now. It also talked about how their

role had changed since then. It brought up a good point about how we need to make sure

that computers are being used to their full potential. Then the article went into the role of

the technology specialist.

Critique

Overall this was a pretty good article. I think that this would be good for the

teachers, administrators, media specialist, and technology specialist to read. I think that it

gives a good basis of what their job description is and how it is changing. It also listed a

sample of a job description for cities wanting to employ a technology specialist. This

would not only be good for systems to use when hiring a technology specialist, but also

for the schools to use as a reference for the role and responsibility of the school

technology specialist. The main thing that I thought could be improved about this article

was that they could have gone into more dept in the actual article about the current role of

a technology specialist. I also thought that it would have been good if they would have

included a section listing reasons and persuading schools to open a position for a school

technology specialist if there was not already one at their school,

Lin, F. L., & Chiou, G. F. (2008). Support-Seeking and Support-Giving Relationships of

School Technology Coordinators. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39,

922-927.

Professional Practice

Summary

This article was all about the roles of a technology coordinator. They did a study

about the environment of the workplace and who do people turn to for support. It also

brought up the good point about their relationship with their colleagues would explain a

lot about whether or not people come to them for help and if not, why. The main goal in

this article was to figure out if social networks had played a role in hindering operations.

Critique

I think that this was a very interesting article because in my opinion, it goes along

with collaboration. As everyone knows, before you can successfully collaborate with

someone, a relationship has to be established. Teachers are not going to be open to

collaborating with the media specialist or technology coordinator if they have only

spoken to him/her once. It also stated that the school technology coordinator would go to

someone higher when running into a problem with technology as opposed to asking a

colleague. I thought that this article would have been better if it would have had the

graphs all on one page and would have written all of the information down without

including all of the variables. I think that it made it hard to read. Some of the

information was very spread out. I also think that this would have been a better article

had they included more information about this topic.

Anderson, M. A. (2004, December 1). Does Your Tech Program Measure Up? School

Library Journal. Retrieved May 29, 2009, from

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=articleprint&articleid=ca482543

Professional Practice

Summary

This was an article that explained three different tools that could be used to assess

you technology program. The first one that they mentioned was Profilerpro. You can

develop you own questions to create a survey that will meet the needs of your school.

Then it talked about the in’s and out’s of this program. The next one that they mentioned

was Taglit. This includes six surveys that measure technology skills and how people use

them. This will give you a better understanding of the use of technology at your school.

The last one mentioned was the STAR chart. This is a survey that you take that will give

you instant feedback on the readiness of your program. The questions ask for this one

will definitely give you feedback on what areas your school needs to work on.

Critique

I thought that this was a good article because it was very informing on these

surveys. I think that I liked that STAR chart the best. It was neat because you could also

measure how the parents used technology and thought it was used in the classroom. This

would also be a good way of measuring how much the parents/children use technology at

home. I enjoyed reading this article and familiarizing myself with these tools, because in

turn, I used them to see what they were like. At the end of the article, I liked how they

set up the charts so that you could easily see which one would benefit you the most. I

think that media and technology specialist would love getting their hands on these

because the surveys are already there. The only thing that I would have changed would

have been that instead of talking so much about each tool, they would have explained a

good and bad technology program so that you could have had something to compare

yours with as opposed to just answering some questions.

Staples, A., & Pugach, M. C. (2005). Rethinking the Technology Integration Challenge:

Cases from Three Urban Elementary Schools. Journal of Research Technology in

Education, 37, 285-311.

Research Article

Summary

This article was a study that was done using elementary schools and how much

they integrated technology. They also did a study on how serious that they principal and

teachers were about technology. The article began by telling how the use and amount of

computers in the classroom has increased since 1990’s. They also gave me reasons why

technology could or was not incorporated such as, time for professional development and

lack of planning. The suggestions that were offered to fix this was by providing more

staff development and ways to use technology that aligned with the curriculum. They

also took into the account and mentioned funding. Isn’t money always a problem? As a

way to ensure that technology would be integrated into the curriculum, each school

created technology goals that they could work towards to ensure that they had a vision.

The teachers felt that the best way to learn to use technology was to provide technology

professional development. The study found that at first, the computers and technology

was used as a way to reward students and keep them busy. After the professional

development, the teachers began to use technology as whole group instruction and

integrate it into the curriculum.

Critique

I really enjoyed reading this article. I think that the entire staff at a school would

benefit from reading this because it shows how real schools learned to integrate

technology into the curriculum after attending staff development that offered ideas. I

think that it was neat to see how some teachers used technology then, and how teachers

use it now. I also liked how they developed goals and took one step at a time to work on

integrating it. I also like that they brought up the point about time, because that and

money are always everyone’s problem. I think that with the installation of smart boards

in our classroom this year, many of the teachers have found ways to use it that are aligned

with the GPS Standards, which are important. I have really seen how excited that the

teachers are at creating flip charts and really trying to come up with ways for technology

to be used in each lesson, each day.

King, K. P. (2005). Educational Technology Professional Development as

Transformative Learning Opportunities. Computers and Education, 41, 49-82.

Research Article

Summary

This article started off by discussing the attributes of a technology leader that

makes a technology program successful. I think that this is the main drive behind a

successful program. For this study, they used the NETS standards to assess the schools.

They did state that the principal should know how to operate all technology. I think this

is important so that when someone has a question or concern, he/she will be able to relate

to it. They also stated that time was needed to discuss ways in which we use technology.

This will help with us finding new ways to integrate it into the curriculum. It mentioned

the many things that we should consider all of the risk when managing technology. It

was stated that over the years the requirements for the use technology has become more

specific. This article also reviewed other literature and reported that they did not focus a

lot on leadership being the backbone of a successful technology program. In an effort to

assess schools, they came up with indicators that they used. This mainly included

whether or not they used technology in the ways listed. They then reported on the

policies that we found in the United States schools. They did a study to figure out if

technology leadership was different in from school to school. In order to determine this,

they used four indicators. They looked at the level, schools SES, and whether the school

was public/ private school. In my opinion, all of this matters. The main finding of this

research was that we need to improve our technology leadership. The other thing that was

determined is that everyone in the school needs to become involved in technology

leadership.

Critique

I thought that overall this article did a good job at presenting the information. I

liked how it explained it all. I think that this was a very good study because many times,

we have stated that the media and technology program is only as good as the person

managing it. This is true for anything that has to do with education. I also liked how

they used indicators and fully described them, so that even someone who did not

understand technology could understand this article. Again, I think that this would be a

article that anyone at schools should read because it was a study about technology and

technology leadership. I definitely agreed with them that we need to make sure that we

possess the leadership skills necessary to run these programs. I also thought that they

made a good point about the principals and how important it is for them to be involved in

technology. A principal’s job is getting more advanced each year, and in order to run a

good school, I feel that they need to be involved in all aspects and areas of that school.