Lenker+Final+Reflection

TamI Lenker Dr. Smyth EDET 650 4 December 2010

= Final Reflection =

In school we often learn things that we will never actually use in the real world. We often feel as though we are creating material for a professor and no one else. While I have learned many useful skills in the Educational Technology program, I have never created a project that I honestly saw put to use. In my first semester, I created a tutorial site for people who were relocating to Germany. I don't know that anyone aside from our classmates has ever actually seen that tutorial. Another semester, I worked on a project about incorporating iPods in the classroom. We wrote up a theoretical implementation plan, and for feedback we sent our website out to friends, colleagues, and classmates who probably thought, "Oh great, another one of those projects to evaluate." I doubt anyone has looked at that site since it was created. With this internship project on piloting Google Apps for Schools at Blythewood High School, I feel, for the first time, that I have created something that might actually be of use in the real world. For the first time, I could see the real-life ADDIE process from start to finish (not that I feel finished) and I felt like I applied what I have learned in this graduate program.

Lessons Learned
My project involved introducing the Google Apps for Education suite at my high school. As I wanted the project to have real world application, I tied it with our district writing initiative. I have been using Google Docs since I began the Ed Tech program, and I felt comfortable with it. I also helped with a group project on the Docs applications in my first year in the program. I thought that I could easily jump right in, but I realized that Google Apps have changed quite a bit and that I had to look at the tools in different ways as I would be teaching teachers and students how to use them. The first lesson that I learned is that I have to know what I am going to teach and I have to know it well. I am generally good at troubleshooting programs on my own, and I can usually muddle around and figure out how to solve problems with software, but in order to train others I have to be able to do more than muddle, I have to be able to streamline the process so that the learners do not become frustrated. Not everyone has the time or ability to troubleshoot his or her own problems, so as a trainer I have to anticipate and teach the shortest route to an end. I learned through the ADDIE process that I had to present the same information in several different ways to accommodate different types of learners. I presented the same information in face-to-face instruction, written instruction, and video instruction. The second lesson that I learned is that all teenagers are not digital natives. William Gibson's quote, "The future is already here – it's just not very evenly distributed" is certainly true when it comes to teenagers. With my own children and with the majority of my honors level students, technology seems to come easy. They intuitively know how to troubleshoot. I anticipated having to support the teachers at every turn, but I did not anticipate how difficult Google Apps would be for some of the students. There were several students that I have been working with that do not even know basic word processing skills. I was amazed at how many students were double-spacing their papers by hitting the return button twice at the end of each line. Some students did not know how to copy and paste and some did not know the basics of email use. I think the problem is that many do not own computers in their homes and those students that do own computers use them for gaming and nothing else. It was interesting that many were much better at navigating the Internet on their phones than they were on a laptop. I think this also says a lot about how much we are using technology in the classrooms at Blythewood High.

Difficulties
While I feel that this internship was a success, I did have many difficulties along the way. During the first half of the semester, the greatest obstacle was using Excel to upload the 2000 plus student names. Our ITS was unsure of how to do it, and he did not have the time to figure it out so it was up to me to attempt it. I procrastinated the job for as long as I could because I have never used Excel for more than a very simple list of names. I did not want to start training teachers until I could show them the actual accounts up and running, so I finally had to get the job done. I spent days trying to figure ways to merge columns of names into the designated email addresses. The addresses begin with the year the student graduates, followed by the first initial, and then the last name. Finally, I called an accountant friend, and she helped me to get the formula right. We formatted the addresses, names, and passwords and then I went through each address to check for duplicates. Finally, I saved the spreadsheets in CSV form and uploaded them. The upload went quickly and all addresses were working the next day. The second obstacle I encountered was finding the correct vehicle for training. Initially, I decided to use Ning to provide training. I use Ning for my classes and the Facebook-feel has been successful with my students. They enjoy the interactivity and the ease of navigation. For the Google Apps training, I wanted a place to store all my materials and I also wanted a place that teachers could add their own lessons and collaborate with other teachers. The problem with Ning is that it is no longer free. I began to search for alternatives and found some good ones, but I was hesitant to place the materials on a site that I was unsure of. It has been my experience that Web 2.0 sites come and go, and I expect this material to be around for the long term. The other issue was that some teachers found the social network format difficult to navigate. I did not want to train teachers to use the site on top of training them to use Google Apps so I opted for the more straightforward Wikispaces site. Wikispaces is not blocked in our district, it allows collaboration, and it allows video and file embedding. I have been happy with the site, as it is easy to edit and organize the materials. Currently, I am working to get teachers and students to visit the site on their own. When I first began to get questions about Google Apps I sent teachers materials that I had in my files rather than sending them to the wiki itself. I have learned that this defeats the purpose of creating the wiki in the first place. In my final teacher survey, I asked teachers if they were using the Wiki. Of the responses, I was happy to find that everyone knew about it but only 22% of the teachers said they use it regularly and 44% only used it on a limited basis. When I started the wiki I geared it exclusively for English teachers to use. As the semester has progressed some of the pages have changed to more student-centered resources. Now, I am beginning to wonder if it would have been better to gear the entire site to students.

Successes
This is the first time I have had my own classes to teach in many years. I stopped teaching full time in 1998 and while I have spent some time in the classroom over the years as a long-term substitute or as an evaluator, August was my first time back as a real teacher. I struggled to balance feeling like a first year teacher again with my obligations as a mother of four, and as a graduate student. A few weeks ago, our principal knocked on the door to my classroom, and I was nervous to see that he also had our house lead teacher and guidance counselor in tow. My first reaction was, "Oh great, they are going to bust me for letting my kids use their iPods and cell phones in class," but I was pleased to discover that I had been named teacher of the month. I was elected based on the contributions I have made to the school through the use of technology. In other words, it was all due to this internship. This little success, although very small, made me happiest because it showed me that the word was spreading about the success of Google Apps. I often hear new technology condemned as just another thing to have to worry about, but I have heard the opposite about Google Apps. Very "old school" teachers have been giving it a thumbs up, and the positive reactions are slowly but surely spreading. There is one teacher in particular who is never happy with anything. (Eeyore looks like an optimist next to this guy.) He is nearing retirement and is a bit of a legend for his ability to teach writing. I'll call this teacher Mr. E. Mr. E happens to be a friend, and I think that only as a friend he agreed to try Google Apps. He came to my training and decided to try it out with his classes. For the first week, he hated it and I think he pretty well slandered the entire thing as a big pain in the neck. However, he had great questions and helped me see ways that I could improve the instructional materials. He told his students to figure things out on their own and it was sink or swim for those kids. I had a few kids from his classes come to me with problems, and it was nice to be able to direct them to student mentors that were trained and ready to go. After that difficult first week, Mr. E and his students were very happy. I created groups for his classes so that they could email and collaborate with each other using one address and some of his students have offered to work as student helpers. I feel most successful with the students. So many came into this endeavor with no prior knowledge, and they have taken it and run. I had thirty-three students respond to my final analysis survey. Of those thirty-three, fourteen said they would be willing to help teachers and students learn to use Google Apps. Ninety-four percent of the students rated their level of comfort with Google Apps as a 3 or above (with 5 being the highest rating). These students and the handful or teachers that are piloting this program are the ones that will make this program take off. We have only had the email up and running since October and Docs overall usage in the past month has climbed from 150 to nearly 500 users.

Looking Forward
Overall, I feel very good about this internship and I am looking forward to continuing to develop this project even when it is not a requirement for a class. As I have been typing this essay I have had to stop and take notes on things that I want to do over the winter break. I plan on trying to win over a few more teachers before the new semester begins. I also would like to offer a class for parents so they can see what we are doing with Google Apps. This entire experience has allowed me to use nearly everything that I have learned in the Ed Tech program. I see the truly cyclical process of developing instruction. It is a constant process of evaluating and developing and then evaluating and designing again. As I am dealing with a Web 2.0 application I understand that I must stay current as the software is constantly changing. Just two weeks ago, Google rolled out the ability to edit Google Docs on a smart phone, and two nights ago it saved me some time. I forgot to create a rubric for the research paper outline. I was already in bed after a very long day, and I did not want to get up and turn on my computer. I picked up my iPhone and created a rubric in Google Docs. On my follow up survey this week, I asked if teachers and students were using Google Apps on their handhelds. Only seven out of forty nine surveyed had used these capabilities. In the future, I hope to continue to train teachers and students. Google Docs is an excellent way to teach students to write better and it is a way to level the playing field and provide equity among students. It is free and available anywhere there is Internet.

Works Cited William Gibson." Wikiquote. Web. 03 Dec. 2010. .