Reflections+on+Course-Embedded+Assignments+for+EDLD+5362

Taking this course taught me that decisions about information systems will always influence a school or district technology plan. The campus instructional technologist, along with other important decision-makers must be able to discover and select which information systems best fit their educational environments. We must be capable of identifying ways to amalgamate this technology into academic achievement, curriculum management, and educational leadership. The first assignment of this course called for interviewing a veteran teacher about how practices have changed due to the advent of the internet. In this sense, this assignment made me realize the many ways in which cyberspace has changed education. Before the internet, worksheets were copied from books, and lesson plans were filed and kept inside a cabinet. Grades were entered in a brown, specially-ruled book where grade averaging was done student by student using a calculator; and attendance data were collected on paper every morning. Today, all this information is stored and processed using a computer and the school’s intranet. Lesson plans are stored in a shared disk, which in turn can be accessed anytime, anywhere. The internet has also impacted district economics due to the cost of operating multiple information systems; as well as architectural decisions in consideration of the design of media-rich, internet-ready classrooms for the future. Nevertheless, despite its growing application and inclusion in academia, Data automation management should not be seen as a universal solution to all needs. It is not feasible to design or make learned decisions about viable systems of information without first supplying faculty with quality professional development and implementation of a genuine data-driven culture. Further integration of information systems will generate two new criteria under which a school or district may be scrutinized: the level of electronic collaboration among colleagues, and a school or district’s physical capacity to store and process information. Perhaps we have not gotten to a point where we can clearly define a measure for these criteria; however, I would not rule out that in the future the power of a district’s computers may become determinant in its evaluation.