Relevant Standards

North Carolina Professional Technology Facilitator Standards

Standard 1.1: Instructional Technology Facilitators demonstrate 21st century leadership in the school.

Standard 1.2: Instructional Technology Facilitators lead an instructional technology program that supports 21st century teaching and learning.

Standard 1.3: Instructional Technology Facilitators advocate for effective instructional technology programs.

Standard 1.5: Instructional Technology Facilitators demonstrate high ethical standards.

Standard 2.2: Instructional Technology Facilitators know the content appropriate to their teaching specialty.

Standard 4.1: Instructional Technology Facilitators establish a participatory learning environment that facilitates collaboration among all members of the learning community and honors diversity.

Standard 5.3: Instructional Technology Facilitators function effectively in a complex, dynamic environment.

(NC Board of Education, 2012)

Requirements of the Artifact

    A very unique artifact, especially compared to other EDTC courses, this took me through the ins and outs of technology leadership, policies, and management considerations.  Through this project, I developed mission and vision statements, pondered the creation of a tech advisory committee, and crafted a plethora of policies and plans for the management and implementation of technology in a school (Bullock, 2018b).

Connecting the Artifact and Standards

    This artifact had me to envision placing myself squarely in the instructional technology facilitator (ITF) role within a school, considering numerous aspects of what the job would entail.  Within this artifact, I was responsible for designing appropriate professional development for my colleagues, from the ITF perspective, as well as to be proactive in managing how specific devices and infrastructure within the school would be to end users.  In addition, it was interesting to consider how the ITF would interact with other stakeholders within the school setting (such as administrators, teachers, and even community members) (Bullock, 2018b).

    A rather exciting addition to the TPPM is the inclusion of my original work that assists teachers in selecting appropriate digital resources.  As this task is a part of the Program Evaluation Plan within the artifact, I have included the ADTER tool as a resource to meet this need (Bullock, 2018a).

Potential Improvements to the Artifact

    Although limited by time constraints of the course, I would have liked to also devise an alternative TPPM from the perspective of a school district.  I realize some aspects would be similar, but certainly others would be different.  For one, for an instructional technologist at the district level, you are dealing with a much larger number of peers with interactions among more varied departments.  A particular area I would like to include more information about is the ITF’s interactions with technology support staff.  An example I can relate is with the protection of employee personal data.  Data theft is, for obvious reasons, a major concern where employee or student information intersects with technology (Robinson, Green, Brown, & ISTE, 2010).  I would prefer to include a policy on how and when the ITF collaborates with tech support to ensure the security of data within systems such as an LMS.

Career Goals and the Artifact

    I am a tad sad that this was the only major opportunity to delve into the technology policy and management aspect of the ITF role, but I am especially grateful for it at the same time.  It is an understatement to say that having the chance to create my own policies and plans (as a real ITF would) is extremely helpful to knowing both the expectations of such a role, as well as receiving feedback as I prepared such a plan myself.  I am thankful for the multiple opportunities I had earlier in the progression of my degree with instructional design, and, if anything, I would prefer a follow-up course to EDTC 6149 to continue the studies relevant to this course (is EDTC 6159 an available course identifier?).

References

Bullock, D. W. (2018a). ADTER [JPG].

Bullock, D. W. (2018b). Technology Policy and Procedures Manual.  Unpublished manuscript, East Carolina University.

NC Board of Education. (2012). North Carolina Professional Technology Facilitator Standards. Retrieved from http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/effectiveness-model/ncees/standards/prof-tech-facilitate-standards.pdf

Robinson, L., Green, T.D., Brown, A., & ISTE. (2010). Security vs access: balancing safety and productivity in the digital school. Retrieved from http://jproxy.lib.ecu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=476098&site=ehost-live