My+Beliefs+About+the+Use+of+Educational+Technology+to+Support+Teaching+and+Learning++By+Matthew+D.+Engel


 * __My Beliefs About the Use of Educational Technology to Support Teaching and Learning__**

By Matthew D. Engel


 * Context (Location):** Henrico High School, 302 Azalea Avenue, Henrico, VA 23227

My beliefs about the use of educational technology to support teaching and learning come from my experience teaching the last three years at Henrico High School. Henrico is located in what is considered the “East End” of the county. For years, HHS has had a reputation as a bad school around the county due to a number of highly publicized [|negative events]. Henrico has a 60% African American population and the majority of non-African American students are brought to the school from out of zone by the two magnet programs, the Center for the Arts and the [|International Baccalaureate Program]. Overall we have [|over two thousand students] in the 9th through 12th grade.

Despite the county’s drive for equity, a quick look at Henrico will quickly show that equity means different things for East Enders and West Enders in the county. A strong belief held by many parents of Henrico High students is that this is very much a black and white issue. Not helping this is the way the campus is divided, not by grade level but by program precedence.

Let's take a look at what our Henrico High neighborhoods look like:








 * Context (Infrastructure and Dispersion of Resources):**

Currently, resources are supposedly accessible to all students of Henrico but there seems a discrepancy. The IB Program and the Center for the Arts, as well as their classrooms and resources are in theory for all to use but are used specifically by these programs 90% of the time.

Take a look at the physical setup of Henrico High and how it affects technology use.







Important to note, we do have some good facilities in place. Some teachers also go out of their way to bring technology into the classroom, going so far as to spend their own money to buy and install equipment, but that is the exception rather than the rule.






 * [|My Vision (Instructional Use):]**


 * My Vision (Student Access):**

Student access should be monitored closely. Teachers should have filter override privileges once properly trained in recognizing not only websites but malicious and malware websites**.** One of the easiest ways to monitor student use is to have students simply put away their computers when not in use. Another vision I have is to lower the student to teacher ratio to allow for a more effective monitoring system. Mobile computing would take a back seat until a single platform is introduced by the county.


 * My Vision (Internet Safety):**



My plan to implement internet safety includes the following steps:
 * 1) Educate parents on cyber-bullying, inappropriate computer use, malicious software threats, on-line exploitation and identity theft through on-line tutorials posted to the school website and workshops offered during back-to-school night and parent teacher conference night.
 * 2) Educate students through the mandate of a 21st century skills course for all students of the school. This course would teach the students the basics of word processing, navigating the web and how to use the web in a safe manner.
 * 3) The ITRT (or computer guy) would have direct control over the ability to approve or disapprove a teacher's request to unblock a website.
 * 4) Screen captures that catch a student misusing a computer purposefully or in a negligent manner would result in a parent/administrator conference for the first warning. The second warning would result in suspension.
 * 5) I would also abide by the purposefully vague definition of computer misuse in the Henrico County Code of Student Conduct to use my staff's personal judgment as to what was appropriate based on the level of their students and the content of their course.
 * 6) Those who would try to victimize my students would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law or code of conduct, whichever was appropriate.


 * My Vision (Professional Development):**

My plan for professional development would be to:
 * Make it relevant for the teacher by showing examples of how technology can increase student involvement.
 * Make it required by coordinating with the HCPS Staff Development to offer specific training lessons. Considering all of our teachers are issued laptops, they would be required to log in to professional development sites and either register for courses using ERO or actually watch videos and tutorials online.
 * Make it ongoing by encouraging teachers and providing feedback after both formal and informal observations.
 * Make it collaborative by giving teachers and specific departments different learning tasks that they can work on together to teach to the rest of the staff at monthly staff meetings.
 * Make it make sense by constantly finding small ways to link it to the outside world so that teachers realize that not only are they preparing students in their content areas, but in 21st century workforce skills.
 * Make it financially rewarding by allowing stipends where possible.






 * [|My Vision (Funding):]**


 * Thank you for visiting my final project for ADMS647 with Dr. Richardson. I hope I've stated my beliefs in a way that makes sense to you. I believe in equity in technology as well as all other educational resources so that would be one of my major drives during my tenure at HHS. I would also strive to change our culture to one that sees the benefit of a technologically enhanced curriculum by making it relevant to all stakeholders.**


 * Thank you,**
 * Matthew D. Engel**