EDLD 5398: The Light at the End of the Tunnel

EDLD 5398 - The course we look forward to for almost 18 months ... and now it's almost over! I have learned so very much and cannot wait to see what the future holds as we all step into the future as well-prepared school administrators. Here is the Week 5, Part 5 (FINAL!!!) assignment:

Web 2.0 Tools:

I am not in a classroom but continue to use technology on a daily basis and am always open to new methods of delivering information to stakeholders. This program with Lamar gave me several fresh ideas (some new and some reminders) such as: Prezi, blogs, YouTube for instructional purposes, Edmoto, drop box, and Google docs. I am reminded that my leadership skills as an Assistant Coordinator are very much intertwined with technology as my job is probably 85% or more technology based. Since the teachers I work with are located all across Texas, my main method of communication with them is through e-mail. I also use such Web 2.0 tools as Facebook, Twitter, and Wufoo to send and receive information about the grant program. I found this question to be so open-ended that it was almost impossible to narrow down the answer to just a few choices. Web 2.0 tools are expanding at such a fast pace that it is hard to remain current. As educators, we must collaborate and share with others the Web 2.0 tools that we find most helpful. Teachers should work together to keep an active and updated list of Web 2.0 tools relevant to the needs of their students.


Some of the Web 2.0 resources that I currently use
• Facebook – provide program information and updates for the ATC program
• Twitter – provide program information and updates for the ATC program, also used to follow people and organizations relevant to CTE in Texas
• Listservs – provide program information and updates for the ATC program
• Wufoo – allows teachers to register for training sessions and to submit credentials for prescreening approvals
• ATC website – provides program information to teachers, interactive because teachers can complete Part I of the training process in an online in-service session, teachers can access their approval “certificate,” and districts can review reports of teachers with specific course approvals
• Blogs – used for the Lamar program

EDLD 5398 Web Conferences:

Since this program has been 100% online, I have found the web conferences serve as a virtual classroom where we (the students) can get answers to our questions from the course professors. I attended several web conferences for this course (and throughout the entire program) and found all to be extremely helpful. They were very informative and served to answer many course-related questions that we may have had about the assignments. Since this course was being updated at the start date, the syllabus was updated three or four times during the first week of the course. Thankfully, the web conferences helped to alleviate my frustrations and to clarify issues about the assignments such as: which assignments were due in which week and were we supposed to post them in Epic or TK20. Whether the web conferences are required or not, I feel it is to the Lamar student’s advantage to attend at least one or two per course to get a sense of their classmates’ viewpoints about the subject matter of the course and the program in general.