Technology Integration: Effectiveness and Ramifications (Coursework Sample)

Technology Integration: Effectiveness and Ramifications
ED 7016
ED 7016 week 10 7 Assignment
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Introduction
This assignment is an extended discussion relating to the various aspects of technology integration, whereby several items are addressed. In particular, the legal and moral ramifications of technology integration are conferred in terms of the development of acceptable use policies for faculty, staff and students. In addition, the technology integration effectiveness is addressed, and one of the items addressed under this constitutes monitoring implementation of technology initiatives. The other item covered under technology integration effectiveness evaluation includes the establishment of key metrics to measure the degree to which technology integration has achieved intended purposes. Lastly, the issue of communication with all stakeholders to determine the degree to which technology integration meets stated goals is conferred under this area. In concluding the paper, some summative comments that relate to the school leader’s role in shepherding the school’s vision and in assessing and promoting a positive school culture designed to support the teaching-learning process are provided.
Legal and Ethical Ramifications of Technology Integration
In this section, the implications of the development of acceptable use policies for the students and for the faculty and the staff are conferred.
Acceptable Use Policies for Students
These policies are developed in order to provide the conduct codes, the guidelines and the procedures for utilizing information networks and technology systems. The policies serve as instruments of encouraging and enhancing the legitimate utilization of technology by fairly limiting its use and also by placing protective sanctions for the privilege abusers. The acceptable use of technology, as should appear in the students’ policies, includes inoffensive and polite language in both private and public messages, refraining from sending and retrieving confidential and obscene materials via the internet or social media, and using technology implements for educational purposes appropriately. Acceptable use also includes using copyrighted resources after the needed permission is granted, restraining third parties from obtaining other people’s passwords and private accounts, and using other people’s accounts and passwords after being granted the necessary permission. Other practices that constitute acceptable technology use include non-damaging and non-destructive use of equipment, maintaining password privacy, and refraining from technology utilization for illegal activities.
One of the implications of developing students’ technology acceptable use policies is that they reduce technology resource misuse, thus ensuring that the goals of technology integration are legitimately achieved. The core goal of technology integration is the provision of materials and resources that enrich curriculum and instruction, thus enhancing student learning and improving student performance, a fact that the Oak Park and River Forest High School (2012) concurs with. With the acceptable use policies, there is enhanced effectiveness in students’ communication, netiquette, ethical citation and utilization of internet materials, and resource sharing. The other implication of these policies is that they encourage the provision of adequate technological resources to users with authentic needs. By developing and reinforcing students’ acceptable use policies, students become more responsible with respect to technology use, and this presents them with other opportunities and privileges that make material and information sourcing easier. Other implications of these policies, according to Erie City School District (n.d) and George Brown College (2010), include augmented originality opportunities, increase fluency in research activities and outright student exposure. It is worth noting that policy violation may have stern consequences, which may include expulsions, suspensions, and other severe disciplinary actions and sanctions.
Faculty’s/Staff’s Acceptable Use Policies
These policies provide the codes of conduct, the procedures and the rules that the faculty and the staff should observe while using information facilities and technology networks and systems. This ensures that the school’s technology is legitimately utilized by the faculty and the staff, thus protecting the rights of all technology users. According to Stone Bank School District (2012), acceptable use with regard to the faculty and the staff includes using technology for career development, enrichment of curriculum and instruction, independent researches and studies, official staff work and professional development. Other practice regarded as acceptable use of technology by the faculty and the staff includes restricted high-grade self-exploration and legal private use that does not interfere with instructive processes. The Penn Charter School (2010) states that cyberspace harassment, plagiarism and theft, slandering and defamations, technology-instigated sexual assaults, and vandalisms as well as unauthorized access are some of the practices considered as unacceptable or inappropriate use of technology.
The development of the above policies has significant ramifications, one of which is the growth of a responsible staff community that utilizes technology accountably for the benefit of every student. The other implication is the protection of the rights and the privacy of students and other staff member through restricted unauthorized access, prohibited sexual harassment and verboten forgery, plagiarism and other academic frauds. Thirdly, the development of the policies for acceptable use for the faculty and the staff has the implication of netiquette promotion and fostered effectiveness in cyberspace resource management. Other implications of these policies include prolonged equipment service life due to protection against physical damage, reinforcement of accountability and responsiveness and positive culture development in the use of technology. It is vital to remark that the violation of these policies is treated as the desecration of school-wide staff policy and of professional responsibility, and this deserves penalties such as employment termination and include prosecution under the law as Wheaton College (2014) notes.
Evaluation of Technology Effectiveness
In this section, the items covered include technology initiatives monitoring, measurements of the degree of achievement of the purpose of technology integration and communication with the pertinent stakeholders.
Monitoring Implementation of Technology Initiatives
In monitoring the implementation of technology integration initiatives, the integrated assessment approach is adopted. According to Bowes, D'Onofrio and Marker (2006), the approach entails the use of self-appraisal tools such as checklists, impact-oriented questionnaires and educator surveys to evaluate and validly judge the teachers’ competence and skills in integrating technology to enrich curriculum and instruction. The integrated approach monitors the educators’ ability to guide students in using technology ethically and legally in communicating effectively, conducting research, learning collaboratively and solving problems as well as in creative designs. By applying this approach, it becomes easy to establish whether or not the core goal of advancing students’ learning is achieved, and this is through improved learning outcomes and teaching processes emanating from technology integration into curriculum and instruction.
Establishment of Key Metrics to Measure Technology Integration Success
To establish the key metrics to measure the degree to which technology integration has achieved intended purposes, the concept of validity becomes an essential concern. One of the key metrics to measure the success of technology integration is content validity, which demonstrates the educator’s ability to apply technologies that assist students in tapping knowledge and skill effectively in a given area of instruction and in diverse instructional contexts. It is also a metric that measures the teacher’s competence in engaging student partnership in productive information sourcing and processing by using technology implements in the learning environment. The second metric is the outcome validity, and this measures the success of technology integration from the perspective of students’ results. Lacey and Moffat (2012) affirm that it is possible to establish whether or not technology integration has added a sustainable value added to a system by comparing the outcomes, thus making purpose-oriented decisions. The last metric is the construct validity, which gauges the degree to which technology integration has achieved its intended purpose in terms of numerical correspondences between targeted valuation measures and associated assessments of proficiencies and skills (Bowes, D'Onofrio and Marker, 2006).
Communication with Stakeholders
Knutson (2014) says that efficient students’ lea...