Personal Technology 1

Running head: PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY SWOT ANALYSIS

Personal Technology SWOT Analysis, Goals, and Plan

J.B. Campbell

University of West Georgia

Personal Technology SWOT Analysis, Goals, and Plan

I am a math teacher at Starrs Mill High School in Fayette County, Georgia. I

have been teaching for 17 years and I have personally witnessed numerous changes in

technology for classroom use. I learned to use a personal computer as a high school

and college student, and have been fortunate to have a desktop computer in my

classroom during my entire teaching career. I am currently seeking a Specialist degree

in Instructional Technology in order to improve my classroom instruction through the

effective use of technology.

Strengths

My greatest strength with personal technology is my willingness to learn on my

own. I enjoy working with new equipment to determine its uses and limitations in the

classroom. I also enjoy exploring the capabilities of a software package to determine

whether or not it will fit the needs of my students. In addition, I have a general working

knowledge of the different operating systems found inside phones, laptops, calculators,

and tablets. Because of this, I am often able to troubleshoot problems with applications

or software that arise when students are using technology. Overall, I feel that I am very

comfortable with the use of many different types of technology, but I would not consider

myself an expert in any one area.

In a math classroom, I am very confident in my content knowledge. The majority

of my undergraduate work was in mathematics instead of education courses. In

addition, I have taught all levels of high school mathematics and currently teach the

most advanced math courses we offer. Based on my involvement in writing and

revising several curriculum changes over the past 10 years, I have extensive practice
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with the sequencing of math topics in the high school setting. Because of this

background, I feel very qualified to judge the content and effectiveness of math software

that we use in our building.

As a teacher, I am never satisfied with using the exact same activity twice. If an

activity was effective for student learning, then I want to improve it even more. If I find a

new and effective way to present an idea, I want to share it with other teachers who are

teaching the same concept. In this way, I am constantly searching, revising, and

sharing discoveries with my peers and my students. I am also not afraid of student

feedback. I seek out student opinions on different exercises in order to adjust my

instruction for next year and even sometimes for the next class. I believe this type of

flexibility makes me a better teacher and a better resource for my colleagues.

Weaknesses

My greatest weakness is my stubbornness. As I get older, I am learning to ask

for help more often, but it is still difficult for me to admit I cannot do something or figure

something out on my own. This certainly applies to using different types of technology

in the classroom. I will spend hours of my own time experimenting with software or

hardware instead of minutes seeking out the person in the building who has the

knowledge that I do not. I also have difficulty accepting that my students do not

necessarily share this trait of mine. Many of my students are unwilling to try anything on

their own, always waiting for someone to guide them through the discovery process.

With technology, I am not the most patient person. When a program or

application does not function the way I believe it should, I generally become frustrated

and skeptical of its use in the classroom. This leads to a limited use of laptops, phones,
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and tablets in my class because of the reliability issue when working with so many

different types of operating systems. In addition, I have difficulty turning the class over

to my students. When I am leading the class, I generally feel that the majority of the

students come away with the knowledge they need for the day. When students are

using technology, there is not currently a way for me to monitor what they are learning.

Without specific feedback from my students, I am uncertain of the level of learning and

thus reluctant to use these more self-directed learning opportunities.

Opportunities

I am very blessed to work in a school system that provides technology for

teachers and students alike. My classroom is outfitted with a desktop computer that is

connected to a LCD projector. The entire building has wireless internet access and

students are encouraged to bring their own devices to school to use during instructional

time when appropriate. The county is determined to introduce even more student-use

technology into our buildings, and there is even a push for content specific devices from

our curriculum coordinators. Every department has access to their own set of

Chromebooks for student use. The opportunities for students to engage in innovative

learning activities is only limited by the expertise of the teachers in utilizing the

technology at their disposal.

Teachers in my system have access to a plethora of professional development

opportunities in using technology predominately through classes offered at our local

RESA. In addition, funds for professional conferences and training area available for

teachers upon request. These opportunities along with the countys commitment to
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providing 21st century instructional technology for our students should encourage

teachers at every level to further their integration of technology into the classroom.

Threats

In my system, there has not been a clear goal or vision for how to best implement

new technology into each building. Even though there is professional development

within the system, there has not been effective development in the use of the new

technology at the school level, much less in specific content areas. Thus, teachers are

frustrated at the lack of training in technology that in many cases is beyond their level of

expertise. Without the time or inclination for self-exploration, the devices sit unused in

each school building and department. Most of these new devices were purchased with

funds from a short-term local option sales tax (eSPLOST) that was approved by the

residents of the county. Residents will be less likely to vote for the eSPLOST again if

the technology is not making a positive impact on classroom instruction and learning.

Another major threat to implementing technology for instruction is competition

with other system wide projects. The school system has several other technology

projects in the works that also require financing. One of these is a video system for the

classroom, but this system is primarily designed for safety and security. There are

classroom benefits, including live video instruction and daily lesson recording, but no

features for student-centered instruction. In addition, the county is also in the process

of implementing a new learning management system which will require multiple training

sessions for teachers. These professional development classes will decrease the

availability of teachers to engage in training for using other technology. With only so
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many hours in the day, teachers will be forced to choose how to spend their

professional learning time.

Goals

My personal technology goals are to continue investigating new and interesting

websites, software, and web-based applications while enrolled in my graduate school

studies. I would also like to take several new ideas from my professional coursework

and implement them into my classroom instruction. I want to turn over control of the

classroom (on occasion) to my students through the use of tablet lessons. I plan on

developing new math-themed tablet lessons through web-based applications like

Kahoot and Nearpod. Finally, I want to build a flexible, online professional community

for teachers in my building to share their ideas and best practices in using technology.

This community may be in the form of a discussion board, google classroom, Twitter

account, or even a combination of these formats. Eventually, I would like to extend this

online community to the other county schools.

Plan

I plan to reach my goals by utilizing my current program of study at West Georgia

and professional development classes to gain ideas and strategies for using technology

in my classroom. After experimentation and review of these ideas and strategies, I plan

to share my findings with others in my department using a google classroom page for

teachers only. Finally, I plan to petition my county for a classroom set of tablets to use

with web-based lessons. If there are no funds available from the county, I plan to use

my other classwork from this semester to assist me in writing a grant to purchase a

classroom set of tablets for the math department.