Week 4 Reading

There was so much great information that I took away from reading the article, "Creating a Personal Technology Plan' by K. Besnoy. This article was written for teachers of gifted students. The great thing about the article was that it took you step by step to show you how to actually put a technology plan together. The article was filled with many great resources that could be used by any teacher.

Besnoy, K. (2007). Creating a Personal Technology Improvement Plan for Teachers of the Gifted. Gifted Child Today, 30(4), 44-48. Retrieved from ERIC database.

What I liked about the article, 'Enhancement of Integration of Technology Into the Curriculum' was that it was an actual action research study. Most of the studies I read about were merely professional articles or small research studies. I like action research because it is taking an active role in changing a problem area in the field. This research focused on integrating technology into the curriculum and improving professional development.

Reel, T. (2009). Enhancement of integration of technology into the curriculum. Ontario Action Researcher, 10(2), 1-19. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.

Another article focused on linking school and university collaboration. Too bad the researchers could not do a follow up article and dig into the Full Sail University program. The article looked at a lot of different schools such as the University of Virginia and University of California. It looked at different professional development programs as well as their technology integration. Each school handles technology differently, and depending on which angle best suits you, they do a little research for you.

Hartshorne, R., Ferdig, R., & Dawson, K. (2005). Preparing Current and Future Teachers to Teach with Technology: An Examination of School-University Collaborations. Journal of Computing in Teacher Education, 21(3), 77-85. Retrieved from ERIC database.

The last article I read involved professional development. I liked this article because it was geared towards the primary grades and dealt with the interactive whiteboards. The study comes from England and there were 528 school responses from 1000 that were polled. Of those studies, 10 were focused on for individual case studies. The professional development that they provided for their educators was successful when it came to the results. They spent the time and money to have the teachers properly trained, and the outcomes support their findings.

Lewin, C., Scrimshaw, P., Somekh, B., & Haldane, M. (2009). The Impact of Formal and Informal Professional Development Opportunities on Primary Teachers' Adoption of Interactive Whiteboards. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 18(2), 173-185. Retrieved from ERIC database.