Standard 3.5 Basic Troubleshooting
Candidates troubleshoot basic software and hardware problems common in digital learning environments. (PSC 3.5/ISTE 3e)
Artifact: ITEC 7400 - Unstructured Field Experience
Reflection:
This artifact is the unstructured field experience that I completed in ITEC 7400. I was named the eCLASS Lead Innovator at my school when eCLASS was first being rolled out in Gwinnett County Public Schools. I was still teaching fourth grade at the time. As the Lead Innovator, I was required to attend monthly meetings discussing eCLASS, and I also took it upon myself to assist my colleagues in creating and setting up their eCLASS pages. I would hold after school eCLASS help sessions, and my LSTC and I also led a Saturday eCLASS help session for any teacher who was interested. This artifact shows mastery of Standard 3.5 - Basic Troubleshooting - which states that "candidates troubleshoot basic software and hardware problems common in digital learning environments" because since eCLASS was so new, there were lots of software troubleshooting that I was able to assist teachers with.
When eCLASS was first rolled out at Alcova, I was on a team of teachers who went to the county office for a preliminary training. After the training was over, I got very excited about the possibilities that eCLASS could bring to a classroom, and I ran with it. I first talked it up to my grade level, and I sat with them after school and assisted them as they set up their pages. Then during the summer, I took a lot of classes about eCLASS, and I spent hours learning the ins and outs of the program. As a result, once my Lead Innovator responsibilities started in August, I felt very prepared.
Since eCLASS was so new, our administration encouraged everyone to start slowly. They said that the first year of eCLASS would be for teachers to get used to the program and ease in to it, then the following year, teacher usage of eCLASS would begin being a part of teacher evaluations. As I worked with teachers on their eCLASS pages, I did a lot of troubleshooting. The general consensus is that eCLASS is not very user friendly at first, so there were lots of problems. For example, many teachers had difficulties getting their pages designed and formatted the way they wanted. They would try some things out, but it would not turn out the way they had envisioned. I sat with them and troubleshooted the problems and helped them get their pages designed the way they wanted it. In addition, many teachers had trouble adding content to their pages. A link would not work, a file would not attach correctly, or some other thing would not work.
This field experience taught me so much. Just working with teachers and troubleshooting these eCLASS issues, helped me develop my problem-solving skills relating to technology malfunctions. Just the experience of solving eCLASS problems, helped me become an expert in everything eCLASS related, and I became the person everyone in the school would go to if they needed eCLASS help. In addition, it helped me begin to build relationships with all the teachers at my school - not just the teachers on my grade level. That ended up working out very well, since I transitioned to the LSTC role the following year. It was very beneficial to already have a relationship built with many teachers around the school.
This artifact helped improve faculty development because I was able to assist many teachers in their use of eCLASS. They started putting great content on their pages, and it became a great way to communicate with their students and parents.
This artifact is the unstructured field experience that I completed in ITEC 7400. I was named the eCLASS Lead Innovator at my school when eCLASS was first being rolled out in Gwinnett County Public Schools. I was still teaching fourth grade at the time. As the Lead Innovator, I was required to attend monthly meetings discussing eCLASS, and I also took it upon myself to assist my colleagues in creating and setting up their eCLASS pages. I would hold after school eCLASS help sessions, and my LSTC and I also led a Saturday eCLASS help session for any teacher who was interested. This artifact shows mastery of Standard 3.5 - Basic Troubleshooting - which states that "candidates troubleshoot basic software and hardware problems common in digital learning environments" because since eCLASS was so new, there were lots of software troubleshooting that I was able to assist teachers with.
When eCLASS was first rolled out at Alcova, I was on a team of teachers who went to the county office for a preliminary training. After the training was over, I got very excited about the possibilities that eCLASS could bring to a classroom, and I ran with it. I first talked it up to my grade level, and I sat with them after school and assisted them as they set up their pages. Then during the summer, I took a lot of classes about eCLASS, and I spent hours learning the ins and outs of the program. As a result, once my Lead Innovator responsibilities started in August, I felt very prepared.
Since eCLASS was so new, our administration encouraged everyone to start slowly. They said that the first year of eCLASS would be for teachers to get used to the program and ease in to it, then the following year, teacher usage of eCLASS would begin being a part of teacher evaluations. As I worked with teachers on their eCLASS pages, I did a lot of troubleshooting. The general consensus is that eCLASS is not very user friendly at first, so there were lots of problems. For example, many teachers had difficulties getting their pages designed and formatted the way they wanted. They would try some things out, but it would not turn out the way they had envisioned. I sat with them and troubleshooted the problems and helped them get their pages designed the way they wanted it. In addition, many teachers had trouble adding content to their pages. A link would not work, a file would not attach correctly, or some other thing would not work.
This field experience taught me so much. Just working with teachers and troubleshooting these eCLASS issues, helped me develop my problem-solving skills relating to technology malfunctions. Just the experience of solving eCLASS problems, helped me become an expert in everything eCLASS related, and I became the person everyone in the school would go to if they needed eCLASS help. In addition, it helped me begin to build relationships with all the teachers at my school - not just the teachers on my grade level. That ended up working out very well, since I transitioned to the LSTC role the following year. It was very beneficial to already have a relationship built with many teachers around the school.
This artifact helped improve faculty development because I was able to assist many teachers in their use of eCLASS. They started putting great content on their pages, and it became a great way to communicate with their students and parents.