Is there value in assessing an educator's technology Leadership, Knowledge, and Skills? What are the pros and cons of technology assessment in this area?
Yes, of course, there is value in addressing educator's technology, Leadership, Knowledge, and Skills. There are a variety of reasons for assessing educator's skills in the area of technology. One reason is that in order for an eductor to implement technology in the classroom, with their students, the educator must be proficient with said technology. The educator needs to be trained in this area. They need to be trained on an in depth, ongoing, regular basis. We expect educators to be trained in order to instruct students. On an ongoing, consistent basis, these educators are assessed in their Leadership and Skills in the classroom. This is done through PDAS on a regular basis. Therefore, we should also expect that educators will be trained and then assessed on their technology skills in their classrooms.
Also, in order for educator's to be proficient with their technology skills, they need feedback. Assessing these skills can be as simple as doing walkthroughs regularly, and then providing constructive feedback to the educator. By giving the educator ongoing, constructive feedback, the educator can move dorward to a higher level in their technology skills.
The above are the pros of assessing educator's Leadership, Knowledge and Skills in the area of technology leadership in the classroom. I believe in order for the educator to reach mastery in the area of technology they must be trained and then assessed with constructive, consistent feedback on a regular basis.
The cons of assessing teacher's in this area are that any time teachers are assessed a variety of problems arise. One such area of concern is that the educator's stress and anxiety level will be heightened when they know they are going to be assessed for anything. When their stress and anxiety levels are heightened, they become a little resistant to what you are asking them to do. They then, might see, the area, in this case technology, as one more thing being forced upon them to do in their classroom. One more thing they are going to be evaluated on. Also if the campus leadership does not train their staff on an indepth, ongoing, consistent basis, they might not feel comfortable enough to use these tools in their classroom, especially knowing that they are going to be assessed. Therefore, it's improtant to train the staff so that thye have a certain comfort level in order to implement in their classrooms.
Overall, it's important to train staff and then assess them; train some more; assess....As I said it should be something that's done on a continuous basis.
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