10.1 Professional Inquiry Introduction
"About Me"
I work for two elementary schools as a technology technician. My role is designed to support teachers and students, and take care of the devices that they use on a daily basis. I provide recommendations about programs, software, hardware, and repair devices when needed. I also collaborate with teachers to support them in the classroom using technology. My stance on technology is that it can be a great tool for teaching and learning, but must be used responsibly.
My strengths are my understanding of how technology works and my familiarity with common problems that teachers and students encounter and the solutions to those problems. I like to feel that I make students and adults feel comfortable coming to me for help. I subscribe to a variety of email groups in order to keep myself aware of trends in educational technology and make recommendations to administrators when applicable.
Some areas where I would like to see improvement include providing more opportunities for children to explore technology outside of in-class instructional time. I would also like to improve security and safety for children and adults using our computer systems.
Some things I would like to explore:
- Minecraft Education Edition
- Learning best practices for WiFi security settings and VLANs
- Providing an after-school computer enrichment program for students
- Setting up an Esports team at my school
- Implement email security, phishing audits, and 2-factor authentication
Two of these topics are designed around security, by protecting my learning environment from outside attacks that could lead to ransomware. This would protect student data and privacy. The other three topics are all related to increasing the options that students have for extracurricular technological enrichment. There are so many different ways to encourage students to explore the world through technology.
At this point, I am most interested in exploring Minecraft Education Edition for my Professional Inquiry Project.
It is related to the Course Question: “How might we use technology to enhance real world, collaborative, learner centered education?” It also includes the Course Outcomes: “Demonstrate fluency with new educational tools, and articulate the affordances and constraints of such tools to support educational practice” and “Plan for educational experience (of K-12 students or adults learners) that demonstrates the ability to use educational technology, sound educational philosophy, and plan for local context."