My Graduate Journey

By Daniel Matthews Teacher at West Hall High School Graduate Learner at Boise State University
Introduction
I have always had a passion for technology. I remember the excitement when I was 6 waking up on Christmas morning with a brand new Nintendo from Santa Claus. I just wanted to play it, but about three days later I broke it when I took it apart to see how it worked. My parents were pretty upset about that, but they started giving me their old electronics so I could take them apart and see how they worked. The next time I got that excited was when I got a Motorola cell phone for my 16th birthday. It didnt have text messaging and sure didnt have the internet, but I could make a phone call from anywhere and I was really excited about that. My love for technology continued into college. The internet was just about everywhere when I was in college and we used it for everything from class to football to fun. When I graduated from Northwestern College in St. Paul, MN, I did not know what I wanted to do, so I floated between three jobs in less than two years before deciding to go into education. My family and I moved to North Carolina where I taught math for 4 years. While I was there, I was one of the first teachers in the school to get an interactive board, and I loved using the board. I could create so many excellent lessons using the board, the school system asked me to come and do an in-service with the technology committees across the county to teach them what I knew so they could share with their perspective schools. I also became the technology coordinator with our football program and was in charge of all things related to our video editing system. I love technology and I have for a long time, so when one of my colleagues told me about the Masters in Education Technology I perked right up and applied and started classes less than three weeks from the day he told me about it. I am currently a science teacher and football coach at West Hall High School in Gainesville, GA. Gainesville is a smaller city about an hour north of Atlanta just out of the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I have been teaching for just over six years with four of them in North Caroline and the last two at West Hall. Since I did not go through a standard education degree program, I had a lot to learn about teaching. After 5 years of teaching I knew I needed to expand my knowledge of the field, but after researching about a dozen schools none of them had programs I was really excited about. Then one of my colleagues told me he received his Masters in Education Technology from Boise State and told me he uses things he learned in class every single day. He was so excited about the program, I went home, researched the program, told my wife about it, and we were off in less than three weeks. I am very thankful to say, I have not had any experiences or classes that have shaped my teaching style more than the courses and professors I have had from Boise State.

This rationale paper will be a reflection of many of the things I have learned at Boise State. It is a culmination of many of the things I have learned. It will have resources I have created from papers to interactive websites and everywhere in between. The paper is part of a larger ePortfolio that is designed to show my growth as an individual and as an educator through the work I completed for my Master of Educational Technology degree. I have used the standards set forth by the Association of Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) in 2000 to link several artifacts completed through my process as a graduate student. This rationale paper will link artifacts to each standard from the AECT and explain how each selected artifact aligns to the standard showing mastery and complete understanding of the standard. In addition to showing mastery of the standards, I will relate theory to practice and explain how completing my masters directly impacted my teaching and coaching.

Standard 1: Design
1.1 Instructional Systems
According to the AECT Standards, the Instructional Systems Design is an organized procedure that includes the steps of analyzing, designing, developing, implementing and evaluating instruction. During Ed Tech 503 Instructional Design, Dr. Freed had us explore many different instructional design models through readings and presentations. The Instructional Design Project is an artifact I created during this class that directly reflects sub-standard 1.1 and shows mastery of the standard. During the Instructional Design course we learned that through the design process the instructional designer will follow the steps of analyze, design, develop, and evaluate. My Instruction Design Project was a workshop designed to teach students in an after school video club at West Hall High School how to use Adobe Premier to create a highlight tape for prospective college athletes or clubs who were interested in having a promotional video. Since creating the project, I have used it to train a small group of students at West Hall High School who can now help me create athletic highlight films. I hope to eventually have enough computers in the school with the software installed that each sport or club can send one member to learn how to use the program. This year our school began doing video announcements and members who I have trained are doing the video editing for the announcements. The rationale for this training was that many students have the interest, but do not have the training or technology access to improve their respective extracurricular programs. The instructional design follows predominantly a supplanted instructional strategy. I felt this was the most appropriate to use based on the minimal knowledge the students had of Adobe Premier. According to Smith and Ragan, Supplantive instruction tends to conserve novice learners . . . for less knowledgeable learners, it may be more efficient than generative learning strategies: More material may be learned in a shorter period of time (Smith & Ragan, 2005, p.142). Through the design of this project I learned how to analyze learners and environment, design a training program, develop standards and objects, implement a program, and evaluate the effectiveness of the training.

1.2 Message Design

In Graphic Design for Educators, Ed Tech 506, we were asked to select and combine visual and text representations to effectively communicate instructional information. In order to create these images and messages, we used Adobe Fireworks to produce images throughout the semester. Standard 1.2 Message Design involves planning for the manipulation of the messages physical form. Throughout Ed Tech 506 we created several instructional messages to show mastery of message design principles, and all these instructional messages were created as part of a complete unit of instruction. One of the images I created was the CARP Design Project which is one artifact I will use to demonstrate my mastery of message design. CARP stands for contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity. I used this design to convey the appropriate steps students needed to know in order to understand the process of mitosis. Linda Lohr explains, aligning images and words to create perceptual chunks helps reduce cognitive load (Lohr, 2002, p. 201). The process of cell division is so complex it can be represented in a design more concisely than in text. I used pictures to represent each step of the process. The purpose of the pictures is to grab the learners attention and allow them to create a mental model of each step more easily. I then used another perceptual chunk in placing the description of each step of mitosis right next to the image it is related to. I also used other key message design components in this image. I used contrast in my color scheme effectively using black words and arrows against the white background and a white title in a black background for the header. I used alignment by aligning the images and words together. I used repetition by using the same font through the entire image, and proximity to show what things were together. All these elements together reduce the cognitive load on the students. Another artifact I created in Ed Tech 506 Graphic Design for Educators is my Justification Paper for my Unit of Instruction. The justification paper demonstrates mastery of message design by compiling eight different images and placing them each within a ten day unit of instruction. Each image is part of a very large chapter in Human Anatomy which covers the parts of the cell, types of tissues, cell division, and more. Each image is placed into a page on a website I created just for this project. I used this site last year when I completed this unit in class and it was a huge help for the students, as well as for me. The students used it as a resource which helped reduce the instructional days in the unit from 16 days to 10 days. As a result, students came out of the unit with a better understanding of each of the parts of the cell. I then added the website onto a shared webpage which is now available to all teachers teaching Human Anatomy in the county. One other teacher emailed me and thanked me for the unit plan and said she is planning to use it this year when she gets to the cells and body tissues unit. In the message, I give students very strong images, videos, and questions to answer.

1.3 Instructional Strategies

An Instructional Strategy is a process or phase designed to deliver the content of a specific unit or a course. According to the AECT standards, sub-standard 1.3 is defined as specifications for selecting and sequencing events and activities within a lesson. Throughout Ed Tech 502, Internet for Educators, we learned how to produce several different artifacts using Adobe Dreamweaver and the Internet. Many of these artifacts demonstrate mastery of this substandard. At the beginning of the semester, I struggled mightily to write my own html code and CSS style sheets. This was one course on which I spent significantly more than the estimated weekly time. As a result, I learned so much through the semester about using Dreamweaver to design instruction. Towards the end of the semester one of our final projects was to design a Virtual Field Trip. My Virtual Field Trip is the artifact I will use to demonstrate mastery of the instructional strategies standard. The virtual field trip was intended to be a trip anywhere we would want to take a class. While I do not teach geography courses, I really wanted to create something I could use with the students in my class. I used the old cartoon The Magic School Bus as my inspiration and created a virtual tour of the human body. This virtual tour allowed students to learn about some of the major systems of the body using a multimodal approach. They would begin with an introductory video about a topic, and then be presented with questions to answer about the video. Then they would participate in an activity to take them deeper into the content. The field trip was not meant to be completely asynchronous; therefore students were also expected to interact with each other and with the teacher through the process. Not only were the students learning many things about the human body, but they were also improving their 21st century skills related to technology that will better prepare them for the future.

1.4 Learner Characteristics

When designing an instructional program, several key factors must be addressed in order for the instructional program to be effective and for the school system to purchase the program. According to the AECT standards, Learner Characteristics can greatly impact how components of an instructional program are designed. In addition, Learner Characteristics play a very prominent role in the implementation of an instructional program. During Ed Tech 503 we had to design an in depth instructional design project, and my Instructional Design Project shows mastery of this sub-standard. This Instructional Design Project contains five main parts, I followed the systems-oriented model by Smith and Ragan (2005). Smith and Ragans model has three phases: analysis, strategy, and evaluation. These three phases provide the conceptual framework for the eight steps that comprise their ID process (Gustafson & Branch, 2002). The Smith and Ragan model is based on the belief that if you provide a systematic problem-solving process, then effective instruction can occur. According to the Gustafson and Branch article, the Smith and Ragan model is also effective for developing specific instructional strategies. The most important phase of this model which shows mastery of sub-standard 1.4 is the analysis phase, more specifically, Part 2 the Learners Analysis. The first thing I did to create a learner assessment was complete a needs assessment survey. The survey had questions related to the level of knowledge the students already had and what materials I would need to supplement.

Then I created a prerequisite skills chart so I could compare what skills the students would need compared to what they already had. Just because one method of instruction worked for one group does not mean it will work with another so we need to complete a needs assessment with each group we teach. The second artifact I chose to use for this standard is my Ed Tech 504 Constructivist Theory paper. In my paper I was challenged to look at how students are best able to take in knowledge and retain information, and how technology in the classroom has changed the way students process information and teachers can use different methods to coordinate the way information is distributed to the students in the room. Constructivists believe students best learn through experiences instead of simply sending information to them through lecture or taking tests. They need life-like experiences in order to truly understand what they are learning about. One way to do this is using resources available online and using electronic resources to allow students more hands-on types of activities where they can learn about things with which they would never interact. Learning about the theories of how students learn in the classroom helped me adjust my teaching methods based on what I believed. Before writing this paper my beliefs were strongly constructivist while my teaching methods were strongly behavioral. These did not match up because I was teaching the way it was demonstrated to me since I never had the benefit of a learning theory class in college or the benefit of student teaching and learning from a veteran teacher. Learning about how students learn has helped me connect with more students, and helped me connect more students to real life experiences while learning.

Standard 2: Development
2.1 Print Technologies
During Ed Tech 506 Instructional Message Design, we learned to use Adobe Fireworks to create visual images that conveyed specific messages. Throughout the entire course we built on our Fireworks skills and learned how to use these skills to create visual messages. All of the visual messages we created were related to design and followed specific guidelines explored by Linda Lohr (2008) in her book Creating Graphics for Learning and Performance. The images we created through the semester were related to a Unit of Instruction we were designing. My Unit of Instruction was for a unit in Human Anatomy & Physiology about cells, tissues, and their life cycles. The artifact I chose to show mastery of this sub-standard is the Cell City Analogy I created for my Unit of Instruction. According to the AECT standards, print technologies provide a foundation for the development and utilization of the majority of other instructional materials. The Cell City Analogy is something the students will use to demonstrate their knowledge of the parts of the cell. They will use this to learn about how the parts of the cell work like a small city, and then create their own metaphor using the parts of the cell. In her book, Lohr (2008) explains the use of white space is important in keeping sections separate. She also says that using a green background makes the words on the page easier to see (p. 270). I took this image from the

original in white to the green one, I added in lines to separate the sections, and bolded the parts of the city. I also noticed many students overlooked the assignment at the bottom because it didnt stand out. I made it red which contrasted with the green to make the assignment stand out. When I used this in class two years ago many students forgot the last assignment and I had to have them redo it. This year only a small handful forgot to do it. I used the things I learned in this course to improve this and many other handouts I give the students with each unit.

2.2 Audio Visual Technologies

One of the main reasons I decided to get my masters in Educational Technology is my passion for video production. Deciding which electives to take throughout the program was difficult at times because so many of them looked interesting. One that I did not have to think twice about taking was Ed Tech 533, YouTube for Educators. In one of the first assignments for this class we were encouraged by Dr. Black to create a playlist of YouTube videos with a lesson plan attached to it. I am using my Playlist Lessons as my first artifact demonstrating mastery of this standard. In creating these lessons we had to create one playlist from each of the three domains. I am using the one from the psychomotor domain for this video because it incorporates not only a lesson plan, but also includes physical activity. It really struck home for me because I used to coach track. I created a lesson plan teaching someone how to run the 100 meter dash properly. I can tell how many times kids have come in and said I already know how to run 100 meters. The video starts with Usain Bolt running his 100m world record run and then has him explain how he runs it. The AECT Standard states audiovisual technologies are used to produce or deliver materials by mechanical devices or electronic machines. We had athletes watching these YouTube videos at track meets before they ran so they could mentally focus on what they were supposed to do. This lesson demonstrates the use of electronic media do be delivered to students. A reason I got into teaching was so I could coach Football. I loved playing it in college and now coaching it is even more rewarding for me than playing ever was. I have been the technology expert at every school in every role I have been in throughout my career. This is why my next artifact hits very close to home with me. I created this Pregame Video using Adobe Premier, which is not specifically covered in the Ed Tech program, but was a huge reason why I started taking courses in Educational Technology. I created this video for students to watch in the moments before they take the field. The last three years I have created one of these every week of the football season to show before the game. I created this audio/visual by integrating video clips, audio tracks, pictures, slides, and tied it together with transitions and special effects. The video clearly demonstrates mastery of audiovisual technologies.

2.3 Computer-Based Technologies

Computer Based Technologies is a very broad category, and many of the artifacts I created could be applied under this category. I feel as if this program does a wonderful job using, as well as

teaching M.E.T candidates to use Computer Based Technologies. Almost all of the artifacts I created in Ed Tech 502 and 506 could demonstrate mastery of this sub-standard. One of the artifacts that I used to show mastery of this sub-standard is the Interactive Concept Map. The Interactive Concept Map assignment required me to design a concept map about a particular topic and a web page that interactively uses the concept map. As a resource I found that students in Human Anatomy have typically struggled with remembering the 4 types of tissue. They can use this concept map to choose any of the types of tissue where they can see a video about the parts of the tissue, and some questions to check for understanding. Through these courses I learned to find images that are not copyrighted and can be used with attribution any time using the creative commons website.

2.4 Integrated Technologies

What are integrated technologies? This is also a pretty broad sub-standard but a very good one. I feel that if more teachers used integrated technologies with their lessons, the 21st Century student would be much more active and interested in their education. The AECT standard states that, Integrated technologies are ways to produce and deliver materials which encompass several forms of media under the control of a computer (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 40). There is no better way to show mastery of this standard than through the following two artifacts: The first artifact is my Ed Tech 502 WebQuest. The Web Quest is an unbelievable educational tool that, since its creation, I have used every year with my Environmental Science classes. This interactive Web Quest provides the students with challenges faced in Africa with water shortages and dirty water. Students are divided into teams of 4 and tasked with finding a solution to the water problem in Africa and presenting that solution to the board at the United Nations. They may present in the form of a PowerPoint, a Prezi, or any other professional looking presentation tool available to them. Throughout the design process of the Web Quest, I learned how to apply many different design techniques to my website while showing mastery of EdTech 502, Internet for Educators. Another artifact created that shows mastery of this sub-standard is my Ed Tech 501 Introduction Video. In my introduction video I used a video camera, and computer to do video editing. I also added title slides and different scenes in the video. This was the very first project I had to do for any class at Boise State and it is still one of the projects I am most proud of. I had students do an introductory video last year in class and the amount of time we spent on it was enormous, but I had some students produce videos anyone would be very proud of. I was very proud of them. The video in conjunction with the Web Quest clearly demonstrate mastery of this standard.

Standard 3: Utilization
3.1 Media Utilization

Media utilization is defined as the systematic use of resources for learning. My artifact for this is the Tech Trends assignment we did in Ed Tech 501. In the Tech Trends assignment I designed a lesson for Human Anatomy where the students created a VoiceThread using thea computer and a microphone. They did the research , and used Creative Commons to find images that could be used in their presentations.on their own and found their own pictures and used a creative commons search. This is a multimodal form of learning because students created a visual PowerPoint like presentation first that can include captions and images. They learned about copyright, and how to do a creative commons search, and how to give attribution to the creators of the image. Then they created an audio track to go along with their the slides and images. After showing the librarians the product of this assignment, they began to promote the use of VoiceThread to other teachers in the school. The ESL, and the teacher in the building next door to me used it two weeks later for another assignment. She pointed out that is ESL certified and said assignments like that this are very good for ESL students because it gives them a chance to practice their English speaking. If they dont like how they said it they can erase and record it again very easily.Voicethread makes it easy for ESL students to listen to themselves and make multiple recordings until they are pleased with the final recording. The students practice collaborative learning by commenting critically on each others VoiceThreads. This assignment is one example of systematic use of resources from the internet for images and information to the slides students will create to the use of microphones for audio.

3.2 Diffusion of Innovations

Diffusion of Innovations refers to the process of communication through planned strategies for the purpose of adoption. The main idea of this sub-standard is to bring about change, simply change how things are done. In Ed Tech 501 we created a Digital Divide presentation. My Digital Divide presentation was created in response to a list of digital divide problems across the country. What is digital divide? According to the article, Your Guide to the Digital Divide, digital divide is defined as the Chasm separating the haves and have-nots in digital technology. On one side are people who can afford or who have access to computers, a high-speed broadband connection and the plethora of services from online banking to social networking to blogging. On the other side of the equation are people who cannot afford the technology, (Glaser, 2007). In Hall County GA, where I live and work, we have a huge divide from people who live in multimillion dollar homes and have any technology they could want like internet, computers, and sSmartphones. On the other side of the divide are the have-nots; the have-nots will often not even do not have internet or a computer at home. In a world where we are supposed to be teaching 21st Century skills to students, the use of technology is central to this. The Digital Divide presentation focuses on this divide and discusses strategies and ideas on how to decrease the divide.

3.3 Implementation and Institutionalization

The purpose of this sub-standard is to show mastery in the use of instructional materials in real settings. To define this standard and show mastery, I chose my WebQuest from Ed Tech 502. This entire project aligns with the curriculum of the course Environmental Science. This WebQuest takes a very large, real-world problem in the water crisis happening right now in Africa, and it puts them in the driver seat. First they learn more information about the problem, and then they view a couple possible solutions that are being tried right now. Then they choose a country and learn about the culture, religion, the people, and what problems in Africa are specific to that country. Finally, they will work collaboratively with a group and create a presentation about how they will try to solve the problem, how much it will cost, and how long it will take. I shared this WebQuest last year and all five environmental science5 teachers who were teaching environmental science did the WebQuest. Our principal liked it so much he sent it to the central office and it was sent out to teachers all over the county as a potential project to do. Students are learned howtaught to solve a real-world problem and used 21st century skills and collaboration in the process.

3.4 Policies and Regulations

The AECT standards defines sub-standard 3.4 as the rules and actions of society (or its surrogates) that affect the diffusion and use of Instructional Technology (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 47). I have aligned two artifacts created in Ed Tech 502 that clearly show my understanding and mastery of this standard. The first artifact is my Netiquette assignment. I enjoyed creating this page, especially because of the way social media has changed the way we communicate. The change social media has brought about is more evident in a high school classroom than probably anywhere else. This page provides the students with seven very good rules to follow when working on a computer at school. Unfortunately with social media and the increase in technology use in classrooms, you we have to take the negative aspects with the positives. Cyber bullying is a very real thing students have to face now that students didnt even have to think about before 2000. At the end of the netiquette assignment I posted a short description about cyber bullying and a website a student can go to if they are being bullied. The Copyright Scavenger Hunt was created to educate teachers on the rules of copyright and plagiarism. This was the first web page I created that had a video embedded and used bullets to show important information. This website takes the learner on a scavenger hunt while teaching the learner about the rules of copyright. This website also has an attached worksheet with an answer key. This project was one of the first more detailed web pages we created in Ed Tech 502. The scavenger hunt and the netiquette assignment are clear demonstrations of the rules and actions of society related to the use of instructional technology.

Standard 4: Management

4.1 Project Management

Project Management is the process of planning, monitoring and controlling instructional design projects. In Ed Tech 505 we had to createI created an Evaluation Report; this report was done for the West Hall Football Program. I did an evaluation of their entire summer workout program. I took data from the spring and previous year and compared it to the data at the end of the summer, along with observations observing and measuring the goals the team had going into the season. At the beginning of the summer I had to plan out how I would try to determine if they had accomplished their goals, then I monitored the progress through the summer, and finally I controlled the final evaluation using surveys, and collecting test data from the kids. Boulmetis and Dutwin, authors of the book The ABCs of Evaluation, define evaluation as the systematic process of collecting and analyzing data in order to make a decision (Boulmetis & Dutwin, 2005, pg. 4). I feel as if this project helped me understand and fully grasp the concepts of evaluation. I learned how to plan out and design the processes I used in order to create an evaluation that could be useful to key stakeholders in the programs with which I evaluate. This was a very systematic process used in the evaluation report.

4.2 Resource Management

The AECT standards explain that Resource management involves planning, monitoring, and controlling resource support systems and services (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 51). In response to that the definition of resource management I am using my Technology Planning project from Ed Tech 501 to demonstrate my mastery of this the standard. Hall County has a technology use plan and had one at the time I wrote the paper. In the process of writing the paper I got to look at the technology use plan of for Hall County as well as other school districts around the country. As I did I was able to realize the amount of planning required to keep technology up to date in the school systems. Hall County right now has finished a grant with Dell that purchased every teacher in the county a laptop and set each school up with two full computer labs. When the grant money ran out this past summer the school system had to figure out what to do, as the laptops are now four years old and many are beginning to need replacing. The county couldnt replace all the laptops in the county school system at one time so they have had to choose different schools to get new laptops at different times. This The planning that went into the project created procedures that ensured the effective districbution and future use of county resources.will now help for the future because one school will get new laptops at a time instead of all at once. Through this project, I learned about that roll out and learned about what needs to go into a plan. Another project showing mastery of this sub-standard is the Response To Proposal created for the Far West Laboratory for Education Research and Development. This proposal was done completed as part of in the coursework for Ed Tech 505. , and dDuring the process of creating the proposal, I was able to explore on how an instructional training proposal should be written.

In this detailed proposal, the goal was to determine if a training program would continue to be cost efficeffective for the organizationient for the company to implement. I came had to come up with an evaluation process, a task schedule, project personnel and a budget covering all the details of the evaluation process.

4.3 Delivery System Management

Delivery Systems Management involves planning, monitoring and controlling the method by which distribution of instructional materials is organized . . . [It is] a combination of medium and method of usage that is employed to present instructional information to a learner (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 51). There are several artifacts that I have created that cover multimodal forms of message delivery that would align to this standard and show demonstrate mastery as many of the courses we did covered multimodal forms of message delivery. I chose to use my Mobile Learning project created in Ed Tech 502. In my most recent survey of my students I asked them how many have a Smartphone or are going to get one in the next 3 months. Results show that , and 93% of my students either have one a smartphone or will have one in the next 3 months. As technology gets cheaper and easier to come by, Smartphones and mobile apps are one of the best ways to close the technology gap between the rich and the poor. Once they have a sSmartphone, students can download apps that range from $0.00 up to $1.99 and get almost anything they could need for communication, education, or other uses. The cell phone is becoming one of the best educational tools that school systems do not have to buy. The challenge is being able to tap into that resource. The purpose of the mobile learning project was to create a web based learning activity that could be viewed and completed using a mobile device. The m-learning (mobile learning) activity is to be completed on a trip to the Bodies Exhibition downtown Atlanta, GA. The activity is designed to make the trip to the exhibition fun, but also ensure students learn as much as possible while theyre there. They will also have some great electronic information from the trip.

4.4 Information Management

To show mastery of this standard you must be able to plan, monitor and control the storage, transfer, or process information in order to provide resources for learning. To show mastery of this standard I chose the RSS Feeds Assignment I completed in Ed Tech 501. As social media continues to shape the way we operate, interact with people, and gather information, an RSS feed is a simple tool a teacher can use to see what new information is available to them. By linking to at RSS feed as I did in this assignment I have been able to receive daily information from people such as biology news netBiology News Net where I can have students discuss daily current events in the classes we are studying. I have also used RSS feeds in track and field, as it constantly updates results and things information about activities people individuals are doing around the world. Some of my best ideas in coaching have come from RSS feeds. The RSS feeds assignment really opened my eyes to ways information can be available to use. It is kind of like

having a personalized newspaper delivered to your phone or computer everyday .because you choose the content of the RSS feed. This assignment taught me how to plan class based on the RSS feed and being able to do weekly current event assignments, monitor and control information coming to my feed, transfer that to the students by doing current events, and process this valuable current information. We saw a lot ofalso saw students gain interest as in these current events as they were comingcame across the screen too. Some who had never been interested in anything science before would perk up with the current event assignments.

Standard 5: Evaluation
5.1 Problem Analysis
The AECT standards state that problem analysis is determining the nature and parameters of the problem by using information-gathering and decision-making strategies (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 56). In order to show mastery of this standard I needed to collect, analyze and interpret data to make decisions to improve instruction or programs. To show mastery of this standard I chose my School Evaluation Survey created in Ed Tech 501. In Ed Tech 501 we were challenged to look at a school system with a critical eye. Really try to consider how the school system is currently performing when it comes to technology use from teachers, administrators, and students. We divided up the school system into five major categories and gave them a rating from emergent (low) to intelligent (high) on a scale based on the five major categories. Then we used that information and discussed what the areas of strength and weakness were. This project helped me understand the problem so I couldin order to make intelligent recommendations based on knowing the basis of the problem. The second artifact I used for this standard is the Student Survey I created for my personal use in class. I created the survey using Google Forms in my Google Drive. I included 10 questions that everyone who takes one of my classeseach participant will answer and then one more page that only applies to people in a specific class. A student taking CChemistry will answer questions about Chemistry while someone taking Environmental Sscience answers questions pertinent that subject. The needs analysis this year has helped me tweak my teaching because some topics that are not interesting to the students are also not heavily covered by the state standards. I have been able to adjust the curriculum to meet the needs and desires of the students as a result of the this information-gathering strategy.

5.2 Criterion-Referenced Measurement

This sub-standard involves determining if a learner has achieved mastery given a specific set of standards. Nearly every course I took in the Ed Tech program included something I could have used when choosing one for this artifactan artifact for this standard. When designing these

programs it is critical to determine if the individuals involved in the course have attained a mastery of the content youre teaching. In order to check for mastery, I made several rubrics defining how the students or individuals tested would be graded. The rubric I chose to link to this sub-standard is from my WebQuest Rubric created for Ed Tech 502. Last year every student taking Environmental Science at my school completed this Web Quest, and every student was graded using the same rubric. The rubric eliminated much of the subjectivity in teaching, and all students were graded fairly using the exact same set of standards.

5.3 Formative and Summative Evaluation

According to the AECT standards, Formative Evaluation involves gathering information on adequacy and then using the information to direct future and further development. Summative evaluation involves using this information to make changes about how something is used. The artifact I linked to this sub-standard was my Instructional Design Project created in Ed Tech 503. This is an instructional training module created to train students in a video club at West Hall High School. They learned how to make a highlight video for athletes trying to go to college for a specific sport or for a club who wishes to create a promotional video for their club. Part 6 Evaluation, which is found on page 21 of this project, is directly related to this sub-standard. My The formative evaluation of this project included a subject matter expert review, one-to-one evaluation, small group evaluation, and field trials. My subject area expert completed a thorough review of the project and filled out a list of open ended questions I asked him to complete on the design, structure, flow and clarity. The one-to-one evaluation is an opportunity to test with a small number of students who are interested in video editing. At this point I will determine if there are any major errors that need to be fixed before moving forward, and make sure the objectives are clear to the small group of students. According to Smith and Regan (2005), educators want to determine if the learners understand the instruction and if they can implement the instruction when required to do so own their own. The small group evaluation was completed to determine if the appropriate changes made based on the results from the one-onone evaluations were successful or not. The field trials stage was the final step in the formative evaluation done onof this project. The goal of the field trials was is to determine if all the changes made during the other evaluations were successful and if successful implementation of this training is possible with a large group. The changes we made during the process from the subject matter expert, one-on-one evaluations, and group evaluations were all forms of formative assessment, because we tweaked and changed the instruction as we went. I have been able to use this a few times with students because the school has purchased a license for Adobe Premier for our announcements class. Although they have an older version of Adobe Premier than what I used for the class, they have commented many times how helpful the tutorial walkthroughs from my project are.

5.4 Long-Range Planning

The AECT standards define Long-Range Planning as planning that focuses on the organization as a whole is strategic planning....Long-range is usually defined as a future period of about three to five years or longer. During strategic planning, managers are trying to decide in the present what must be done to ensure organizational success in the future (Certo et al., 1990, p. 168). In Ed Tech 501 our culminating project was to create a Final School Evaluation. In my final evaluation I had to useused information from the school survey I did in an earlier project and explained each rating and category and why the school rated where they did. in each category. AThen after completing the needs assessment and determining where exactly the school stood in each of the 38 categories, I had to giveoffered potential solutions to move the school up the ratings scale. This was is where the long-range planning came into play Many, in many of the categories they discussed policy and finances related to aAdministrative planning. the The current plan is for 5 years out, but it does not extend beyond that which most people do not recommend you try to plan technology more than just a year or two in advance because of the rapidly changing technology.

Conclusion
The collection of artifacts that make upin this portfolio were created during my masters experienceexperiences in the Masters of Educational Technology program at Boise State University and meet the AECT standards. These artifacts have affected me both professionally, and as a student. Through completion of the Masters this masters program, I am certain that I will have many more opportunities presented to me that will allow me to fulfill all of my career aspirations. In conclusion, I am excited about this portfolio and all the work that went into it, but I realize it is a fluid document and I can change it at any time as I continue to grow and use more and more technology. The Ed Tech program has given me a great start to my career and a great start using technology in the classroom.

References
Boulmetis, J., & Dutwin, P. (2005). The ABCs of evaluation (2nd Edition ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Certo, S. C., Husted, S. W., Douglas, M. E., & Hartl, R. J. (1990). Business (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Glaser, M. (2007, January 17). Your Guide to the Digital Divide. Retrieved February 22, 2009, from Media Shift: http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2007/01/your-guide-to-the-digitaldivide017.html Gustafson, K. L., & Branch, R. M. (2002). Survey of Instructional Development Models. Syracuse : ERIC Clearninghouse on Information and Technology. Lohr, Linda (2008). Creating graphics for learning and performance: Lessons in visual literacy (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Seels, B., & Richey, R. (1994). Instructional technology: The definition and domains of the field. Washington, DC: Association for Educational Communications and Technology. Smith, P. L., & Ragan, T. J. (2005). Insuctional design. Danvers : John Wiley & Sons, Inc.