NETS•T Standard 5: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

“Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources.”

The projects included on this page demonstrate my efforts to continually upgrade my knowledge and skills, while also contributing to the instructional technology body of knowledge, and also show my commitment to professionalism in the field. The professional learning plan addresses standards 5(b) - Lead others by championing a vision of technology integration and 5(d) - Actively contribute to furthering professional effectiveness in using digital resources, and the conference presentation and research proposal address standards 5(a) - Collaborate locally and globally to design creative new technology applications, 5(c) - Critically analyze current research, and 5(d) - Actively contribute to furthering professional effectiveness in using digital resources. The online teaching toolkit reflects standard 5(d) - Actively contribute to furthering professional effectiveness in using digital resources, while the article critiques meet standard 5(c) - Critically analyze current research.

Professional Learning Plan Created for ITEC 57427 - Technology & Learning, in this document I reflect on my professional ITEC strengths and areas for improvement, and itemize three SMART ITEC-related goals I've set for myself. I've kept an informal list of professional development "to do" items for awhile, but that list is always growing and the time available to complete its entries continues to shrink, so this assignment was a good way to refocus and recommit myself to making the time to continue my professional development.

Conference Presentation - Learning Of and Through Collaboration Working with Dr. Albert Ingram, Kristin McCombs, and Chris Richardson, I designed, developed, and presented this general session at the 2010 TCC 2010 Worldwide Online Conference. This was my first time presenting at a conference, and the experience was a great one -- the presentation went well, we had good questions from session attendees, and we got positive overall feedback on both the content and delivery of our presentation. For me, this conference environment was the optimal situation in which to present for the first time, as the session was conducted utilizing technology with which I felt comfortable and in a group that willing to learn more and ask good questions.

Research Proposal - Measuring Effects of Collaboration Created as an assignment for ITEC 67449 - Research in Online Teaching and Learning, but also serving as a guide for one of my major research interests, this assignment required the definition of a research questions and a limited literature review in preparation for completing a full-length research proposal. I enjoyed this assignment, not only because it was on a topic that personally and professionally interests me, but also because I see continually reviewing the early phases of the research proposal process as valuable practice for my professional career.

Online Teaching Toolkit I designed this "toolkit" as an assignment for ITEC 67444 - Teaching Online Courses, but I completed it with the intent of using it in my professional career after the class; it includes items that I have found useful in helping set expectations and ground rules for online courses I have developed. I revisit and tweak the document from time to time based on what I've learned in my experiences in facilitating courses. This is the most recent version of the toolkit.

Journal Article Critique - Donavant (2009) Journal Article Critique - Ausburn (2004) These journal article critiques were completed as assignments for ITEC 67449 - Research in Online Teaching and Learning. In addition to demonstrating my ability to analyze study data and determine whether the researchers' conclusions are logical based on that data, they also serve as examples of my scholarly writing abilities.