EDLD+5370-Wk+1+-+1.2.Assignment

Comprehensive Examination - Educational Technology Leadership
= Karen E. Buerkle = Lamar University

In my quest to become an educational technology leader, Lamar University’s Master Degree program has assisted me in developing my educational technology vision. Through the program courses, my viewpoints, attitudes, and visions have been shaped and molded into the Educational Technologist that is ready to assist professional educators in leading our new generations into their new 21st century.

With the skills and abilities I have acquired in my profession over the many years in the educational technology field, I look forward to sharing the knowledge I have acquired with others. There are still many of those in the teaching field needing a helping hand to explore the new technology wave that has enveloped our everyday society. In looking back to the beginning of my eighteen-month journey, I remember being so overwhelmed at the knowledge I was lacking about the educational field and now, I am able to see the opportunities in a new light. I have a clearer understanding of what the future development plan will hold for our future generations and myself.

**Position Goal**
My job position at Weatherford College is that of Web Designer. I have been employed with WC for a year and have found the information I have learned in the classes for this program beneficial in that particular role. Although I am not playing the role as professor for a class of high school graduates, I do find opportunities to instruct administrators, secretaries, and teachers about the college website. At this time, I’m not quite sure how my role will change after the completion of my M.Ed. degree, but I am looking forward to the possibilities. I have learned, after working for another community college as Graphics Manager for 16 years, not to be so focused in on a single career choice that you overlook what opportunities may appear on the horizon.

**Leadership Goal** In my twenty-plus-year career, I have seen how technology has shifted and changed. Mimicking the ebb and flow of an ocean, some technology developments have taken a strong hold on our society and others have not. With the surging of the waves onto the educational arena, it not only has taken a strong hold, but flooded the gates like a tidal wave.

As our young 21st century students have begun their educational journey, our teachers have found they are immersed in a digital world and challenged to present new lesson materials revised and edited for the “Digital Natives” as Marc Prensky had predicted (2001). Today’s generation of instructors are now labeled as “Digital Immigrants” (2001) and now struggle in the student chair to learn the technology that is so eagerly accepted by their students. Many times, students are instructing the teachers on the classroom technology that surrounds them.

This challenge not only affects that K-12 grade levels, but also the higher education level with those similar “Digital Immigrants” (2001) struggling to comprehend this new educational technology. If students are taught the new technology in grade school levels, they sometimes find themselves facing a community college also struggling to upgrade to the new standards required of them by the state educational agencies. In essence, technology is affecting all levels of education and no matter what role you play, there will always be a need for technologist trained in the educational technology.


 * __**

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants: Part 1. //On the Horizon//, 9(5), 1-6.
 * References**

Prensky, M. (2005/2006). Listen to the natives. //Educational Leadership//, 63(4), 8-13.