Meeting with my site supervisor......

I met with my site supervisor yesterday brainstorming on ideas and suggestions for an action research project. My supervisor felt that the Dell Kace Management System would be a good place to start. I think he’s right. Basically I will research how Kace will increase productivity, reduce man hours and save the school money. These were basically my thoughts in my discussion about my action research: One curiosity I share is how to make the deployment, installation, and upgrades of software more efficient throughout the campus; both for the technician and user. The problem is that a lot of man hours, costs and down time for end users are being spent on basic software installs and upgrades that take up a lot of time, when done manually, as opposed to having a system in place to push this information out. I am interested in finding the qualitative and quantitative analysis of using the Dell Kace Management System. I believe the action research investigation will allow me the opportunity to bring to light and define the most eminent details of how much time, energy, and money can be saved in using the Kace Management System. Inventory will be awesome, imaging much faster, the ability to manage both Windows and MAC desktops from one appliance is a major benefit overall. The Dell Kace can handle tasks that will give IT the ability to concentrate on higher value IT projects, which in return is a big benefit for the school.

Educational Leaders and Blogging

I think blogs are a good way for any person to network. Those with common interests, common goals, can all come together and share information; becoming enlighten on the issues at hand, and tactics to solve them. Blogs are a good way to stay in touch with those of a like mind. Pulling from each other’s information and collectively joining forces is a good way to stay in the “know” of new implementations, new technologies, and skills. This resource of blogging, gives way to an opportunity of abundant information and an increase in personal development.

Action Research and How It Can Be Used

The action research process can assist in understanding what is going on in the classroom and identify changes that can improve teaching and learning. Action research can help answer questions one might have about the importance or effectiveness of certain instructional plans and policies, the performance of the students, and classroom management skills. Action research is not just finding, collecting, and investigating data on our subjects but ourselves as well. Through research, we are able to discover the needs of our schools, students, staff and what can improve for our environment to experience continued growth and success.  

Action research is described as a continual set of spirals consisting of reflection and action. Each spiral involves clarifying and diagnosing a practical situation that needs to be improved or a practical problem that needs to be resolved. Action research also consists of formulating action strategies for improving the situation or resolving the problem, implementing the action strategies and evaluating their effectiveness, and clarifying the situation, resulting in new definitions of problems or areas for improvement, and so on, to the next spiral of reflection and action.  

After reading Dana's, Leading with Passion and Knowledge, and Harris, Edmonson, and Combs’, Examining What We Do To Improve Our Schools; I’ve come to understand the major importance in conducting action research. It is not just skimming across the top, floating along and picking up a little information here and there. It is an in depth, intense study of collected and analyzed data that will contribute greatly to finding a solution to major issues and concerns and a gateway to improvements in our schools.

I will definitely take this opportunity to use action research as a way to take charge of my personal professional development. As I reflect on my own actions and observe my peers, I want to draw from the opportunity to identify skills and strategies I would like to add to my professional status. As I research potential solutions and as I expose myself to new ideas, I want to recognize the skills, management, and instructional training needed to make the appropriate changes to improve myself.

Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press

Leadership is Leadership

Since starting the M.Ed. in Educational Technology Leadership, all I've wanted is to do my best to excel in the area of leadership. Whether it's taking the initiative to learn more about a particular program, reading more literature on education and technology and sharing more information with my work group, or just learning more on my own in web conferences and technological magazines. I find that I am becoming more and more aware of how my supervisor and those around me manage time, delegate authority and get the job done. 

I don't want to find that I am incapable of becoming the leader that I desire to be, simply because I'm not putting my best foot forward. Everywhere we look or turn around we can find examples of a leader somewhere near. Even kids at the playground have a leader! Question is though: How good of a leader are we? We can take on the characteristics, we can walk in the shoes of a leader but to completely fulfill the role; how is that accomplished? When I think of leadership I think of the movie, “Remember the Titans.” I’m reminded of the clip when Gerry Bertier and Julius Campbell were to exchange information about themselves to each other, the “particulars”. The biggest issue in the movie was that of race, but the gist of their argument about the football team had to do with only one thing, “leadership”.

 "Attitude Reflects Leadership"

 In discovering our action research plan, I hope that we can all find the leaders within us to accomplish all that we need and to forever become a complete success. After all, “The road to success is always under construction” – Lily Tomlin.