Instructional Technology Leadership Reflection

I really enjoyed this class. The projects were very practical and necessary for a digital leader to apply to their jobs. As a passive observer, I never thought as deeply about educational technology and the impact that it can have as I did when completing the projects, and the SWOT analysis really helped me identify what needs to improve at the school and district level where I teach. The Sheninger book provided some great insight for me into educational technology and digital leadership. Although I love technology and how it is always changing, there were many things covered in the book that I had not come across and dealt with before in my field. One big problem of educational technology is that there are too many choices out there and too many directions to go in. The future of ET is not quantity but focusing more on quality. It is good to see how technologies are merging to form powerful solutions. For example, Flipgrid and Bitmoji recently teamed up. Microsoft owns Flipgrid and I am seeing it integrated more into Minecraft Education, which is another Microsoft product. Technology is the future of education, and teachers and other digital leaders will be at the edge of these innovations. I think the next decade of educational technology will be exciting to watch, and I hope we can work together to close the digital divide. Over the past year, many of the ideas related to ET are coming from leaders within the educational realm without true input from leaders of technology. We must work out these details and relationships for true digital equity to be achieved.