Introduction

My name is Ellen Nosal and I am an ITRT in Fauquier County Public Schools. I presently work at Kettle Run High School, which is the county' s 3rd and newest high school. I am ending year 2 of a PhD program in Instructional Technology.

What have I learned about technology? Technology and Education? Technology and Learning? {top}

In beginning this course work through George Mason, I thought I knew a lot about technology and how it impacts education. As I finish year 2 or my PhD program, I find my solid background in education has increased exponentially.

I began the program with a strong well develop base in technology, but as a math teacher in high school I did not use the technology as well as I should have. During my first year in the program a great many changes occurred in math career. Our county opened a new high school, which I wished to attend. As a math teacher I interviewed for the math department chair, and did not get the position. I see now the Technology gods intervened. The position if ITRT at this new school open and I encouraged a college to interview for the position, but he was not the candidate they were looking for so, the position was posted again. Opportunity rarely knocks twice, so I interviewed. I was offered the position immediately due to my expertise in online worlds and my study in online course development for GMU.

As the ITRT of the new high school and my continued education at Mason, I quickly became a leader in our ITRT community in the county. In my own school, I made a point of being positive and helpful in any way possible. I learned so many things this year, and it helped my staff become better teachers. My knowledge has helped my become a leader in the MUVE and education fields, and the networking I have done in the last two years has aided me in creating a professional learning network of like-minded individuals whom I can draw upon in an instant. I learned that change is good, extremely hard and tasking work, but good. I have been inspired to help other educations who feel stagnate about their teaching and curriculum, to be excited about a project they are working on with me.

I have come to understand technology gives flavor to curriculum. I can find the perfect activity or web site, to add spice to a lesson. The technology gives the kick they look for in finding things interesting. I enjoy taking old recipes of lesson plans and updating them to modern, fun-filled learning activities.
Through this program I have expanded my learning, my teaching, and my self-confidence in my abilities as an educator, a learner, and as a person.; In my 19 years in teaching I can claim 2008-2009 was my best year ever. I worked so hard every day, and toughly enjoyed every minute of my job. I have learned that the technology is scary so I need to balance that by being very personable. I am always wanted in my building and I have made a policy of being vocal about addressing people before they ask me for my services. I am making people the priority and their technology issues second, but most importantly I am make a difference in the way teachers present lessons, and how administrators look at technology in the classroom.

What I Have learned about myself as a Learner and teacher? {top}

As an educator I have always been about student needs and achievement. I considered my needs secondary, but looking back at the work I have done in this program, I see a change in my understanding of needs. It is just as important for teacher's needs to be met as students, they are of equal measure. One cannot advance without the other. Students are only as good as their teacher s. so having teachers who are active learners and interested in trying new techniques, will generate a stronger, smarter student. One fact is enthusiasm, teachers who are enthusiastic about trying new techniques or technologies will pass the feeling to their students. Thereby creating an exciting, motivated classroom, both the student and teacher can feed from.

In the role of ITRT at my school, I try to be that pool of enthusiasm and excitement from others to draw from. I look to help students and educators alike by being a bridge to cooperation and exploration of something new. I look to find a comfortable atmosphere to expand their learning.

In the role of an ITRT lie the foundations of cooperation and team efforts. I am support staff for educators and a leader for students. My beliefs have not been changed only strengthened by working so closely with all the teachers in my building, and being available for all the students. It is through this I focus on a team mentality for all the projects I do within the school.

As I look back to the coursework form TOAT and the other work form the program, I have gleaned the importance of the phrase life-long learning. But this learning is not embedded in a graduate or degreed program. I have learned to create a PLN: Professional Learning Network. This is a circle of my own design I have created using social networking sites. This network has become a lifeline for me of enormous amounts of educational information. Through this network my growth and knowledge of things technological and educational has increased exponentially. Who I follow or friend becomes another expert in a team of brilliant problem solvers.

How Participation in this Innovation Impacted My Classroom Practice? {top}

As an ITRT, I no long have an everyday classroom setting. Therefore, it became my goal to bring the practices I was learning to my classroom teachers. I did this by delivering information to selected teachers based on content. If a department had need to a tool or web site, I would work my way into the room during the lesson and assist the classroom teacher with implementation. Through this "backdoor" practice, I have influenced they way they teach to meld with educational technology needs and uses.
The outcomes of my covert interventions were that other classroom teachers would them hear about the situations or activities and would want to try them with their students. I reached a great many teachers with these tricky techniques and plan to increase my expansion in the coming school year.

What I learned about Online Learning and Online Teaching? {top}

As an ITRT, I look for ways to help teachers use technology in their classroom. In using online practices I have made connections with educators, who were reluctant to try any technology before. Some of these educators have made strides in their teaching, so much that their students have thanked me for coming to their class. Online learning is about, getting information from a source which is Internet based. But the practices for online learning are about how to treat the people on the other side of the computer. Patience, understanding, and a passion for learning are key elements in a face 2 face setting and are also prevalent on the online learn world. My beliefs in these feelings have only deepened for online learning. And I do my best to practice these with educators and students alike.

What I learned about curriculum design {top}

In the area of curriculum design, I can say I have a new understanding for. In the developer sense in games and simulations, I learned having problem based, games simulations can be exciting, entertaining and most importantly educational. With this in mind, focusing design of curriculum of these concepts makes for a fabulous career opportunity. In my recent explorations of the personal finance MUVE, I have become a content and curriculum expert for a major banking corporation. I did this by simply asking for items of content to be added to the program. Once these items were added in, we as the educators used them for teaching certain aspects of personal finance to enhance our students learning. This small detail became a driving force in how we shaped the program and how we adapted curriculum to fit a game simulation.

The irony of this situation for me is, I had no real beliefs about curriculum and design until I was shown the "code" of educational design. As a classroom teacher you are handed a book and pacing guide and told to teach. Like a drone you obey and get through as much material as need for an SOL, but through this program, I see so much more when looking at a chapter in a text, I now look to see how I can infuse technology into the design of a lesson and create dynamic material to expand the learning of SOL related material.

What I learned about teaching and learning {top}

What I have learned is as an ITRT I have power. I have power to help teachers change their teaching, sharpen their skills, expand student learning, and empower administrator to support their teachers.
Through my learning I have gained a power to captivate an audience with my knowledge and understanding of curriculum and technology. I believe I can use this power to help teachers, student, and administrators to build better schools and programs, to fit the ever changing needs of our students.
I am a visionary, I am an explorer and if I am confident in my abilities, and continue to learn, I will be a positive influence in my school for my students and teachers.

What did you learn from Mentoring for TOAT? {top}

In working with the TOAT program I experienced what is was like to be an online learner and then an online mentor. In each process many different lessons were introduced. One I found most interesting and useful was the phases of mentoring. This lesson presents itself from both sides of the equation and allows the learner to experience the different areas mentors and learners experience with learning in an online environment. This is not a topic that leads itself to just reading about, one must experience the situation first hand. The TOAT program allowed this simulation to exists and as a learner you were able the get an understanding for the guidelines of an online learning experience. It wasn't until I had the experience to mentor 4 students from the Geometry module in The Online Academy did this material really take hold and transition from guidelines to gospel. Having 4 students of such different ranges and backgrounds, made each lesson from the TOAT program that much more valuable. I also found ways to tweak our experiences and make them more meaningful to us. Instead of using Digi-chat my students found the ease and comfort from an IM program. We found we could communicate faster and more efficiently with IM or the phone than using Digi-chat.

As with any situation difficulties can occur, but having good communication is the best way to resolve these instances. My mentees and I have made appoint of communicating daily and try to predict needs for time when we might require extra information of time. This has proved to be a asset in their learning and a great aide in my organization. Making these connections and understanding their implications has made me a better mentor and learner.

Vision and Thought about participating in this Innovation {top}

As I began my journey at Mason, I really had no idea what was involved or expected. I knew, in pursuing another degree I did not want administration as the others in my school were looking to do. I knew my future lie elsewhere, but finding elsewhere proved elusive. I speaking with a professor at Mason, I discovered we were reading the same book, it was this book which was pushing my interest into "other" forms of education technology, specifically gaming. I entered the program with a goal of creating an online personal finance class and 2 years later half the course is completed.

AS I began to understand more about the online program I have looked for ways to through the curve of games and simulations into every project I have done. I attend a national conference this summer and presented a student showcase on a virtual world to help teens understand personal finance. It is my goal for next year's conference to be even more involved in spreading this program to other educators to use in the classroom. From these humble beginnings, I have stretched into an untapped area for education potential, which has yet to scratch the surface.  I am thrilled to be riding this bleeding edge of educational technology, and to be able to create curriculum and plan activities and lessons for other educators to follow.

What did you learn from Designing Courses for TOA {top}

In creating courses for The Online Academy, I began working with creating a Statistics class. In working with my team on this course, I learned a very important lesson. The content expert is the person who makes these courses happen. For me, my skills were in the probability modules; I understood the material and was able to create material and the web pages, and make my contribution to the course. Unfortunately, we lost our content expert to other duties and were left floundering. Having a content expert is vital to the success of creating a workable online course.

Learning this extremely valuable lesson was costly. We were unable to complete the course and had to begin work on another course. In this new course, I became the content expert and was able to make a better connection and be more productive.

Reflections on Mentoring and Mentees High School Students {top}

As I finished the last few classes from the design and production end of my PhD, I found the whole process cemented in being a mentor for 4 students who were taking the GMU TOA geometry course. This truly culminating experience proved to me the tools and expertise I gained through the TOAT course was useful, prevalent and well learned. Understanding how the mentoring process works and how students relate to the online learning experience, made my transition from online learner to online facilitator and has given me such insight into the inner workings of online learning.
I learned what it truly means to be an online learner. The time and effort one needs to dedicate to online learning can be measured to correspond to the number of hours a student could spend in a classroom setting. The changes you face is that no one is there to monitor your activity and keep you on task. Online learns must have strong self-efficacy and motivation to keep plugging along with their course work.

Other challenges I faced as a mentor were trying to keep pace with my students. As with everything in school, no 2 online learners are the same. One of my students moved very quickly through the program and used all the technology available to her frequently whereas, others students needed persistent nudging by phone to get them started.

Closing {top}

In looking to my future in online learning, I want to focus in simulations and learning, specifically creating curriculum via mutli-user virtual environments as online learning environments. As I continue exploring the educational uses and needs of games and simulations, I am becoming an embedded member in an organization which will help pave the way for this type of learning environment.