Rationale Paper

By Daniel Matthews Teacher at West Hall High School Graduate Learner at Boise State University
Introduction
I have always had a passion for technology. I remember the excitement when I was 6 waking up on Christmas morning with a brand new Nintendo from Santa Claus. I just wanted to play it, but about three days later I broke it when I took it apart to see how it worked. My parents were pretty upset about that, but they started giving me their old electronics so I could take them apart and see how they worked. The next time I got that excited was when I got a Motorola cell phone for my 16th birthday. It didnt have text messaging and sure didnt have the internet, but I could make a phone call from anywhere and I was really excited about that. My love for technology continued into college. The internet was just about everywhere when I was in college and we used it for everything from class to football to fun. When I graduated from Northwestern College in St. Paul, MN, I really didnt know what I wanted to do, so I floated between three jobs in less than two years before deciding to go into education. My family and I moved to North Carolina where I taught math for 4 years. While I was there, I was one of the first teachers in the school to get an interactive board, and I loved using the board. I could create so many excellent things using the board, the school system asked me to come and do an in-service with the technology committees across the county to teach them what I knew so they could share with their perspective schools. I also became the technology coordinator with our football program and was in charge of all things related to our video editing system. I love technology and I have for a long time, so when one of my colleagues told me about the Masters in Education Technology I perked right up and applied and started classes less than three weeks from the day he told me about it. I am currently a science teacher and football coach at West Hall High School in Gainesville, GA. Gainesville is a smaller city about an hour north of Atlanta just out of the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains. I have been teaching for just over six years with four of them in North Caroline and the last two at West Hall. Since I did not go through a standard education degree program, I had a lot to learn about teaching. After 5 years of teaching I knew I needed to expand my knowledge of the field, but after researching about a dozen schools none of them had programs I was really excited about. Then one of my colleagues told me he received his Masters in Education Technology from Boise State and told me he uses things he learned in class every single day. He was so excited about the program, I went home, researched the program, told my wife about it, and we were off in less than three weeks. I am very thankful to say, I have not had any experiences or classes that have shaped my teaching style more than the courses and professors I have had from Boise State. This rationale paper will be a reflection of many of the things I have learned at Boise State. It is a culmination of many of the things I have learned. It will have resources I have created from papers to interactive websites and everywhere in between. The paper is part of a larger ePortfolio

of mine that is designed to show my growth as an individual and as an educator through the work I completed for my Master of Educational Technology degree. I have used the standards set by the Association of Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) in 2000 to link several artifacts completed through my process as a graduate student. This rationale paper will link artifacts to each standard from the AECT and explain how each selected artifact aligns to the standard showing mastery and complete understanding of the standard. In addition to showing mastery of the standards, I will relate theory to practice and explain how completing my masters directly impacted my teaching and coaching.

Standard 1: Design
1.1 Instructional Systems
According to the AECT Standards, the Instructional Systems Design is an organized procedure that includes the steps of analyzing, designing, developing, implementing and evaluating instruction. During Ed Tech 503 Instructional Design, Dr. Freed had us explore many different instructional design models through readings and presentations. The Instructional Design Project is an artifact I created during this class that directly reflects sub-standard 1.1 and shows mastery of the standard. During the Instructional Design course we learned that through the design process the instructional designer will follow the steps of analyze, design, develop, and evaluate. My Instruction Design Project was a workshop designed to teach students in an after school video club at West Hall High School how to use Adobe Premier to create a highlight tape for prospective college athletes or clubs who were interested in having a promotional video. Since creating the project I have used it to train a small group of students at West Hall High School who can now help me create highlight films for some of the athletes and for other athletes in their perspective sports. I hope to eventually have enough computers in the school with the software installed I can make it a larger context where each sport or club sends one member to learn how to use the program. This year our school began doing video announcements and members who I have trained are doing the video editing for the announcements. The rationale for this training was that many students have the interest, but do not have the training or technology access to better their various programs. The instructional follows predominantly a supplantive instructional strategy. I felt his was the most appropriate to use based on the minimal knowledge the students had of Adobe Premier. According to Smith and Ragan, Supplantive instruction tends to conserve novice learners . . . for less knowledgeable learners, it may be more efficient than generative learning strategies: More material may be learned in a shorter period of time (Smith & Ragan, 2005, p.142). Through the design of this project I learned how to analyze learners and environment, design a training program, develop standards and objects, implement a program, and evaluate the effectiveness of the training.

1.2 Message Design

In Graphic Design for Educators, Ed Tech 506, we had to select and combine visual and text representations to effectively communicate instructional information. In order to create these images and messages, we used Adobe Fireworks to produce images throughout the semester. Standard 1.2 Message Design involves planning for the manipulation of the messages physical form. Throughout Ed Tech 506 we created several instructional messages to show mastery of message design principles, and all these instructional messages were created as part of a Unit of Instruction Plan. One of the images I created was the CARP Design Project which is one artifact I will use to demonstrate my mastery of message design. CARP stands for contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity. I used this design to convey the appropriate steps students needed to know in order to understand the process of mitosis. Linda Lohr explains, aligning images and words to create perceptual chunks helps reduce cognitive load (Lohr, 2002, p. 201). The process of cell division is so complex it can be represented in a design much more concisely than in text. I used pictures to represent each step of the process. The purpose of the pictures is to grab the learners attention and allow them to create a mental model of each step more easily. I then used another perceptual chunk in placing the description of each step of mitosis right next to the image it is related to. I also used other key message design components in this image. I used contrast in my color scheme effectively using black words and arrows against the white background and a white title in a black background for the header. I used alignment by aligning the images and words together. I used repetition by using the same font through the entire image, and proximity to show what things were together. All these elements together reduce the cognitive load on the students. Another artifact I created in Ed Tech 506 Graphic Design for Educators is my Justification Paper for my Unit of Instruction. The justification paper demonstrates mastery of message design by compiling eight different images and placing them each within a ten day unit of instruction. Each image is part of a very large chapter in Human Anatomy which covers the parts of the cell, types of tissues, cell division, and more. Each image is placed into a page on a website I created just for this project. I used this site last year when I completed this unit in class and it was a huge help for the students and for me. The students used it as a resource which helped reduce the instructional days in the unit from 16 days down to 10 days, and the students came out of the unit with a better understanding of each of the parts of it. I then added the website onto a shared webpage which is now available to all teachers teaching Human Anatomy in the county. One other teacher emailed me and thanked me for the unit plan and said she is planning to use it this year when she gets to the cells and body tissues unit. In the message I give students very strong images, videos, and questions to answer.

1.3 Instructional Strategies

An Instructional Strategy is a process or phase designed to deliver the content of a specific unit or a course. According to the AECT standards, sub-standard 1.3 is defined as specifications for selecting and sequencing events and activities within a lesson. Throughout Ed Tech 502, Internet for Educators, we learned about and how to produce several different artifacts using Adobe Dreamweaver and the Internet. Many of these artifacts demonstrate mastery of this substandard. At the beginning of the semester, I struggled mightily to write my own html code and CSS style sheets. This was one course I spent significantly more than the estimated weekly time on. As a result, though, I learned so much through the semester about using Dreamweaver to

design instruction. Towards the end of the semester one of our final projects was to design a Virtual Field Trip. My Virtual Field Trip is the artifact I will use to demonstrate mastery of the instructional strategies standard. The virtual field trip was intended to be a trip anywhere we would want to take a class. While I do not teach geography courses, I really wanted to create something I could use with the students in my class. I used the old cartoon The Magic School Bus as my inspiration and created a virtual tour of the human body. This virtual tour allowed students to learn about some of the major systems of the body using a multimodal approach. They would start with an introductory video about a topic, and then have some questions to answer about the video. Then they would have an activity to take them deeper. The field trip was not meant to be completely asynchronous so students were also expected to interact with each other and with the teacher through the process. Not only were the students learning many things about the human body, the students were also improving their 21stcentury skills related to technology that will better prepare them for the future.

1.4 Learner Characteristics

When designing an Instructional Program, several key factors must be addressed in order for the Instructional Program to be effective and for the school system to purchase the program. According to the AECT standards, Learner Characteristics can greatly impact how components of an instructional program are designed. In addition, Learner Characteristics play a very prominent role in the implementation of an instructional program. During Ed Tech 503 we had to design an in depth instructional design project, and my Instructional Design Project shows mastery of this sub-standard. This Instructional Design Project contains five main parts, I followed systems-oriented model by Smith and Ragan (2005). Smith and Ragans model has three phases: analysis, strategy, and evaluation. These three phases provide the conceptual framework for the eight steps that comprise their ID process (Gustafson & Branch, 2002). The Smith and Ragan model is based on the belief that if you provide a systematic problem-solving process, then effective instruction can occur. According to the Gustafson and Branch article, the Smith and Ragan model is also effective for developing specific instructional strategies. The most important phase of this model which shows mastery of sub-standard 1.4 is the analysis phase, more specifically, Part 2 the Learners Analysis. The first thing I did to create a learner assessment was to complete a needs assessment survey. The survey had questions related to the level of knowledge the students already had and what things I would need to supplement. Then I created a prerequisite skills chart so I could compare what skills the students would need compared to what they already had. Just because one method of instruction worked for one group does not mean it will work with another so we need to complete a needs assessment with each group we teach. The second artifact I chose to use for this standard is my Ed Tech 504 Constructivist Theory paper. In my paper I was challenged to look at how students are best able to take in knowledge and retain information, and how technology in the classroom has changed the way students process information and teachers can use different methods to coordinate the way information is distributed to the students in the room. Constructivists believe students best learn through experiences instead of simply sending information to them through lecture or taking tests. They need life-like experiences in order to truly understand what they are learning about. One way to do this is using resources available online and using electronic resources to allow students more

hands-on types of activities where they can learn about things they would never interact with. Learning about the theories of how students learn in the classroom helped me adjust my teaching methods based on what I believed. Before writing this paper my beliefs were strongly constructivist while my teaching methods were strongly behavioral. These did not match up because I was teaching the way it was demonstrated to me since I never had the benefit of a learning theory class in college or the benefit of student teaching and learning from a veteran teacher. Learning about how students learn has helped me connect with more students, and helped me connect more students to real life experiences while learning.

Standard 2: Development
2.1 Print Technologies
During Ed Tech 506 Instructional Message Design, we learned to use Adobe Fireworks to create visual images that conveyed specific messages. Throughout the entire course we built on our Fireworks skills and learned how to use these skills to create visual messages. All of the visual messages we created were related to design and followed specific guidelines explored by Linda Lohr (2008) in her book Creating Graphics for Learning and Performance. The images we created through the semester were related to a Unit of Instruction we were designing. My Unit of Instruction was for a unit in Human Anatomy & Physiology about cells, tissues, and their life cycles. The artifact I chose to show mastery of this sub-standard is the Cell City Analogy I created for my Unit of Instruction. According to the AECT standards, print technologies provide a foundation for the development and utilization of the majority of other instructional materials. The Cell City Analogy is something the students will use to demonstrate their knowledge of the parts of the cell. They will use this to learn about how the parts of the cell work like a small city, and then create their own metaphor using the parts of the cell. In her book, Lohr (2008) explains the use of white space is important in keeping sections separate. She also says that using a green background makes the words on the page easier to see (p. 270). I took this image from the original in white to the green one, I added in lines to separate the sections, and bolded the parts of the city. I also noticed many students overlooked the assignment at the bottom because it didnt stand out. I made it red which contrasted with the green to make the assignment stand out. When I used this in class two years ago many students forgot the last assignment and I had to have them redo it. This year only a small handful forgot to do it. I used the things I learned in this course to improve this and many other handouts I give the students with each unit.

2.2 Audio Visual Technologies

One of the main reasons I decided to get my masters in Educational Technology is my passion for video production. Deciding which electives to take throughout the program was difficult at times because so many of them looked interesting. One that I did not have to think twice about taking was Ed Tech 533, YouTube for Educators. In one of the first assignments for this class we were encouraged by Dr. Black to create a playlist of YouTube videos with a lesson plan attached to it. I am using my Playlist Lessons as my first artifact demonstrating mastery of this standard. In creating these lessons we had to create one playlist from each of three domains. I am using the one from the psychomotor domain for this video because it incorporates not only a

lesson plan, but it also includes physical activity. It really struck home for me because I used to coach track. I created a lesson plan teaching someone how to run the 100 meter dash properly. I can tell how many times kids have come in and said I already know how to run 100 meters. The video starts with Usain Bolt running his 100m world record run and then has him explain how he runs it. The AECT Standard states audiovisual technologies are used to produce or deliver materials by mechanical devices or electronic machines. We had athletes watching these YouTube videos at track meets before they ran so they could mentally focus on what they were supposed to do. This lesson demonstrates the use of electronic media do be delivered to students. A reason I got into teaching was so I could coach Football. I loved playing it in college and now coaching it is even more rewarding for me than playing ever was. I have been the technology expert at every school in every role I have been in throughout my career. This is why my next artifact hits very close to home with me. I created this Pregame Video using Adobe Premier, which is not specifically covered in the Ed Tech program, but was a huge reason why I started taking courses in Educational Technology. I created this video for students to watch in the moments before they take the field. The last three years I have created one of these every week of the football season to show before the game. I created this audio visual integrating video clips, audio tracks, pictures, slides, and tied it together with transitions and special effects. This video clearly demonstrates mastery of audiovisual technologies.

2.3 Computer-Based Technologies

Computer Based Technologies is a very broad category, and many of the artifacts I created could be applied under this category. I feel as if this program does a wonderful job using, as well as teaching M.E.T candidates to use, Computer Based Technologies. Almost all of the artifacts I created in Ed Tech 502 and 506 could be used under this sub-standard. One of the artifacts that I decided to use to show mastery of this sub-standard is the Interactive Concept Map. The Interactive Concept Map assignment required us to design a concept map about a particular topic and a web page that interactively uses the concept map. As a resource I found that students in Human Anatomy have typically struggled with remembering the 4 types of tissue. They can use this concept map to choose any of the types of tissue where they can see a video about the parts of the tissue, and some questions to check for understanding. Through these course I learned to find images that are non-copyrighted an can be used with attribution any time using the creative commons website.

2.4 Integrated Technologies

What are integrated technologies? This is also a pretty broad sub-standard but a very good one. I feel that if more teachers used integrated technologies with their lessons, the 21st Century student would be much more active and interested in their education. The AECT standard states that, Integrated technologies are ways to produce and deliver materials which encompass several forms of media under the control of a computer (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 40). There is no better way to show mastery of this standard than through the following two artifacts: The first artifact is my Ed Tech 502 WebQuest. The Web Quest is an unbelievable educational tool that I have used in my classroom every year with my Environmental Science classes since creating it. This interactive Web Quest provides the students with challenges faced in Africa

with water shortages and dirty water. Students are tasked into teams of 4 and told to come up with a solution to the water problem in Africa to present to the board at the United Nations. They may present in the form of a PowerPoint, a Prezi, or any other professional looking presentation tool available to them. Throughout the design process of the Web Quest, I learned how to apply many different design techniques to my website while showing mastery of the entire course Internet for Educators. Another artifact that I created that shows mastery of this sub-standard is my Ed Tech 501 Introduction Video. In my introduction video I used a video camera, and computer to do video editing. I also added in title slides and different scenes in the video. This was the very first project I had to do for any class at Boise State and it is still one of the projects I am proud of. I had students do an introductory video last year in class and the amount of time we spent on it was enormous, but I had some students produce excellent products. I was very proud of them. The video in conjunction with the Web Quest clearly demonstrate mastery of this standard.

Standard 3: Utilization
3.1 Media Utilization
In order to show mastery of sub-standard 3.1, I used two artifacts created in Ed Tech 506. The first artifact that I linked to this standard was the Facts image I created. This image was used as part of my Unit of Instruction. As part of the Budget Project (Unit of Instruction), students have to purchase a home or an apartment and calculate their mortgage payment. I provide them with a mortgage calculator to help them with this process. I used a simple rollover technique and arrows to help define what each specific term in the calculator calls for. I wanted to ensure that students would input the correct information so their mortgage payment calculations would be accurate. Clark and Lyons explain, Humans have difficulty retrieving factual information from memory, (Clark and Lyons, pg. 267). This is especially true for students with disabilities, and in order to help them remember key terms they were taught earlier in the semester, I used the rollover technique to define these terms. Another image I created for this Budget Project was the Concept Image which also uses a rollover technique to help the students learn how to calculate Simple Interest.

3.2 Diffusion of Innovations

Diffusion of Innovations refers to the process of communication through planned strategies for the purpose of adoption. The main idea of this sub-standard is to bring about change, simply change how things are done. In Ed Tech 501 we wrote a Digital Divide Memo. My Digital Divide Memo was to the Henry County Board of Education, where I am employed, to address the digital divide existing in our county. What is digital divide? According to the article Your Guide to the Digital Divide, digital divide is defined as the Chasm separating the haves and have-nots in digital technology. On one side are people who can afford or who have access to computers, a high-speed broadband connection and the plethora of services from online banking to social networking to blogging. On the other side of the equation are people who cannot afford the technology, (Glaser, 2007). In Henry County I teach students who live in $1,000,000 houses as well as many who live in trailer parks; it is a large and diverse county. Unfortunately,

there is a great digital divide in the county. As a result of this divide, many students arent given the same opportunities to be successful as others who have all the access they need to technology. The Digital Divide Memo focuses on this divide and discusses strategies and ideas on how to decrease the divide. In addition it has a link for a website I designed that has resources for decreasing digital divide.

3.3 Implementation and Institutionalization

The purpose of this sub-standard is to show mastery in the use of instructional materials in real settings. To define this standard and show mastery, I chose my Ed Tech 506: Budget Project. This entire project aligns with the curriculum of the course Math Money Management. This course focuses on preparing students for the future and improving their money management skills. Through this project, students will choose a career, research that career, and determine the requirements needed to get that job. Additionally students determine how much money they will bring in monthly; with the income from their job, they must purchase a house, car and other miscellaneous items, and prepare a monthly budget. After completing these projects, students will have a better idea of what type of lifestyle they will be able to afford while making the amount of money in their chosen profession. This culminating event for this class really provides the students with meaningful learning experiences and allows them to generalize and apply everything they have learned to the real world.

3.4 Policies and Regulations

The AECT standards defines sub-standard 3.4 as the rules and actions of society (or its surrogates) that affect the diffusion and use of Instructional Technology (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 47). I have aligned two artifacts created in Ed Tech 502 that clearly show my understanding and mastery of this standard. The first artifact is my Netiquette Page. I enjoyed creating this page, especially because of the way social media has changed the way we communicate. There is nowhere this is more evident than the high school classroom. This page provides the students with six very good rules to follow when working on a computer at school. One thing that has changed communication and taken over the lives of people of all ages is Facebook. Facebook is a wonderful way to communicate and interact with peers and family members. This page also provides the students with 10 tips they should follow when on Facebook. Too many times students or young teens post something in appropriate on Facebook and next thing you know the whole world has seen it and their image or reputation is smeared. The Copyright Scavenger Hunt was created to educate teachers on the rules of copyright and plagiarism. This was the first web page I created that had a video embedded and used bullets to show important information. This website takes the learner on a scavenger hunt while teaching the learner about the rules of copyright. This website also has an attached worksheet with an answer key. This project was one of the first more detailed web pages we created in Ed Tech 502.

Standard 4: Management

4.1 Project Management Project Management is the process of planning, monitoring and controlling instructional design projects. In Ed Tech 505 we had to create an Evaluation Proposal which involved planning and controlling an instructional project. This was an evaluation proposal for Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development done by Wiggs & Co. Educational Associates. This proposal consisted of an evaluation method, a timeline, personnel biographies and a budget. Another project created in Ed Tech 505 was the Evaluation Report; this report was done for the Henry County Board of Education to evaluate which style of teaching yielded greater academic gains, the traditional method or project-based learning approach. Boulmetis and Dutwin, authors of the book The ABCs of Evaluation, define evaluation as the systematic process of collecting and analyzing data in order to make a decision (Boulmetis & Dutwin, 2005, pg. 4). I feel as if both of these projects helped me understand and fully grasp the concepts of evaluation. Both the Evaluation Report and the Evaluation Proposal involved a systematic decision making process.

4.2 Resource Management

To fulfill this standard I decided to link my Technology Use Plan created in Ed Tech 501. This Technology Use Plan was for the Henry County Board of Education where I currently work and was employed when the plan was designed and written. The AECT standards explain that Resource management involves planning, monitoring, and controlling resource support systems and services (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 51). Henry County currently and at the time of this project had a Technology Use Plan. The Technology Use Plan I created was a new one for Henry County and was created for this class and never actually presented to Henry County. I felt like the Technology Use Plan was an outstanding assignment I had to complete during the course and program. After completing this project I feel as if I have a much better idea on what one of my roles as an educational technologist in a school system would be like. The Technology Use Plan required us to come up with a rationale as to why we need a Technology Use Plan in Henry County. After rationalizing the need for a plan we had to create a planning team. After creating a team, the plan discusses the process for developing a Technology Use Plan as well as the objectives of the plan. The objectives are linked to the national standards; they clearly state how students and teachers will use technology over the next several years. Additionally the plan designed for Henry County allowed me to plan a program for a real school setting based upon the technology goals set by the county. Another project showing mastery of this sub-standard is the Evaluation Proposal created for the Far West Laboratory for Education Research and Development. This proposal was done in Ed Tech 505, and during the process of creating the proposal I was able to explore on how an instructional training proposal should be written. In this detailed proposal, the goal was to determine if a training program would continue to be cost efficient for the company to implement. I had to come up with an evaluation process, a task schedule, project personnel and a budget covering all the details of the evaluation process.

4.3 Delivery System Management

Delivery Systems Management involves planning, monitoring and controlling the method by which distribution of instructional materials is organized . . . [It is] a combination of medium and method of usage that is employed to present instructional information to a learner (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 51). There are several artifacts that I have created that would align to this standard and show mastery. The two artifacts that I decided to show mastery of this substandard are the Mobile Learning activity created in Ed Tech 502 and the How to Catch a Largemouth Bass Video created in Ed Tech 597, YouTube in the Classroom. In the following two paragraphs I will discuss the details of these projects. The Mobile Learning activity was an interesting project we created in Ed Tech 502. With the evolution of the cell phone, or rather the smart phone, the capabilities of these devices are limitless and they can positively impact eLearning. The idea of this project was to create a web site/learning activity using Dreamweaver to be viewed and completed using a mobile device. The m-learning (mobile learning) activity is to be completed on a trip to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, GA. This learning activity will help ensure that your trip to the aquarium is fun while also helping students learn more about the fish they will see at the aquarium. The How to Catch a Largemouth Bass Video was created for a project during Ed Tech 597, YouTube in the Classroom. To meet the requirements for this project, we used Microsoft PowerPoint to design an instructional unit to be viewed on YouTube, which is a delivery system. Bass fishing is one of my passions, and I thoroughly enjoy spending time on the lake and fishing. As a result I decided to make a video on how to catch largemouth bass. Its funny, but to this day I still get comments from people on the video and how it has helped them. During the developmental stage of this instructional video, the first thing I did was put the content together on PowerPoint. Once my content was aligned and in order I used Flickr Creative Commons to find pictures that were relative to the content of the video. After the slides were put together I used a screen recorder program to capture a voice over narration of the PowerPoint. Once the voice over was complete I imported the video file into Microsoft Movie Maker to create my movie and upload it to YouTube. I really enjoyed using the screen recorder software during the design phase of this movie as this was my first experience with anything like that. I feel as if the screen recorder software has helped me out on a regular basis in my life as a teacher and coach. I use the screen recorder to capture videos off of YouTube that can supplement my lessons for the day, both in the classroom and on the football field.

4.4 Information Management

To show mastery of this standard you must be able to plan, monitor and control the storage, transfer, or process information in order to provide resources for learning. To show mastery of this standard I chose the Project Based Learning Unit I designed for Ed Tech 542, Project Based Learning. This Project Based Learning unit was designed for high school students taking Math Money Management. This project requires students to plan their dream vacation given a specific budget. After completing this project, students will learn valuable skills enabling them to plan a vacation when given a specific amount of money. There are five main components that were completed to design this unit as part of the Project Based Learning Framework. The five phases that guided the students through this project are as follows: begin with the end in mind, craft the driving question, plan the assessment, map the project, and manage the process. During

these five phases students had to determine where they would go on their vacation. They had to research and explore the different costs associated with planning a dream vacation. Students had to think about all the different things that factor into the cost and planning of a dream vacation. They had to successfully use Google Maps, a Multi-media web based tool to create a map of their dream vacation. I used an outdated version of this PBL unit that I created several years ago, and assigned the project at the end of the Fall Semester every year. This past semester my students really enjoyed this PBL unit and the results and products the students produced were outstanding. By creating this Unit I am fully confident that I have shown mastery of this standard because I had to plan, monitor and control how information was processed through my Project Based Learning Unit.

Standard 5: Evaluation
5.1 Problem Analysis
The AECT standards state that problem analysis is determining the nature and parameters of the problem by using information-gathering and decision-making strategies (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 56). In order to show mastery of this standard I needed to collect, analyze and interpret data to make decisions to improve instruction or programs. To show mastery of this standard I chose my Technology Needs Assessment Survey created in Ed Tech 501. This survey was created using Survey Monkey and was to be filled out by students and teachers in Henry County. The results from this survey are intended to be used to help construct the Technology Use Plan set for Henry County. I had not used Survey Monkey before. Survey is a wonderful assessment tool that I learned how to use and implement into my classroom as well as the entire M.E.T program at Boise State University.

5.2 Criterion-Referenced Measurement

This sub-standard involves determining if a learner has achieved mastery given a specific set of standards. There are many items I could have linked to this sub-standard to show my own mastery of it. In many of the courses we designed educational or instructional programs. When designing these programs it is vital to determine if the learner has met the instructional objectives set forth by the curriculum of the course or program. In order to check for mastery, I made several rubrics defining how the students or individuals tested would be graded. The rubric I chose to link to this sub-standard is from my Web Quest created for Ed Tech 502, my Ed Tech 502: Web Quest Rubric. In the past two years I have had many students complete the Web Quest: Geometry Around the World, and I use this rubric to grade their exhibit and presentation. By using rubrics, students know exactly what they are expected to learn. Additionally, rubrics eliminate any gray area in grading. By using rubrics I am able to ensure that my grading maintains consistency without any bias.

5.3 Formative and Summative Evaluation

According to the AECT standards, Formative Evaluation involves gathering information on adequacy and then using the information to direct future and further development. Summative

evaluation involves using this information to make changes about how something is used. The artifact I linked to this sub-standard was my Instructional Design Project IIIcreated in Ed Tech 503. This instructional training module was created to train coaches in the Henry County School System to use Windows Movie Maker to make highlight videos that will help the overall productivity of their particular sport. Part 6 Formative Evaluation, which is found on page 18 of this project is directly related to this sub-standard. My formative evaluation of this project included a subject matter expert review, one-to-one evaluation, small group evaluation and field trials. The subject matter expert completed a survey on the instructional design and gave input for change that would improve the quality and effectiveness of the instructional design program. The one to one evaluation was designed to sit down with a small group of coaches and try out the training individually on each of them. During this time I will be determining if the training can be taught smoothly and effectively. Depending on the results, I would make necessary changes to the instruction. According to Smith and Regan (2005), educators want to determine if the learners understand the instruction and if they can implement the instruction when required to do so own their own. The small group evaluation was completed to determine if the appropriate changes made based on the results from the one-on-one evaluations were successful or not. The field trials stage was the final step in the formative evaluation done on this project. The goal of the field trials was to determine if all the changes made during the other evaluations were successful and if successful implementation of this training is possible with a large group. The changes we made during the process from the subject matter expert, one-onone evaluations and group evaluations were all formative because we tweaked and changed the instruction as we went. I havent had a chance to implement this program to all the coaches in Henry County, but have implemented it to a small group from my school; the training was a success and was very smooth.

5.4 Long-Range Planning

The AECT standards define Long-Range Planning as planning that focuses on the organization as a whole is strategic planning....Long-range is usually defined as a future period of about three to five years or longer. During strategic planning, managers are trying to decide in the present what must be done to ensure organizational success in the future (Certo et al., 1990, p. 168). In Ed Tech 501 one of our main projects was to create a Technology Use Plan. My Technology Use Plan was created fictionally for the Henry County Board of Education, where I am currently employed. The Technology Use Plan was never actually presented to the Board of Education. Nevertheless this plan shows complete mastery of this substandard. My Technology Use Plan was a three year plan to help Henry County Schools integrate and use technology better on a daily basis to improve classroom instruction, school function, productivity and create more meaningful learning experiences. When creating this plan there were several factors an instructional designer must take into consideration when designing the instruction or plan. In order to meet the needs of the schools planning, teams were established to lead the efforts and guide the decisions made when constructing the Technology Use Plan. In conclusion, I learned some valuable information about Long-Range Planning when designing my Technology Use Plan. This information will make me a more sufficient educational technologist in the future.

Conclusion

The collection of artifacts that make up this portfolio were created during my masters experience at Boise State University and meet the AECT standards. These artifacts have affected me both professionally and as a student. Through completion of this masters program I am certain that I will have many more opportunities presented to me that will allow me to fulfill all of my career aspirations. In conclusion, I am already in the process of researching programs for my Educational Specialist in Technology. I look forward to continuing to my education through the wonderful field of technology.

References
Boulmetis, J., & Dutwin, P. (2005). The ABCs of evaluation (2nd Edition ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Certo, S. C., Husted, S. W., Douglas, M. E., & Hartl, R. J. (1990). Business (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Glaser, M. (2007, January 17). Your Guide to the Digital Divide. Retrieved February 22, 2009, from Media Shift: http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2007/01/your-guide-to-the-digitaldivide017.html Gustafson, K. L., & Branch, R. M. (2002). Survey of Instructional Development Models. Syracuse : ERIC Clearninghouse on Information and Technology. Lohr, Linda (2008). Creating graphics for learning and performance: Lessons in visual literacy (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Seels, B., & Richey, R. (1994). Instructional technology: The definition and domains of the field. Washington, DC: Association for Educational Communications and Technology. Smith, P. L., & Ragan, T. J. (2005). Insuctional design. Danvers : John Wiley & Sons, Inc.