Changing the PLN Assignment

Do you ever take a class or do an assignment and think I could have made that assignment better? I know that in my experience teaching and pastoring, there are many times when afterwards I think of ways I can do things better. Sometimes when I observe others teaching or preaching, I think of things I could have done differently, which is one thing I dislike about myself. In one of my classes we had a PLN assignment that I think could have been done differently. I wanted to make a few suggestions on how to do that differently. 

First, part of the assignment was done in LinkedIn, I’m not opposed to LinkedIn and this part was my least concern, but in certain areas LinkedIn is not that big of an app. I know that in my area it was almost impossible to find the ten friends needed for a part of the assignment. In my school I found one teacher who had an account and she hadn’t used her account since college. Now LinkedIn is not a huge problem in this lesson, but I think another Social Media App could have been more beneficial. 

Second, the actual document given was very confusing. I didn’t know whether the choice board activities should be posted on each week or at the end of the form. This to me was very confusing. The last part of the page given, which is shown below, really threw me off. Actually, I’m not sure now what we were supposed to do. I took it as, in each module, pick another option off of the choice board, but the last of the form (shown below) makes me think I was supposed to pick just one item and interact with it each time. Allson Boye in her article, spoke about making instructions concise and the need to give students clear guidelines for their work. I felt that the guidelines for this assignment were not clear. Now I don’t have a problem with any of the items listed on the choice board. I actually enjoyed this part of the class and it allowed me to explore things I have not used before such as Flipboard. That’s always beneficial when a class gives you something that you didn’t know about.

How would I improve this assignment? I think I would give a choice on how the person was to share what they were doing. I think I would allow the person to post on any social media or their choice or on YouTube, or any other video site of their choice. You could even give someone the option of a blog. Boye also wrote about the need for students to take ownership and have choices in their assignments. Then I would make a central page on Canvas that shares each person's method of sharing (this was an issue that I had in my other class, because it was hard to find each other's blogs even though we were supposed to comment on them). This would allow us to explore not only what we chose but what other people chose as well. I think I would make the instructions much more direct, and the form given much more concise. 

Allison Boye. (n.d.) How Do I Create Meaningful and Effective Assignments? Teaching Resources. https://www.depts.ttu.edu/tlpdc/Resources/Teaching_resources/TLPDC_teaching_resources/CreatingEffectiveAssignments.php

Field Experience Simulation

So how can someone prepare for the conflict that is to come in a future job. After all, reading books and watching lectures can only get you so far. Educational leadership provides many difficult situations and choices that cannot be prepared for through lecture or reading. After all, as one researcher wrote about, the actions of school leaders is a central component of school quality and educational development. However, how does an educational system assure that their leaders are ready to take those actions? Leadership education is all about laws, policies, and decision making, but does it fully prepare you to make those decisions when laws and policies collide? 

Well in class we went through a few simulations geared toward the difficult situations that will probably arise in future positions in the field. These simulations dealt with cyber-bullying, social media concerns, and leadership decisions. I really enjoyed working through these situations. I think that throughout the experiences I was exposed to legal issues and conflicts, that even though I read about in the class reading, I did not understand the widespread impact of such legal issues. I also learned about several issues that aren’t necessarily cut and dry. In leadership, I think that a rule must be followed and a rule breaker must be disciplined, but sometimes privacy laws, freedoms, and other issues make a situation not so cut and dry. These simulations made me think on my toes about the different viewpoints involved in each decision. This is actually something I am pretty good at, because I do it in the classroom so much, but the simulations allowed me to see more of the ethical and legal concerns of situations.

However, these situations were not just geared toward legal decision-making, but one relied heavily on building and developing teams. This one in particular made me see that sometimes when you make a decision, many of the options are good options, but you have to think through a decision and not just pick the good options, but the best options as well. Simulations allow people to make mistakes without consequences. One article I wrote mentioned the importance of a student making these mistakes (https://newsroom.lmu.edu/campusnews/simulation-technology-helps-aspiring-educational-leaders-prepare-for-challenging-real-life-scenarios/). After all, the bad decisions I made did not harm or affect anyone like they would in the real world. The simulations allowed me to practice without consequences which is not the case once you get a leadership position and have to make these types of decisions daily.

Even though simulations are common in other fields. I knew that pilates use flight simulators, policemen have mock drills, and firemen run simulations as well, I never thought about using simulations in leadership. Even though the simulations are all different they all allow people to make high pressured decisions in places that there are no consequences. This is important because we learn though repetition, and simulations allow us to repeat situations over and over, so that when the real thing happens we are prepare, and we are just going through the motions that we have already taught ourselves through simulations

Brauckmann, S., Pashiardis, P., & Ärlestig, H. (2020). Bringing context and educational leadership together: fostering the professional development of school principals. Professional Development in Education, 49(1), 4–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2020.1747105

Simulation Technology Helps Aspiring Educational Leaders Prepare for Challenging Real-Life Scenarios (2022) Loyola Marymount University. https://newsroom.lmu.edu/campusnews/simulation-technology-helps-aspiring-educational-leaders-prepare-for-challenging-real-life-scenarios/

E-Rate and the Alabama Supercomputer Authority

The Alabama Supercomputer Authority (ASA) provides internet access to over 900 sites across the state including schools and libraries. The ASA covers any remaining funds after E-rate discounts for internet services for the base level bandwidth. In 2023 the base level bandwidth was 1.5 Gbps for a P-12 school, 1Gbps for a high school, and 500 Mbps for Elementary, Middle, and Primary schools.  The ASA also provides the ability for education facilities across the state to use a high performance computer system. The ASA is based in Hunstville, AL. Through their work in Alabama schools, libraries and other government entities are able to access much needed internet capabilities.

A supercomputer uses multiple CPU’s called nodes to handle complex computer operations. Instead of a web server that ryan at 10% of it’s capacity and is useful for small task A Supercomputer can use 100% of it’s resources to perform complex computations. The ASA currently has 7 nodes that are located in 4 locations across the state, to prevent any system-wide failure. The ASA has many different software and hardware elements that must all work together. A Linux based system is used to operate much of these components. dThe ASA also has many different layers of security that work together to fend off daily attempts at unauthorized use.

The ASA has been providing internet access to schools for over 35 years. Nowadays high-speed internet is very common. However, 25 years ago when I was in school most people didn’t even have dial-up. I can remember using the computer at school and only dreaming about being able to stream a video at home. In fact, the area I currently reside which is where I grew up at, has only had reliable high-speed internet in the last 5 years, unless you lived in town, and then it wasn’t near as fast as what is available now. High speed internet access is a very valuable tool in education, in fact many classrooms are sole dependent on internet nowadays. I know that when the internet goes out, everything in my class changes. Which is interesting because I rarely use the internet in many of my classes, but most of the tech I use requires connectivity to the internet. 

The cost to provide that type of connectivity to schools would be astronomical without the federal E-rate program. This is important, because only those schools that had alot of private funding would be able to provide their students with high speed internet, if the funding was left up to the school. This would create many areas where students would be at a disadvantage in today’s society. E-rate levels the playing field in internet access, and in Alabama the ASA provides the ability to connect those schools to the internet.

Alabama Supercomputer Authority. (n.d. ) Managed Internet/ Wan. accessed on 4/1/2025. https://www.asc.edu/service/managed-internet-wan#:~:text=ASA%20offers%20high%20speed%2C%20dedicated,increments%20from%20100Mbps%20to%2010Gbps.

Frazier, M. & Hearrington, D. (2024) The Technology Coordinator’s Handbook (Fourth Edition) Portland, Oregon: Internation Society for Technology in Education.

HPC System Design. (n.d.) Alabama Supercomputer Authority. Accessed on 3/31/2025. https://www.asc.edu/sites/default/files/2023-07/HPC_system_design_1_compressed.pdf