Foreword:

Narciso C. Aguda, Jr. M.Ed.

Background and Experience in Technology

My background in technology is really the story of my life. As cliche as that may sound,
my experience with technology begins as a 9-year-old child. The year was 1989; I had
had my share of Ataris and Nintendos throughout my earlier years. Video game
cartridges stacked up like castle walls around my room attested to this fact. Though I
never owned an Atari, my neighbor and I played his until his broke. I remember coming
home from 3rd grade (after the arduous task of reciting my multiplication tables to my
teacher) to this pale gray machine sitting on top of the living room coffee table. It had
what looked like a TV and a typewriter keyboard. It was quite large and I could tell it was
new because it had that just-out-of-the-box Styrofoam smell. My dad told me he spent a
month's paycheck on this behemoth of a machine. I had heard about computers before.
My elementary school had one, but it was locked away. My classmate's mom was a
computer teacher at the local high school, and I figured that this was one of those
computers she taught about.

In those early years of the home PC, I self learned technology through inquiry-based
learning and a little help from my dad. My dad was an accountant; he used spreadsheet
programs daily, so naturally he taught me Lotus 1-2-3. I remember how fascinating it
was to get 50 math problems done in less than 5 minutes, much to the chagrin of my
3rd grade teacher who later banned the use of calculators and computers at a parent
meeting. The learning was driven by excitement, intrigue and fascination. I wrote my
first BASIC program (this time without my dad's help) at age 10. No assignments or
grades, just pure inquiry. I remember it being a juke-box of sort. It was password
protected to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the jukebox (the password was
"twenty-five-cents"). Once inside, you could select from 15 different songs meticulously
programmed into BASIC from my beginner piano books. Select the song's corresponding
number and, like magic, it would play through the computer's internal speaker.

Later, bored with the text-based graphics and missing the interactivity of my Nintendo, I
bought a flight-simulator game only to find out that it could only be played by using a
joystick controller. I bought a joystick controller only to find that this machine had no
port to plug the device into. Finally, $45 poorer, I bought a game-card only to find out it
was a circuit board that I had to install inside my dad's $3,500 computer (while he was
at work, of course). I installed it and it worked like a charm. This feat won me a one
week vacation away from enjoying the fruits of my labor when my dad found out.

Technology innovation through the late 80s and early 90s was a blur. I remember going
from MS-DOS command line to Windows 3.1 with the click of a mouse. As I went
through middle-school and high school, computers continued to be a part of my daily
routine and a bigger part of my academic life. Productivity software like Word,
PowerPoint and Publisher changed the world of computing for me from the 16-color
world into a more creative world, full of multi-media. My own teachers began to look to
me for solutions. In high school I found myself developing Excel grade book templates
for a number of teachers who sought a simpler, more secure form of grade bookkeeping
(although now in retrospect, I probably should've never had them save it on their 3.5"
floppies). I built my first computer from scratch in 1995, after watching my friend's first
multi-media computer built at a local computer shop. Knowing what I knew, my dad and
I formed an amateur tech-support team, fixing friends' and relatives' personal
computers for $40 a machine. He even let me keep the money. Then, when Windows 95
(the first true Windows OS) and the digital-revolution peeked their freshly groomed
heads into the technology landscape, I knew there was no turning back, right in time for
college.

While at UCLA, the Internet was this new and exciting idea. Not only were companies
putting up websites, but regular people were publishing their lives online. I created a
web journal (way before "blogs" became popular) to keep my family and friends abreast
of my experiences in college; HTML was quickly becoming a good friend of mine. As a
physiological science major, I found myself working for a Genetics research lab. The
experience familiarized me with their Unix-based sequencing applications and Unix
command line. To supplement my modest college allowance, I landed a job working
retail at the UCLA Computer Store selling computers to faculty and students. This was
great at the beginning, but my fascination with retail waned and I finally moved on. I
took a job as a Youth Pastor at a local church. Working with youth and children was
always an interest of mine as a tutor back in high school, not to mention the position
had the added benefit of free room and board. My knowledge about computers won me
the extra responsibility of make-shift Desktop and Network Administrator (without extra
pay), creating IT solutions to scalable problems with network infrastructure, web design,
digital recording, and desktop support. At this point, I had no idea what the acronym
"IT" stood for even though I was the IT specialist.

My passion for teaching students found myself in Grad School for my M.Ed. I naturally
gravitated to technology as my primary method of information delivery. Applying
pedagogical concepts of inquiry-based learning and didactic instruction to delivery
methods such as interactive and dynamic presentations, simulations, and robust
multimedia, I incorporated technology into all my lesson plans. In addition, I developed
much of my own print material and lesson handouts through publication software,
scrapping the canned material in textbooks. This was a great way to customize and
differentiate a lesson to a particular class.

My first teaching position was in Biology at a new school near the Santee Alley district of
South Central Los Angeles. Though my content was Biology, I saw the effects of
technology in the classroom not only as a delivery tool but also as a motivational and
engagement tool. It interested me how technology affected learning. My graduate
thesis focused on how students, in an enriched, technology-filled classroom learned and
processed abstract biology concepts compared to students exposed to traditional, low-
tech pedagogy. A strong passion for this research grew from the digital divide I saw
between students from affluent areas (those I worked with at my church) and my
biology students who lived among the urban poor in South Central Los Angeles. My
students' only exposure to technology was simply social networking and entertainment.
Very few used technology as a productivity tool, let alone as a tool to bridge the
achievement gap. This disheartened me greatly. And it wasn't their fault; no one had
taught them.

After two years of teaching Biology within LAUSD, I had the rare opportunity to start a
new charter school in the vicinity. Green Dot Public Schools (GDPS), a Charter
Management Organization, made national headlines for pressuring LAUSD into breaking
up Jefferson High School into five smaller charter schools while allowing the charter
organization to manage them. At the time, Jefferson High School was one of the worst
High Schools in LAUSD. Race riots, failing students, and a frustrated community were
among this school's problems. When LAUSD declined their request, GDPS made bold
moves to establish their presence in the area and provide parents with another option
for their children. For me, moving to a charter school had one caveat: I would have to
teach a Technology class (this was the only available position at the time). While this
was out of my credentialed field, I felt this was an amazing opportunity and a new
challenge; I quickly accepted the position.

At the time I signed up with GDPS, no one had adopted a technology course syllabus or
common standards to guide the direction of the district's technology courses.
Translation: I was on my own on this one. I created my own course from scratch.
Focusing on ISTEs NETs standards as a framework for learning objectives, I developed a
curriculum that would bridge the digital gaps that I observed with my previous students.
The curriculum touted a heavy emphasis on the use of productivity software like
Microsoft Office to create product. I asked myself questions like, "I didn't have a
technology class in high school; how, then, did I learn these skills without a formal
classroom teacher?" The answer was found in my own experience. Recalling the inquiry
and fascination of creating something new and creative, I focused on teaching the tech
literacy skills through cross-curricular projects. I gave core-content teachers other
options for assessments through creative assignments such as various print and web
projects.

Fortunately for my students at the new school, the founding principal saw technology as
a core elective that all incoming 9th grade students were required to take. His rationale
aligned with my experience that students needed to possess computing skills that would
help them compete with the computing skills of the 21st century student. He felt that
the technology skills learned today would help students in college tomorrow.
I remember a brief interaction with Adam, a 16-year-old immigrant from El Salvador. He
looked at me with this silly grin on his face one morning while working on the HTML of
his final webpage. "Explain that face, Adam," I asked. "My brother is writing HTML in
college and he's got this big book. I showed him the web site we're making and he
copied my work. He got a B. Can you believe that? I did his college work! I think I want
to make websites for local community companies when I get out of here." He graduated
in 2010, our first graduating class. I'd never met his parents; if only they knew.

Within four years I developed a solid, refined and tested technology curriculum.
Teaching this course crystallized in my mind the urgent and absolute need to provide
this type of course, and its advanced iterations, to the students we serve. Students as
well as teachers benefited greatly from the technology experience these students
brought into their classrooms and I slowly began forming my vision and dreams for a
tech plan in the learning environment.

Budgetary issues in 2010 forced our school to close after four years. Fortunately, a
position opened up at the district level. The Information Technology (IT) department at
GDPS was undergoing a restructuring led by our new Vice President of IT. A critical
position bridging our organization's technology infrastructure with instructional
technology in the classroom was greatly needed. I moved into this administrative
capacity, filling the position of Instructional Technology Coordinator (ITC) for the school
district. As ITC, my responsibilities include overseeing and implementing technology
integration throughout core-curriculum while supporting teachers with creative IT
solutions in the classroom. In addition, I create and implement IT training for teachers
and staff at school sites. I also research and pilot new and emerging technologies to
evaluate their effectiveness for adoption into our system.

Vision for Technology in the Learning Environment

Working within Green Dot's IT Department not only exposed me to the vast
infrastructure supporting the technology in my classroom, but also offers me the rare
opportunity to see my technology vision come into fruition.

I am reminded of Bill Gates' message the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008. His
message angered me. He spoke on business and the historic role that the United States
played in the world economic landscape. But his angle was deeper; it touched two
things I cared deeply about: education and technology. His message was simple. He
quoted statistics that described a deficit between the number of technology-related
jobs our nation was demanding and the number of our graduating students who were
qualified for those jobs. The deficit was staggering. Without proper training in
computing, students like Adam may not have the competitive edge over an out-sourced
talent.
While this is a daunting issue to tackle, and while there are many other issues in urban
education that deserve warrant, I remain steadfast in the vision began years earlier:
tech literacy is key to bridging the digital divide and quite possibly the achievement gap
as well.

It's unfortunate that the current climate in educational technology doesn't reflect this
urgency so well. Our schools are cutting basic computing classes (and even advanced
classes) due to budgetary issues. While common core standards are uniting our entire
educational infrastructure, a common, rigorous set of technology standards are still yet
to be recognized nationally. In addition, technology classes are being collapsed because
of the required technology credential. Consequently, many technology teachers
(including me) at GDPS are preparing for the Business CSET exam to receive a Business
Credential, the required credential to teach Technology in California. Granted, there was
a time in the early 80s when technology was almost synonymous with Business-skills,
however today we live in a much different era. Technology is not only about business
anymore, but permeates nearly every facet of our lives. The Business CSET requirement
is not only archaic, but also indicative of where we place our priorities. Technology
Literacy becomes 21st Century Skills in communication, collaboration, creativity and
invention.

My vision for technology in the learning environment is two fold: (1) Establish
Technology as a viable, stand-alone, required course in our school district. This will
provide our students with the proper technology literacy skills inherent in the 21st
Century Learner ideal. (2) Rally for a Connected School full of Connected Students that
provide opportunities to apply their technology literacy skills in an environment that
fosters and encourages collaboration and situated learning via social networks.

One of the biggest tasks for me this year will be to adopt a set of common technology
standards for our school district. The task will involve our technology teachers, select
administrators and external instructional technology consultants. We want to focus on
the definition of a 21st Century Student. ISTEs NETs, Framework for 21st Century
Learning, and Metiri Groups' EnGage 21st Century Skills all provide base frameworks for
what a 21st Century Learner looks like. The task, then, is to answer the guiding question:
what specific skills are required for our students to succeed in the competitive global
digital playing field and how can we leverage our resources to provide access to our
students in this regard? Establishing buy-in from our stakeholders as well as leveraging
the urgency shared by Bill Gates' plea is essential in bringing technology to the forefront
of our organization.

I envision a Connected Student and a Connected School where 21st Century Learners
are an expected learning outcome. I've come far with technology: from fascination as a
child to total connectivity as an adult. I'm connected, and chances are, you're connected
as well. I receive updates from my various streams: Facebook, Twitter and the many RSS
feeds I subscribe to. And it all happens even when I'm not thinking about them. These
updates arrive via PUSH technology, syncing with my iPhone, Outlook and even Google
Apps. I create events with a finger swipe and can invite people with a tap of the screen.
My documents sync to the cloud via DropBox, so I'm never without an important
document even when I'm not in front of my personal computer. This is what is reality for
me now as professional adult. Unfortunately, for many of our students, it's still just a
fascinating theory.

What if this became a reality for our students now? Being connected is not just for
grown-ups. Infrastructure already exists to connect our students to our schools and to
our curriculum. From my 6 years of teaching I observed over 80% of my students
carrying their own cell-phones, while nearly 50% of these students touted smart phones
into class. If time is a reliable indicator, that number will only increase. What if, instead
of banning these devices in our schools, we encouraged students to use them to
connect to our information streams?

Research is abundant on the effects of learning in the context of community. Situated

learning and collaborative environments are key to solidifying concepts and new ideas.
Recently, online social networking platforms such as Facebook and MySpace have
saturated our culture. What if our schools could leverage the power of these social
networks to bridge the communication gaps between students, teachers, and parents?
Virtual communities will exist, encouraging collaboration between our students,
supplementing our traditional teaching methods. Current technology like
Schoology.com and Edmodo.com already link social networking with the classroom and
provide a virtual communication space that many of our students and parents already
are familiar with. Connected students and parents can receive a constant stream of
updates from their subscribed classrooms that's pushed to their cell phones and other
mobile devices. Now everyone can be in "the know" instantly.

Microsoft's live@edu shows promise in connecting our students to the cloud and to
virtual desktop computing. Our students, while enrolled in our real classrooms, can
access their documents via the web from any computer in the world. Web 2.0 versions
of their most popular applications, PowerPoint, Word, Excel, One Note, and Outlook, are
available to any student at any time. Though many of the students we serve may not
have a budget to purchase MS Office Suite, they can and will have access to these web
apps from computers with Internet access. Using MS Outlook, the classroom and school
will run as an enterprise, teachers and students creating collaboration calendars while
setting and accepting meeting notices.

Initiatives like the iPad project at the Webb School in Knoxville, TN, where all students
must have an iPad, speak volumes about the Connected Student. They are not some
ideal for the future, they are today's resource. Using handheld devices (ideally at a 1:1
ratio of student to device) in the classroom can open up a teacher to an unlimited
number of resources. This provides various options for differentiated instruction and
feedback, while having the added benefit of being cost-effective, doing away with
printed consumables such as textbooks and novels.

The Connected Student is not tomorrow's curriculum. It is today's. We need to leverage

valuable resources to provide this type of access to our students today. Imagine if
students jumped on the wagon today. What will the wagon look like tomorrow when
they're at the helm of innovation?

Personal and Professional Aspirations

Technology is constantly redefining itself to the point where one cannot pinpoint
another digital revolution. Innovation is increasing at exponential rates. In order to be
effective in empowering our students to cross the digital divides, I need to jump on the
bandwagon myself. The Ed.D. program in Learning Technologies will expose me to new
and emerging technologies at the speed of innovation. I will gain insight into how these
emerging technologies are being implemented in systems around the world. In addition,
the experience garnered from the coursework towards the Ed.D. degree will be
invaluable to my work as ITC with GDPS. Piloting new, district-wide technologies can be
a risky venture without the correct metrics and quantitative measures to evaluate these
new pilots. The program will prepare equip me for these evaluations. In addition, the
degree will revisit my first graduate thesis in discussing technology's role in harnessing
the cognitive brain via engagement and effective pedagogy. I am very interested in
reexamining the role of technology in engagement and effectiveness as a daily
classroom resource. Further, this program has the invaluable opportunity to network
me with other professionals in the educational technology space for collaboration at
home and abroad.

Personally and professionally, I want to effect change in the status quo via educational
technology policy. I want to see the day when technology is at the forefront of
education in theory and in practice. Whether in the non-profit space, government space,
or for a company like Google wishing to push forward with the next educational
technology digital revolution, I want to be a part of the solution. I want to live in the day
when the Connected Student and the Connected School aren't imaginings and
fascinations of a 21st Century Educator, but are a daily reality for my students. I believe
that this type of program will give me the correct perspective to evaluate this kind of
goal, as well as the prerequisites necessary to continue attaining it.

"If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow." - John
Dewey