SWOT ANALYSIS 1

Running head: PERSONAL SWOT ANALYSIS

Personal SWOT Analysis

Lauren Gurley

University of West Georgia

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Personal Technology SWOT Analysis, Goals, and Plan

Currently I am a fifth grade teacher in Gwinnett County Public Schools and I teach all

content areas. In my county there is a strong focus on technology integration. The county

provides all classroom teachers with an electronic class page for the teachers and students to use.

On this site I place resources for all content areas that all students can utilize at any time at

school and home. Daily in my classroom I integrate technology into my mini-lesson as well as

the stations that the students go to. Technology has a way of engaging students and making

learning more fun.

Strengths

When considering my strengths with technology it is important to recognize that it is

relative. Although I collaborate with teachers frequently, my own classroom is truly my own

reality. Throughout the years I have a developed as an educator. Thinking back to the beginning

of my teaching career to now, I implement technology more often today than I did my first year.

I would say that I have many strengths when it comes to technology in my classroom. My

strengths of technology use would be implementing technology daily, creating flipped lessons,

and my personal education in impacts of technology.

Although I do not use technology to the full extent, I can say that I implement it daily

into instruction. First off I use technology during my mini-lesson for all content areas. On a

regular day I begin a content area with an engaging video and then proceed to use a PowerPoint

presentation to deliver material. The students also use technology daily after the mini-lesson. In

math and reading there is a technology station that students go to. At the technology station they

go to an online aligned program to continue to practice the skills taught. In writing, students are
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given opportunities to research using the computers as well as sometimes type their papers. For

social studies and science instruction students use the computers to conduct research, create

presentations, and work on interactive sites.

Another strength that I possess is creating flipped lessons for the students. “The key to

flipping a day is to have the lower-level cognitive content presented on the video, and an

engaging activity planned during class time.” (Bergmann & Sams, 2015). Ideally students would

watch the video at home but working at a Title 1 school creates barriers for this. Students that are

unable to watch the videos at home watch it during morning arrival. Flipped lessons allow for

teachers to maximize use of instructional time at school. Students are able to frontload on the

basics and then more time is allotted for collaborative work and activities.

Receiving more degrees has also served as a strength in technology. Prior to beginning

my specialist I received a Master’s in Elementary Education. Throughout my time completing

my Master’s I took several classes that educated me in the importance of technology in the

classroom. As I would learn more about the importance of technology in the classroom, I would

begin to naturally implement technology more frequently. I learned about the importance of

teaching with technology to the digital native generation. “When planning for optimum learning

with technology, not only do teachers need technological knowledge but they also need to reflect

on how these technological capabilities might help their students’ learning.” (Ozgun-Koca, S. A.,

Meagher, M., & Edwards, 2011, p.223). Learning more about the students that I teach in my

classroom benefited my teaching practice as well as my technology implementation.

Weaknesses
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My greatest weakness in technology is my level of implementation. When considering

where I fall in technology integration I look at the Technology Integration Matrix. “The tool

describes five interdependent characteristics of meaningful learning environments— active,

constructive, goal directed, authentic, and collaborative and associates each characteristic with

five levels of technology integration: entry, adoption, adaptation, infusion, and transformation.”

(Jonassen, Howland, Moore, & Marra, 2003). Currently I would say that I fall in the adoption

level of the TIMS matrix. Although I use technology I lack using it to an extent that will create a

student-centered environment.

When I use technology in the classroom, I am typically using the same software as are

my students. I would like to become more hands-off with what my students are doing. I would

like to get to the point where my students use technology in a self-directed way. The technology

that my students use does not lend itself to the higher order learning. I feel that I am limited on

the resources available with technology. I also think I could benefit from professional

development of how to use technology in different ways.

Opportunities

Technology currently drives our world. We operate and rely on technology to do many

things in our daily lives. As an educator I find it very important to integrate technology as often

as possible. I also seek out possible future career opportunities that involve technology. Prior to

signing up for my Specialist degree I took into consideration what degree would most benefit me

and the opportunities available for my future. Instructional technology seemed like the most

logical move for me moving forward. Not only will the instructional technology degree broaden

my knowledge on technology in the classroom but it will also open doors for other positions in

the education system. At our school we have a position of Local School Technology
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Coordinator. This position seems like a position I would enjoy in the future. I am hopeful that

while I am completing my degree I will slowly gain more knowledge and effective technology

implementation that I can begin sharing with teachers.

This school year I was picked to be in a committee called Lead Technology Innovators.

This committee meets bi-weekly and is made up of one teacher per grade level. The purpose of

this team is for the committee to learn more about the county e-class structure and ways teachers

can use e-class in their classroom to maximize instructional time. Being on this committee has

been a wonderful opportunity for me to slowly learn new strategies and then build the

technology capacity of my fellow teachers. The more knowledge I can collect the more

opportunities I and my students will have.

Threats

The biggest threat in technology is the funding that goes towards technology in schools.

As I stated early, being at a Title 1 school benefits me and my students greatly but there is still

the lack of technology. In my classroom we currently only have six laptops, one Mimio board, a

classroom camera, and microphone. The laptops that are currently in the classroom are the most

basic laptops and are not always the most reliable. If my laptop were to stop working I would not

be provided with a replacement laptop. The fact that technology is expensive and there is limited

funding is definitely a huge threat to teachers.

Another threat would be the lack of training for the new hardware and software provided

in classrooms. Just as Cuban stated in his article that computers were thrown into the classrooms

with no specific initiative, this problem is still relevant. New technologies are given to teachers

with absolutely no training. There really is never no process in place to adequately train teachers
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due to the lack of time. When new technology is provided it is assumed that teachers have an

understanding of how to learn to implement the new technology.

Goals and Plan

My personal technology goal is to move to the transformation level on the Technology

Integration Matrix. I realize that this will be a process so my plan is to set short term goals along

the way. Since I currently feel that I fall under the adoption level, this school year I am going to

strive to move to the level of adaptation. In order to reach this goal this year I will need to sign

up for learning sessions with our current Local School Technology Coordinator. On our e-class I

want to learn how to give students activities and they lead themselves through it rather than me

walking them through it with a step by step. This goal does seem achievable if I take the time

and reach out to the necessary people to receive proper training.

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References

Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2015). Flipped Learning for Elementary Instruction. Eugene,

Oregon: ISTE.

Cuban, L. (2001). Oversold and underused : computers in the classroom. Cambridge, Mass. :

Harvard University Press, c2001.

Jonassen, D., Howland J., Moore, J., & Marra, R. (2003). Learning to solve problems with

technology: A constructiinst perspective (2nd ed.]. Upper Saddle River, N.I: Merrill

Prentice Hall.

Ozgun-Koca, S. A., Meagher, M., & Edwards, M. T. (2011). A teacher’s journey with a new

generation handheld: Decisions, struggles, and accomplishments. School Science &

Mathematics, 111(5), 209-224.