Running head: THE IMPACT TECHNOLOGY PROFICIENCY WILL HAVE IN THE

CLASSROOM
1

The impact technology proficiency will have in the classroom

Andrew Rahm
Azusa Pacific University

THE IMPACT TECHNOLOGY PROFICIENCY WILL HAVE IN THE CLASSROOM

Abstract
As our classrooms becoming increasingly integrated with more technology to better
equip our students for their careers and life after school, the importance of an educator
understanding what technology they are proficient in and what areas they need work in is
vital. Throughout the many resources provided to assess ones proficiency in technology,
there are two that I found to be valuable and that I would like to look into further: the
TSAT-technology assessment tool and the technical proficiency assessment.

3
Rahm Technology Proficiency Results
The TSAT is a tool development by the Massachusetts department of elementary
and secondary education and was created for
teachers to learn about their level of
technology proficiency and for
schools/administrators to determine what professional development needs as a whole
needed. The assessment tool is broken into 4 categories: early technology, developing
technology, proficient and advanced along with 3 sub-categories in each section:
technology operations and concepts, ethics and safety, and teaching and learning with
technology. As I worked through the assessment tool, I scored high in the early
technology section as a whole (100%) and also high (100%) in sections one and two of
the 2nd category, developing technology. I believe I scored high on these sections for 2
reasons: a moderate interest in technology as a whole and my previous work experience
as an on site IT staff member. I have had a moderate interest in technology and the
interworkings of it since I was a middle school student and have always tried to learn
about the basics of how technology work. This, along with working for 3 years at a high
school as an onsite IT staff member in which I would help other teachers with technology
issues, have helped with my knowledge of
technology operations and concepts. I did start
to score marginally lower (74%) in section
three proficient and this was mainly in the
technology operations and concepts
subsection. Database operations, and advanced excel spreadsheet operations are key
concepts that I will need to work on to develop a higher score here. The last section,
advanced, I scored much lower then the other 3 sections (32% total). The area I want to

4
focus my growth on from this assessment is the teaching and learning with technology
section in which I scored quite low and want to develop to both use in my classroom and
collaborate to help with my co-workers. A lot of the situations in which I did not know
how to deal with not just integrating technology into the classroom but redefining the
entire classroom in which technology has created an assignment or class work in which
could not be completed without technology.
The second technology proficiency resource I used was technology proficiency
assessment test. This test has 51 questions based
upon various technical issues and related topics.
I

was not too surprised at my results on this test in

that I scored 41/50. Looking through my
incorrect answers some where mistakes I made

because reading the question to quickly or not reading the entire question while other
missed questions dealt with the more technical side of how a computer works or specific
internet terminology that I am unfamiliar with.
While I only discussed 2 of the technology assessment resources that were given,
I examined and went through many others and found a common theme in my technology
proficiency level: a good base
to start with but still a lot of
room to grow especially in the
technical side and advanced
classroom integration side.
Learning this now at the beginning of this masters program is very key because as I
progress through my classes I know what areas I need work on and thus can become
more proficient in these areas.

THE IMPACT TECHNOLOGY PROFICIENCY WILL HAVE IN THE CLASSROOM

References
Puentedura, Ruben (2012, July 6) The SAMR model-Enhancing Technology Integration.
Retrieved from http://digitallearningteam.org/2012/06/07/the-samr-
model-enhancing-technology-integration/
Technology Self-Assessment Tool. (2013, July 5). In Office of Digital Learning.
Retrieved from http://www.doe.mass.edu/odl/standards/sa_tool.html
Xtnq_tjay@yahoo.com (n.d). Technical Progiciency Assessment. Retrieved from
http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=technical-
proficiency-assessment