Monday, February 27, 2012

Middle School - Week 6 Step 4- Deborah Parker



Discussion Topics 4: (Submit a minimum of 3 sentences for each question. References are required. Due by 2/27.)
11.     Recognize the related legislatures and regulations to support the needs from your institution.

When reviewing my school profile report and visiting with my principal, Miss Harris, it was noted that within our Campus Plan the technology line for the plan has dwindled to only one line of the plan that states a one-to-one laptop for the INQUIRE and Dual Language students. (JLMS, 2011)  This line of the Campus Plan will be removed because the campus is unable to uphold this plan for the next year. When reviewing TEA Long-Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020, and the expectations of this vision, it appears that the campus is moving away from the high performance, high quality education expectations.  The questions comes to mind of how are we going to change this to meet these expectations. (TEA, 2006)  As stated in the TEA report, the No Child Left Behind legislation sets the goal for schools to establish curriculum that will create and encourage by eighth grade technology literate students.  The question is: If technology is not put into the students’ hands, how will this be met?

22.     Develop the objectives for the school technology plan based on the needs from your institution.

It is important for me to target the needs of the individuals that I surveyed because I know their specific needs.  This can be used in the JLMS Campus Improvement Plan because INQUIRE is part of the campus since it is a school within a school.

To continue a one-to-one laptop use within the INQUIRE Academy without the high expenses of maintenance, the objective for this needs to be written as creating a Computer on Wheels Lab (COWs) for each core classroom teacher in the INQUIRE Academy.  This will support the teachers who wish to integrate curriculum and instruction with technology. (TEA, 2006)  The target population is 6-8 grade middle school students.

One of the other needs is the support for teachers in troubleshooting their own computers and of course the computers that could be placed in their classrooms.  Working with the technology department to train a small team of teachers who will act as campus liaisons for the teachers to come and be trained of how to reset passwords, make sure the computers are accessing the network, etc. 

A third objective would be to create a plan of training teachers for designing web pages, online quizzes, and interactive games.

As you can see these objectives are very specific, because the district technology plan covers staff development for technology and the specific hardware needed for teachers and campus labs.  So the INQUIRE Academy is need specific goals for their population of gifted students.

33.     Identify the objective for each area of Technology, Funding, and Management. Provide the needed elements for each objective to make sure that it’s measurable.

Technology:  To establish a one-to-one lab in each core teachers’ classroom, it will be necessary to identify which computers will be returning to the pool of computers from students that can be used in the COWs.  

Training for the initial team of teachers will need support from the Technology Center to assist these teachers in feeling comfortable with this knowledge and how to share it with other teachers and students.

Funding: An initial cost for establishing the COWs will require storage carts that can be locked for security.  Reformatting the computers will also require time and funding for the technology staff to set up the computers for the new school year.  This expense is currently in the district plan that runs approximately $30,000 for the summer expenses for the materials needed and the current employed staff to work on the computers. (Technology Plan - 2011-2014, 2011)

Additionally to encourage the staff to attend the trainings it will be necessary to offer a stipend for the staff to participate if the training is after school or on weekends. (Technology Plan - 2011-2014, 2011)

Management: Initially, this will be provided by the Technology Service Center, TSC, as staff members are trained.  As more staff become trained in troubleshooting, web design, and other applications, the TSC will be able to step back and let the campus teachers manage the trainings.  This will be very beneficial because the staff will be able to schedule the trainings with the knowledge of what is going on in INQUIRE and avoid conflicts. (Sharp, 2012)

Works Cited
JLMS. (2011). Campus Improvement Plan 2011-12. Jane Long Middle School. Bryan: JLMS.
Sharp, C. (2012, January 22). Technology Specialist. (D. Parker, Interviewer)
TEA. (2006). Long-Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020. Texas Education Agency. Austin: TEA.
(2011). Technology Plan - 2011-2014. Bryan Independent School District, Technology Department. Bryan: BISD.

8 comments:

  1. I noticed that you stated to have a few teachers to be trained to be the liaisons for each school. I think that is a great idea. I found a website that gives some free training in all different computer areas. I have gone through a few and might do some over the summer to help for next year. Most of these will not lead to college credit but it may help with implementing technology in the classroom.

    http://education-portal.com/article_directory/Free_Online_Courses_and_Education.html

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    1. Rachel,

      I just attended a meeting in my district for what they call the iSupport team. This is a meeting held each semester to train two teachers at each campus in the district support their campus with changes that are about to happen. It was really fascinating listening to the discussions and what they are planning for the next year. I really see that the two need to share more with the campuses because otherwise they are going to be very overwhelmed as our district changes up our email, grading, and online management systems.

      Very big job for just a few.

      Thanks for sharing the link.

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    2. I agree. Being a teacher is a big job. I think that if a teacher was also on a isupport team, they would need more than one conference period.

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  2. Deborah,
    I see some of the same "moving backwards" due to budget cuts at my own school. You are right that it is vitally important for these students to be exposed to technology at school. "Although we have adopted technology in many aspects of education today, a comprehensive infrastructure for learning is necessary to move us beyond the traditional model of educators and students in classrooms to a learning model that brings together teaching teams and students in classrooms, labs, libraries, museums, workplaces, and homes—anywhere in the world where people have access devices and an adequate Internet connection.”

    Reference: Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. National Education Technology Plan 2010. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from: http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/netp2010.pdf

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    1. Kayla,

      I really agree with you. It is sad that we have pocket strings affecting how we educate our youth. But it is interesting that even though the justification is to be able to fund another teacher on a campus but then class sizes remain large. There must be a balance that can be created to still be able to implement technology and reduce class size.

      Deborah

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  3. Deborah, please elaborate more for each question.
    Question 1: Based on the needs and weaknesses you indentified in your Report I, please list the standards from the Long Range Plan for technology to direct your proposed technology plan.

    Question 2 & 3: Each objective should include a minimum of 3 elements - targeted population, objective, and the measuring methods. Please refer to the writing format for the objective in CSTE5337. The objectives you proposed in question 2 & 3 should match with the direction of required standards in Question 1.

    Please let us know if you need some clarification for writing the objectives.

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  4. Besides the initial outlay of purchasing COWs other costs that need to be taken into consideration building and classroom implementation, teacher impact and
    training, tech support time, replacement costs,
    and software upgrades and maintenance. These are cost that will come up later on down the road after the COWs have been implemented.

    Huber, J., & Gillian, B. (2004). Don't Let Your COWS Be an Udder (Utter) Disaster: Wirelessness and Education Test the Electromagnetic Spectrum. Library Media Connection, 22(5), 44-47. Retrieved February 29, 2012, from the Literary Reference Center database.

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  5. Good points, Laura,
    We have been working on classroom implementation at the campus with the teachers, but it is going to be a big job to make sure that the funds are available to continue to support the teachers and students.

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