Campus Technology Action Plan

Campus Technology Action Plan




Need #1: The campus will review STaR data accumulated through the annual survey performed on campus. This is a great tool for teachers and the principal to see how we are implementing technology on our campus. Based on my interviews in Week 3 of this course, my campus does not currently analyze this data.



Professional Development: Each year, after the results of the STaR data are accumulated, the Campus Technology Integration Specialist will hold a professional development afternoon where she reviews the results of the campus and how they compare to the district and the state. From that data, we will find our weakest areas. Teachers will break out into groups and brainstorm ways we can increase our weakest areas. For our campus this year, that included actually using technology we had learned throughout the year consistently in our classrooms. After the breakout sessions, teachers will then share their ideas with the campus. This should allow teachers to hear multiple ways to incorporate technology into their lessons.



Evaluation: For this particular professional development, I think the only way to evaluate it is to see evidence of the teachers using technology in their classrooms. Once a month, I would ask that teachers take pictures of their students using technology in a lesson, and email these pictures to the Campus Technology Integration Specialist. This way she can see who is trying new things, and perhaps who is not. The Campus Technology Integration Specialist will then send a monthly report to the principal identifying who has completed the task and who has not. By the end of the school year, this gives teachers the opportunity to try 7 or 8 new technologies in their room.



Need #2: Based on our Campus Improvement Plan, teachers needs to feel comfortable accessing data out of AWARE and using it when planning for instruction. Currently all of our state testing data and benchmark data are uploaded into AWARE. However, there are teachers who don’t know how to gather the data or use it to make instructional decisions.



Professional Development: Our staff would highly benefit from training in how to access data in AWARE, and use it to make instructional decisions. Our Campus Technology Integration Specialist could hold this training in the computer lab after school. This way each teacher can access their classes and follow step by step with our CTIS. Teachers can learn how to access prior year TAKS scores, benchmark data, and learn how to disaggregate this data by gender, race, economic status, testing objective, etc. This will assist the teachers when planning for state testing, working with small groups, and considering tutoring for their classes. This will also drive instruction because the teacher will be able to see where their students are low and what objectives need to be improved. Teachers will leave this training with printed data about their classes so that they are ready to use it in their planning that day.



Evaluation: When evaluating this professional development, I would ask the teachers to attach their AWARE data reports to their lesson plans (which are turned into the assistant principal monthly). This would allow the assistant principal to see how the teacher is using the data when planning their daily lesson with their students.



Need #3: Ensure the technology department has adequate resources to respond to all technology maintenance requests. Currently, our teachers are frustrated because they put in a work order and the technology department sometimes takes weeks to fix their problem. This was a common theme that I heard when conducting my week 3 interviews for this course.



Professional Development: I think our teachers could benefit from a representative from the technology department coming out to our school and telling us exactly how they would like us to put in a work order when we are having a technology problem. Sometimes, teachers do not know all of the options to putting in a work order. For instance, you can put it to a high importance if it is something that you will use daily. Perhaps if the technology department had more detailed information from the teachers, they could respond quickly to their requests. Communication will allow our teachers and the technology department to better understand what is needed. We know that with better communication, we can all work better together.



Evaluation: To evaluate this professional development, I would ask the principal to check the work orders submitted by our campus and look at the average wait time teachers are waiting before the technology is up and working again. This would allow the principal to be able to talk to our Chief Technology Officer if our requests are not being met in a timely manner.



Need #4: Teachers need to apply technology their students are learning in the computer lab to activities they perform in the classroom. Based on my week 3 interviews, this is a problem on our campus. When teachers take their classes to the computer lab, they often leave them with our CTIS. However, when they leave they have no idea what their students are learning, so they don’t know what they are capable of in the classroom. In addition, students only go to computer lab with their science teacher, so for those of us in the higher grade levels, if you do not teach science, you are also not aware of what the students have learned in the computer lab.



Professional Development: At our monthly staff meeting, I think our CTIS should do a brief overview of her lesson plans for our students to the staff. This will show the teachers what their students will be capable of doing, and it will give the teachers ideas of how to incorporate these things into their lesson plans. It is such a shame for the students to learn these applications in computer lab, but then not to get to apply it for the rest of the week in class. This will also benefit those teachers who are not so technically savvy and need a little extra help in basic computer skills.



Evaluation: Based on the CTIS’s lesson plans for the month, the assistant principal will check for each of these technology applications when reviewing the monthly lesson plans of the teachers. Each week the teacher should take what their students have learned in computer lab and incorporate it into at least one lesson for the week.

Texas STaR Chart Presentation

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Texas STaR Chart Presentation

Please click on the following link to access my presentation for the results of the Texas STaR data for my campus:

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/sesser-1313091-texas-star-chart/

Long-Range Plan for Technology - Teaching and Learning

The vision for teaching and learning for all students in the Long Range Plan for Technology 2006-2010, states that students need individualized instruction to meet their needs.  One of the ways of providing this to students is through technology.  Technology can provide an equal playing field for all students regardless of their disabilities.  This includes distance learning and other online learning that will allow students to be academically prepared for their future.  Educators who use technology provide their students with the knowledge to function in a world of technology.  The goal is for all learners to have access to technology 24/7 to access individualized instruction, use technology to communicate, use research strategies to improve instruction, and communicate effectively with diverse audiences.  In the future, Texas students must become active participants in the learning process.  They need to know how to access information, cite it correctly, and apply it to what they are learning.  Challenges in teaching and learning are: (1) including technology in curriculum writing.  For most teachers, this includes the challenge of coming up with the time in their daily lessons to provide the necessary technology required. (2)More time in the classroom for technology.  Again, teachers have to figure out a way to give students the technology they need in the short time given. (3) Flexibility to try new teaching technology techniques.  Teachers need to feel supported and comfortable with teaching their students technology.  I feel that his area of the Long Range Plan for Technology is where the future of technology with our students is most important.  It all starts with our teachers giving our students the time and patience to work with these items in the classroom.  This confidence can be built through teacher support from administration and the technology department.  I also think that by allowing teachers to blog about their results, or have time with their peers to reflect, they can come up with new ways to help each other implement technology in the classroom.

Texas Education Agency, 2006. Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006 – 2020: A report to the 80^th Texas Legislature from the Texas Education Agency. Texas Education Agency. Retrieved from November 11, 2009, from: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/technology/etac/LRPToct06.pdf.

Web Conference EDLD 5352

I attended the 12:00 web conference for EDLD 5352 on Saturday, January 21.  During this web conference, we discussed the upcoming assignment, due dates, and how to respond on the discussion board.  We also talked about the importance of our blog and how we would use it on upcoming assignments.  The web conferece was helpful in clarifying questions that we had for our assingment this week.  I was glad to see that it was kept to a small amount of students, and everyone had plenty of opportunities to ask questions and recieve answers from Dr. Abernathy.