Week 2 Assignment Part 4

E-Rate and the RCISD Technology Plan

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Blog Post #3 - National Educational Technology Plan

The National Education Technology Plan has two sizable goals.  These are aggressive goals and achieving them is a challenge.  The first goal is to raise the number of college graduate who hold either a two year or four year degree, and the second goal is to close our achievement gap so that all of our high school graduates are prepared for college and future careers.   Five strategies have been identified to help reach these challenging goals.  The first strategy is learning.  We must give our students the power and flexibility to take control of their own learning.  This means making a huge change from our traditional classroom teaching.  Students should be given options and different opportunities for learning, such as allowing them to work in small groups, tailoring the work to their own unique learning style, and using each student's prior experience to engage them in the process.  We also need to realize the impact our community can have as a learning resource and use them as a tool.  The second strategy is assessment.  We need to utilize technology based assessments that give us a true measure of student knowledge, and our assessments should involve higher level thinking skills.  The third strategy is teaching. Teaching should be a team activity, not individual.  Professional development should be a collaborative effort between teams, and also immediate and convenient. Online learning and 24/7 access will be used to provide learning opportunities for teachers.  Fourth strategy is Infrastructure.  Every student and teacher should be provided with the resources they need, when and where they need them.  Infrastructure is vital in allowing us to leave the traditional model of teaching behind and move forward into the future.  The fifth and final strategy is productivity.  We need to ensure that our students are making progress, and group them according to ability and skill level. We need to change and adjust our classrooms to reflect the world that we live in today.

Reference:

U.S. Department of Education. (2010).  Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. March 9, 2012,  http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/netp2010.pdf

Merrill Redfern

EDLD5311/ET8050

Blog Post #2 District Technology Plan

The administration and community of Royse City ISD place high importance on technology and the value it provides to our learning organization.  The plan focuses on integrating technology with curriculum and operations to maximize student and staff performance and increase productivity.  The components to this plan include technology integration in teaching and learning, professional development, community involvement, supporting 21^st century skills, quality personnel, technology access, a management plan for the life cycle of hardware, information and communication systems, planning, and security.

A District Technology Improvement Committee was assembled using personnel from the Technology, Curriculum and Campus administration, general education and technology teachers.  The committee uses data about computer usage from each campus, current equipment lists, technology courses offerings, and STaR Chart data to assess current conditions and prepare to meet future goals.

A comprehensive technology needs assessment is an ongoing process with RCISD.  This process includes surveys of teachers through the district data management system, students and community member, input from District Improvement in Education Team, the assessment of our Technology Advisory Committee, discussions with staff members, campus walkthroughs, monthly technology integration departmental planning meetings with teachers, inventories of current material, the evidence provided by the Texas STaR Chart, and ongoing formal technology skills testing of all 8^th grade students using an Online Assessment tool. 

 RCISD recognizes that they must provide more opportunities for professional development in the area of technology.  This year, our district has made available several professional development opportunities for technology learning, utilizing technology experts within our own staff.  The coordination of our professional development is handled by our Director of Technology. Technology integration is a priority on our campus and our classrooms. There are limited financial resources for professional development, and time is always a very limited resource.

RCISD has technology expenditure available to use to upgrade our technology status.  Our expenditures are broken up into four different budgets which are also the Key Components of the STaR chart.  They include teaching and learning, educator preparation and development, leadership, administration and support and infrastructure for technology.  Our budget is further broken down to Technology Expenditure per pupil.

Reference:
ROYSE CITY ISD Technology Plan for E-Rate Year 14,  2011 - 2014 (2010),  March 11, 2012 
http://schoolsites.schoolworld.com/schools/RoyseCity/files/filesystem/ROYSE%20CITY%20ISD%20Technology%20Plan.pdf

Merrill Redfern
EDLD5311/ET8050

Web Conference Week 2 Reflection

I attended my first web conference for EDLD 5306 on Wednesday, March 7, 2012.  I was somewhat anxious to get set up as I had purchased a new computer for my graduate studies and wanted to get familiarized with the computer and equipment.  The audio was not working properly initially (operator error) however it wasn’t long until we figured it out.  It was nice to meet others who are sharing the same technology journey as I am.  I was comforted to know that we have a diverse group from all parts of the country.  I look forward to learning from everyone.

I enjoyed hearing details about the Educational Technology Leadership graduate program.  I enjoyed hearing about Lamar’s Accreditation and Standards.  My questions regarding the Tk20 account were answered.   Discussion regarding our Internship requirements and where to find the information on our Cohort group account were understood however, I need further explanation on the 33 Technology Performance Indicators (Internship Plan/Field-based Experience Plan) and how they relate to the 38 skills across 9 Principal Competencies and 3 Domains (Principal’s Competencies Chart).        

Week 2 Assignment, Part 3: Blog Posting #1 -Technology Assessments

Technology is having an impact on our traditional education philosophy that has surpassed the knowledge and skill base of our educators and the students.  However, our students of today are so much more computer savvy than those students from years past.  It is crucial that we as educators find a way to make the connections with our students.  Technology assessments are an excellent way to make these much needed connections.  There is much value that comes from assessing educator’s technology leadership knowledge and skills as well assessing those skills and knowledge of their students.  Assessments can be used to support learning and to report learning.  The value in assessing our student’s technology skills is simply to find out and know what they know.  If we assess what they know, educators can build curriculum based on their needs and possibly their interests.  Weaknesses found can be identified and strengthened through new curriculum.  The data that comes from the assessments could be compiled and organized in such a way that time would be saved once implemented.  What might make an assessment difficult to create is to realize we are not only assessing knowledge but also a student’s capability to process the knowledge in a technological environment.  According to Malcolm Welch at Queen’s University, to assess capability is complex because we are looking for a whole that is more than the sum of its constituent parts, much more than displaying knowledge, or understanding, or manual skills.  Capability included the processes that student’s experience, as well as the skill and understanding developed and employed. (Welch, 2012) Possible disadvantages to this process are the time, money and man power it would take to implement such an assessment.  The value in assessing teacher’s technology knowledge is the data collected to be used in measuring and identifying the immediate needs so that changes can be implemented in their classrooms.  Data collected from a teacher’s assessment can drive opportunities for professional development.  Professional Development can come from the teacher’s themselves.  The assessments can identify the teachers who exhibit strengths who in turn can teach and enlightened those teachers who require additional knowledge in those areas.  A disadvantage to this assessment would be the time used and the validity of the assessment.  It would take additional time to properly measure the reliability of the assessments.  Overall, the value in assessments will greatly contribute to making much needed connections with our teachers and students.

Reference: 

Welch, M.  (Jan. 2012)  Assessment in Technology Education: What, Why, and How?   

              Retrieved from:   www.project2061.org/events/meetings/technology/tech2/welch.htm

Merrill Redfern
EDLD5311/ET8050