Technology Plan
Board Approved
District Policies Section
Legal Questions
Technology
Plan Rubric
1.a.
Committee Membership / Stakeholder Representation
USD 219 Minneola:
Dona Esplund, counselor & parent
USD
220 Ashland:
Jerry Cullen, superintendent &
elementary principal
USD
225 Fowler:
Leighton Miller, parent, BOE
(USD225), BOD (625)
USD
226 Meade:
Dr. Mark Chalker, parent, BOE (USD
226), BOD (625)
USD
300 Comanche County:
Bob Bartkoski, superintendent &
secondary principal
USD
422 Greensburg:
Darin Headrick, superintendent
USD
424 Mullinville:
John Paul Jones, superintendent &
elementary principal
USD
459 Bucklin:
Paula Kohlman, student &
community representative
USD
474 Haviland:
Mike Waters, superintendent
USD
483 Kismet-Plains:
Jacque Hamm, technology coordinator
A-Plus
Network & Dodge City Community College
Rebecca Barnhardt, teacher
Bob Salm, technician
1.b.
Technology Needs Assessments
Results of the annual surveys of the students, teachers, and
facilitators are analyzed along with input from the monthly collaborative
meetings of the director and technician with the councils of superintendents,
and the principals and counselors. Throughout the year, additions are made on
an in individualized school basis, according to specific need when appropriate.
A line item in the budget allows for these purchases. Other, large scale,
technology upgrades are usually implemented consortia-wide according to
long-range planning. The board either directs expenditure of a special line
item in the budget or, in some cases the budget is augmented with special
assessments to the member districts.
Monthly meetings of the superintendents
of schools also provide a cooperative dialogue. As educational dollars from the
state lessens, budgetary concerns increase. Interlocal #625 has been able to
keep the annual district assessment stable for more than 10 years through grant
writing, shared technical support, laddered equipment upgrades, but especially
through the help of discounts received through the Schools and Libraries
Division of the federal E-rate program. The 04-05 school year
can boast a $28 per hour cost of instruction for each of our 15 classrooms,
when a special equipment grant is set aside.
The Mission Statement for Interlocal #625 is:
The Southwest Kansas Educational Consortium Interlocal
#625 (the A-Plus Network) will provide an authentic learning experience through
interactive technology over distance.
2. Instructional Technology
Vision Statement
Technological access to an interactive distance learning
environment will enhance the learning opportunities of geographically isolated
students and make available life-long learning opportunities for each member
community.
The American Council on Education
recognizes this importance as we move into the twenty-first century.
“We are becoming a society in which continuous learning
is central to effective participation as citizens and wage-earners.
Telecommunications technologies are not only transforming our needs for
education and training, but they are expanding our capacity to respond to these
needs. Distance learning, with a long history of serving isolated and remote
learners, is now emerging as part of mainstream education and training efforts
to provide learning opportunities that are flexibly responsive to learners’
needs. 1
Classroom activities and curriculum
will be guided by educational needs evidenced in individual member School
Improvement Plans and district test data. The distance learning environment
reflects the standards of the International Society of Technology in Education
(ISTE) and will provide the students the necessary tools to advance in their
post-secondary education, career advancement, and to compete in a global
society.
______________________________
1American Council on Education, Guiding Principles
for Distance Learning in a Learning Society, Washington, D.C., 1996, pg. 9.
3.a.
District Technology Use Goals and Objectives
Interlocal #625 is based on the
cooperative efforts of rural school districts in southwest Kansas brought
together with the desire to enhance the educational opportunities of their
communities. Recognizing that each of these communities remains as an
autonomous entity, the network director continually strives to meet the diverse
needs of these school districts. These member schools, through their board
representatives, superintendents of schools, building principals, and guidance
counselors, bring needs to the planning table based on their individual School
Improvement Plans, accreditation standards, and district test data.
In the 2005 network survey, 43%
of students reported that the reason they took an IDL course is because they
really wanted the class and it was the only way they could get it.
Goal #1
Quia Web services will be available for use by IDL instructors
for collaboration with students. Quia Web provides,
at minimal cost to educators, a wide variety of educational services through
the use of:
a) A collection of shared online activities and
quizzes in more than 150 categories and in 30 languages
b) Templates for creating 16 different types of
online activities, including flashcards, matching, concentration (memory), word
search, battleship, challenge board, columns, cloze exercises, hangman, jumbled
words, ordered list, patterns, picture perfect, pop-ups, rags to riches (a
quiz-show style trivia game), and scavenger hunt
c) Tools for creating online quizzes with up to
eight question types: Tracking of multiple attempts
d) Quiz administration and reporting tools: Grade
tracking, comparative analysis of individual and with class
e) Class Web pages: Posting homework
assignments, class schedules & calendars, contact information, links to Web
resources
f) Online roster and grade book records
g) Calendars and schedules
h) Online surveys
Year 1 Five network
instructors will receive professional development in a hands-on environment to
develop a personal Quia Web site for their IDL class. They will become mentors
to train peers in subsequent years of professional development.
Year 2 Five network
instructors will receive professional development in a hands-on environment
with their previously trained peers from year 1 to develop a personal Quia Web
site for their IDL class. They will become mentors to train peers in subsequent
years of professional development.
Year 3 Remaining
network instructors will receive professional development in a hands-on
environment with their previously trained peers from year 1 to develop a personal
Quia Web site for their IDL class. They will become mentors to train peers in
subsequent years of professional development.
Goal #2
Empowered Desktop, the internet tool provided through Kan-ed,
will be available for use by A+ Network IDL teachers.
Year 2 Teachers and
facilitators will be introduced to the use of Empowered Desktop as professional
development offered through Kan-ed.
Goal #3
Move to on-line gathering of feedback and guidance from users
of technology and the communities we serve.
Year 2 Implement a
web-based survey tool such as MonkeySurvey to replace the hard-copy survey
tools used at the present time to gather feedback from users of the IDL
network; teachers, facilitators, and students.
Year 3 Implement a
web-based survey tool such as MonkeySurvey to gather feedback from the
community constituents in the development of the next Technology Plan.
Professional educators within the network concur with the
research of Schlosser and Anderson (1994) and their Iowa Model: to bring to the
student an authentic learning environment as much like a traditional,
face-to-face instruction, but through facilitated classrooms with live, two-way
audio-visual interaction.
Interlocal #625 will continue to provide a dimension of
technology to all member school districts to enable these schools to choose
courses, electronic field trips, and training opportunities otherwise
unavailable to their particular districts, to fulfill the needs of the
individual communities.
3.a.-1.
Technology Use Assessments
IDL teachers, students, and facilitators are surveyed on an
annual basis as to use of technology in the classroom and also to solicit ideas
from the users. Suggestions from these groups have brought changes to the IDL
classroom over the past 16 years. The addition of Elmo document cameras in
every classroom was good as evidenced by the teacher survey responses.
Seventy-five percent of the IDL instructors responded in 2005 that they truly
enjoy it, use it everyday, or would not like to teach without it. Multifunction
machines with scanners to replace the fax machines and reliance on postal
service mailings were introduced in 2004—again, as a response to user needs.
Hands-on in-service activities are scheduled to ensure teachers and
facilitators will be trained to use these devices regularly. Research shows
that guided hands-on practice to become comfortable using or mastering the use
of technology is a determinate factor in the ability to engage the students in
the distance learning environment (Sherry & Morse, 1995).
Updates to the Equipment Handbook are made
periodically following system upgrades. Diagrams of equipment and step-by-step
instructions alongside thorough checklists are included. Through the
facilitator survey in 2005, 78% feel the handbook usually provides clear
directions to troubleshoot a technical problem in the IDL classroom. When
problems arise that the instructor or facilitator are not able to address, the
network technician can always be contacted by cellular phone.
RubiStar, a web-based rubric building tool for project-based
learning activities, will be used by IDL instructors and their students.
RubiStar is a component available free of charge
through the High Plains Regional Technology in Education Consortium and will
empower students’ participation in the planning process.
Quia Web will be available to provide a technology for the
IDL instructors to track student grades, make
comparative analysis of individual students as well as the class as a whole. The
Quia Web site compiles data for each teacher, student, and class. Each time
that a student attempts one of the teacher’s created
worksheet, data is collected.
On-line surveys will be implemented
to measure effective implementation and use of the IDL network technology in
the classroom. Surveys of teachers, facilitators, and students will be
conducted annually.
3.b.
Curriculum Integration and Enhancement
The director and technician attend technology related
conferences on an annual basis.
Each year, the IDL instructors are sent to conferences or
trainings in their field of instruction.
Foreign language instructors were brought together with the
network director for two days to discuss alignment of curriculum across high
school and college level courses. A single textbook series was chosen and
approved by the colleges and high schools. This series is particularly useful
as it has many materials available to use over the computer. Interlocal #625
encourages instructors to move toward a paperless teaching style where
assignments can be transferred back and forth as they are created, graded, and
returned, between student and teacher over the internet.
Rosetta Stone software is
available in both Spanish and French for instructors to augment their
instruction. Students using this software work individually at the computer
equipped with a microphone and headset and the progress of the individual
student is measured.
Two half-day in-services during 2005 for French and Spanish
foreign language instructors with a national award winning instructor who also
helped write the state standards in foreign language instruction in Kansas
focused on these state standards and implementation in the IDL classroom.
IDL instructors and facilitators will improve and develop the
skills, knowledge, and attitudes in technology use in the classroom. All staff
members are encouraged to investigate innovative uses to enhance teaching, learning,
and productivity through the use of technology. The competencies outlined in
the International Society of Technology Educators (ISTE) will be phased in as
resources become available, as outlined in the individual member district
School Improvement Plans, and other state and national outcomes.
Goal #1
IDL instructors, facilitators, and students will move toward
digital content in the classroom through communication tools, productivity
tools, and decision making tools.
a) Multi-function
machines with scanning capabilities will be installed in the IDL classroom in
the effort to reduce faxed documents.
b) IDL Spanish
language students will be encouraged to use digital content workbooks in CD
format and digitally transfer the worksheets to the instructor for grading.
c) Quia Web will be
available to provide a technology for the IDL instructors to use shared on-line activities or to customize quizzes,
learning activities, or develop class web pages.
3.b.-1.
Curriculum Integration Assessments
The reduction of telephone expense
for faxing materials will be a measure of use of digital worksheets along with
computer files generated from scanned materials. Through reports generated from
Quia Web activities, the IDL instructors will have data on each student’s
progress and weaknesses to customize instruction for the unique needs of every
student.
Quality of instruction,
effectiveness of curriculum, and content are assessed through traditional means
by building principals. Building Administrator Duties are
outlined in the network policy handbook guiding the activity, line of
communication, and expected time-line. Monthly meetings of principals and
guidance counselors keep the dialogue current and the cooperative spirit
strong. This group, with its focus on creating the best possible educational
atmosphere for their students, is inherently suited for suggesting visionary
ideas as their roles are not defined with budgetary concerns.
The expanded curriculum also provides the opportunity for our
students to become Regents Curriculum Completers. This is especially important
in the foreign language area, but is also important in the availability of
upper level math and science such as physics, college algebra and statistics,
or the arts through fine arts offerings and humanities courses.
We have offered several community based courses over the
network. These offerings have primarily been in the Emergency Medical Technician
(EMT) certification process, but have also included local volunteer firefighter
continuing education hours.
NCES demographic profile survey data from 1985 & 2000 for
the southwest Kansas communities in Interlocal #625 show a definite move of
educational attainment for the population 25 years and older, disaggregated by
gender. The following data are averages of the 10 member school districts
gathered before the IDL network was initiated in 1989 and the most current.
While the large -84% decrease in persons with a 12th grade
education, but no diploma can be attributed to death of the elderly, the other
changes are indicators of the emphasis on a college education. High school
graduates (or GED) increased 39% for males & 16% for females, persons with
some college, but no degree decreased -19% for males & -31% for females
while persons with a bachelor’s degree or higher increased 76% for males &
81% for females. It is especially interesting to note the increases to college
degree holders in these rural communities are within the only quadrant of the
state where there is no 4-yr Regents institution. The IDL classrooms offer an
avenue for larger numbers of community persons to prepare for and to attain
college degrees.
3.c.
Professional Development – Teachers and Administrators
An annual in-service is held before school starts for all
network IDL teachers, classroom facilitators, and building administrators.
Veteran users are refreshed on equipment use and introduced to any new
equipment installed over the summer. New personnel are introduced to all the
IDL classroom equipment over a series of days and also allowed to work
one-on-one with the technician to develop a working knowledge of equipment use.
The network has available a 3 tape video training series created by the
technician to allow users to develop competency at their own pace. Horton
(1994) indicates that it is up to the instructor to:
·
Use advance organizers to create an
appropriate context for instruction
·
Select effective images, using appropriate
objects with relevant attributes, that will convey the
same idea to the user as they did to the designer.
Professional development can occur with the aid of technology
in a variety of ways. Web-based resources to create lesson plans,
compare student work, and to immerse in the field of study are examples of ways
for teachers across the country or around the world can learn from each other.
Teachers are encouraged to use internet collaborations to research, download
lesson plans, and even access online subject area networks.
Teachers and facilitators are provided regularly scheduled
time together throughout the year to share ideas, model strategies, and coach
each other through successful implementation of teaching strategies into the
IDL classroom.
A Teacher Incentive Pay policy was implemented in 2004
to encourage instructors to teach over the IDL system. The extra effort to
transform their traditional style of teaching into a videoconferencing format
is rewarded with a $1,000 bonus for each semester course taught.
Goal #1
Interlocal #625 will partner with
Kan-ed, the member schools, and higher education to provide a catalyst for
systemic change in educational opportunities.
a)
The director will regularly meet with the Kansas Association of
Interactive Distance Education (KAIDE) to collaborate across the state in the
sharing of IDL classes and technology enhancements.
b)
The director and/or technician will have the opportunity to attend the
Kansas Technology Coordinators Network (KTCN) meetings.
c)
IDL instructors and facilitators will be offered the opportunity to
enhance their technology skills through in-service trainings offered twice a
year by KAIDE through Kan-ed funding.
3.c.-1.
Technology Professional Development Assessment
An assessment document is completed by all in-service
participants. The document focuses on obtaining free response ideas to improve
future in-services.
New IDL instructors are encouraged to spend up to two
additional paid in-service days on their own developing and documenting their
hands-on use of the equipment prior to the start of school. Specific activities
are derived from a set of check lists and follow-up self evaluation tool are
included in the network Equipment Handbook. Their documentation, video
recording of their practiced instruction, and their
self-evaluation is turned in to the network director for assessment. A hard
copy of the Equipment Handbook is provided for each IDL classroom and as
Adobe documents on a more convenient CD version for personnel and
administrators.
All IDL instructors will annually use a new self-assessment
rubric that uses four separate dimensions in a scale of 1-5 to measure the
effective use of interactivity in their classes.
Horton, W.
(1994, June). How We Communicate. Paper presented at the meeting
of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication.
Denver, CO.
nces.ed.gov/surveys/sdds/pfsingledemoprofile.asp
Schlosser,
C.A., & Anderson, M.L. (1994). Distance education: review of the
literature. Washington, D.C.: Association for Educational Communications and
Technology.
Sherry, L., & Morse, R.A.(1995). An Assessment of Training Needs in the Use of Distance Education for Instruction. International Journal of Telecommunications, 1(1), 5-22.