Technology Action Plan

 

(Superintendant and Board)

• Ensures that the district stays at the forefront of education through the use of technology
  
• Aligns mission statement with the needs of our 21^st century technologically advanced students
  

(Chief Information Officer)

• Ensures that superintendent and board's technology vision is in place
  
• Aligns the application development with the technical operations and ensures these work with the instructional technology elements.
  

(Director of Enterprise Application Development)

• Researches the new technology as it becomes available and determines which should be developed and implemented across the district
  

(Director of Technical Operations)

• Ensures that the district has the needed infastructure to implement the approved technology applications
  

(Director of Instructional Technology)

• Ensures all technoglogy facillatators are adequately prepared for teaching the technology tools
  
• Develops new methods in which to implement technology in instructional situations
  

(Instructional Technology Facilitators)

• Attends professional development sessions weekly to keep up to date
  
• Accepts requests from teachers to learn how to use technology tools
  
• Creates their own technology projects with which to work with selected teachers
  

(Campus Principal)

• Ensures that the campus vision and inmprovement plan have technology components
  
• Models effective use of technology in the school
  
• Ensures that an adequate amount od resources are available for teachers to be able to incorporate technology into the classroom
  
• Plans professional development for their faculty concerning technological applications
  
• Places emphasis on technology elements in observations
  

(Assistant Principal)

• Models use of technology in the school
  
• Applauds and highlights teachers after observations who incorporate technology
  

(Instructional Coach)

• Guides teachers use of technology in their classroom when needed
  
• Conducts professional development sessions in order to keep teachers up to date
  

(Campus Teacher)

• Incorporates technology into their classroom
  
• Attends professional development sessions in order to better incorporate technology
  
• Shares technological knowledge with other teachers
  
• Models for students proper and effective use of technology
  

 

The role of the principal in making sure the organizational chart is implemented and monitored is multi faceted. First, he/she must stay up-to-date on all recent developments. Additionally, they must have developed positive relationships and open communication to ensure their school is always using technology efficiently. Moreover, the principal must be willing to model and encourage appropriate technology usage so that their teachers and assistant principals will follow in their path. They also must work cooperatively with the assistant principals, technology facilitators, and instructional coach to ensure technology is being used and monitored in the classroom. Principals can use the data from AEIS to determine what content areas and special populations need to be targeted and then apply technology based interventions. They also must use the results from the STAR chart to monitor technology key areas in the school.

 

 

Professional Development Plan

 

    Profession development is of the upmost importance, especially when related to technology, because it allows for the sharing of intellectual resources. KISD provides these opportunities for these experiences throughout the year and also during the professional learning days where teachers can receive training on the technology of their choice. After reviewing the campus improvement plan and other data sources, such as the AEIS report, STAR chart, and district and state technology plans, three areas in need of professional development appeared. These include curriculum and technology alignment, effective use of technology resources-teachers, and effective use of technology resources-students. The most imperative, however, is the first, curriculum and technology alignment, because the technology is constantly changing and evolving and needs to be monitored so that teachers can effectively integrate it with their curriculum.

 

Curriculum and Technology Alignment

 

Needs Assessment

• Leaders will analyze Benchmark data, TAKS date, AEIS report and STAR chart for the school. They will then compile the information by integrating them to see where the most improvement can be made.
  
• Identify areas of student and teacher need
  
• Identify professional development to integrate technology effectively with the curriculum
  

  
   

Participants

• Campus Principal and assistant principals
  
• Curriculum Specialist
  
• Director of Instructional Technology
  
• Instructional Technology Facilitators
  
• Director of Enterprise Application Development
  
• Teacher leaders
  
• Instructional coach
  

  
   

Professional Development Activity

• PLCs will attend technology professional development together as a cohesive unit that has been identified as the most useful for their content area. They will then be given time to allow for lesson creation and reflection to ensure they incorporate the new technology into their classroom.
  
• Instructional Technology Facilitators will report to schools when requested to work with teachers trying to incorporate technology.
  
• Before school starts, the professional learning days will include a technological emphasis so teachers will have a choice on which sessions to attend.
  

 

Effective Use of Technology Resources-Teachers

 

Needs Assessment

• Analyze STAR chart data to identify teacher views on technology
  
• Conduct teacher interviews to establish patterns of teacher technology use both instructionally and in relation to management uses
  
• Identify areas of teacher need
  
• Identify professional development to increase the effectiveness of technology resources both instructionally and managerially.
  

  
   

Participants

• Campus Principal and assistant principals
  
• Director of Instructional Technology
  
• Instructional Technology Facilitators
  
• Teacher leaders
  
• Instructional coach
  

 

Professional Development Activity

• An Effective Technology Usage session will be developed to teach teachers about simple solutions that can dramatically increase their productivity and ease technology use. The items discussed will be identified through the needs assessment and will range in ability level. An example includes setting your internet tabs to include Zangle (attendance), KMAC (lesson plans), and ESembler (gradebook) in order to increase efficiency.
  
• Campuses will submit simple solutions to the Digi Know? Newsletter team in order to share efficient and effective technology information.
  

 

Effective Use of Technology Resources-Students

 

Needs Assessment

• Participate and analyze SPEAK Up/Project tomorrow, conduct student interviews
  
• Identify areas of student needs (What content areas are using/not using technology? How could we incorporate technology more effectively in these areas?)
  
• Identify professional development to increase the effectiveness of student usage of technology
  

  
   

Participants

• Campus Principal and assistant principals
  
• Curriculum Specialist
  
• Director of Instructional Technology
  
• Instructional Technology Facilitators
  
• Director of Technical Operations
  
• Teacher leaders
  
• Instructional coach
  

 

Professional Development Activity

• Campus leaders will participate in an ongoing needs assessment in order to stay up-to-date on the campus' needs that would best benefit the students. Teachers will attend professional development to determine how to appropriately decipher the needs and to find solutions.
  
• Teacher leaders and administrators will present at faculty/department meetings how they best use the available technology with their students.
  
• ITFs will come to campus to teach PLCs how to allow students the most access to technology resources.
  

 

 

Evaluation Plan

Aligning evaluation measures with those of the KISD Long Term Technology Plan, the areas listed above, which include curriculum and technology alignment, effective use of technology-teachers, and effective use of technology-students, must be evaluated on a continuous basis. Formal individual professional development sessions will include an immediate evaluation that participants fill out at the conclusion of the session and also a reflective evaluation that will be conducted after the participant has incorporated the knowledge gained in the session into their classroom. This added reflective evaluation component should provide a more thorough evaluative measure with which changes can be made when needed. Moreover, the first identified professional development, curriculum and technology alignment, can be evaluated on a formal yearly basis through analyzing the campus Benchmark tests and AEIS report. The second identified professional development key area of effective use of technology-teachers can be analyzed using the above measures and the STAR chart data. If the teachers feel they are truly using technology to its full potential, this should be evident in the specific key areas of the STAR chart. Along with the mentioned evaluation procedures, the professional development area of effective use of technology-students can be measured with before and after formal student interviews and questionnaires where the students rate how knowledgeable they are on certain areas of technology. The campus administration, who themselves will be evaluated based on the NETC standards for administrators, would be responsible for ensuring that this information is gathered, but the district would be responsible for developing the instruments used for evaluation. The instruments developed would be online so they are objective and can be accessed at anytime. Additionally, this will allow faster and more reliable disaggregation of the data that is collected which can then be compared to other schools in the district, state, and nation.