E-Rate and District Technology Plan

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National Educational Technology Plan: Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology.

This plan given by the U.S. Department of Education explains the steps to synergizing technology with education.  The plan’s goals are increase college graduates and increase students’ college readiness level to succeed in college.  The plan emphasizes technology based learning and assessments (National, n,d,).  Recreating technology based learning gives instructors and learners digital tools to enable them to expand their knowledge base and understanding (Boss & Krauss, 2007).  The five categories in the plan are Learning, Assessment, Teaching, Infrastructure, and Productivity.  With the Learning area the focus is to captivate the learner.  As the learner engages in the information, the learning process becomes easier.  Multi-media communication brings real-world experiences to the students.  The Assessment area can give data needed to make instructional decisions.  The technology assessments must be data driven.  This will allow for consistent improvement for the technology plan.  Teaching category focuses on technological collaboration.  With technology educators must team up together to cultivate classroom instruction.  Integration can be guided with there is apprehension.  Collaborative online learning systems will provide educators with the level of technological support they need as they explore answers.  Infrastructure allows for technical support.  The best method is 24/7 support for all staff and students.  This gives learning ability before, during, and after-school hours.  Productivity is the last area of transforming American education.   In order for technology to produce, education must use it in ways they haven’t before.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing, but expecting different results.  This sums up being productive in new ways to me.  If we want success with technology, we must use it analytically to create and redesign (National, n.d.).

References

National Educational Technology Plan:  Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology.  (n.d.).  In U.S. Department of Education online. 

            Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/technology/netp-2010 Stansbury, Meris

District Technology Plan

Desoto ISD’s technology plan goals are numerous.  One goal is to provide a technology network that will support instruction and student learning.  Another goal is to support educational software by supplying all educators with access.  DeSoto ISD’s goal is to give professional development opportunities for software and equipment.  An additional goal for the district is to provide computer access to all students.  They plan to allocate appropriate funds to obtain equipment and software.  Technology is distributed to each campus based on the need.  Desoto technological advancement goal is to support the technological resources necessary for staff such as the gradebook, parent portal, and eduphoria.  Staff will be trained on district information management systems.  New teachers are trained for t he systems.  Also when new systems are introduced, the staff is trained (Campus Improvement Plan, 2008-2009).  Recently our district adopted a new gradebook system called Tyler SIS.  Before the program began, two teachers from our campus were trained over the summer.  Then the teachers trained us in a staff meeting.  The teachers also communicated any additional questions to be answered to tech support.  The transition has not been problem-free.  However, transition has happened with the understanding that we are all learning.  Together by trial and error the system has become more efficient.   

On our campus we have two Technology Specialists who are educators.  They meet regularly on the Technology District Committee.  They are charged to update the district with our campus-based needs and to train the campus with viable updates.  There was no budget specified for technology on the budget online document.  Also, the only evaluation I am aware of is the STaR report that is evaluated for the district.  It was interesting to look at the information given for the technology plan.   All of the answers to the questions were not attached to the Desoto ISD Campus Improvement Plan (2008-2009). 

Reference

Campus Improvement Plan.  (2008-2009).  In DeSoto ISD online.   Retrieved from

http://www.desotoisd.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=GjLT49MBgyk%3D&tabid=319&mid=982

Value of Assessing Educators’ Technology and Students’ Technology Skills

Educators must have a plan.  They should also have a way of evaluating the plan for success and modifications.  Texas developed the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology as the plan to develop educators and students technologically (TEA, 2006).  With these set guidelines it is imperative that measurements are given to assess if the objectives on the plan were met.  As you assess the plan with the STaR Chart you break down each category to measure.  The importance of each score is then weighed with the actual score to the desired score.  Teachers can then plan and build lesson plans accordingly.  It is also important that educators know the technology level of students.  This gives teachers the ability to expand knowledge starting with their level of understanding.  These are all pieces of a puzzle to be evaluated so that the puzzle can be effectively put to together to operate efficiently.  The pros for assessment are “themes quickly emerge” for vision, professional development, and necessary resources needed (Stansbury, n.d.).   The cons for assessment are limited in opinion.  The only major con I interpreted was the use of one’s time to complete.  The framework was set and the development of the questions is from the framework.  The pros outweigh the cons.  With the time needed to take the STaR assessment, valuable information is taken and used to make technological instruction and learning valuable for all educators and students.

References

Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020.  (n.d.).  In Texas Education Agency online. 

            Retrieved from http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=5082&menu_id=2147483665

Stansbury, Meris. (2007, July 25). Savvy educators reveal secrets of reform. In eSchoolNews

            online. Retrieved from

            http://www.eschoolnews.com/?s=savvy+educators+reveal+secrets+of+reform

Web Conference: Thursday, November 17, 2011

Well, this marks the moment for many firsts in my journey to complete this Master's Degree.  I am experiencing a mesh of emotions ranging from anxiety, nervousness, to excitement, and more.

I enjoyed the Web Conference.  It explained the Internship and the class load better to me.  I am a visual learner so connecting to a person (Ms. Borel) helped.  I have completed the first week.  Now I am into my second week and the nerves have not settled yet.  I enjoyed the fact that I could ask questions.  I definitely plan on using the Web Conferences often to clear up any questions I may have about the assignments.

When the time was allowed for comments or questions, I appreciated others asking questions and even other students answering questions.  I already have a sense of collaboration.  Also, I know that as I learn to navigate technology more efficiently, I will expose my students to more.  I plan to embrace the information…..one day at a time.  I look forward to all this course has to offer.  I wish us all the best.