Rachael Pawlik - Week 10-Step 7

1.   How do your proposed strategies (Week 8 Step 6) meet the required standards as your Week 6 Step 4 stated?

Goal 1: Professional Development: Raise the standards for expectancy in implementing technology into all areas of teaching.

Goal 2: Leadership: School leaders must play multiple roles in the change process, including role model, leader, motivator, resource provider, and facilitator. Provide a budget in the technology plan and monitor the use of this budget.

My goal 1 & 2 from week 6 step 4 that covers the required standard will be completed by following the strategies from week 8 step 6.  I stated the following:

•      Assess and Identify

The first step in develop strategies for funding and management is to assess the school’s technology objectives and identify end-user needs.  A key element of this process is to address every phase of the technology lifecycle so that future school needs, technology requirements, financial considerations, and expansion plans are anticipated and addressed from the start. This involves developing logistics, deployment timelines, technology health check schedules, refresh cycles, and asset disposal plans. A long-range view that anticipates and addresses next-generation technologies should protect the IT infrastructure from obsolescence due to unexpected budget shortfalls or the inability to scale to meet expansion requirements. 

This strategy can be difficult at times because of lack of funding to the school.  There may need to be a plan to find funding other than government funds or school funding.

Standard II. All teachers identify task requirements, apply search strategies, and use current technology to efficiently acquire, analyze, and evaluate a variety of electronic information.

Leadership and teachers need to identify task required so they will be able to assess the needs of the school.  They need to be able to research so they can provide a proper needs analysis for proper funding.  The leaders and teachers need to be able to research so there can be proper funding and a good amount of funding.

Here the leadership can oversee the technology specialist is assessing and identifying the school needs, technology requirements, financial consideration and expansion plans.  The leaders of the school need to have meetings regarding what the technologist proposes for the school.  The more the leadership is supportive of the growth of technology, the more the school will progress in these areas.

•       School Initiatives, Objectives and Needs Analysis

The assessment of the school objectives and the identification of the school’s process form the framework for the recommended IT architecture.  This serves as a working model for the development of an IT infrastructure that continually supports the school.

Standard III. All teachers use task-appropriate tools to synthesize knowledge, create and modify solutions, and evaluate results in a way that supports the work of individuals and groups in problem-solving situations.

                  Leadership needs to make sure the school objectives are being assessed, and

                    the framework for the recommended IT architecture is in progress in the school.                   The working model that the leadership and technologist of Moorhead provide                   should be a working model that is constantly assessed.

                  They need to be able to synthesize knowledge to make sure the school
                     objectives are being assessed and the framework is in progress. 


      

•       Technical Environment Evaluation

It is vital that the procuring school understands the business processes supported by the IT infrastructure.  A technical evaluation by the technical specialist of the school identifies the best technology architecture for the environment. The results drive the requirements for the IT components and services to be integrated into the existing infrastructure. Consequently, the technical specialist can right-size the technology architecture for flexibility to meet current and future user demands, performance requirements, and applications. Through close examination of existing school needs and resources, the technologists can then evaluate the technology that will meet forecasted capacity and enhancement requirements over a span of years.  

Standard II. All teachers identify task requirements, apply search strategies, and use current technology to efficiently acquire, analyze, and evaluate a variety of electronic information.

The leadership of the school needs to be a part of the close examination of the existing school needs rather it be the growth of the knowledge of technology for the teachers, help with teaching teachers how to create lesson plans that implement technology,  or the capacity of the technology equipment needed.

•       Technology Selection and Acquisition Strategy

Specifications for the appropriate technology are created from the results of the technical evaluation and needs analysis. The end-user needs analysis, which involves identifying and categorizing specific needs for the school,

                operational, and technical needs, defining requirements and expectations from the
                customer/user perspective, provides the details for an outcomeplan.

The outcomeplan should be approved by the leadership of the school.  Then the outcomeplan should be monitored by the leadership through the technologist to make sure and guide the progression of this outcomeplan.

•       Technology Validation and Refresh Cycles

Regularly scheduled reviews and assessments of the IT infrastructure systems enable schools to ensure that the technology integrated into their IT infrastructures continues to perform to expectations. When it becomes evident that the currently installed technology no longer has the capacity or capability to support the school’s needs, components can be swapped for new or updated technology. Effective financial planning, funding and management make appropriate technology refreshes easier by proactively developing a replacement strategy for assests prior to initial deployment.

Some of the process of this phase depends on the funding for the school.  There will need to be a plan for what to do if the funding is not there.  There can be fundraisers, proposal to the district for the purchase of the needed technology and research for a cheaper way but still fulfills the need of the school.

I stated in week 6 step 4 that there will be date collection for the use of technology.

Data to Collect from teachers every 9 weeks

1. Record of training and other preparation for each teacher

2. Evidence of planning, including with students, for technology use

3. Observations of actual use of technology in teaching

4. Examples of instructional strategies employing technology

5. Examples of matching teaching style to the use of technology

6. Mechanisms in place for mutual assistance and sharing of practices

7. Level of sharing of successful practices

Data to collect for inventory

1. Types of hardware on hand: computers, handheld devices, cameras, Internet service, telecom connections, one-way and two-way interactive video

2. Numbers of each type available

3. Locations of the various technologies

4. Software list, number of copies, locations

5. Types of and access to technical support

•       Asset Disposal Strategy

A complete assessment of the costs and resources required to manage assets through the entire technology lifecycle enables a school to plan for the disposal of the devices when they reach the end of their useful life. Asset disposal factors to consider include potential resale value, disposal costs, and services required to securely uninstall data and remove equipment. Although predicting resale values and asset disposal costs is not typically a core skill of an organization’s internal IT resources, it is a critical element in managing the costs of the IT infrastructure. Costs for contracting with environmental specialists must be factored in if outside services are needed to comply with environmental and security regulations.  Regardless of the method of disposal (donation, resale, or destruction), there are additional costs associated with the destruction of data stored on the equipment, which may require degaussing the hard drives or using commercially available erasure tools.

All disposal and money spent for the disposal should be approved by the leadership.  The technologist should propose the plan and signed by the leadership.  All decisions to dispose of technology should be done with ethical decisions.  Leaders should use the knowledge that they have researched to problem solve in the best way to dispose of their technology equipment.

        

       Standard I. All teachers use technology-related terms, concepts, data input strategies, and ethical practices to make informed decisions about current technologies and their applications.

     Standard III. All teachers use task-appropriate tools to synthesize knowledge, create and modify solutions, and evaluate results in a way that supports the work of individuals and groups in problem-solving situations.

2.   Review the reading materials in Technology domain to propose using other standards which are not adopted by your studied school. Explain why those new standards should be considered for your studied school.

Moorhead teachers and leaders did even know there were any ISTE nets that include technology.  The first step that needs to be completed in a study group is what the different ISTE nets are.  For every net, there needs to be one study group.  Discussion needs to be about what the net means, different ways to use the net and different ways that Staar Spanish, L, modified and alternate methods can be benefited by using technology in the classroom.  If the groups can discuss each net along with how to implement ways to benefit the items on the caparison chart, then all technology standards will be covered for all different learning abilities of each student.

        References:

GTSI Corp. (2008). Technology Lifecycle Management. Retrieved from http://www.gtsi.com/cms/documents/White-Papers/Technology-lifecycle-Mgmt.pdf

U.S Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology. (2010). Transforming American education: Learning powered by technology: National educational technology plan 2010. Retrieved from www.ed.gov.

Texas Education Agency, (2010). 2010 Progress Report on the Long Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020. Retrieved February 25, 2012 from: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=2147494561&libID=2147494558