The2006Plan

This page contains the content of Goodland USD 352 Technology Plan. This plan was approved by the following: Technology Committee (April 2006), USD 352 Board of Education (May 22, 2006), and the Kansas State Department of Education (June 21, 2006).

This plan is intended to serve as our "road map" for changing the way we use educational technology in our classrooms.

In my opinion, it is each person's personal responsibility to understand our global economy in the context of 21st Century thinking and learning and to align our visions for how this redefines our roles as teacher and learner.

The rubric from KSDE, which is what most schools in Kansas use for technology planning, is seperated in to the following sections:
 * Board Approved District Policies
 * Committee Membership/Stakeholder Representation
 * Technology Needs Assessment
 * Instructional Technology Vision Statement
 * District Technology Use Goals and Objectivies (Alignment to the Vision)
 * Technology Use Assessments
 * Curriculum Integration and Enhancement (Alignment to the Vision)
 * Assessment of Curriculum Integration & Enhancement
 * Curriculum Integration Assessments
 * Professional Development - Teachers & Administrators (Alignment to the Vision)
 * Technology Professional Development Assessment

As we go forward in our conversations about how we implement our plan, my hope is this becomes the first of many collaborative projects about learning expectations, goals, and assessment on a district-wide scale.

**Instructional Technology Vision Statement**
//To develop responsible, self-directed students with the 21st Century technology skills (communicate, synthesize, analyze, create, solve problems) to succeed and prosper in an ever-changing, globalized economy built on information, knowledge and innovation.//

//**Student Learning**//
 * //Students will acquire 21st century knowledge and skills in the context of learning academic content//
 * //Student portfolios and senior-year projects will be pursued methods of learning and assessing 21st century skills//
 * //Students will be provided career awareness and internships that offer opportunities to extend learning beyond the classroom//
 * //All students will possess the tools and skills necessary for research, communication, collaboration, abstract reasoning, analysis, and problem-solving//
 * //Students will generate products and services with technology resources demonstrating in-depth content knowledge//
 * //Students will demonstrate adept use of at least five of six communication modes e.g. voice/sound, text, images, design, presentation & interactivity//
 * //Technology resources are used effectively, available and adequately supported for all students//
 * //The student to computer ratio is 1:1 and allows for the mobility and flexibility of anytime, anywhere learning//


 * //Instructional Methods//**
 * //Teachers exhibit student-centered classrooms//
 * //Information literacy skills and visual literacy skills are identified and implemented with all classroom teachers with skills/practices measured for all students//
 * //Technology and information literacy is valued and essential to school goals//
 * //The use of inquiry and investigation are essential elements of everyday learning//
 * //Teachers demonstrate pervasive use of multiple technological tools to provide differentiated instruction and address student learning styles identified with the P.E.T. Learning Styles tool//
 * //Teachers demonstrate skills in designing and assessing effective curriculum integrating technology resources to transform student learning//
 * //Teachers explore and pilot effective uses of technology, developing new and innovative curriculum models//
 * //Teachers communicate knowledge and experiences gained from technological exploration//


 * //Home/School Connection//**
 * //Collaboration with parents is regular and pervasive//
 * //Formalized extensions for learning between home and school are created--e.g. Empowered Desktop--Tools on the Empowered Desktop are available for student and parent use off-site. The backpack, library databases, and formative assessment tools are valuable tools for extending learning.//


 * //Staff Development//**
 * //Professional standards are focused on learning instructional strategies which perpetuate pedagogy appropriate for student-centered learning environments//
 * //Staff development engages staff in expanded real-time coaching, reflection and collaboration through learning communities (Focus Groups)//
 * //Adequate hours of technology learning are provided//


 * //Leadership//**
 * //Adequate, perpetual funding for technology needs is in place//

**District Technology Use Goals and Objectivies (Alignment to the Vision)**
//**Goal #1: Incorporate 21st century content**//
 * //Global awareness//
 * //Financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy//
 * //Civic literacy//
 * //Health & wellness awareness//

//**Goal #2: Increase learning and thinking skills**//
 * //Critical-thinking and problem-solving skills//
 * //Communication skills//
 * //Creativity and Innovation skills//
 * //Collaboration skills//
 * //Contextual learning skills//
 * //Information and media literacy skills//

//**Goal #3: Incorporate ICT (Information & Communication Technology)**//
 * //Students will use technology to develop 21st century content knowledge and skills in the context of learning core subjects//

//**Goal #4: Develop 21st Century Life skills**//
 * //Leadership//
 * //Ethics//
 * //Accountability//
 * //Adaptability//
 * //Personal productivity//
 * //Personal responsibility//
 * //People skills//
 * //Self-direction//
 * //Social responsibility//

**Technology Use Assessments**
//Authentic 21st century assessments are the essential foundation of a 21st century education; therefore, the district's assessments will measure all learning goals--core-subject goals as well as 21st century content, learning and thinking skills, ICT literacy, and 21st Century life skills.//

//A balance of assessments, including high-quality standardized testing along with effective classroom assessment, offers students a powerful means of mastering the content and skills central to success.//

//The district's assessment plan will include the use of tools like P.E.T. Learning Styles, SurveyMonkey, and the assessment projects being developed by top K-12 educational leadership organizations like The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, CoSN, and McREL. Assessments will incorporate the use of digital, web-based tools that feature detailed rubrics and on-line grade reports for evaluating and providing students feedback on their progress.//

//In addition to district-wide surveys, the PDC committee members, at the building level, verbally survey staff and provide input for the expansion of staff development opportunities in and out of the district.//

//The technology committee members work within their schools, to initiate conversations about technology-driven staff development. Those conversations are then shared at the Technology Committee meetings and are used in the planning stages for in-district staff development.//

//The district's goal is to implement results-based evaluation that will indicate measurable growth in the learning goals for both students and staff.//

//What is clear from the district's technology survey is that the majority of the staff is at the emerging level of integrating technology in the curriculum, and 18% are at the leadership level. All staff are able to explore new technology tools as well as reflect on "familiar" tools and design lessons which integrate both the new and "familiar" technologies.//

**Curriculum Integration and Enhancement (Alignment to the Vision)**
//Staff continue to be encouraged to move toward the leadership level of technology integration. This process is being perpetuated through learning communities like the Laptop Initiatives I and II, "Web in the Classroom," "Charting a Course for Literacy Excellence," "Visual Tools for Literacy," "Integrating Technology in the Classroom," "Academic Dishonesty," "Increasing Student Achievement through Differentiated Instruction," "Integrating Technology into the Role of School Leaders," "Web Design as well as grade-level team collaboration periods.

Also, the district has developed a group of lead technology staff members--teachers and support staff members who have become adept with specific technological tools and the integration of those tools to support and/or enhance student learning. The charge of the "lead techs" is to provide staff development for the learning communities (e.g. Laptop Initiative I and II, "Putting the Web in Your Classroom") as well as one-on-one or small group support in learning how to use the vast array of technological tools available to staff--e.g. printing tickets for KCA, using the formative assessments from CETE and on the Empowered Desktop, developing practice assessments students can do on-line at home (or the public library), using the electronic backpack, finding websites that enhance learning, and collaboration on presentation tools and projects.

Examples of digital tools used in integration://
 * //P.E.T Learning Styles//
 * //Atomic Learning//
 * //United Streaming//
 * //Weblogs//
 * //Wiki's//
 * //Podcasts//
 * //Reading/Literature Management Systems//
 * //Moodle//
 * //Open-Source Software//
 * //Desktop Publishing Software//
 * //Productivity Software//
 * //Presentation/Communication Software//
 * //Video Creation/Editing Software//
 * //HTML Editors//

**Curriculum Integration Assessments**

 * //Teachers participating in the technology initiatives will prepare technology portfolios which will be assessed with a technology-integration rubric based on ISTE standards for teachers and administrators.//
 * //As a part of the district's results-based staff development plan, teachers will document peer observations and self-reflections.//
 * //Documentation from PDC application and impact level reports of technology integration//
 * //Document of the percentage of staff who utilize the recommended technological documentation of standards-based learning.//

**Professional Development - Teachers & Administrators (Alignment to the Vision)**
//As the district continues to grow and improve the staff development model to meet the requirements for 21st century skills, the 7 hour and 40 minutes technology staff development requirement was removed from the negotiated agreement, and a new staff development model was developed with the implementation of the Teacher Laptop Initiative in August 2004.//

//Over the past two years the district's staff development program, which integrates the innovative use of instructional technology, visual literacy, collaborative learning communities, and leadership and team-building skills, has evolved into year-long "Focus Group" strands.//

//In addition to district-wide inservice days, the Teacher Laptop Initiative provides 45 plus hours to learn the use of digital tools to create "new" content which addresses the four learning goals relative to 21st century skills. Master teachers serve as coaches to principals and teachers, who use detailed rubrics the district has developed for the evaluation process.//

//Development for the sustainability of the learning environment is in progress as shareholders study relevant, research-driven documentation from the field like that published by ACOT.//

//The Technology Leadership Team and lead technology staff will design professional development which models best practices and provides access to digital tools to prepare teachers to teach the full range of 21st Century Skills as referenced in the technology goals and objectives.//

//All teachers are afforded the opportunity to attend state-wide technology conferences and are encouraged to implement new ideas in the classroom. Lead technology staff are encouraged to present at state-level conferences and are often afforded the opportunity to attend regional conferences, and when possible, national-level conferences. Every effort is made to provide equipment to staff seeking to integrate technology into the curriculum.//

//The expectation is that all administrative personal will participate in 21st Century leadership training//

**Technology Professional Development Assessment**
//Using tools like the SurveyMonkey, staff development sessions will be evaluated at the end of each session. A pre and a post-test will be administered for Focus Groups like the Laptop Initiatives.//

//Survey staff to measure progression on the continuum of technology integration.//

//Technology Committee minutes documenting teacher feedback to the school's Technology Representative

---revising the plan continues...//