We have been looking at change, needs assessments and you have researched technology planning. How do you see these items assisting you as a K12 instructor? Post your thoughts on the Leadership and K12 WIKI page.

Please remember to include your name with your posting.

I have actually really enjoyed what we have been discussing because it ties into a project that Kim Struve and I have started at our school.  Kim and I work in the same building and due to the fact that we are becoming more educated in the use of technology, we are realizing how far behind our school district is.  This has driven us to work towards acquiring new technology for our school.  We have started working with administration, our parent organization and the school community in order to raise funds for technology.  We have surveyed the teachers to get their feedback and we found some to be very interested and some not interested at all.  We are going to be looking at finding a needs assessment that we can use as one tool to determine which teachers are dedicated to the use of new technology within their classrooms.  We are looking at teacher training, the sharing of ideas, and staff development when it comes to technology.  There are a lot of logistics to be worked out and taking this class is helping us to be more informed in the decisions that we make.

Lisa Chase 

Leadership as a K12 Instructor

By Peg Meddaugh

Much of what we have discussed in class and what I have personally researched and discovered in the past few weeks has really been an eye-opening experience for me. I have had a chance to look at my technological experiences throughout the past 19 years of teaching. During only my second year of teaching, I was asked to help two other teachers create the Alternative High School program for the Waukesha School District. What does a second year teacher truly know, except that without agreeing to do so, I would be unemployed. Little did I know that this opportunity would be my induction to and inspire my love for technology. Since I was the English teacher for the program, I was asked to assist in the teaching of computers and word processing (all they we used them for in 1990!) I was self-taught with no inservicing provided whatsoever.

Over the next ten years, I found that it was important to stay as current as possible with technology and how it could be incorporated successfully into the curriculum. When I left Waukesha and joined the Mukwonago School District, I was asked to teach the Communications and Mass Media course at the school. This catapulted me into the most current of technologies, and the opportunity to directly instruct students on a daily basis with technology. But never had I ever considered that I could be a leader of technological change within our district until I was asked to be apart of our Technology Action Committee two years ago. Even now, I know that I wasn't an integral part of the change that is now ensuing, because throughout this Master's program, specifically this course, I actually realize what it takes for a district to incorporate effective technological changes. More importantly, I am more personally aware that I never have been afraid of change, even if it had been forced upon me. I tend to welcome it, and I think this will make me a more valuable leader.

So where do I go from here? I comprehend now that it is my duty to be an informed leader to promote the changes within the district. I want to assist in inservices which are necessary to endorse the modifications going on, as well as continue to be an instructor who readily incorporates technology into the curriculum. This past year, I piloted new textbooks for the English curriculum which allows students to access the whole textbook via the Internet. Since the books were purchased and are being used this year, I intend to be an advocate for this element of the textbook by instructing my cohorts on proper and effective uses of this feature. In the future, I intend on achieving my licensure to become a technology director within a district, to proceed with the changes necessary to integrate successful uses of technology. It is my intent, then, to refer to my triumphant experiences within the classroom to inspire others to change.

Good for you Peg! Your comments are inspirational to me to say the least. For someone that has been working in education for 19 years, you certainly have an "on fire" attitude. You'll make a great tech. director because you are so positive and motivational. You set an example for educators in your district. If you can change they can change, right? - Janet Yunker

Great thoughts - Louis 

I think these two classes, the work we’ve done so far and the discussions we’ve had have been real eye opening. I know they have for me.

First of all, I’d like to say that I have a greater appreciation for what it means to be an administrator. I’ve always respected the position and in my opinion, if anyone earns there money its administrators. We as teachers have ups and downs, struggles and successes, but at the end of the year we take away the reward of making a difference in the life of another human. I’m not saying administrators don’t do that, but perhaps not as directly. I don’t know how AP’s for example deal with all the problem students all day long….I think I would quit in a week. Anyway, my point is that the next time an administrator approaches me with a new idea I think I’m going to be more open to it. We are all on the same team. It’s not us vs. them (despite what the union might tell you).

Additionally, I need to be more open to change in my classroom. Like the “did you know” video taught us, the world is changing fast. Faster than we might have thought!

As educators who believe in the use of technology, we need to be aware of and adapt our classrooms (as much as we can given our limitations) to current trends. We should blog, wiki and discuss online. We should be involved in our school’s technology planning so the greedy librarians don’t get all the money. We should be technology leaders in our schools and help others that might be resistant simply due to ignorance. We need to help educate fellow staff on how to use technology as a tool.

-Jamie Beckman

These two classes have also opened my eyes to the possibilities and the change one person can create. Sometimes it is hard to think that as just one teacher you can't make a change in your school, but these classes have taught me that if you talk to the right people and start to get others to "buy into" your vision, you can find some successes. The things we have looked at have helped me learn what can be done to make changing something within my school go as smoothly as possible. We all know there are going to be some resistors, but if you include them they might just open their eyes and start to bend a little. The discussions we have had have given me some great ideas of how to bring forward things we have implemented in my school and district both in the area of technology and curriculum.

We actually just changed our algebra curriculum and are in the first year of having an "algebra for all" course, yes this means no more Algebra A and B. Yesterday we had a meeting about it and there are some other teachers who are totally against some decisions that were made at meetings the teachers didn't attend. I think that if some of the ideas we learned in class were incorporated into adapting this new curriculum, things could have been a little smoother. We also just bought a new calculator technology called Navigator. Some people saw it as a complete waste of money, but now as they see it being used and how incredible the program can be they are starting to buy into it.

I could also see using some of the ideas in my classroom. No student likes change in their life especially when it has to do with school. Preparing kids for changes, like moving on to college, could help make the tranistion more smooth for them!

-Kristin Hubmann

For the past two weeks we have spent our time discussing technology planning. I guess that I never realized how important and how difficult actually implementing a new plan with a school district is. I now realize I have taken my administrators and those at my site who are on the various planning committees for granted. Like Jamie said, next time an administrator comes to me with a new idea, I will be more open to it.

The discussions and readings we have done have reinforced the importance of technology in our students’ futures. With all the cuts my current district has gone through, I know that now more than ever we need to establish a solid technology plan that helps our students. I also need to be a leader in my school. I need to help other staff members learn how to use technology effectively so that our SMART Boards don’t collect dust and our projectors don’t become glorified overheads!

- Amanda Simon

This class has helped me to understand the change process. It takes a lot of time to make any decisions in my school district. It seems like we can't do anything without forming a committee. I now realize that this is a necessity.....my school district just takes it to the extreme. In order for a school to make a change, we need to make sure that everyone, or nearly everyone, is ready for the change. It seems like in my district we do a lot of talking and not a lot of action. I realize that this is necessary. We need to talk and plan before we act if we have any hope of success. We need to make sure that we talk with various groups---school board members, administrators, teachers, parents, students, and community members. Three years ago my school district made a big change---we restructured our school day to include 70 minute classes. For this change, it is imperative to get everyone "on board". I'm sure when the schedule was first brought up, not everyone was enthusiastic. There had to be a lot of talking to a lot of different groups. Now, over 80% of the school has "bought into" the schedule. It hasn't been easy, but communication has made things easier.

In the future, when our school is preparing for change, I will be more willing to take on a leadership role and voice my opinion. I will also be more willing to be on a committee in order to improve our school. I just want to help my students be successful....and I can't do that if I'm an "Irene".

-Kristin Haefke

My definition of “change” carries a connotation of improvement. In my 10-year teaching career (this being year 11), I have worked part time and full time at seven different schools. Feeling a part of the improvement process is difficult when a person spends a short period of time at one school, only to be moved on to a different one due to budget cuts. It makes sense that I was most involved in the improvement process of the school where I spent six consecutive years. I anticipate being at my current school for many years to come, but budget cuts may force another change, who knows? Either way, I plan to “roll with the changes,” and to get involved in making improvements at my current school. I have not historically been one just to get swept along; I have taken an active role in initiating change.

As for needs assessment and technology planning, I am sorely missing having a data projector in my room, but just yesterday I found two mobile units on carts IN A CLOSET in our department’s office. (I’m shaking my head and rolling my eyes!) It is helpful to know how to assess a school’s technology needs and to know how to form a technology plan, but seeing the needs met and seeing the plan to fruition is difficult, in part due to situations like the one I just mentioned. Even though administrators and budget planners know the importance of technology, it seems that it is still viewed as something extra that can be cut back upon if the budget is short. Showing that the plan is based on the needs doesn’t seem to matter when money is still the bottom line. For this reason, we need this training in order to lead with professional credibility. Penni Uribe

I have found myself, over the past two years, pushing for a lot of technology-focused changes in our high school. Interestingly, I have met some strong opposition from my colleagues who cannot understand why anyone would "want to make their job any harder than it is." They, of course, were referring to the fear of the unknown that change (especially technologically focused change) awakens within many people.

This discussion about technology planning has opened my eyes to the importance of social networking within schools. While I hate to even think that conversations constantly have to have alterior motives, it seems that certain informal conversations between colleagues need to take place before suggested change will find sufficient support among the staff in a building. If those discussions do not take place, ideas are likely to be shot down entirely or resisted with great force. However, when the staff has heard just tidbits of information through the grapevine of peers about a possible change, a greater majority of them tend to support that idea/change (perhaps it has something to do with the "Us vs. them" mentality that Jamie mentioned earlier). I have found that to be a very helpful nugget of knowledge that I had not previously thought a lot about, but that really jives when I consider some of the changes that have been suggested at our school over the past few years.

I am interested to learn how other districts work in regards to technology planning in your schools At our school, technology planning is limited to administrative software and hardware/network support. The higher-ups in the district have outwardly mentioned their overall unawareness as to the developments within instructional technology. Any initiatives that are to take place as far as softare purchases and hardware upgrades are left to the buildings to initiate and fund. While local control is nice, it seems that any steps that are taken in our district to advance the use of technology for instructional purposes is a grass roots effort from the teachers. It has taken teachers requesting, attending outside training, and demonstrating the value of SmartBoards in order for them to be introduced into classrooms. The only professional development that has taken place with a focus on Instructional Technology had to be created and led by teachers with volunteers attending without pay. Read 180 and MyAccess were programs that were introduced by teachers, not by a district planning committee or the technology supervisor. Is this the way it is in most schools, or is it more often a district initiative that introduces new technology for the use of instruction?

-Brian Yearling

One thing that has surprised me, even this week, is the resistance to change that can happen in a school district. All and all it seems to me that technology can make us more efficient and more of a cutting edge profession. For instance, our district just implemented a new grading program called web grader due to the fact that Intergrad Pro was a real dinosaur. With Intergrad Pro we had to set up spreadsheets, tables, copy tasks etc. every progress report, every report card and every comment. It would take practically a day to complete end of the quarter work. With Web grader it is basically done automatically freeing up more time to work on curriculum. Well, certain teachers are unwilling to learn because they don’t want to change and because the training took up valuable time during our teacher workday. To me this is frustrating to the extreme. Here the school district is trying to modernize and provide better feedback to the students by allowing them to see their current grade at any time and people are upset it is taking precious time out of their workday that they probably don’t need anyway because they haven’t changed what they do in fifteen years.

So what can be learned from this? First, the job of an administrator in my opinion must be very difficult. I heard this over and over in the other comments made by other students in this cohort. Second, communication and social networking is essential to implementing a plan. Brian stated the importance of social networking to get a plan implemented and I believe he is right. It takes the right person for the job. If you want to implement something and the staff dislikes you, you are going to have a big problem on your hands.

Daniel Simonson

Change is difficult and resisted by many. It requires an effort and I, like the respondents before me, am frustrated with the lack of support for changing and advancing technologically. This can be change from no technology to some and old to new technology. I am familiar with Dan’s frustration and can empathize with him. I have heard the comments in the lounge and the determination to doom any change before they learn what the change might be. I heard comments such, “I wish I had time to play on the computer.” I wonder if this is related to what we read in chapter three of the text about gender issues. It was mentioned that men use the computer to play around while women use it for efficiency in daily tasks. In my current position I find the staff to be open to change but frustrated with ineffective tools. Though all software is intended to help the user be more creative or efficient this is not always the reality. Though I am new, I see a staff wanting to use technology. I also see a district supporting the use of technology, but afraid of it at the same time. Last year we were asked to learn and use a program for writing IEP’s. They tried to implement the program the previous year but were unable due to technical difficulties, and the problems continued through last year. This year the software was abandoned for a new program. So far the feedback is all positive but how much of this is due the frustrations of the previous program? The failing software was a product of a previous director and the current director saw the need and recognized the desire within the staff for a product that will meet our needs. She saw our frustration and understood the sense of urgency to meet this need. After two years of failure she recognized a staff that wanted the technology but was becoming less enthusiastic due to the dissatisfaction in previous experiences. She acted fast and met our needs by providing software that will enable us to manage the paperwork with our caseload efficiently and electronically. We are now an earth friendly department.

Not unlike what we are learning in this course, change takes time and requires a desire for change. Without the realization of the need for change people are unwilling to change. In order to implement change allies are needed and time needs to be invested up front creating support for change. Once there is a realization that change is necessary, people will be willing to voice their thoughts in regards to how to change and accept change when it comes about.

Jim Nelson

Achieving change in a large school district is an overwhelming task. After experiencing the simulation and reading of other schools' experiences, I have a renewed respect for the administrators of our schools. I never considered that as one little school teacher, I could help in the effort to move ahead with the times. Just maintaining a positive attitude and being open to new ideas affords the climate to enact change. I feel fortunate to be employed at North High School because the teachers here have embraced the new ABC schedule, a task that required veteran teachers to rethink their lesson plans and restructure their day. We have professional development opportunities where we can learn about new technology and during those sessions, no one feels inadequate because of their lack of expertise. The environment is encouraging to say the least.

As a high school teacher, knowledge of the proper course of action, what baby steps are needed, will help me as part of a committee that will be able to implement changes in our school district. One key factor is social networking. Once people are informed and allowed to have their voice heard, they become much more open to cooperate with new ideas. I can help to do this within my department and through our collaboration sessions with other departments within the school.

The "Did you know" video was a real eye-opener for me because it really pointed out how far behind the schools are in the new world of technology. We have this protected environment that does not HAVE to go through the stretching and growing that the private sector has had to experience in order to survive in the big world. I hope that schools can adopt a much more aggressive approach to learning new technology and align with community partners to learn from those who have already tested out what works and doesn't work in a system. This will be critical for our students' success in the 21st century.

Janet Yunker

I live in a constant environment of change. It is interesting to read others assessments of what is happening in there schools and how long change takes. I am still a relatively new teacher- I went back to school in my 30’s to become certified to teach. Before that I earned a living managing technology projects. I honestly never thought I’d be back into technologies again- except for fun. I was only teaching for two years when Waukesha began its online school and I was asked to join. We have been flying on the seat of our pants for most of the time- often change is instantaneous.

This is not a struggle for us- for the most part. We are all very adaptable to change- often the teachers are those who initiate the changes. Where we falter is sometimes making a change really quickly without looking at the larger picture. Often a bit more planning could save us a great deal of time and effort on the back end.

In some ways, I think many of the things we are learning apply better to organizations that are very stable- maybe almost stagnant. In an environment where we are required to react and act very quickly it is difficult to get to all of the required steps.

What we have yet to focus on, but I think is critical to the change process is good leadership. If the leader is strong, has the confidence of his or her team and has a good track record I think the team is much more likely to follow and support initiatives. In my experience in and out of school things fail as often from poor leadership as poor planning. Without the confidence of the team even the best laid plans can fall flat.

- Anna Lardinois

Throughout my past two years of teaching, I have faced various oppositions to change be it with curriculum design or technology integration. Now entering my third year of teaching, I have already been on several "change" committees including the grading committee, technology planning committee, and writing curriculum committee. Through my experience relaying the messages of the committees to my department, I came to the shocking realization that not all teachers embraced change and many, including three members of my department, would go "above and beyond" not to change and to keep their accustomed status quo. After one of our past classes, I created a step-by-step guide to using some Internet technology tools that I shared with my English and Social Studies departments, only to find out that some of those members were not even using our district's required online gradebook, because they didn't see the need to change a system that had worked for them for several years and thought that this administrative technology was "only a phase." Teachers that did not "grow up" with technology and did not receive formal training on technology integration (which was a required course for my teaching certification) have a difficult time transitioning to technology-enriched curriculum, especially if their personalities reflect a fear of the unknown.

After reading the materials for this class, I have developed a different outlook for making these changes work in our school. This year, I assumed the position of Language Department Chair, which allows me to participate in school-wide meetings with the principal, vice principal, library media specialist, and technology coordinator. I have had several discussions with the principal and technology coordinator on how to encourage teachers to integrate technology into their classrooms and, more importantly, embrace changes within the classroom. Although our district performed a needs assessment for teachers two years ago, the needs have changed and there is a stronger need for staff development opportunities (especially for staff that have little to no background in technology integration). Our school district, contrary to others, has been working to encougage teachers to use technology in the classroom. We have a strong technology department that provides us with several new resources every year (including podcasting capabilities, Safari Montage, Read 180, and Moodle). Additionally, the district provided an optional Summer Technology Academy that taught teachers how to use iWeb, Moodle, and Smartboards. Several teachers that have expressed interest in technology integration have been provided Smartboards (using the remaining school budget from the last school year) and have received opportunities to attend the national WEMTA conference and participate in technology grants. Currently, I am participating in an ISAAC Consortium that chose 3-4 teachers from various school districts to teach them how to integrate technology into the classroom and create interactive learning environments on the computer.

With all of these great opportunities, there is one drawback. Only the teachers willing to change, willing to take additional time out of their schedules, and willing to embrace technology are taking advantage of these opportunities. One recent example is that our high school is looking at providing Parent Access to our Skyward Gradebook. This would allow parents to view their child(ren)'s grades with a simple log-in. We are currently piloting the program for three months. When asked for volunteers to participate, the same teachers (those willing to embrace change and technology integration) volunteered. More specifically, I was the only English teacher to volunteer. Out of the thirteen teachers piloting this program, we have the following representation: 2 English (we had to convince another member of the department to participate), 6 Math, 2 Social Studies, 2 Science, and 1 Special Education teacher. This team includes all the core area department chairs who willingly volunteered. I hope to use what I am learning in this course to find ways of encouraging other staff members to embrace this transition to using technology more in the classroom.

Within my classroom, I am continuing to evaluate when it is best to utilize technology and when to use "traditional" methods. The readings, podcasts, and lessons have helped opened my eyes to the various factors that can contribute to the sucess or failure of the project or lesson. Through my action research project (comparing paper-based peer editing methods to a computer-based peer editing program), I was able to determine which editing criteria should be corrected on paper versus which editing criteria is better corrected using the computer program. The latest chapter summary provided me with insights on creating equal opportunities for students to participate in technology-enriched lessons. As a teacher integrating technology into my traditional lesson plans, I need to consider how much time a student without computer access will need in comparison to a student that has computer access at home. Additionally, I have realized that I should take a more active role in sharing my technology knowledge with other members of my department. During every English department meeting, we are going to be having mini-technology lessons (something requested for by one of the veteran members of our department). I had to realize that not all teachers were going to embrace technology quickly and that it takes time.

- Heather Slosarek

Leadership as a K12 Instructor

I have been teaching for seven years, three years in Waukesha and the last four years at Washington-Caldwell in Waterford. Coming from a larger district to a smaller school district I noticed that my school needs “change”. Just like many others I have been integrating technology into my teaching and pushing “change” throughout out K-8 school. Some are excited to change and some think their media class one time a week is sufficient. It is difficult at times when you have a computer lab of 30 for 210 students and only one computer in each classroom utilized by the teacher. You take what you can get and integrate technology whenever you can.

This class and the discussions relating to technology planning have opened my eyes to my administrator’s role in technology advancement and the importance of social networking in schools. My administrator, the principal, listens and tries to explore the possible means of incorporation technology in our school. A majority of our current hardware and software relate to administrative support, so our school district is exploring hardware and software that can benefit student achievement. But we have a limited budget that is small, stretching it as much as we can. When it comes to social networking our school does a good job of relaying information, but ideas either from the administration or groups can shut down ideas of change without exploring the possibilities, even if a vast majority support the idea. I tend to notice this a lot on change and on other school related issues. I tend to survey support individually before bring it to the forum so I can tackle concerns and questions.

I am looking forward to learning more about technology planning and the means of advancing others views of “change”. The administration of our school applauds change, but lack of technology hardware and software with the lack of staff development in technology shows they won’t push change. I would hope I can learn ways to change that along with finding ways to put technology in the hand of other teachers.

-Carl C. Dehne

I have been teaching for five years and in experience so far I have been involved in 3 major changes in my school district at the elementary level. First, I was a part of implementing a charter school. Second, I helped move the elementary school from quarters to trimesters. Finally, I am currently working on bring technology into our school. I, however, did not do this alone. To implement change I had to work with a team of people with like missions. We also had to plan on how we were going to make things happen. A huge part of this planning was to prepare for people who did not want change. To do this we had to talk to as many people as we could through survey, conversations and meetings. This made a huge difference in our plan when it came to presenting what we wanted to do and then, once it was approved, we were able to role out the changes in a sensitive fashion.

Being involved in these three changes taught me a lot but after working through our course work, it seems that we over looked a valuable resource, the community. We tried to get people from around the community to help but did not activity go after people. Our district put an ad in the community newspaper. This is helpful but may not reach many people. This is something I plan on doing much more - reaching out to others in the community. Also, it is extremely important to include people from administration on down. These people also are a great resource.

Kim Struve

I am learning a great deal, but I reserve my right to withhold my praise of having my eyes opened. Not because of the content and the nature it is presented. I am by nature a skeptic. As a new teacher our district bought into an online school delivery system as a potential replacement for the alternative education program. I hated the concept, application, and the sheer absolute waste of money. I did not voice my opinions loud enough. The system was punishment for students and myself. Why? Because the one who was the leader for this system left to pursue a different career. The system was outdated, but the sales person sold it as cutting edge and constantly improving. We saw the best pieces, not the numerous broken parts. I inherited the white elephant by default. Sometimes you just can not make chicken salad.

Thankfully, it has been replaced with a different online school system that I am happier with. I was brought into the final stages of the planning process, but never given a choice of systems. That was already done by others with no vested long term interest in its implementation. Due to my new found voice, I was rewarded the unofficial and unpaid position of coordinator of the new system. Joy. When I came back for the 2007-08 school year I was surprised to be assigned to a 2 hour in-service for an online reading enrichment system guaranteed to increase comprehension scores based on standards and provide the supporting data. I have no idea who made the decision to purchase, but it certainly was not any of the other teachers in the in-service. We have implemented Moodle. Since my principal knows of my computer skills, she will be looking to me to fall in line with this too.

I guess what I am trying to say is this… I am jaded by my own experiences and the knowledge gained from this course does not put my mind at ease. I do not see a community effort where input or feedback is sought from the trenches for the above stated changes. I do not see my experience/expertise being sought out prior to purchase, only to put it together so the true decision makers look good. I see spending on a whim. I see the taglits, engauges, and loti surveys taken in past years being used to legitimize actions and behaviors taken in the past, present, and future. We know statistics can be used to support anything (and I do mean anything). I see change is important and necessary, but when inclusion and input is just a smoke screen to hide top-down decisions, teachers become suspicious and bitter. I see fellow colleagues and friends take on tasks almost single-handed not because they want to, but because they are afraid to say no. This class makes me angry. Not because of the content, class, or Louis. I am now angry at what I see going on around me that I did not before. I am stopping myself here for the better.

Paul Pulvermacher

After further thought, I forgot one thing (or person) who is as much to blame... myself. What have I done to make change? Not too much. Time to get off dead center.

Paul

Being a leader is very difficult. I have more appreciation for administrators and committee members. We do not always see the behind the scenes work that our leaders do for us at school. I have only been on one committee in my district and was able to see parts of the process of change. I now know that the work others do is sometimes taken for granted.

From reading the others comments: I agree with Kim, that we must include the community. Amanda stated that with budget cuts that we need to step up and be the leaders using technology and help others out. And Kristin Haefke stated that we need to be willing to be on the comittees and not be that "Irene".

These first two classes has really opened my eyes at what it takes to have something change in a district and how difficult it can and will be as we move toward the future. The future is change.

-Rob Grisar

As we are continuing to learn about the importance of planning, needs assessments and change, I am thinking about how this relates to my “real life”. I agree with many of the comments above also in that I haven't appreciated what adminstrators go through in all the decisions that they make on a daily or yearly basis.

As my department’s resident “geek” I have been nominated to serve on the building technology planning committee for the last four years. Unfortunately, due to budget restrictions and deteriorating hardware, our decisions in the past 3 years have been fairly simple. “Which lab is the oldest, or farthest out of warranty and do we have enough money to replace it this year?” If so, meeting adjourned. If not, “what can we do with what we have right now, or should we wait until next year”. The only planning we have done as a group is to see which lab is next for replacement, and hopefully someday we will be able to move to the classroom computers that teachers use daily that are currently 6 or 7 years old.

I think learning about these items, especially the change and planning process have helped me understand why it feels like it takes so long to get new ideas and technology implemented into the classroom. Due to recent cuts in technology staffing in our district, it is going to be up to the risk-talking teachers that are interested in technology to find ways to make the best use of what we have and to teach other members of our departments and buildings how to make their lives easier by implementing technology in their daily classroom procedures.

--Angie Jurisch

As a non-instructor, my take on the issues that we have been researching are practical rather than theoretical.  On a daily basis, administrators responsible for technology at the district level have to make decisions regarding resource allocation, staff development, technical support, and future directions for the district's technology.  It has been interesting to read the various comments from the teachers in the cohort and see the differences that they have regarding how they view the change process.  At the district I work for, we are in the early stages of planning for a continuous improvement framework and 5 year strategic plan.  Looking at the long term goals and dealing with the uncertainty of budget items (both federal and state) makes technology planning particularly difficult.  With an average life cycle of under 4 years for desktop hardware as the preferred standard, the attempt to plan for an orderly and efficient transition of 1700 computers is very difficult.

On top of those changes, working with teaching staff to implement new processes and procedures can be quite difficult.  Reading through the HS case assignment reads like many of the schools that I have worked with in the past on technology implementations.  I have seen districts like Paul mentioned above, and in most of those cases they simply didn't have the background that going through these type of simulations will give you. 

Bob Boyd

Christopher See

I had been introduced to technology planning through classes for the Instructional Technology masters over two years ago. At no point in my education career have I been exposed to the concepts of needs assessment or change as we have been referencing them. Ten to fifteen years ago, the buzz words centered around differentiation.

As a teacher and technology leader in a district that does not really have a change process, I often wondered how we should know what to plan for. Why change?

As Bob states, the topics we have discussed so far hold practical value for me. There is a little more clarity that I can apply to my classroom and my work with teachers and administrators. In teaching library skills, I now see how I informally survey staff and students to find out what students know versus what they need to know to be able to do their work and meet standards. I develop lesson plans based on those needs, and I put the plan into place. I evaluate student progress as the plan goes forward, making adjustments to my plan based on new information. The process is similar in working with staff to use technology and to help them choose technology.

Duh, you say. Of course that's how it works. For me it was not so simple to see. My focus has been on the plan. After what was, essentially, an "I coulda had a V-8" moment, I see more clearly how this process had mostly existed for me already, how it might be improved, and how the process applies to many more of the responsibilities I have.

I have a better idea of how to determine what to change, why to change it, and how to start the process rolling. Now to get the rest of my committee on board...

chris