Tuesday, February 21, 2012

EDLD 5352 - Web Conference Reflection

I participated in a web conference on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 @ 7:30pm. There were only about 17 participants. I have to first emphasize that I think web conferencing is a valuable online tool that when used effectively, has positive effects on learning. This course has been very straight forward and quite clear on what to do on the assignments. However; since we were required to attend a web conference, I chose this particular day. I figured I may gain same knowledge or insight about why we were doing the assignments, etc. The web conference was a question and answer session. Since I had no questions, it was not valuable to me. I did stay on conference and listen to the questions asked. Most of them pertained to Tk20, graduation, or their internship. All these questions for redirected to other school staff and not answered on the conference. Dr. Abernathy stated it was for questions about assignments only. Although I like have her available to answer questions, it would beneficial to have someone go into depth on the purpose of our assignments, etc.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Campus Technology Action Plan

CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY ACTION PLAN

Area of Need: Electronic access to online learning.

Category: Teaching and Learning

Based on the campus STaR chart, electronic access to online learning was an area that is stagnant. Our campus needs to provide learning opportunities by utilizing teleconferencing, internet, video, distant learning, cable TV, and other electronic media.

Timeline:

Conduct Professional Development Sessions (listed below).

In order to achieve success in this area, every classroom must have a cable network. There are still classrooms at our school that are not ready for any type of video streaming. During our next SBDM team meeting, this area of need should be addressed. Appropriate funds should be allocated for the deployment of cable network in every classroom.

Once classrooms are equipped with cable network, rollout of Safari Montage and Live Video Conferencing should begin.

Person(s) Responsible:

SBDM, Principal, Communications and Technology Department

Professional Development:

Teachers and staff need to first understand the drive behind implementing any new project or technology planning to the campus. In order to achieve a smooth rollout of cable networking, our campus will hold the following sessions:
• STaR Chart Training. During this training, I will use the power point created at the beginning of this course and present to staff. Teachers fill out surveys rating our campus, but really do not have the rationale behind what it is used for. Teaching them how to read and understand a STaR chart will help drive and focus our efforts on the stagnant areas.
• In addition to Safari Montage and Live Video Conferencing, have PLCs list areas they would like based on disaggregated TAKS data from the previous year. The PLCs would have the opportunities to incorporate technology specific to the needs of the students at that particular grade level.

Evaluation:

Evidence that video conferencing is being utilized for classroom instruction and staff development will be monitored. Student/teacher management reports will be reviewed from online courseware indicating the extent of usage and the impact of courseware on assessment scores. The 2011 – 2012 STaR chart will also be reviewed once completed.