WORKING PAPER:
BUILDING A MODEL TECHNOLOGY/COMPUTER LITERACY PROGRAM
Assumptions:
1. That “meeting students where they are” calls us to recognize the propensities of the “digital generation” by employing modern instructional and learning technologies.
2. That St. Andrew’s School wants to move from “enhancement” to “integration.”
3. That the school’s leadership is willing to educate itself sufficiently to press this agenda in a thoughtful way.
4. That there is both the money and the will to support the implied facilities, personnel, and programmatic changes.
Goal Statements :
1. Technology as a Tool – Technology is a tool that, properly implemented, enhances both teaching and learning.
· It is understood that over the last 25 years the uses of technology in schools are such that it has had no sustained or measureable impact on student learning. We believe this is for lack of proper implementation.
· This tool cannot replace traditional methods of instruction; rather, the intent is to add to that bag of teaching tools employed by teachers and/or learning strategies available to students. “Traditional” practice will continue to be appropriate in many situations.
2. Training for Skills – Teacher and student use of technology is skill based, and that necessarily implies rigorous training in the development of those skills.
· Key training themes for both students and faculty might include presentation, data manipulation, research, collaboration, and ethics.
· Training for Teachers:
o The school will have to define some minimum-level of competence in the uses of instructional technology for which the following will be provided:
§ Training in the use of both hardware and software.
§ Training will be offered both formally and informally through summer workshops, regular in-service, meeting-based mini-lessons, buddy systems, on-line tutorials, help desk support, etc.
o The school will evaluate individual faculty for mastery of these baseline competencies.
· Training for Students:
o There must be a sequence of courses, given over several years (during 4th, 5th, and 6th grades), that helps students develop minimum – but defined and tested – keyboarding skills.
o There must be a sequence of courses, given over several years (during 6th, 7th, and 8th grades), that trains students in the uses of the web (e.g. Google, GoogleEarth, Delicious, RSS Feeds, Flickr, YouTube, blogs, wikis, etc.) and key pieces of software (e.g. Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Moviemaker, Photoshop, VoiceThread, etc.)
3. Curriculum Development – The school will actively pursue and support the development of technology-friendly curriculum. The ethical and sociological conundrums created by power of technology will also be addressed through curriculum (and policy) development.
· Release time to work on these curricular adjustments will be provided during the school year.
· Faculty will be paid summer stipends to attend workshops for the development of lessons that meaningfully integrate the use of technology.
· An inter-departmental committee will be created to outline the content of a curriculum designed to address the ethical, cultural, and sociological implications of living and working in a technological world.
4. Staffing for Success – St. Andrew’s School must staff its technology program in proportion to its goals and in acknowledgement of its academic intent.
· “The school recognizes that the most compelling issues regarding technology in the 21st century are educational rather than purely administrative and this is reflected in the key technology leader within the school.” - Bergen
· The school will employ one technology FTE for every 50 to 100 computers on the school’s campus.
· Key roles for staffing an effective technology program will include:
o Computer Program Director – “Oversees curriculum, system and software maintenance, hardware repairs, the Help Desk, faculty training, on-line support, long-range planning, the technology budget, and the computer department.”
o Systems Administrator – Maintains all technology-related systems in the school, including the computer network, servers, telephones, and security. Oversees all administrative computing needs and systems. Works with the director to draw the budget and to oversee hardware repairs, the Help Desk, and system updates.
o Help Desk Manager – Fixes hardware glitches, supported by a trained student staff.
o Computer Teacher – Teaches computer classes, oversees the computer labs, does some hardware support and faculty training.
o Library-Media Specialist – (Technology Integrator or Faculty Trainer) – “Meets with individual and groups of faculty throughout the year to build computer literacy, assist with lesson development and integration.” Oversees library media-centers and supports faculty-student project work in those centers.
5. Budgetary Commitment – The school will spend 10% (8 to 15%) of its annual budget in support of these technology goals.
· Fund training for faculty and students
· Fund curriculum development to support technology integration and foster acceptable use
· Fund the appropriate level of staffing
· Fund on-going hardware & software acquisition, replacement, and improvement
6. Strategic Planning – Working with the appropriate subcommittee of the Board’s strategic planning initiative, the administrative team will develop a multi-year plan that phases the training, curricular, personnel, and budgetary needs outlined in the above goals.
Acknowledgements – In the composite, the document above is drawn from the wisdom of Steve Bergen and Lynne Schalman and from the ideas they’ve written into The Summercore Primer on Hardware, Software, & Humanware. Some guidance was also found in the NAIS’ published principles of good practice, entitled “Technology Use in Independent Schools.”
