Technology, Leadership, and Change

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Sophie TI

TI Budget and Timeline-an excel file that shows the budget and the timeline

Technology Integration Initiative-Rationale and implementation of the initiative, includes the budget and the timeline at the end

Professional Development Material-an introductory handout that will hopefully help teachers and administration buy into this idea of using video games in the classroom

Module 6 Post

Teacher Leaders and Communities
There are many different levels of community one can discuss when it comes to a school. You have the community that is developed with each classroom, a wing of the building, a grade level, a planning team, the entire building, and then the communities outside of the school/education system.
I remember in a social studies class for elementary teachers, we had to bring the community into the school for part of a unit plan. However, to me, it was a little flimsy. I "got" someone to come into the class and talk to the kids. I know my students, and I know they would love to get out of the classroom. A teacher leader could find opportunities to bring the kids to the community. Take them to a play, to see an orchestra, to see trees decorated with various country decorations, down to the town hall to see a court room and jail cell, or even just a walk around town to see the art that is right there at their home.
I have been in schools where parents felt like they weren't welcome in the school, I have also been to schools where it felt like parents were always there. I have been to schools where they have transitioned from not feeling welcome to attending fall festivals and coming into the classrooms. I think it is important for teachers, not just teacher leaders (although, they should lead the way and assist/encourage others), to bring the real world into the classroom and take the classroom out to the real world. This makes learning more real for the students and they are more likely to not ask the ever dreaded question, "When am I going to use this in real life".

Chapter 11 talked about the different communities and partnerships that a school can be apart of. I was in a school that had a partnership with a health clinic that included having another councilor at the school. I think this was very beneficial for the students and the staff because they didn't have to miss school to get a check up or if they had a cold. They also had more than one person they could go to if they were having a hard time.

Chapter 12 wrapped up the book, reviewed the main topics and discussed the importance of integrating technology but also having that human aspect as well. I have had conversations where people think that technology is gong to replace the teacher; that eventually, all education will be online and the only people the system will need are tech people. I totally disagree with them. I don't ever see a time where a person is not needed to educate our future leaders. We have to have a balance.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Technology Integration Initiative

Technology Integration Initiative
Professional Development PowerPoint

Monday, May 11, 2015

Brittany Morgan's TI Plan

Technology Integration Initiative

Brittany Morgan

Needs Assessment and Rationale

The majority of schools in the United States have a diverse population of students, with varying levels of talents and abilities. Not all students learn in the same way, and many struggle with grasping skills and concepts through traditional means. It is therefore my intention to work to integrate the use of educational video games in the classroom. I will start by working solely with seventh grade Social Studies classes.

According to Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Theory, children learn to understand the world through play. This starts from the earliest stages of development, and continues on as they mature. The hope is that, since children spend a great deal of time playing games, using educational games in the classroom will help them learn more (Thomas, 2011). Research has shown that the use of games in the classroom not only increases the knowledge and skills gained by students, but that there is also an increase in motivation to learn, which is a common problem found in many educational institutions. Games can be used to reach a variety of students, not just those of a certain gender or skill level (Woo, 2014).

Another major benefit to the use of gaming in the classroom is that it encourages collaboration, not just competition. The use of games also encourages critical and higher order thinking, which are often neglected during traditional classroom work, and skills that students desperately need to function in the world (Fredrick, 2014). Games also encourage fluency, which is “the ability to retrieve information in an easy and fluid manner”. Games also offer immediate feedback on decisions and choices made throughout the experience, which is beneficial to learning (Ault, 2014). All of the skills mentioned above are stated in Common Core and Next Generation Standards, so by integrating games in the classroom, a variety of state and national mandated standards are being met at the same time.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

The specific game I wish to integrate at this time is Sid Meier’s Civilization V, which sells for approximately $25.99. This is the price of not only the original game, but also the various expansion packs that have been made for it. This game does not cost much, and the benefits it would provide to a seventh grade Social Studies classroom would be tremendous. The Civilization franchise incorporates themes from geography, economics, politics, and history (Squire, 2011). As a class focused on Ancient Civilizations, this game seems perfect to foster the needed skills and knowledge required for the class.

Research conducted with versions of this game showed that students became involved in the learning process by playing the game. After learning how to play the game, students would then begin to focus on the material that is trying to be taught. Many students began using geography and history as a “cheat” for the game to try and make their civilization succeed. They also engage in “what-if” scenarios and work to develop strategies to make their civilization grow and conquer the world (Squire, 2011). This is the great thing about games; students will eventually seek out learning experiences and knowledge on their own in order to supplement their gaming experience (Cox, 2014). A desire to succeed at the game creates motivation to learn, and with this motivation, students will work to gain the skills and information needed to complete the tasks before them (Harris, 2014).

Aside from the software, computers are needed for this integration. Many schools already have computers labs, so this should not be much of a problem. The required and recommended settings for this game are also relatively low, so even older computer models should be able to run the game efficiently.

The biggest cost of this integration would be time, both for educators and students. To start, those teachers who are working on the integration would need time to learn the ins and outs of the game. Essentially, they would first need to learn how to play it. This could be started by offering one or two after school Professional Development workshops where the teachers take the time to sit down at the computer and play around with the game. Adults, as well as children, learn through play, so this would be the best way to introduce it. Some tips could also be addressed during these workshop sessions.

When it comes time to actually integrate the technology and lessons into the classroom, it would likely take a significant amount of time to introduce the students to the game. The teacher must take what they have learned about the game and teach the students how to play it. This may take less time than the workshops for teachers. Despite the time taken to integrate and develop this project, however, it is completely worth the cost. Though teachers may spend several days to a week letting students learn about the game, which would distract from other lessons, in the end the students would gain more of the skills and knowledge they need then with regular lessons alone.

Technology Implementation Plan

Timeline	Implementation
Week 1	· Secure funding for game · Purchase game · Set up dates for workshops · Run assessment on available computers to see if they meet game requirements
Week 2	· Begin workshops for teachers
Week 3	· Begin integration in classroom · Start introducing students to the game · Begin supplemental assignments to assist gaming
Week 4	· Start full implementation of lessons
Final Week	· Evaluation of student progress after playing game and completing supplemental assignments

Professional Development Materials

The Game

Civilization V

Introductory Material

Civilization V Opening Video

Civilization V: Gods and Kings Intro Video

How to Play

How to Play Civilization V Video (This video is extremely long, so only part of it would be watched)

Friday, May 8, 2015

Integrating Technology: Building Community and Consensus

I have been working on Technology Integration at my school since I arrived there in late August, and it has been so beneficial to have the support and enthusiasm of my team and the rest of our staff, as well as that of the students, administration, and county level leaders. Being able to actually obtain the technology was a dream come true. We won't have it in our rooms til next year because the orders were delayed in shipping and we're overwhelmed by testing at the moment, but having everyone come together to make it happen was amazing. Presenting the rationale to our local board helped things along. I am so grateful for what I've learned in this course, as it was crucial to strengthening our school culture for this big step.

I developed a Schoology course at www.schoology.com, course code WQJK-9J7W6 as part of the PD for this initiative. The course is modified from one developed by WVDE to train teachers around the state, and the symbaloos came about with the help of our TIS, who is always there for us. Please feel free to check it out!

You can view my TI at https://goo.gl/QkYuHs, and the handout I developed to be used with a Schoology exploration session at https://goo.gl/wEVKh5.

Knowing that next year we will have new textbooks featuring online access combined with 1:1 in the classroom makes me really excited. I am glad to have had the chance this year to learn and apply digital leadership. I'm looking forward to the future!

Jared's Technology Integration Initiative

Rationale and Initiative

The expectation among many proponents of online learning is that the blended classroom, in all its forms, is a “hybrid innovation” that will eventually be replaced by the fully online classroom. According to a recent paper published by The Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, “the models of blended learning that follow the hybrid pattern are on a sustaining trajectory relative to the traditional classroom. They are poised to build upon and offer sustaining enhancements to the factory-based classroom system, but not disrupt it. The models that are more disruptive, however, are positioned to transform the classroom model and become the engines of change over the longer term, particularly at the secondary level. Any hybrid variety of blended learning is likely to fall by the wayside as the pure disruption becomes good enough” (Christensen, Horn, & Staker, 2013). While it is certainly true that eventually technology will be sufficient to meet all of the needs of the average student, and completely remove the need for the brick-and-mortar school, this does not seem likely to happen soon. After all, we still have brick-and-mortar banks, post offices, and shopping malls, all of which are entities that could conceivably be replaced by digital technology, and all of which offer most of their services online already. It is likely several patrons of these entities prefer to receive some services at the physical location. Similarly, there may, in fact, always be a significant portion of the population that wants children to attend a brick-and-mortar school as long as school is free, and continues to offer the vast number of services it currently provides. As Christensen, Horn, and Staker concede, “Almost every student has access to a government-funded school of some sort. We predict that hybrid schools, which combine existing schools with new classroom models, will be the dominant model of schooling in the United States in the future” (2013). With this in mind it is up to today’s educators to become familiar with the many forms of blended learning and to contribute new innovations to these in anticipation of changes yet to come.

Last year, a handful of teachers at Bridgeport High School took a major step toward joining in the effort to innovate. We held a semester-long professional development on the idea of the “flipped classroom.” While teachers in school districts in other states had been using the flipped model for some time now, the idea was still relatively new to our area. Even for those of us who knew what we were getting ourselves into, this was our first experiment delivering course content primarily through digital media. Throughout the semester we learned quite a bit about how to create, find, and deliver content. We also learned more about how to interact with students through social and educational media online. Perhaps one of the many lessons we were surprised to learn was that there was still a place for some traditional classroom elements. While our “digital natives” truly appreciated the advantages of having the bulk of the course online, many still longed for those things associated with the brick-and-mortar classrooms: face to face group discussion, live student presentations, and (believe it or not) a traditional lecture from time to time. Over the semester, it was becoming clear to my colleagues and me that the flipped model might not be the best fit for our particular school community. Still, we had gained so many educational advantages through the use of digital media that there was no going back to a traditional classroom. When the second semester began, many of us were, on our own, struggling to create ways to combine our digital techniques with our traditional ones. Through this, many forms of blended classrooms were beginning to emerge naturally. As this became apparent, there were a several teachers among the original group of “flippers” who longed for some more professional development on the sundry ways to employ the blended model.

From that point on, we began to evaluate what was good about the digital aspects we wanted to keep. From our experiences with flipping we had learned that using the technology “speaks the language of today’s students”, “helps busy students” to balance school and the other facets of high school life, “helps struggling students” and special needs students by allowing them to “pause and rewind their teacher”, “increases student-teacher interaction”, and helps include parents by making the “class transparent” (Bergmann & Sams, 2012, p. 20-33). We also began to list what was good about the brick-and-mortar classroom. Many of my colleagues echoed the words of Katrina Gulliver’s article from The Chronicle of Higher Education, “Digital Natives Like a Good Lecture, Too.” In essence, many students still seem to value the experience of being in the same room with an expert in the content who can model, in person, the journey of learning. “They don't just want the professor's role to be showing them where to find this stuff somewhere else. They want to hear what we have to say” (Gulliver, 2015). Perhaps there is something valuable to being the “’sage on the stage’ rather than the ‘guide on the side’” (Gulliver, 2015) at times. While there may be many “Web Evangelists” who scoff at these old-fashioned sentiments, there are just as many traditionalists who reject the idea that online learning is necessary and inevitable. The simple fact is, the brick-and-mortar school isn’t going away anytime soon, and neither is digital media. Both are a major part of every student’s life, so it is the wise teacher who learns to blend them effectively. Furthermore, if it true that “the blend of online learning into schools marks the most powerful opportunity the world has to make student-centered learning a widespread reality” (Horn & Staker, 2015, p. 11), then it is the good teacher who seeks to blend at all.

This brings us to the Technology Integration Initiative: I would like to work with the current blended learning users at my school to gain, through research and discussion, a more thorough understanding of how the blended classroom model can be used to improve our school. Then, I would like to invite more instructors in the school to a blended-learning focused professional development community that would spend the 2015-2016 school year incorporating existing technology in the classroom in ways that are new and beneficial to our school, students, and community.

Needs Assessment

We can no longer ignore the need to effectively incorporate technology into daily instruction. So many daily tasks from banking to communicating with relatives are conducted online. Furthermore, many of those things we do advance our careers or better ourselves, from attending college to applying for jobs are accomplished, at least in part online. However, many schools, even with all of their computer labs, distance learning labs, and wireless internet access are still using technology to simply create and print documents, do research, or conduct standardized testing. There is still little use of the technology to improve the quality of instruction or the communication between students, teachers, and parents.

For many schools, the technology is already there. It is just that much of the faculty is not sure how to use it beyond the traditional sense. I feel my school falls into that category. We could use some professional development on how to use what we have to benefit the student.

Our high school is made up of approximately 720 students, and 49 teachers. We have most of the basic technology available to high schools. We have eight computer labs, two mobile lap top labs, and one iPad lab. Each of these contains of approximately thirty separate computers or tablets. Every room in the building is equipped with wireless internet access, including the cafeteria and auditorium. We have a technology support person on site, who teaches half of the day and maintains building technology the other half. We also have efficient support from our local RESA technology specialist. These staff members keep the computers up-to-date and in good repair. Problems are often resolved within a day. While it seems that any school could always use more computers, the technology and our students’ access to it is sufficient if lab time is scheduled properly. The real need in our school is staff training on making the most of these labs to help “beef up” our instruction, increase student participation and achievement, and reach other students who are not advancing in the current system.

Cost Benefit Analysis

Since we already have the technology in our building, and since this initiative seeks to use a number of free or already purchased online services (Schoology, Edmoto, Office 365, School Website, etc.), there will not be need to raise any funds for new equipment at this time. That need may present itself in the next couple of years, but for the 2015-2016 school year, we have the essentials.

Our main cost is time. In order to make this professional development happen, teachers will need to put in several hours that not factored into the regular school day. Offering stipends to both professional development presenters and to the participating teachers as incentive and compensation provides more options for training times.

After working with some colleagues on a grant proposal, we estimated that fifteen teachers would want to participate in the initial six-hour training session. The standard teacher stipend for out-of-school professional development is $35 an hour, so the initial session would cost $3150. The expert presenter’s stipend plus expenses was estimated to be $315. Throughout the first semester we planned for two follow up professional development meetings for the fifteen participants, totaling $525 each. A few incidental technology costs for materials, copying, and equipment were estimated to be $250. The total cost to for these teacher incentives then would be $4765.

We requested this amount of funding through a competitive grant proposal made available to us through our PDS relationship with Fairmont State University.

The possible benefits of this training are immeasurable. To have a group of fifteen enthusiastic teachers ready to help others in modeling and implementing blended learning would be one of the most powerful examples of what we stand to gain from using the technology effectively. I think an initiative like this could be just the right thing to help keep our school relevant and effective.

Technology Implementation Plan

The following timeline shows the plan for the professional development and the implementation of this technology integration initiative:

June 2015- Volunteer advocates introduce and promote the need for blended learning in our school through a presentation at a year-end staff meeting. The invitation to the Professional Development will be offered at this time.

June-August 2015- The Professional Development will be available on the county online CE portfolio, My Learning Plan.

August 2015- Initial session will be conducted by guest presenter with expertise in blended learning. Fifteen participants will attend for six hour training and begin creating blended learning classroom materials, modules, or units. Participants also begin online communication that will continue in coming months.

September 2015- Follow up meeting, after school. Participants will share blended learning efforts, products, and samples of student work. Online communication between teachers continues.

November 2015- Follow up meeting, after school. Participants will share blended learning efforts, products, and samples of student work. Evaluation of training will be completed by participants. Online communication between teachers continues throughout 2016 semester.

May 2016- School technology needs re-evaluated by staff in year-end faculty meeting. Are we ready for 2017?

References

Ávila, J., & Pandya, J. Z. (2013). Critical digital literacies as social praxis: Intersections and challenges. New York: P. Lang.

Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2012). Flip your classroom: Reach every student in every class every day. Washington: ISTE.

Christensen, C., Horn, M., & Staker, H. (2013, May 1). Is K-12 Blended Learning Disruptive? An introduction to the theory of hybrids. Retrieved May 3, 2015, from http://www.blendedlearning.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Is-K-12-blended-learning-disruptive.pdf

Gulliver, K. (2015). Digital Natives Like a Good Lecture, Too. Chronicle Of Higher Education, 61(18), 1.

Horn, M. B., & Staker, H. (2015). Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve schools. San Fransico: Jossey-Bass.

Kuo, Y., Belland, B. R., Schroder, K. E., & Walker, A. E. (2014). K-12 teachers’ perceptions of and their satisfaction with interaction type in blended learning environments. Distance Education, 35(3), 360-381.

Raths, D. (2013). 9 Video Tips for a Better Flipped Classroom. (cover story). T H E Journal, 40(11), 12.

Sheninger, E. C. (2014). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times. California: Corwin.

Staker, H., & Horn, M. (2012). Classifying K–12 Blended Learning. Retrieved 2015.

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace?

Zomorodi, M. (2015). A Parent's Guide to All that 'Ed Tech' In Your Kid's Classroom [Radio series episode]. In New Tech City. New York : WNYC.

Link to PD Material:

BHS Blended Learning Powerpoint

Link to TI Word Document:

TI Paper by JSMB

Technology Integration Initiative - Tiffany

I chose to organize my assignment using Google sites. You'll find the assignment here:

Technology Integration Initiative

Additionally, I opted to create a second Google site for the Professional Development aspect. While the link is embedded into the first site, I'll provide the link independently here as well:

WV FLC TI Support

As I'm not a practicing teacher, with my experience more toward informal learning (museum education) rather than the classroom, I opted to focus my technology integration initiative in my home away from home, the WV Folklife Center. This is a project that I hope to implement, or at least get started, although it may not fit the provided time frame that the timeline projects. In fact, I got myself excited enough by it, that I've considered beginning it by myself over the summer. I may at least combing through our archived oral histories to begin selecting samples.