A brief summary of the grant proposal needed information for the purchase of new computers for the school is presented in the following paragraphs.
The school administration has decided to apply for a grant that will allow every child in the school to have a computer 24/7. The educational goals of this technology project are to decrease the digital gap that exists in the area, and provide anytime, anywhere computing resources for students and teachers both in school and at home. In addition, students and teachers will develop the necessary technological skills to align to modern work standards and a fast changing technological world. Students need to learn computer skills to prepare them for an increasingly computerized workplace. In order for this to take place, once the grant is provided, the school will purchase the first lot of computers for the teachers. They will receive a series of training sessions to prepare them for the use of the computer in their teaching practice. According to Karmacharya (2008), one of the goals teacher training is to make teachers comfortable to integrate laptop use in their regular teaching. Special attention will be placed in assisting teachers to choose adequate applications that can easily integrate to their curriculum. Workshops will also serve to provide hands on activities to prepare teachers in managing laptop classes. Teachers will also respond short questionnaires to understand the progress that participants are making toward certain outlined goals. In addition, it can help organizers identify what activities and strategies aided the teachers to reach predetermined goals. These formative evaluations constitute ongoing assessments to help in identifying problems and take corrective measures.
One year after the teachers have received this initial training, the laptops will be introduced in high school, the following year in middle school and finally the last year in elementary school. This means the plan will take 4 years to introduce computers in the school. It is important to mention that the laptops in the elementary school will only be provided to the students and teachers in grades 3 to 5. Special computer laboratories will be installed for students in pre-K through 2nd grade.
Assessment is important for the success of this initiative. The main idea is to be able to investigate and evaluate the effectiveness of the programs set by the school. There will be an initial survey for teachers and students of the productivity tools that they use to do their work (http://www.compstrategies.com/staffdevelopment/cue/rubric.htm). In addition, Schrock (2009) presented other interesting rubrics to use for assessment. Based on these surveys, the institution will have an idea of the level of technological knowledge of the teachers and students. Before and after every training session, teachers will be assessed on their knowledge of the tools and later will be given the opportunity to give an example of how it was put into practice in their class. The institution will organize in-service sessions not just with external support but also in collaboration with in-house teachers sharing their work and experiences with children. These sessions will take the form of formative assessments of the achievements of teachers. There will also be appraisal sessions to all members of staff on the ways that they are using technology (http://www.ncrel.org/tech/nets/nets-t-rubric.pdf) These sessions will be conducted by a senior member of the school and will provide invaluable feedback to the teachers. These appraisal reviews will take place every two years in the school and will begin the year after teachers have had the chance to integrate the computer in their daily work.
In order to recognize the work done by the teachers during the first year of laptop preparation, the school will provide incentives to those teachers who pass a technology examination set by the institution. At the end of the test, teachers will answer a survey on the effectiveness of the program and evaluation. Teachers will have 2 years to take the exam and these will be set twice a year in collaboration with the Information Technology department. During this time, teachers will also engage in carrying out an action research related to their field and technology (D'Avanzo, 2000). These will constitute summative assessments that will be required by the institution according to the pace of technology adoption in the school. Using the results of the summative evaluations, the school attempts to determine, the success of the training program for each individual teacher, whether the goals were met, participant satisfaction and benefit, end results versus cost, and whether the program should be repeated for a particular teacher. In the case of new teachers, the school reserves the right to select candidates based on their level of knowledge of technology, and how much they can contribute to the actual technological needs of their department.
Every end of term, the head of section will report to the senior administrative team of the school about the number of appraisal sessions performed as well as the number of teachers taking the mandatory IT examinations. Information will be displayed in the form of charts and will be based on the consolidation of forms used during the appraisal period. Once all the teachers have been successfully prepared to use the technological resources that the school has to offer, the emphasis will shift to the achievements of each individual teacher based on his/her professional development plan. A person will be appointed by the school to ensure that adequate professional development opportunities are provided to all staff members.
References
Karmacharya, R. (2008). Formative evaluation of OLPC in Nepal. Retrieved June 24, 2009, from http://blog.olenepal.org/index.php/archives/321.
MacDonald, J. (2005). Program evaluation: Formative vs summative evaluation. Retrieved June 24, 2009, from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/14404/program_evaluation_formative_vs_summative.html?cat=4.
Schrock, K. (2009). Teacher helpers. Retrieved June 24, 2009, from http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/assess.html.
D'Avanzo, C. (2000). Evaluate your teaching. Retrieved June 24, 2009, from http://tiee.ecoed.net/teach/essays/evaluation.html.
1 comment:
Great proposal, very detailed. I like the rubrics you found, I am saving those for future reference. I suggested the same sort of things - that teachers need to be fully trained and comfortable using the computers before students get them. Otherwise they'll waste time fumbling with a computer during class when they could be teaching...or they'll get frustrated and not use the computer at all. I am sure that training the teachers will be more challenging than training the students, but it is very much worth the effort.
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