tech center evaluation

7/30/2019 Tech Center Evaluation

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Technology Center Evaluation Page 1

CJ Hicks Elementary Technology Center Evaluation Report

Melinda Walsh

FRIT Practicum


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Table of Contents

Executive Summary Page 3

Organizational Chart Page 5

Methods Page 6

Center Context and Goals Page 7

Center Activities Page 9

Evaluation Page 12

Recommendations Page 16

Monthly Report Page 17

Appendix Page 19


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Executive Summary:

CJ Hicks Elementary School Technology Center is located in an elementary school in

Conyers, GA. The center houses two employees: an instructional and data technology specialist

(ITDS) and an Intel. The ITDS handles technology integration with the teachers and students in

the classroom, handles training teachers, and data management. The Intel handles the more

technical aspect of the center and fixes any problems the center may have with its technology.

The stakeholders for this center are the parents, students, and staff of CJ Hicks Elementary

School.

The different programs offered at through the center are essential to ensuring the

centers success. The ITDS offers programs such as Tech Wednesday where she offers training

for teachers to inform and teach them how to use the technology they have available to them.

She also offers her Fridays up to come give the teachers one on one training. This helps to

ensure that all teachers know the technology available to them.

The Technology Help Desk is run by the Intel. This allows technology to be fixed as soon

as a problem arises. Many teachers feel this is the most successful technology program in the

building.

The ITDS also teaches technology classes to the students. While she is not always

available to teach these classes due to other responsibilities, the students do seem to benefit

and enjoy the classes when she is available to teach them.


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The ITDS also handles the data management system for the entire school. She ensures

that all data is entered and accessible. This job is almost a full-time job and takes up most of her

time.

While some improvements need to be made, overall the CJ Hicks Elementary School

Technology Center is a well-functioning center. There are many responsibilities for each

employee but they handle them as best as they can. Overall, the stakeholders seem to be

happy with how the center is being run.


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Organizational Chart


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Methods

There were several different methods of gathering information used in this evaluation

of CJ Hicks Elementary School Technology Center. The main source of information was

gathered through interviews. The data and information technologist and Intel, both of who are

the only employees of the technology center were interviewed through a series of questions

about the quality and production of the center. Several teachers that are directly impacted by

the technology center were also interviewed, but with a separate interview process than the

one given to the employees of the center. A few students were interviewed as well. The

interview protocol and questions are included in Appendix A of this document.

Another method used to gain information in this evaluation study was observations

using checklists. To evaluate some of the goals of the technology center, it was necessary to

view the center in action and document the findings in the checklist. The checklists are included

in Appendix A of this document as well.

The last method used to gain information in this evaluation study was the CJ Hicks

Technology Plan and Website. The Technology Plan is a compilation of documents outlining the

centers goals and mission for the year. The school website is one that was created to give

parents and students information and resources to use at home.


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Center Context and Goals:

CJ Hicks Elementary School Technology Center is located in an elementary school in

Conyers, Georgia. The elementary school serves over 800 students ranging from the Ready Age

3 program all the way up to the 5th

grade. It is at Title One School with 85% of students on free

and reduced lunch. The Technology Center is in charge of any and all technology related issues

in the entire building. The center has been open for 10 years with duties being added slowly as

the years went on. The staff is made up of two employees. An Instructional Technology and

Data Specialist (here on out referred to as ITDS) and an Intel. The ITDS is mainly in charge of

instructional technology and ensuring that it is being implemented in the classroom, along with

teaching classes to the students about technology. The Intel is in charge of the more technical

aspect of the center, fixing computer and software problems and ensuring that all equipment is

up and running. Both have separate duties, but some of which overlap. Please see

organizational chart above for specific duties.

The mission of the center is To ensure that each student is receiving a 21st

century

technology education and ensuring that each teacher is aware of the technology available to

them in the building.

The goals of the center are:

a.) To ensure that each teacher is knowledgeable and aware of how to implementavailable technology into their classroom

b.) To fix all technology issues as soon as possible


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c.) To ensure that students are receiving an excellent technology education and areable to complete basic technology tasks

d.) To ensure that all teachers are aware of how to import and use data including butnot limited to report cards, grade entries, and progress monitoring.

The stakeholders involved with the technology center are all staff of CJ Hicks Elementary

school including but not limited to teachers, support staff, administration, special forces,

clerical, and custodial staff. Other stakeholders include students who are enrolled in the school,

along with their parents. The current status of the center is active and running as described

above.


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Center Activities

The center is in charge of several activities each of which are listed below.

Instructional Technology use- The ITDS is in charge of ensuring that each teacher not only is

aware of the technology available to him or her, but also knows how to implement it in the

classroom. The ITDS handles this through two different programs. One of which is Tech

Wednesdays. The purpose of Tech Wednesdays is to inform teachers about new technology

available at the school, or how to use the technology in different ways. The main audience of

the program is the classroom teachers. For Tech Wednesday, the ITDS holds a staff

development meeting after school in the computer lab on Wednesday to train the teachers. It

is not a requirement but all teachers are encouraged to attend. The topics vary depending on

teacher need and requests. It can range from how to implement the ActivVotes in the

classroom, to how to input grades in Gradespeed, to how to use the iPad. The ITDS chooses the

topic based on what most teachers seem to need. Another way the ITDS ensures teacher

comprehension is through scheduling her Fridays specifically for teachers. When planning her

schedule for the year, the ITDS took Fridays off from teaching classes and set it up where she

was available for teachers on that day. Teachers may schedule her to come in the classroom

and she will teach a technology lesson to her students, showing the teacher how to incorporate

the technology one-on-one. This allows the classroom teacher to not only request what she/he

specifically needs, but also allows them to get the one on one attention some teachers need in

order to understand the content.


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Teaching Classes- This programs main purpose is to ensure that all students are able to

complete basic technology tasks along with having the best technology education possible. The

ITDS is in charge of implementing this program. The audience for this program is the students

at CJ Hicks Elementary. The students come to the computer lab for this program. The ITDS uses

the student NETS standard to teach the students in Grades 1-5. She meets with each class once

a week Monday-Thursday. The classes have scheduled times. The ITDS communicates with the

classroom teacher to find out any needs the students may have and then integrates the content

that they are covering in class and shows the students a technology centered way to present

the content. This ensures that all students are on grade level for what is expected of them

technology wise.

Help Desk- This programs primary purpose is to ensure that all technology in the school is up

and running and that all problems are fixed quickly and efficiently. The audience of the program

is any of the staff at CJ Hicks Elementary. The Help Desk is a portal where teachers can go in and

put their problem and what they need done/fixed with the technology in their room. The Intel

or the ITDS will then come in and fix the problem, or get someone in there who can fix it. When

a teacher places a tag in the Help Desk, it then sends notifications to the Intel and ITDS who will

come to fix it and then update the tag to let the teacher know what the outcome was. This

keeps everyone informed. This program takes place primarily in the classroom teachers room,

unless some equipment needs to be taken out.

Data Management- This activity is done primarily by the ITDS. The main purpose is to ensure

that all data is inputted and teachers are able to access it. The ITDS holds trainings quarterly to


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ensure that all teachers know how to input grades into Gradespeed and how to correct report

cards. The ITDS then prints the report cards and ensures that all teachers get what they need.

The ITDS also ensures that all teachers know how to run data reports for the various programs

that the students are using to ensure progress monitoring is being completed. This is all located

primary on the web or in the computer lab with the ITDS.


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Evaluation

When evaluating the CJ Hicks Elementary School Technology Center I took into account the

goals of the center and evaluated whether the school was meeting these goals based on the

data that I collected.

Goal One: To ensure that each teacher is knowledgeable and aware of how to implement

available technology into their classroom

To evaluate this goal, I interviewed not only the ITDS, but also interviewed several

teachers in the school. I also observed a Tech Wednesday session, and attended several Friday

sessions of teacher training. When interviewing the ITDS to find out how she felt about the

teachers knowledge of incorporating technology into their teaching. She stated that she felt,

Teachers who come to the trainings or request the Friday trainings seem to be the ones who

implement technology in a successful manner. The teachers who do not come to the training

and do not ask for help for the most part tend to not implement the technology available.

When interviewing several of the teachers, I found what she stated to be true. The teachers I

interviewed who have come to at least two of the trainings throughout the year rated their

technology use as a 5 (use technology one time daily). The teachers who have attended only

one training rated their use as a 3 (try to use it once a week). The average rating for teachers

who had not attended any trainings was found to be a 1 (seldom if ever try to use it). Overall I

found that the teachers who participate in the program are knowledgeable and implement the

technology available to them for the most part, which makes it a successful program. However,


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the teachers who do not participate in the program do not use the technology available to

them.

Goal Two: To fix all technology issues as soon as possible

To evaluate this goal, I interviewed the centers Intel, along with several teachers. I also

observed the Intel while she handled the centers Help Desk. The Intel explained her process of

as soon as the teacher puts in the ticket; she tries to respond right away. If it requires further

help, she then puts it in to the county helpdesk. When observing the Intel, I found that what

she said was correct. As soon as the ticket is received, she dropped what she was doing and

headed to that teachers classroom to fix the problem. This ensured that the problem was fixed

immediately if possible. When interviewing teachers, the average rating the Help Desk program

got was an 8. One teacher stated that, If it is able to be fixed, it will be fixed right away.

Overall, teachers were happy with the help desk program, it seems to be working the way the

center would like.

Goal Three: To ensure that students are receiving an excellent technology education and are

able to complete basic technology tasks

To evaluate this goal, I did several things. First, I interviewed teachers and students that

are involved in the classes. I also used observational checklists on several occasions while

observing the classes that were being taught. In my interviews with teachers, it was found that

several teachers were happy with the classes being taught, while a few were not happy. The

common factors that most teachers were happy about were the content being taught, the

integration of standards with technology, and the students engagement in the lessons. The


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main problem that the teachers had was with the availability of the ITDS. Many teachers

complained that when it was their assigned time, the ITDS was not available and the teacher

had to put the students on a different computer program instead of participating in the lesson.

While interviewing the students, they seemed to be overall happy with the lessons.

Many stated that they liked the things they were learning and the technology that they were

learning to use. One student stated, I like learning how to use the computer and see the cool

things you can do with pictures and Power points. Most of the negative comments from the

students were irrelevant and did not apply to this evaluation.

When observing the classes, my main focus was to determine whether students were

able to complete basic technology tasks. I observed the students on four different occasions

and different grade levels. While there the ITDS presented the NETS standards that the

students were working on. This allowed me to see whether the students were able to not only

perform basic tasks, but the tasks that were expected of their grade level. On average, in each

class of about 20 kids, 18 kids were able to perform basic technology functions. When

observing the grade level lessons all students were able to perform the functions with help, and

about 80% of students were able to do it without help, just guidance beforehand.

Overall, this goal is being met with some room for improvement. Students do have

access to an overall good technology education and for the most part are able to perform basic

technology functions. The only issue with this goal seems to be that the ITDS is not always

available to teach the classes due to other responsibilities within the building.


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Goal Four: To ensure that all teachers are aware of how to import and use data including but

not limited to report cards, grade entries, and progress monitoring.

To evaluate this goal, I used teacher interviews and an interview with the ITDS. When

interviewing the ITDS, she stated, I feel as if this job should be a separate job from the

Instructional Technologist. Because I have so many duties, I am sometimes unable to complete

one or more aspect of the job because I am too busy. On one of the days the ITDS was

observed, was a day that she was completing report card printing for the teachers. This does

seem to be a full time job handling data management and report card printing. The teachers

seem to feel the same way stating, Whenever it is time for report cards or any other type of

data management, we know that we will not see our ITDS because she is too busy handling

that. However, the ITDS does handle the data management first and efficiently. This

evaluator sees no evidence that this goal is not being met.


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Recommendations:

After evaluating the center and seeing the amount of work that the two employees are

undertaking, this evaluator would recommend hiring a third employee to be in charge of data

management. The main complaint found among teachers was that the ITDS was not always

available to teach their students the technology standards and this almost always coincides

with report card/progress report time. In an effort to relieve some of the work of the ITDS and

to ensure that students are receiving a proper technology education, a third employee would

help lessen the work load and ensure that all of the technology centers goals are being met.

Another recommendation that this evaluator would suggest is to offer an incentive for

attending Tech Wednesday trainings. Teachers time is valuable and many do not realize the

value of attending sessions such as these. If the ITDS were to offer an incentive to get teachers

to attend, they may begin to realize the value of the trainings and begin attending regularly.

Overall, this is a well-run center that functions as its mission and goal wish for it too.

There is some room for improvement and this evaluator suggests that the recommendations

above be put into place for the well-being of the center.


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Monthly Report (written as the ITDS)

-Weve just received news from the county that they have purchased ten iPads for each school

in the district. These iPads should be on their way and in our school within the next month.

They will be split up and placed in the grade levels stock ofiPads for teachers to check out and

use.

-10 of the computers in the Blue computer lab have now been upgraded and replaced. These

computers are now available for student and teacher use.

-The county has now given access for all of our employees to have a SkyDrive account. Training

for this will be held on the next Tech Wednesday.

-Computer reimaging was done the week of October 29-Nov 2nd

. This was done on student

computers only. This can only be done in the early morning (until 730) and late afternoon (after

3pm) Our plan is to now continue with the other computers in the building and have them

finished by the end of the semester.

-We were awarded the Snapping Shoals Grant! The grant will allow us to purchase flip cameras

and video recorders for every grade level in the building. We hope to be receiving these in the

next month.

-7 of our students work was submitted for the county Arts & Technology festival. The students

created a Photo Story on different idioms and their true meaning. They created these during

technology class in the last three months. The work is on display at the county office. Please

stop by and check out!


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-The next Tech Wednesday will be held on 11/14. The topic of interest will be how to create

assignments for multiple classes in Gradespeed.

-We are in the process of filing for a grant that will give us funds to purchase more apps for our

iPads. Stay tuned to find out if the grant is fulfilled or not.


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Appendix A

Teacher interview protocol-Teachers were interviewed one-on-one. One teacher from each

grade level was randomly selectedto be interviewed. The teacher was asked the questions and

the interviewer transcribed the answers.

1.) How would you rate your technology use in your own classroom?1-do not use it in the classroom

2-tried it once

3-seldom use it in the classroom

4-use it once a week

5-use it once a day

2.) How often have you attended Tech Wednesdays?

3.) How do you feel about the HelpDesk program? How quickly do your issues get solved?

4.) Do you believe your students a receiving a good technology education? Why or whynot?

5.) How could your technology experience at this school be improved?

6.) How could your students technology experience at this school be improved?

7.) How well does your ITDS meet your Data Management needs?


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Student Interview Protocol- Students were interviewed one-on-one. The students were

randomly selected across the grade level. At least one student per grade level 1st

-5th

was

interviewed.

1.) How often does the ITDS teach you a technology class?2.) What do you like best about learning technology?3.) What types of things do you learn about in technology class?4.) If you could change something about technology class, what would you change?

Intel Interview-The Intel interview took place in her office with just the interviewer and the

Intel present. The Interviewer asked the questions and took notes of the answers.

1.) What are your primary responsibilities?2.) How does the Tech Help Desk program work?3.) What do you do if you cannot fix the problem?4.) How often do you receive tickets on the program and how soon do you try to respond?5.) If you could change one thing about your job what would it be and why?6.) How effective do you believe you are at fulfilling all of your responsibilities and why?7.) Thinking of the technology center overall, what improvements do you think need to be

made?


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ITDS Interview-This interview was done one-on-one with just the ITDS and interviewer present.

The interviewer asked the questions and transcribed the answers.

1.)What are your primary job responsibilities?

2.) How effective do you believe you are at meeting all of your responsibilities? What helpsor hinders this?

3.) How do you run Tech Wednesdays? How do you decide the topic?4.) How many teachers on average attend tech Wednesdays?5.) How often do teachers ask for help with technology?6.) How do you assist the teachers who ask for help?7.) How much do you help with the Tech Help Desk?8.) How often do you get to teach classes?9.) When teaching classes, how do you pick the topics?10.) How do you keep the students engaged?11.) How satisfied are you with the classes that you teach?12.) How often do you have to handle data management issues?13.) How effective do you think the center is at meeting its mission and goals?14.) If you could change one thing what would you change?


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Tech Classes Observational Checklist (used several times across several different grade

levels)

Introduction to lesson- # of students engaged ______________

During the work period-# of students engaged _____________

During the closing-# of students engaged_______________

Activity students were working on___________________

# of students able to do this without help ______________

# of students able to do this with help _____________________

# of students unable to do activity at all ___________________

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