Technology Professional Development Plan

A team needs to be developed so that you will have people from various backgrounds. You need to go to the administration and see who they suggest to be on the Integration of Technology team. The team needs to consist of administrators, department heads, librarians, and other teachers. The next step would be to gather data from student assessments such as: PEIMS, TAKS, Benchmarks, CoGAT, and AEIS data. The team needs to evaluate school’s scores and see what needs to be improved the most. Then those outcomes can be compared to other schools that have different technology on their campus and see if it is benefiting them. The team needs to evaluate and determine what training needs to take place. Training needs to be developed to help meet the needs of the teachers. Programs need to be developed to help teachers get the material across to the students. The main goal to focus on is the students, and improving their knowledge. Reassessment will occur on the next exam the students have to take. Adjustments will be made accordingly where it is needed.

Professional Development- This is for the entire staff to become knowledgeable of different ways to integrate technology. Principals should require a minimum of 6 hours of technology staff development every year. Technology is increasing in schools across Texas and standards need to be assessed. Teachers need to follow the continuous change that is occurring every year and learn how to integrate technology through different subject areas.

Items to address:

1) Staff will look over data from all sources to see what ways technology can be integrated into the classroom to connect learning through core subjects and elective courses.

2) Staff Development days need to be utilized to focus on the needs in the Campus Improvement Plan. There are many free programs that can be great resources to different subject areas and it is the technology staff’s job to get those out to the teachers so that they are utilized.

3) Every staff member should look at how they can relate their subject matter to another subject within the school. How they coorelate with one another or can be used within the same technology resource. For example, when English teachers are going over the Holocaust Unit they can get Math and Business teachers involved in the lessons as well. This shows students that the concepts that are being taught are of importance in everything in life.

4) Every employee should have at least 6 hours of professional development in some kind of technology related course and should have the opportunity to meet with other colleagues to express new technology techniques that they have learned.

5) A great resource for teachers to use throughout the school is a Wiki. The wikispace works as a meeting spot for an online learning community. It lets the community members discuss issues and post new ideas to each other. In the wikispace you can set up many different pages where your online community can edit and navigate through with you. It is a good idea to have something like a wikispace because it lets you get your thoughts together within a group and you can do it at your own time and not have to actually meet all at the same time. It allows people to post their opinions and they may have helpful ideas to what made it successful for their classes.

*How to set up a Wiki and communicate
Go to: http://www.wikispaces.com. This allows teachers to work together and be able to communicate technology ideas for the classroom

6) Another great resource is a Moodle. A Moodle is a way for departments or grade levels to assess student knowledge through technology. Teachers can post quizzes, tests, and resources for students to access. My district has adopted the Moodle this year and teachers are already utilizing it for tests and technology assignments. It works like a normal webpage, so that students can access it at home and can do online assignments as outside of school work. The Moodle is offered free for any employee in Mesquite ISD and can be accessed from the Mesquite ISD website, www.mesquiteisd.org.