evaluation harrisj

8/2/2019 Evaluation HarrisJ

1/5


2/5

A significant portion of the districts administration information and communications have

been converted from paper systems to eco friendly electronic systems. Most recently, the

district has replaced the subfinder paper system with an online subfinder call system, making

the district more efficient and less reliant on paper. Administrative systems are available to all

administrators and staff including the subfinder system and Infinite Campus. Infinite Campus is

a paperless grading, behavior documentation, attendance, student/family information, and more,system.

Curricular

The island stage fits Abraham Lincolns curricular technology use. Abraham Lincoln onlyhas 3 computer labs of 25-28 computers for nearly 500 students. One of these labs isstationary and is used as a classroom for the media specialist for half the school day. Studentsare not dependent on electronic information sources for projects though they have access. Thisability to access the electronic information has a direct impact on student reliance. The lack ofaccessibility also inhibits student ability to assess work and the teachers ability to assign self or

group assessment, as well as curriculum integration. Technology integration tends to be limitedto enrichment and remediation.

Teachers are having success integrating mass use items such as projectors, elmos, andsmart boards with most rooms having singular access to those items. The student use of thoseitems is also very limited.

Students have consistent and regular access to technology through the class the mediaspecialist teaches. All students have a Library and Media Systems course twice a six day cyclefor 35 minutes. During this time the media specialist teaches basic computer skills such askeyboarding and microsoft office products as well as library skills and etiquette.

Support


3/5

Despite having some signs of integrated and intelligent staging, Abraham LincolnElementary would also be ranked in the Islands stage of Support for technology use.Stakeholder groups are aware of committee implementation plans but few are engaged in theprocess and some reject and abhor the plans. The administration is mostly hands off, and thepurchases, implementation and training tends to be left to the three technology professionals inthe district with little input or training of other administrators within the district. Training activitiesare sparse and often spur of the moment with sporadic and confusing information. This is likely

due to the high volume of technical issues the three receive calls for, such as fixing laptops,printers, and network access in addition to other duties.

Technical and infrastructure support ranks higher in the staging. There are 3 technologyprofessionals in the district dedicated to providing training, upgrades, malfunction trouble-shooting, and other supports. They are in addition to the media specialists in each building.Every building has a full time person to address technical needs, however, that person is notalways readily available due to providing student instruction. Staff use the formal supports, butare often confused on who to ask and when to ask them. A recent fix to the district has beenthe implementation of a chain of command for technical problems as well as software to submitthose problems in a timely and prioritized fashion.

Connectivity

Abraham Lincoln Elementary and its district straddle the integrated and intelligent stagesof connectivity in technology use and planning. Staff have both LAN and WAN networkingavailable and most understand both purpose and use. We do have yearly reminders for theexistence of storage within the network for those who choose not to use the networks back-upstorage space and become upset because their computer has crashed and previous work isunrecoverable.


4/5

The use of internet resources, especially video, is well integrated into the staff teachingof the curriculum, however, the use might not always be considered sophisticated. Teachersfrequent sites like YouTube which often contain copyrighted and inappropriate information.

Internet Access is available to all areas of the school and in the fall of 2013 wireless

access will become the norm. Email is available, required, and used by all staff for

communication. The technology committee is looking into providing email and cloud storage to

high schoolers in 2013 in hopes that it too will become an important part of learning and

curriculum.

Innovation

The innovation stage is another stage in Abraham Lincolns technology developmentwhich falls under the Islands stage. In most buildings staff have access to projectors,computers, and elmos, and students have computer access as described above.

New technology experimentation is very limited despite new technology being acceptedby staff. Implementation is sporadic and formal systems for purchase within individual buildingsdo not exist. Staff pick and choose which technologies to purchase with the limited roombudgets and hope that it will suit their classroom needs. For example, one building in the districtagreed to buy an Ipad lab. What they didnt understand was the requirement for wireless or thenecessity to lock the Ipad app store. Due to lack of wireless, the Ipads at the school havebecome an expensive paper weight. Thankfully, district wireless network completion will befinished before next school year. Staff are interested in using new technologies, but are often

uneducated in extra necessities and/or uses.

Summary

In summary, Abraham Lincoln Elementary and the district it falls under are certainly in theIslands stage for developing and planning technology. Much of what was seen lacked formalsystems for implementation, analyzation, and evaluation. Additionally the focus for technologyimplementation is swayed towards secondary education instead of starting at the root level.The staff is interested in implementing technologies into the curriculum but is limited byaccessibility and education in technology use.

Sources

Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2010). Kids Count Data Center. Profile for Iowa. Retrieved fromhttp://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/bystate/

U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts. Data derived from Population Estimates,American Community Survey, Census of Population and Housing, County Business Patterns,Economic Census, Survey of Business Owners, Building Permits, Consolidated Federal Funds


5/5

Report, Census of Governments. (2012). State and County Quick Facts. Retrieved from:http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/

evaluation harrisj

Documents