School Technology Needs Assessment Final Report
Champaign Community Unit School District 4
March 25, 2015 Educational Collaborators Janet Herdman, Lead Collaborator Jim Gerry, Senior Collaborator Technology Needs Assessment Report – Champaign Community School
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Table of Contents Purpose of the Engagement ……………………………………………………………. 3 Goals of the Engagement ……………………………………………………………….. 3 Description and Approach ……………………………………………………………….. 3 Executive Summary ……………………………………………………………………… 4 District Description……………………………………………………………….. 4 General Recommendations………………………………………………………4 I mplementation Assistance Recommendation ………………………………… 8 General Report …………………………………………………………………………….9 Vision ………………………………………………………………………………. 9 Policies …………………………………………………………………………….12 Equitable Use of Technology ……………………………………………………14 Infrastructure Development ……………………………………………………..16 Capacity/Support …………………………………………………………………19 Professional Development ………………………………………………………23 Curriculum Integratio n…………………………………………………………...26 Administrator Use of Technology ……………………………………………….29 Budget ……………………………………………………………………………..30
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School Technology Needs Assessment
Purpose of the Engagement
This engagement was designed to assist Champaign Community Schools with a balanced analysis of their technology capacity to get a comprehensive picture of where their district currently stands in relationship to its plans and vision for digital learning. By participating in a district technology needs assessment, districts will have an accurate measure of where they fall on the continuum to transition from a primarily printfocused delivery system to digital and online learning environments.
Goals of the Engagement ● ● ● ● ●
Review the district’s plans to accomplish its current goals; Establish the district’s baseline of technology readiness; Create a nonbinding outside report regarding the district’s technology profile; Assess the district’s capacity to shift from a print to digital environment; Uncover bottlenecks to current and continued success.
Description and Approach
Senior Collaborator, Janet Herdman , served as Project Lead based on Champaign’s unique characteristics, culture, and preliminary needs. Information was gathered from both the building and district level looking for the gap between “what is” and "what should be.” The assessing process includes data gathered from nine categories while keeping the focus on teaching and learning and not just on hardware and connectivity. The nine categories include: Vision, Policies, Equitable Use of Technology, Infrastructure and Telecommunications, Capacity/Support, Professional Development, Curriculum Integration, Administrator Use of Technology, and Budget. Champaign staff submitted a prescribed selfstudy describing many facets of their current technology implementation. Ms Herdman spent one day onsite interviewing Champaign district leadership and IT staff. In addition there were two 90 minute calls conducted with both EC collaborators and various district staff. These interviews coupled with the selfstudy, and follow up phone interviews serve as the basis of information gathering for the findings. After the visit, the Collaborator team discussed findings and produced a working document.
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Executive Summary District Description Champaign Community Unit School District #4 is a large unit school district serving more than 9,600 students in grades preK through 12 in Champaign, Savoy, and Bondville, Illinois. The 20 campuses employ more than 1,400 teachers, administrators, and support personnel. With proximity to the University of Illinois and Parkland College, Champaign Schools work to build strong community partnerships which provide unique, worldclass educational opportunities to students. Their focus is to foster positive learning environments and prepare all students for college and career readiness after graduation. Student demographics include over 55% of the students participating in the national Free and Reduced Lunch assistance program. The district is led by Superintendent Dr. Judy Wiegand. The board has tasked her with six goals. The sixth of which addresses technology equity and use. The goal reads: The Superintendent will revitalize, build, and maintain facilities that are safe, sustainable and allow equitable access to programming services across the District. ● Establish energy efficiency as a priority in all renovation and new construction projects ● Commit to ensuring all facilities have equitable access to and incorporation of technology as appropriate to support student achievement ● Develop partnerships with community stakeholders to secure land for future school location based on projected community growth ● Continue review and revision of the District Capital Improvement Plan with a yearly report to the Board of Education
General Recommendations Details of all recommendations, along with the evidence from the selfstudy and focus group interviews to support them, can be found in the general report in the following section. The entire body of recommendations is numerous and may seem at first overwhelming to the district. EC recommends that as a part of the work in the development of technology planning that district stakeholders use this report as the foundation to begin prioritizing and outlining by timetable how to approach the work. Priorities will need to be established in what the district IT staff and users can realistically accomplish in any given school year. A summary of the recommendations are listed below.
Vision District staff are in the initial stages of developing a digital learning plan for the future. Initial conversations include recommendations for the creation of a 1:1 learning environment beginning in grades 1 or 2. Even though there is preliminary conversation regarding digital learning, there are no formalized vision, goals, or evaluation plan for implementation. It is strongly recommended the district: ● Create a district technology leadership team comprised of learning community members; ● Collaboratively create a vision with defined goals and objectives; ● Create benchmarks with timelines and accountability for monitoring progress; ● Create an evaluation plan; ● Develop an ongoing technology plan that includes ongoing budget requirements.
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Policies It is recommended that Champaign: ● Revise or replace the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). The AUP should have a Social Media portion specifying what is acceptable and what is not. An equity statement may be included in the policy as it relates to what access all students should have to required learning technologies; ● Create an email archiving policy for faculty and staff. A policy on email and procedures to be followed will aide the district in the event of legal discovery; ● Create a mobile equipment policy to support future 1:1 and BYOD. The new policy may have an impact on or replace the cell phone use policy. This policy should be accompanied by procedures, forms and signatures required at specific stages of taking ownership, particularly when equipment is taken off campus; ● An archiving policy reflecting the laws specifying record retention requirements for schools should be developed. With many records in digital form, policy should specify requirements for this storage and retention. These should be accompanied by procedures for how often, how long, and where archives are kept; ● Policies are living documents that need to reflect changing conditions over time. It is recommended that regular periodic policy review and updates be strongly considered.
Equitable Use of Technology Building technology access varies and is widely disparate across the district. The district needs to: ● Set and support minimum standards to meet district goals and curriculum; ● Provide mobile technology for all adult and student learners.
Infrastructure Development Champaign has many opportunities to improve user experience in this area. eSchool Student Information. ● Provide user training. ● The current goal of moving away from as many software customizations as possible is essential and completely on target. ● Develop plans to stay as current with software versions as possible. ● Create easily accessible and easily understood system documentation for district users on regularly used key software features. ● Develop and require training for new users at multiple levels. ● Develop a plan for the implementation of Decision Ed for data warehousing and reporting that includes timelines and milestones along with training for technical and nontechnical staff. ● Engage an eSchool (Cognos) report writer to add system functionality meeting user needs. Networks (WAN and Building). ● Hire or contract people with certified network engineering and security expertise to advise the district moving forward. ● Define a minimum standard for network equipment (capability and age) and develop a plan to immediately upgrade existing equipment to meet or exceed this standard. ● Develop a multiyear plan for keeping network equipment up to standards. This plan directly informs the budget plan. ● Incorporate new and upgraded network management and monitoring tools to increase network reliability while reducing staff maintenance load. ● Establish a routine for periodic checks of Internet use to proactively keep bandwidth at optimum levels for users. To accommodate utilization spikes, normal utilization should not exceed 70% of capacity. ● Be aware that bandwidth requirements for both the WAN and Internet access will increase at a rate of approximately 50% per year according to Nielsen's law of internet bandwidth. Technology Needs Assessment Report – Champaign Community School
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Establish redundant Internet services as dependency in cloud based resources increases in the district. ● Include in the technology planning the requirements these recommendations will have on training and budget. Servers. ● Continue to move in the direction of cloud based services for students and staff. Design an implementation plan that takes into account training and user readiness for this transition. ● Consider student email using Google cloud services.
Capacity/Support The district support structure is unique and is not meeting the district’s current needs. ● The structure needs to be redesigned so that employee’s salaries reflect their actual duties and each of the categories are staffed by demand. ● The technology team needs to take advantage of area training from support groups and vendors with new installations. ● The team needs to fully implement tools which have been purchased and ensure a timeline for implementation for new purchases.
Professional Development Champaign has started planning and conducting Professional Development opportunities to support digital learning. Most of the training is voluntary and provided by the district ETC. Recommendations for Professional Development to support the digital learning implementation include: ● Conduct a baseline survey and subsequently annual assessment of staff skills. Surveys should be designed to gather data on prerequisite attitudes and skills required to achieve goals. ● Instructional strategies and technology use be embedded in all Professional Development. ○ Strengthen the collaboration between the instructional department and the ETC ○ Approach training for staff as multifaceted, so as to include technology skills, pedagogy changes, and classroom management with technology. Curriculum, instructional strategies, and technology skill training should be integrated wherever possible. ○ Build a professional development program that allows staff to construct lessons and use products. Allow time to model, try, and apply technologies in lessons for the classroom. ○ Consider requiring new teacher training programs that integrate technology components. Schools like any organization should anticipate growth as well as turnover. st ○ Implement individualized professional growth plans for teachers and include 21 Century teaching skills as related to the initiative’s goals, as well as needed technology literacy skills. Identify, set, implement, and measure accountability standards for technology literacy skills for all staff. ○ Establish effective leadership and internal capacity at the building level by involving district and site leaders in setting goals, expectations, modeling, and establishing accountability for staff and student use of technology. ○ Define minimum technology infused instruction training along with resulting classroom implementation expectations and set this as a requirement for all teachers. ● There is a need for an organized and systemic training for all staff.
Curriculum Integration Recommendations for curriculum integration include: District Email. A district review and possible conversion plan to cloud based services with stakeholder input should be developed for file storage and email for staff and students. Technology Needs Assessment Report – Champaign Community School
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Collaboration. The district has some formalized collaboration structures to ensure that technology is meeting instructional needs. There are a few areas in which the structure could be enhanced: ● Development of broad based stakeholder group to assist with technology planning and recommendations. Ongoing technology planning will benefit from stakeholder input and stakeholder buyin results from this approach. ● The district ETC and instructional leaders in curriculum and instruction are not routinely meeting. The district will benefit from ongoing collaboration between these groups. Review digital literacy standards for staff and students. It is critical for the digital learning implementation that staff and students have a strong background in information and digital literacy. EC recommends that Champaign review the International Society for Technology Education’s (ISTE) National Education Technology Standards (NETS) for Students, Teachers, Administrators, and Technology Coaches and develop a plan to include the standards throughout the curriculum integration process. The plan should include information literacy and digital citizenship.
Learning Management Systems. Champaign staff are making some use of Schoology and Edmodo. However, the district needs to standardize a Learning Management System (LMS) to support student and staff learning as well as serve as a district curriculum collaboration site for teachers and curriculum team members supporting teachers.
Administrator Use of Technology Building and district leaders need to have access and be provided training opportunities for staff modeling and support. ● Building and district leaders desktops should be replaced with laptop technology. ● Establish effective leadership and internal capacity at the building level by ○ Involving district and site leaders in setting goals, expectations, modeling, and establishing accountability for staff and student use of technology; ○ Modeling technology usage within staff development and inservice opportunities and establishing accountability for staff use throughout the instructional day by district leaders and coaches, as well as building principals; ○ Discuss staff training and what principals should look for in the classroom during the next year. Many districts find follow up “Reader’s Digest” training helpful for principals. Possibly use online videos and offer optional follow up training; ○ Principals and administrative assistants should be provided training in the technology tools which support their work. The training should be a part of the new employee orientation and ongoing as tools are acquired and developed.
Budget ● ● ● ● ●
Budgeting cannot take place without development of a clear, itemized, multiyear technology plan. Develop a three to four year technology plan along with its cost components and timelines. It is anticipated that outside support is needed to move the district over some of the existing technology hurdles pointed out in this document. Data needs to be collected to help make a lease versus buy decision. Training alongside implementation efforts as recommended in this document has a cost component and should be itemized into all implementation plans. Consider financial savings across the district to offset an increased budget for digital readiness.
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Implementation Assistance Recommendation Educational Collaborators is experienced with digital readiness implementations. Champaign’s highest needs for external assistance with the digital learning plan, vital for stakeholder communication and to change student outcomes in the district are: ● Collective vision and goal formation and evaluation and technology planning ● Project planning assistance ● Integrated, transformative, and sustained staff development
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General Report Vision st Successful 21 Century learning initiatives begin with a clear understanding of the institution’s vision and goals. The vision sets out the District’s longterms goals and aspirations and is intended to inspire and motivate stakeholders by providing a picture of where the district is heading. Once the vision is established everyone will know when they are on the path to success. To ensure success, all program objectives for digital learning must align with Champaign’s vision, mission and goals. Additionally, the district must define, up front, what success means, establish baselines for comparison and determine how success will be measured going forward.
District Summary and Planning for Initiative
Champaign’s district mission reads: The mission of the Champaign Unit #4 School District, in partnership with the community, is to guide all students in gaining knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to direct their lives, improve a diverse society, and excel in a changing world by providing dynamic, resourcerich learning environments and experiences in which people and lifelong learning are valued. GOAL #6: The Superintendent will revitalize, build, and maintain facilities that are safe, sustainable and allow equitable access to programming services across the District. ● Establish energy efficiency as a priority in all renovation and new construction projects ● Commit to ensuring all facilities have equitable access to and incorporation of technology as appropriate to support student achievement ● Develop partnerships with community stakeholders to secure land for future school location based on projected community growth ● Continue review and revision of the District Capital Improvement Plan with a yearly report to the Board of Education Noteworthy in the goals is the need to have equitable access to technology across the district. This point is discussed later in the equitable access section of the report. District technology staff are in the initial stages of developing a digital learning plan for the future. Initial conversations include recommendations for the creation of a 1:1 learning environment beginning in grades 1 or 2. However, the district has not yet formed a clear collective vision, goals, or measures of success for the digital learning environment. The lack of a clear vision and plan was identified as a barrier for implementation during the focus group interviews. One of the challenges for any digital readiness implementation is the involvement of stakeholders in careful planning to incorporate the planned changes. Technology leaders have informally met with various stakeholders but there is not yet a formalized digital learning Leadership Committee with broad based membership. The district has involved leaders and staff in the collaborative efforts in other instructional areas of growth and change. The collaborative model that has been created should be replicated for the digital initiative. The district leadership has been collecting some baseline data through informal surveying of staff. They also have gathered considerable information regarding instructional practices through building walkthroughs.
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Vision Risks Champaign has yet to outline in declarative terms the vision, goals and specifics: ● There is not a named district technology committee. ● There are not defined vision, goals and measurable objectives for the digital learning initiative for the shortterm and longterm, ● There are not defined benchmarks for monitoring progress for digital learning. ● There is not a defined evaluation plan for digital learning. ● There are no measurements of staff technology skills
During focus group interviews the following were listed as challenges/barriers for technology implementations. Many addressed vision, communication, and collaboration. ● Well structured plan for implementation ● Not a belief that teachers have control on what is happening ● Administrators need a vision of what this could look like
Vision Recommendations Create a district technology leadership team. Form a broad based committee of district stakeholders. The committee should be ongoing and meet regularly. The committee should be tasked with setting a vision, goals for implementation, make recommendations for implementation, and communicate updates to constituents. The upfront involvement of this large base of stakeholders will serve the district well throughout the change process. Purposes of a stakeholder group include: ● Communicating decisions as they are made; ● Assist with stakeholder buyin; ● Identify areas for potentially unknown barriers in which to focus to eliminate problems during implementation; ● Create district diversity on the planning team. Defined Goals and Objectives. Goals and objectives with measurements need to be articulated and communicated. Plans are being identified for 1:1 beginning as early as grade 1. Yet the district has not stated the specific goals in terms of student outcomes and other returnoninvestments to clarify the purposes or priorities of goals for this initiative. As the district proceeds with everything from infrastructure development, communication plans, curricular adoptions and Professional Development, it will be imperative for the common themes identified by the focus groups to be formulated into measurable goals. Once developed, the measurable objectives of the initiative should be published and shared as much as possible with all constituencies. Set realistic expectations and timelines for implementation to be shared with all stakeholders. The district technology plan should be updated to include onetoone plans and used as a living document within the district to guide implementation and support of the program. Benchmarks for monitoring progress. Champaign has been collecting teacher data through building walkthroughs. However, they need to gather additional data around staff readiness and determine measures of program success to benchmark progress periodically. Suggestions include free surveys for staff and students from Speak Up Tomorrow and internally lead focus groups. The most comprehensive method of doing this is via a technology plan engagement. Tech planning will address the data collection and data evaluation in the short and long term as well as assist Champaign with providing comprehensive assistance in identifying operational efficiencies to support the vision. Data collection sources would include data from teacher, student, and parent surveys; learning walks through classrooms; and teacher and student portfolio evaluation as well as additional indepth studies of IT operations. ● In addition to teacher surveys, focus groups and classroom walkthroughs, consider other baseline data for measuring the success of the program such as student attendance, engagement, and postsecondary preparation. ● Further enhance this report to develop a more detailed strategic plan that includes evaluation measures and benchmarks for the action plans, timelines, data collection, resources needed,
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policies and procedures, training, etc. EC can aide in the full development of measurable strategies to benchmark progress in each identified area of work. In addition to the teacher surveys, student and parent surveys and/or focus groups are also recommended to collect data around current teaching and learning practices. The district has not historically assessed staff technology literacy skills, and has had minimal measurement of student technology literacy skills. The ISTE NETS will be referenced in later sections and can be the foundation for the technology literacy skill development and assessment of teachers, students and technology coaches.
Evaluation Plan. Champaign has not yet identified measures of success for digital learning. Champaign can begin conversation about what will be important to measure, especially once the goal themes suggested above are refined and officially adopted. The district can then consider data currently available such as standardized tests scores and technology assessment tests that can be used to inform each goal and identify additional instruments that may need to be developed. Data should be collected and analyzed annually as part of the program evaluation. ● It is imperative that digital learning Leadership Committee formalize the goals and objectives as suggested above in order to articulate and start thinking about what things the district wants to answer. Once decisions are made and communicated, the evaluation plan, complete with methodology can be developed. ● In order to build a rigorous evaluation, it would be best to engage a prepost design with some type of matched comparison group, if possible. ● Evaluation efforts need to be maintained over a series of years to examine shortterm and longterm effects, as well as to identify fadeout effects or compounding effects. Ongoing Plan. Once developed, the technology goals and objectives should include action plans with timelines, budgets, and responsible individuals. The plan should serve as a living document for the district with which professional goals and actions will be formed on an annual basis. An example of a document is below: Goal : Objective(s) : Benchmark(s) :
Action Steps
Timeline
Responsibility
Estimated Cost
Funding Source
Measurements/Review Dates
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Policies Developing digital media school policies is a balance of two basic principles, protect and provide. Protection is required by federal and state laws but specifics are left up to schools to define. The “provide” side of the equation deals with equitable access in support of engaged learning goals. Policies are guides to shaping decision and actions and generally answer the “What” and “Why” questions. Procedures defining details of policies are written to cover the “How”, “Who”, and “When” questions.
District Summary and Planning for Initiative Champaign school board has an Internet usage policy that covers appropriateness of material as well as student expectations, guidelines for posting student information, appropriate use of email, and guidelines regarding hacking of networks and systems. Student and parent signature confirming policy understanding is required.
Policy Risks
Focus group interviews and phone interviews indicated the following policy needs and barriers: ● Acceptable Use Policy has been created but needs revision ● A email archiving policy for staff does not exist ● Cell phone use policies are building specific ● Mobile equipment policy does not exist for students (including BYOD) or staff ● Policies are in the process of being updated for social media use ● Policies do not include considerations for equitable use as may be required for flipped classroom or required online curricular resources ● Overall written procedures defining how policies are to be carried out are lacking
Policy Recommendations Revise or replace the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). Success of the AUP is critically dependent on students’ sense of ownership, since they are the prime audience. Typically one of two methods is selected to revise the AUP, either by naming a school official to work alone or lead a small team to write and revise the policy or create a committee comprised of the stakeholders to work on the policy. If the committee method is selected, it is highly recommended that students be represented on the committee which will help ensure their ultimate buyin. Policies, although written, must be carried in the mindfulness of those affected for successful implementation. The AUP should have a Social Media portion specifying what is acceptable and what is not. An equity statement may be included in the policy as it relates to what access all students should have to required learning technologies. A bestinpractice approach on policies is to think of them not as separate technology policies, but completely in line with good teaching and learning policies already in place. Create an email archiving policy for faculty and staff. Certain employee email pertaining to employment, parents, and students should be retained by the users for potential legal reasons. Other email can be deleted. A policy on email and procedures to be followed will aid the district in the event of legal discovery. Included in the procedures should be archiving requirements stipulating how long these are kept and what access (onsite and offsite in backups) is required. Mobile Equipment Policy. With a 1:1 implementation anticipated and expectations for staff access to mobile equipment, policy can delineate requirements and liabilities of all parties. With the advent of BYOD, the school’s position in their use should be set at the district level. This may have an impact on cell phone use policy. This policy should be accompanied by procedures, forms and signatures required at specific stages of taking ownership, particularly when equipment is taken off campus (this is recommended). Technology Needs Assessment Report – Champaign Community School
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Archiving Policy. Laws specify record retention requirements for schools. With many records in digital form, policy should specify requirements for this storage and retention. These should be accompanied by procedures for how often, how long, and where archives are kept. This policy may be incorporated in the district’s records retention policy and not written as a separate policy. Policy Updates. Policies are living documents that need to reflect changing conditions over time. It is recommended that regular periodic policy review and updates be strongly considered. COSN Policy resource http://www.cosn.org/sites/default/files/pdf/Revised%20AUP%20March%202013_final.pdf
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Equitable Use of Technology Districts should create digital learning environments to a specified minimum standard to meet curricular and learning goals of the district and individual school where needed. Technology infrastructure, devices, and resources should be adopted that are needed to support the learning goals. After the standards are adopted the digital environment should be consistent and supported systemically and universally across the district. Schools with unique goals may have technology that exceeds the minimum standards but there should not be schools that don’t have the minimum standards.
District Summary and Planning for Initiative Champaign has begun the process of identifying minimum technology standards. In their renovated elementary buildings they are beginning to meet those standards. The district has installed projectors, smartboards, and document cameras in all classrooms across the district. They have a teacher station in all classrooms. However, in the nonrenovated classrooms the teachers use a desktop and in the renovated buildings they have a laptop to use. Another major difference in equipment is the access to student devices. The students have access to an assortment of desktops, laptops, iPads, and chromebooks. The renovated classrooms have a chromebook for every student in grades 35. The nonrenovated buildings have various carts of devices that teachers can wheel in for student use. They also have the largest percentage of desktops still used in the district. The building student to computer access ratio ranges from 52% to 1.27%. The schools with the lowest ratios also have the oldest and nonmobile technology.
Equitable Use of Technology Risks
The following were identified as equitable access to technology risks: ● District wide technology standards matched to district goals and curriculum have not been formally adopted. ● Access to technology for teachers and students is not universal. ● Having the Bandwidth (Internet) mentioned numerous times
Equitable Use of Technology Recommendations Setting standards to meet district goals and curriculum. Recommendations include: ● After the district defines the technology goals for the district, minimum technology standards to support those goals and the curriculum need to be identified. ● Funding and implementation of the technology to meet the standards needs to be installed universally across the district. ● The minimum standards that have been implemented will need to be reevaluated after technology goals have been identified. Provide mobile technology for adult and student learners. Recommendations include: ● Specific recommendations for a district technology implementation cycle are needed that will support and sustain the established standards between grade levels and curriculum areas. ● It is important for future staff development and instructional direction for the district to provide mobile technology access for all teaching staff and administrators. Mobile technology will provide new opportunities for staff collaboration and inservice. ● When establishing districtwide standards for technology include multiple levels: ○ Instructional technology standards by grade level and throughout all buildings should be established, communicated, and implemented based on the curriculum standards. Currently, some schools have better technology access through building renovation funds, funding of grants or PTAs. Staff and students should have an understanding of the minimum level of technology that is to be expected to be supported by the district. Technology Needs Assessment Report – Champaign Community School
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This will assist district leaders in planning for new initiatives and provide continuity across the district. New equipment or software purchases, donations, and acquisitions need to go through and be authorized by a joint IT and instructional clearing committee to ensure capability and that support can be maintained. Future technology refresh cycles should be guided by district programming and instructional decisions rather than being rolled out on an individual building basis. The district’s technology implementation must maintain the established standards between grade levels and curriculum areas. Flexibility in choosing the level of technology should be considered. Individual buildings which support unique goals or curriculum may have technology which exceeds the district minimum standards but that technology should be compatible and supported by the district vision. Develop a longterm vision and plan that articulates how students should be using technology in the classroom. The plan should set minimum standards of availability and the resources the devices should support, as well as how teachers will be accountable for implementing additional technology resources in course content and instruction. Establish an ongoing equipment refresh budget. The budget should be sufficient to replace or lease 25% of the devices per year.
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Infrastructure Development Technology infrastructure is the backbone that is often unseen but nevertheless critical component of any technology program and is a baseline for equity in access to digital resources. As envisioned by the technology team, a networked mobile computing device in the hands of every student will undoubtedly require an institution to reevaluate its current IT Infrastructure to be sure it can handle the incremental load that will be placed on it. Teachers will quickly become disenchanted with the program if the network is not reliable. A digital readiness or BYOD program presents unique challenges to school network administrators, such as new demands on login servers, wireless routers, data security and storage capacity.
District Summary and Planning for Initiative Champaign encompasses over 20 buildings of varying sizes and ages. eSchool is the Student Information System and is used as the primary system for student data collection, grading, and reporting. This system is integrated with other systems in the district and is the primary tool for student related data reports. There is a large amount of user frustration with the system at multiple levels. There is no Learning Management System (LMS) in place at a district level. Champaign has a mixture of new and old equipment that provides networking to all locations. Much of the network equipment is documented in the selfstudy submitted as part of the report discovery. The building inequality found in devices is also apparent in the network infrastructure. New or renovated buildings have had network infrastructure upgraded. With the PARCC testing this spring, the infrastructure was put under load where access demands were critical. Getting ready for this testing has expectedly taken much of the technical team’s time and effort, but to good result. Testing results have demonstrated that the infrastructure is in place to support this type of demand load.
Infrastructure Risks Focus group interviews indicated the following infrastructure needs and barriers for Champaign: ● Lack of a certified Network Engineer and Network Security Officer ● Need for a multiyear technology plan detailing equipment, training, and software along with cost estimates ● Technology standards need to be defined for switches, implementation procedures, and training levels for new installations ● Old network equipment located in nonrenovated buildings ● One internet connection is a single point of failure and bandwidth will become an issue as more devices are simultaneously connected ● eSchool frustrations exist with getting the system to do what is needed, ease of data retrieval and reporting, and quality of stored data. In addition, support of teaching and learning methodologies seems to be a common source of concern ● There are a multitude of custom reports for eSchool that are not well cataloged and understood by end users ● eSchool is currently two release versions behind ● Software systems have been purchased but not fully implemented ● Lack of training on technology and systems ● A help desk ticketing system should be in use that is beyond work orders. The right system will track inventory, log user requests, track the time it takes to address these requests, support an escalation procedure, and management reporting of key metrics
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Infrastructure Recommendations As the 1:1 implementation progresses over the next several years, particular attention should be paid to the user experience as the program grows and increases demands on the network. As with any new initiative, extraordinary effort should be made to ensure that unforeseen problems are caught and rectified as soon as possible, moving from a reactive to a proactive approach. This ranges from front line (in the classroom) user support to analyzing backend network logs. To do this, the district should closely monitor all systems for unintended consequences. The effect of the large increases of student devices on the new infrastructure can be difficult to predict and the district should be prepared to address problems before they become apparent to end users. eSchool Student Information. Recommendations include: ● Provide user training to accomplish several goals: ○ Provide technical and support staff with the latest and most advanced knowledge to maintain and manage the system for maximum effectiveness. ○ Provide user staff with knowledge that permits them to not only input data accurately but to understand why this is such an important step in the process. ○ Provide users who need to retrieve information from the system with documented methods and processes to regularly and successfully accomplish this. These users include teaching and administrative staff who access information at different levels. ● The current goal of moving away from as many software customizations as possible is essential and completely on target. ○ While some customizations are required, keeping these to a minimum provides a much smoother and faster upgrade path while also reducing maintenance costs and ongoing budget needs. ○ Work should focus on customization for district needs incorporated into system settings and system option selection in place of customized software wherever possible. Changing procedures to better fit the software is in the current plan which is also recommended. ○ Customizations, when needed, should be well cataloged, documented, and part of the end user training. Creating customized reports is of little use if end users aren’t aware of the availability and functionality. ● Develop plans to stay as current with software versions as possible. ○ This will make potentially useful upgrades available to users. ○ The district is currently two versions behind in software releases. One striking problem with this is the current systems dependency on Internet Explorer which is relieved by the new version. This single dependency has a big effect on the district with its implications on hardware requirements and security concerns. A planning approach should be incorporated with this type of change. New versions of the software need to be beta tested by the district before fully implemented. ○ Develop a plan for indistrict new version implementations, which includes: ■ System testing as new releases are announced and anticipated ■ User training on the changes that will provide for a successful transition. These testing users may be used to train others ■ Upgrade district user documentation to include new and changed features. ● Create easily accessible and easily understood system documentation for district users on regularly used key software features. This can provide data input guidelines for all users that will, if followed, reduce data input errors. Reports that are regularly used should also be included in the documentation pointing a path to data retrieval at all levels. ● Develop and require training for new users at multiple levels including (see the professional development and administrative use sections): ○ building staff that are responsible for data entry ○ teachers who use the system for attendance, grading, assessment, and reporting ○ administrative users using the system largely for data reporting and analysis ● Develop a plan for the implementation of Decision Ed for data warehousing and reporting ○ Include a progress timeline with benchmarks within the implementation plan Technology Needs Assessment Report – Champaign Community School
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Include training for all users with extensive training for technology staff Consider contracting implementation help to bring experts in that can provide additional temporary resources to help get it done. Use these contractors to train technology and other staff. ○ Ensure that the program is well integrated with existing software systems to reduce manual transfer of data where possible ○ Plan the rollout for a time where it fits with existing workload so as not to overwhelm the current staff ○ Take advantage of what the system has to offer while minimizing customizations ○ Create a communication plan to keep stakeholders abreast of developments and trainings Engage an eSchool (Cognos) report writer to: ○ Meet with users and identify their needs for regular reporting ○ Identify existing system reports that meet specified needs and create new reports as required ○ Create documentation for new reports ○ Train technical staff on nuances of report creation
Networks (WAN and Building). Recommendations include: ● Hire or contract people with certified network engineering and security expertise to advise the district moving forward. (See the Capacity/Support section for more information.) Significant expertise is needed to anticipate problems and maintain a robust network infrastructure as more and diverse types of equipment get added to the network since this becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. ● Define a minimum standard for network equipment (capability and age) and develop a plan to immediately upgrade existing equipment to meet or exceed this standard. The emphasis again is in equity and parity throughout the district. ● Develop a multiyear plan for keeping network equipment up to standards. This plan directly informs the budget plan. ● Incorporate new and upgraded network management and monitoring tools to increase network reliability while reducing staff maintenance load. ● Establish a routine for periodic checks of Internet use to proactively keep bandwidth at optimum levels for users. To accommodate utilization spikes, normal utilization should not exceed 70% of capacity. Annual planning for bandwidth should also take into consideration anticipated new Internet programming and resources. ● Be aware that bandwidth requirements for both the WAN and Internet access will increase at a rate 1 of approximately 50% per year according to Nielsen's law of internet bandwidth. Keeping ahead of this demand will provide excellent experiences for all district users and build confidence in the increasing dependencies on cloud based resources. As a guideline, SETDA recommends 100 2 Mbps for 201415 and 1 Gbps for 201718 for each 1000 students . ● Establish redundant Internet services as dependency in cloud based resources increases in the district. ● Include in the technology planning the requirements these recommendations will have on training and budget (see the professional development and budget sections for more information.) Servers. Recommendations include: ● Continue to move in the direction of cloud based services for students and staff. Design an implementation plan that takes into account training and user readiness for this transition. ● Consider student email using Google cloud services.
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http://www.nngroup.com/articles/lawofbandwidth/ http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2012/10/17/01bandwidth.h06.html?override=web
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Capacity/Support The shift to a digital readiness project drastically changes the level of support required of a technology department. A ubiquitous computing program requires that all students have working computers all the time. Teachers will depend on the technology for delivering content and find confidence in knowing the material will be accessible to students when and where they need it. For support to meet expectations, it is important that Champaign set the standards for support and publicize them to teachers, students, and parents. Good operations can save the district significant money in reducing spares, increasing uptime, and thus increasing the opportunity for quality integration into the curriculum. There are added challenges of planning and maintaining a digital readiness program. The first year of a rollout is the most difficult and will require additional support.
District Summary and Planning for Initiative The district employees a Director of Technology. The director reports to the Assistant Superintendent for high school programming. His staff are organized as follows: ● Help Desk Specialists (2). The help desk employees are the first line of defense. They also perform account and email management and user instruction on email management and SIS. They do have the ability to remotely manage computers across the district which reduces support time. ● Data analysts and support (2). They are divided into: ○ data systems manager ○ data analyst and webmaster ● Level 2 technicians (4) – The team is in charge of all major systems including servers, switches, wireless, controllers, virus protection, firewalls, emails, chrome and iPad management, and imaging. There is not a titled lead to the team but one individual serves as the lead. The lead is very dedicated and knowledgeable regarding the district systems. Because of minimally installed monitoring systems the lead starts the work day early to check on systems. In addition to network management and support, 3 of the 4 team members have buildings to support for level 1 responsibilities. ● Level 1 technicians (3) – Support building technical issues by fixing computer and assorted work orders that cannot be resolved by the help desk. these individuals are housed in a separate building from the rest of the IT staff. ● Educational Technology Coaches (5) – The ETC are assigned by school and divided among the 19 campuses. Each is assigned to 1 secondary school and then a few elementary schools. There are conversions regarding reassigning them to a particular initiative or focus area such as Google Docs. ● Assessment secretary (1) – Assists with program setup getting students enrolled, assigning students to classes, and also organizes chromebook and asset management. The IT department makes minimal use of outsourcing. They are in the planning stages of a student computer club to add support. The director meets regularly with the district leadership meeting. He also meets regularly with building principals and sends out a communication to the leaders. The director meets regularly with the data team, technicians, and the ETC. There is not an organized structure for the ETC to meet with the district curriculum and professional development staff. District work orders are generated by teachers or end users. All level 1 and level 2 technicians see the work orders. The district current work order system is homemade and doesn’t have monitoring capabilities. To monitor or review work that is getting done individuals have to dump all the data and run a pivot table. The district has purchased Web Help Desk for work orders and asset management. They have implemented the asset management module with plans to convert to the new work order system next school year. Technology Needs Assessment Report – Champaign Community School
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District staff report that the technology staff have been in a reactionary versus proactive mode especially during the past year. The focus this year has been on supporting the new electronic curriculum and online tests. During focus group interviews, technicians were asked what challenges they have in getting their work done . Responses include: ● Asked to help with end user help desk calls – interruptions – walk ins ● Spending a lot of time in research and development so that you don’t impact the end users and need to go somewhere else sometimes to do this – quiet time ● Lack of money to refresh infrastructure ● Level 2 should be proactive but can’t plan and design when focused on Level 1 ● Don’t have a loaner pool for new hires or down equipment During focus group interviews, technicians were asked what would make their job easier. Responses include: ● Additional support for assessment ● Implementation of a digital dashboard because of the data team is feeling overwhelmed ● Freeing up time from work orders for the Level 2 technicians ● Using the new Web Help Desk software so they can better manage and monitor work orders ● Level 1 doing level 1 and Level 2 likewise ● Budget for tools to do the job – laptop to connect to serial port – crimpers, tracer, toner ● Documentation for the network – available in the renovated buildings only ● Clear technology plan that we can support with steps ● Time to develop and learn tools like Solar Winds, SCCM, MDM, and Google Apps ● MDM and google apps for education time to develop ● More automation ● Users knowing where to look for data During focus group interviews, technicians were asked what training opportunities are provided/what certifications are expected . Responses include: ● Level 2 are required to have an associate’s degree ● Just installed Solar Winds and are working their way through the manual ● Illinois eSchool user group meets once a year (Illinois and regionally in St. Louis) but staff are not attending regularly ● Occasionally have a webinar from the vendor – participant ● ITC is an annual conference but they don’t always go to this ● Would like to have certifications but don’t require it
Support Risks Structure The district support structure is a reverse pyramid of what is typically setup. There are more individuals in the higher paid jobs than in the lowest paid jobs. Because there not enough level I technicians level 2 technicians are forced to perform level I tasks. This means the district is paying more for these tasks than they should and it also diverts valuable network development and planning time from their daytoday duties. Training The team in general does not hold technology certifications and are not taking advantage of area training from support groups and vendors with new installations.
Support tool implementation The team has purchased many support tools which are valuable and will support them in the jobs but are only partially implemented and staff training was not purchased with the tool. Therefore tools such as Solar Winds, SCCM, Web Help Desk are partially implemented. Technology Needs Assessment Report – Champaign Community School
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Support Recommendations District Support structure redesign. The additional load of the devices will place extra demand on the regional and support staff. The district will need to invest and implement tools that will assist them in working efficiently. Recommendations include: ● Level 2 staffing (2 employees) ○ A district this size with the number of devices should have a network and security manager on staff. The individual should have responsibility for overseeing all network installations, functions, and ongoing support. Traditionally this individual holds network certifications. ○ This size of district will typically have one person assisting and backing up the network manager. Neither the network manager or assistant should have Level I technician duties. In addition, the assistant should have all the network passwords, documentation, and access of the network manager. This reduces the likeliness of a single point of failure. ● Level 1 ○ Based on best practices, there should be at minimum 1 level 1 technician for every 1,000 devices. ○ Level I technicians should be housed in the same building as the rest of the staff for better communication and supervision. Because the staff spend so much of their day in school buildings it is possible to consolidate their work area in “hoteling” environments. ● As the district goals and long range timelines for implementation are developed, support staff should have their tasks operationalized and individualized for their job goals. ● During the monthly meetings updates should be provided on where individuals are progressing toward goals. Threats to implementation should be identified and strategies for completion should be explored. Additional One to One staffing recommendation. Additional site support is recommended. Options for service include: ● Where possible, provide one building support technician when there are more than 1,000 devices. ● Continue the development of student “geek squad” support for the middle and high schools. This is a wonderful model that improves service levels and provides students with valuable experience (also described in the Budget section). ● Routinely review the work orders by help desk and the district technology director. This will be especially important during the first months of the deployment to determine that the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are being met. ● Promote models like “Ask three before me” to reduce support requests. Additional out of district support. Network and implementation contractors can be used in peak or installation times to reduce the need for additional inhouse staff support. ● Outsourcing should be used with trusted vendor support during peak times or with major installations. ● Staffing for August and peak times is always difficult. Reach out to students, retired staff, or outside vendors for part time support. There may also be an opportunity to partner with local university or trade schools. Training. Recommendations include: ● As the district reviews and revises job descriptions, match certifications with requirements for the position. ● Provide staff with training opportunities and set expectations for continued learning. Examples include: ○ Area user group for all major supported systems; ○ Vendor sponsored webinars and onsite training; ○ State or regional technical training; ○ Training for new technology purchases; ○ Documentation of all systems and in house written scripts. Technology Needs Assessment Report – Champaign Community School
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Support tool implementation. Recommendations include: ● Complete the installation tools such as Solar Winds, SCCM, and Web Help Desk. ● Research and implement where feasible new network management tools that allow staff to work “smarter” allowing staff to better support the network (as mentioned in the infrastructure section.) ● Ensure that all new purchases are accompanied by a complete implementation plan with a timeline for installation, training, additional support necessary, and implementation benchmarks (as mentioned in the infrastructure section.) ● Continue moving to cloud based technologies in the future to reduce support and infrastructure demands (as mentioned in the infrastructure section.)
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Professional Development A digital readiness learning environment should have a transformative impact on your classrooms. Champaign teachers are the “front line” and ultimately will determine the success of the digital readiness program and the other elements of digital learning. A multiyear professional development plan for teachers is recommended. Digital readiness programs that have had the most success have had strong professional development programs. Recognize that the impact to changing pedagogy will take three to five years.
District Summary and Planning for Initiative Champaign has started planning and conducting professional development opportunities to support the digital learning plan. Currently there is no districtwide mandated PD program for technology integration in Unit 4. The district employs five Educational Technology Coordinators (ETC). They are the direct support staff for integration curriculum design and instructional support. The ETC PD program for technology integration in the district is made up of a variety of optional sessions including supporting districtwide initiatives, grade level (HS, MS, EL) initiatives, building initiatives, grade level team initiatives, and individual teacher initiatives. Most of the ETC efforts are spent on building, gradelevel team, and individual teacher instructional technology integration. These occur as before or after school training sessions from the ETCs collaborating with ICs at each building, working with teaching teams during collaboration times, reflecting on assessment data, supporting the implementation of new curriculum, learning new digital resources, implementing digital resources, and working with teachers to best leverage technology to support their learning objectives. ETCs are not a part of jobembedded, sustained professional development. The work is mostly at a consulting level because the 5 ETCs are spread between 20 school buildings. The district uses the Charlotte Danielson Model for teacher assessment. Staff technology skills are not separately assessed. While ETCs are versed in the ISTET standards and various certifications, there is no system of support, documenting, or incentivizing teachers or administrators to earn technology certifications. Teachers are not held accountable to meeting the ISTET standards, but staff awareness surveys have been done for ISTET standards. The Technology Department hosts an annual technology conference open to all staff members. Throughout the school year, voluntary technology training s for Unit 4 staff include curriculumbased resources, instructional practices, digital resource specific (Google Drive, Schoology etc.), digital space logistics (setting up accounts etc.), and building technology plan development. Other online professional development resources are made known to teachers and shared by ETCs but are voluntary, including SMART trainings, Google apps for education, VLCMath resources, Wonders Professional Development digital resources. The district Professional Development committee is exploring the use of online PD. The use of blended or fully online professional development does not exist currently within Unit 4 for the purposes of improving teaching and learning. There are instances, like the Evaluation Modules created by ISBE and PARCC Training resources for example, where outside providers offer online professional development. The instructional technology team is developing a fully conceptualized 1:1 plan with devices in all students’ hands by the end of three years. The staff development plan to support the implementation includes the goal to build technology leadership teams at each building, made up of teachers who are leaders amongst their peers. They further envision the expansion of digital resources including expansion of EDM4 and others. During focus group interviews, the following were listed as comments regarding current district Professional Development (PD) for all staff: ● HS – gradual release of responsibility – framework for PD ● Influx of culturally responsive education ● 1:1 PD with an individual teacher or grade level that is scheduled Technology Needs Assessment Report – Champaign Community School
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Board credit courses organized by the district PD – technology is included in the offerings – adjustments are made to the course offerings once a year – new ideas sometimes are not infused – have to wait another year to offer some new ideas PD is based on interest of individuals not necessarily on a school wide plan elective training After school PD based on interest There are districtwide inservice days but technology is not infused not even digital curriculum – teaching and learning – teaching and learning doesn’t meet with ETC There have been released days for McGraw Hill digital curriculum There is a lack of organized training for all employees in systems such as eSchool
Professional Development Risks During focus group interviews staff were asked what are the barriers for teachers to overcome before they are comfortable using technology. Responses include: ● Staff rate IT as their highest interest for staff development and yet it is not made available on district time ● Time ● Concerns – how technology will impact student learning – see it as an add on to what they are expected to teach ● Board credit sessions are 8 or 16 hours – participants have to attend all sessions to receive credit – combination of entry level functions and then teachers demonstrate on how to use it in the classroom The district has not conducted a formal assessment of staff skills. There is a need to review avenues for improved collaboration between the instructional technology team and the district instructional leaders. Unit 4 also needs to review systemic training for all staff.
Professional Development Recommendations Surveys . Conduct a baseline survey and subsequently annual assessment of staff skills. Surveys should be designed to gather data on prerequisite attitudes and skills required to achieve goals. Results of the surveys can assist the district in targeting the approach as well as the skills in the professional development plan.
Embedded staff development . Instructional strategies and technology use should have the following attributes: ● Increase collaboration between the PD committee organizing the board credit courses and the instructional technology team. ● The district needs to define minimal levels of staff competency to support the digital learning project. The staff development to support these competencies should not be optional. Support the staff development with structures such as a district “trade day” to ensure that all staff participate. ● Training for staff should be multifaceted and include technology skills, pedagogy changes, and classroom management with technology. Curriculum, instructional strategies, and technology skill training should be integrated wherever possible. ● Build a professional development program that allows staff to construct lessons and use products. The program should be a combined function of the Instructional Department and the instructional technology department. Allow time to model, try, and apply technologies into lessons for the classroom. Provide integrated training with curriculum, instructional strategies, and technology. ● The training program should be ongoing and support existing staff as well as be incorporated into training for new hires. Set expectations and provide time for training throughout the organization. ○ Build technology skills of building and district curriculum specialists and instructional coaches as well as library media specialists to support teaching staff and integrate within other staff development.
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Deliver “just in time” training, ongoing coaching, and online training to strengthen existing training initiatives. ○ Training should include “Make and Take” applications where staff are afforded time to design lessons incorporating technology tools and resources. The end of each session should include “Show and Tell” strategies where groups share the lessons they developed and expand all participants awareness of the potential of the tool. ○ Supplement training with online training where possible to afford staff the opportunity to continue learning at home. The adoption of an LMS will also supplement facetoface opportunities. An LMS system can support an online learning system for curriculum collaboration, staff training, and student use. Encourage building leaders to support the training program by developing site ”Techno buddies”. The sites identify technology leaders throughout the building, usually one leader for every 1015 teachers. The leaders are provided a small stipend or trade for other duties. Their responsibility is to conduct the necessary technology training for their assigned group. Establish the expectation and provide opportunities for staff to share what they have learned with the Champaign teaching community as staff have opportunities (ie professional conferences, graduate school, etc.) to learn technology and instructional methods from sources outside the district. Consider mandatory technology infused new teacher training programs. Schools like any organization should anticipate growth as well as turnover. Much is being done to help faculty and students with the initial rollout. A plan should be in place to help transfer students as well as teachers new to the school. Keep teachers informed of student training and help resources. It would be helpful for teachers to understand student skill sets when embedding technology in the curriculum.
st Literacy Skills . Implement individualized professional growth plans for teachers and include 21 Century teaching skills as related to the initiative’s goals as well as needed tech skill. .Identify, design implementation, and set accountability standards for a technology literacy skill development for all staff. Review and design implementation for a technology literacy skill development program for all staff and st students for 21 century learning. Learning standards should be modeled after national standards such as ISTE’s NETST and NETSA. Standards should be incorporated within hiring and evaluation procedures.
Training and orientation for all staff . There is a need for an organized and systemic training for all staff. Recommendations include: ● Create a spreadsheet of all major software systems used by the district. Examples include eSchool, Microsoft, Google (if adopted), Schoology (or another LMS if adopted), etc. The spreadsheet should also indicate the employees in the district with whom need training in the software. ● Highlight and list the immediacy of training that is needed for the position and the estimated time the training will be needed for the classification of the position. ● Create a training plan to ensure that all employees are provided the training they need for their position. The plan should include who conducts the training and when the training will incur. Ideas for training of new employees include: ○ Embed new teacher training with existing teacher instruction. If needed add time to the existing time requirements. ○ Initiate a new hire orientation. With classified staff this should be done as part of the hiring process and will need to be conducted routinely throughout the school year. ○ Administrators should also be included in the process and should be conducted within the first weeks of hiring.
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Curriculum Integration Curriculum Integration is where “the rubber hits the road.” The classroom environment presents teachers with many challenges. It is difficult not to return to what is comfortable when faced with these challenges on a daily basis. The digital readiness computing environment will only add to this noise, making rapid change even more difficult. Still, students of this generation require a more involved and engaging curriculum. Curriculum integration should not be viewed as one size fits all. It is the student’s experience that is important. Individual classroom evaluation of the digital readiness initiative should be dependent on the teacher’s skills and teaching style as well as the curriculum and students’ skills.
District Summary and Planning for Initiative The district has made use of Office 365 for staff documents and email. Students do not receive district Office email accounts. The district is contemplating transitioning to the use of Google for staff and student use of cloud based email and file storage. Staff and student accounts have been created. Some classrooms have been piloting this use. Champaign aligns their curriculum with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). At the elementary level new English Language Arts curriculum has been adopted districtwide. Also, a revamp version of the math curriculum has been implemented K2, to be more closely aligned with CCSS. This first year of learning the new curriculum is definitely one with a learning curve, as teachers are still working out the multifaceted components of the curriculum. There have been three phases of professional development throughout the year to support the progressing understanding of teachers on how to implement the curriculum and use it to full capacity. At the middle level all core subject areas are aligning to the CCSS, and NGSS for science. At the High School ELA & Math are aligned to the CCSS, science is aligned to NGSS, and Social studies is waiting for the revised version and will redesign accordingly. As the district is reviewing curriculum they are making available some electronic curriculum aligned to the new standards. Most of this access is provided by vendors as new curriculum adoptions occur. The digital transformation of curriculum has occurred in reading and math and health with social studies to occur next. The ETC team and an estimated 10% of staff have an understanding of the ISTEStudent(S) or Teacher (T) standards. No formal assessment of staff skills has been performed. There are no officially adopted technology standards for students in Unit 4. The district has transitioned the high school to standards based grading and will be working on the middle schools next. The district’s online PARCC assessments are used pervasively and have consumed a great deal of time and attention from the IT staff and support. In addition, the district is considering the implementation of a data dashboard to assist staff with more informed instruction. The district does not currently have an adopted Learning Management System (LMS) platform. Informally some staff have adopted the use of Schoology and Edmodo to support classroom work. Unit 4 has started pockets of 1:1 initiative learning in grades 35 in the renovated buildings. The 1:1 initiative and expansion was outlined by the instructional technology department. During focus group interviews staff identified the desire to see increased use of technology in the classroom, increased use of technology to improve student engagement, electronic student portfolios, and collaboration (flipped classrooms). Also identified was the desire of teachers to have access to Google and YouTube. During focus group interviews staff were asked what would assist them with technology implementation and integration. Responses included: ● 1:1 culture shift with technology – viewing technology as essential to student learning if integrated appropriately Technology Needs Assessment Report – Champaign Community School
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○ Accountability – top down ○ Detailed timeline – mapping it out – role based Some type of accountability that would point teachers and students on skills they should have Student skills that are universal across the district Teacher, student, parent voice in the technology plan Collaboration between curriculum and technology Setting expectations of buildings for data and technology use Well structured plan for implementation District wide direction for Exchange and google apps is needed
Curriculum Risks The following are identified as curriculum risks for Champaign: ● The district is contemplating moving from Office 365 to Google. A wellthought out plan for implementation needs to be developed. ● There is little systemic planning between the instructional technology coaches and the district instructional leaders. ● Teachers’ technology skill has not been formally assessed. ● Student technology skill requirements have not been formally adopted.
Curriculum Recommendations District Email. A district plan should be developed for file storage and email. Components of the plan need to include: ● File storage and email for all staff and students should be made available remotely. ● For ease of communication, staff and students should use the same email system. ● Students’ emails should be operationalized. Student email should be phased in with the digital learning implementation. District provided email accounts will facilitate communication between staff and students in a secured, consistent and efficient environment. ● The district needs to have district stakeholders evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of continued use of Office 365 or movement to Google. Any proposed conversion to a new system should include: ○ Reasons for the conversion ○ Timeline for the conversion ○ Additional technical support or training for a conversion ○ Training of staff and students ○ Automation of account creation for staff and students to prevent manual account creation in the future ○ Communication to district staff on the implementation Collaboration. The district has some formalized collaboration structures to ensure that technology is meeting instructional needs. There are a few areas in which the structure could be enhanced: ● Development of broad based stakeholder group to assist with technology planning and recommendations. This group was discussed in the Vision and Infrastructure sections of the report. Ongoing technology planning, potential conversion from Microsoft to Google, the advancement of 1:1, the implementation of a digital dashboard are all examples of major implementations that would benefit from stakeholder input. ● The district ETC and instructional leaders in curriculum and instruction are not routinely meeting. The district will benefit from ongoing collaboration between these groups. ISTE National Education Technology Standards (NETS). The International Society for Technology in Education’s (ISTE) NETS provide additional frameworks for instructional technology planning with standards for administrators, teachers, students, and technology coaches. It is critical for the digital learning
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implementation that staff and students have a strong background in information and digital literacy. EC recommends that Champaign: ● Review the ISTE’s NETS for students, teachers and administrators. Develop a plan to include the standards throughout the curriculum integration process. ● Define and explain what technology integration and student centered learning “looks like” in grade level subject areas. ● Formulate a list of minimum requirements for teachers to integrate the use of technology in the classroom (such as posting assignments online, grading some student work electronically, and contributing one example of digital learning curriculum to a shared wiki). Clearly communicate these requirements to teachers and those who evaluate them, as well as work through the process of adding accountability measures for these requirements in the teacher performance and evaluation documents. ● Develop appropriate technology integration and minimum technology skill competencies, including the consideration of a credentialing plan for teachers and technology coaches as they demonstrate achievement of competencies. (For more on this, refer to the Professional Development portion of the report.) Digital Citizenship. The district should review existing curriculum to ensure that the activities support students and staff in developing and sustaining sound digital citizenship. In many schools librarians have a key role in developing information literacy efforts, while school counselors and health personnel provide support in developing materials regarding cyberbullying and internet safety. While IT needs to be a key player in these conversations, it is important the final policy decisions be made by academic leaders with IT providing the necessary technical and professional development to support the decisions. It is important for the district to adopt and implement student literacy and digital citizenship benchmarks beginning with early grades and progressing through the high school grades. Other best practices recommendations include: Learning Management Systems. Champaign staff are making some use of Schoology and Edmodo. However, the district needs to standardize a Learning Management System (LMS) to support student and staff learning as well as serve as a district curriculum collaboration site for teachers and curriculum team members supporting teachers. A team should review the resources and tools available in possible solutions. If deemed appropriate, the district should design an implementation plan which includes information and training for staff and students. Curriculum Alignment and Model Lessons. As district personnel continue to progress through curriculum realignment, identify electronic resources directly aligned to the curriculum. Document and share the resources as part of the process. Directly align technology skills and resources with district instructional initiatives by: ● Engaging coaches and district leaders for followup with Common Core State Standards, instructional strategies and technology to ensure training is aligned and embedded. ● Mapping electronic resources to curriculum shared across the district. Maximize professional learning communities and existing efforts to engage everyone in this work. As the district is looking at curriculum and resources related to the state standards, this work will be very relevant and timely. Continue to engage vendor partners as new resources are acquired. ● Tapping into the resources many Champaign teachers have already identified on their own and make sure these are included as the comprehensive database of instructional resources is developed. Formalize this process by soliciting contributions through the Edmodo and other collaboration tools. ● Seeking more ways to solicit teacher project ideas. Staff seek models for teacher resources aligned to their curriculum and making use of the interactive Smartboard tools. ● Documenting during the school year the successful curricular integration strategies to share at faculty meetings, with parents, and through marketing strategies. Look for lessons which incorporate curriculum design to a higher, more transformative level. Remote access to resources. Continue to adopt and provide as much remote access to resources. Technology Needs Assessment Report – Champaign Community School
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Administrator Use of Technology Research has shown that districts and buildings that demonstrate the most success with onetoone implementations have engaged leaders. Leaders do not have to be the most technically savvy but do need to understand how the technology implementation supports student learning. They must encourage and hold staff and students accountable for technology use and growth.
District Summary and Planning for Initiative Building and district leaders are provided a d esktop in the office. If they choose to use building or department funds they can upgrade to a laptop. The exception is that renovated schools are provided laptops. There is no formal technology training provided for administrators and there is an expectation that they are proficient in using the tools. Some administrators that have started using google drives have been assisted one on one by the ETC. The leadership are supported by their administrative assistants. This group should be instrumental in data support for the leaders. There is no formal training for this group of staff.
Administrator Use Risks As with classroom equipment, there is an inequality of equipment provided for district leadership. There is not mandated orientation and ongoing technology training provided for administrators and their support staff.
Administrator Use Recommendations Provide mobile equipment. Building and district leader’s desktops should be replaced with laptop technology. Docking stations, monitors, and keyboards can be used to simulate their current working environment. The added features of mobile technology will completely change the dynamics of leadership professional development and collaboration. It will also model for staff what the adult learning environment should resemble.
Principal leadership training. Establish effective leadership and internal capacity at the building level by: ● Involving district and site leaders in setting goals, expectations, modeling, and establishing accountability for staff and student use of technology. ● Modeling technology usage within staff development and inservice opportunities and establishing accountability for staff use throughout the instructional day by district leaders and coaches, as well as building principals. ● Discuss staff training and what principals should look for in the classroom during the next year. Many districts find follow up “Reader’s Digest” training helpful for principals. Possibly use online videos and offer optional follow up training. ● Principals and administrative assistants should be provided training in the technology tools which support their work. The training should be a mandatory part of the new employee orientation (see professional development and infrastructure eSchool sections) and ongoing as tools are acquired and developed. ● See the Professional Development section for additional training for ISTE NETSA standards training.
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Budget As Champaign takes digital learning to scale, infrastructure and hardware will need to be replaced, refreshed and augmented. As this program moves beyond initial fund infusion, these funds should be a stable, regularly budgeted item as specified and in the district technology plan and aligned with its vision and goals. Development of the vision, goals and technology plan then become critical items that enable ongoing budgeting to take shape.
District Summary and Planning for Initiative The district has done a commendable job of leveraging funds from eRate and local funding. Technology spending has been a part of the plan as the district builds new or improves existing buildings. However, there are current needs in older buildings and greater needs for support of equitability across the district. The director recently submitted a budget to the district to support the infrastructure updates, district equity, and the proposed 1:1 expansion. In support of an anticipated growth in technology resources and access, there will be additional funding to be fulfilled. In addition to accommodating current needs, Champaign must plan for the longterm sustainability of the enhanced program that is anticipated. Fortunately, it appears that funds could be available, pending no dramatic state funding cut impacts, for clearly defined and planned needs.
Financial Risks ●
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A vision, mission, goals and objectives are necessary precursors to developing a multiyear technology plan. Once this is developed, cost estimates with timetables can be developed. These estimates in turn become the basis for technology related portion of the district’s budget. The district leadership team needs to know technology related budget requests and prioritize them in the budget with a longterm sustainability view. An influx of budget money is needed to bring the district up to defined technology standards. Bringing on additional outside resources at times of high need will have a budget impact which needs to be quantified. It appears that there is an immediate need to bring software systems into full use. This boost will get systems implemented in a timely manner and help move the district from a reactive to a proactive stance with respect to technology.
Financial Recommendations Planning. Recommendations include: ● Budgeting cannot take place without development of clear, itemized, multiyear technology plan. A portion of this plan which is critical to the budget are cost estimates associated with accomplishing established goals and objectives of the plan. Therefore, the recommendation is, once again, development of a three to four year technology plan along with its cost components and timelines (see the vision section of the report). ● It is anticipated that outside support is needed to move the district over some of the existing technology hurdles pointed out in this document. There are obviously shortterm budget implications. The district needs to quantify what these are to provide the leadership team with a clear, concise, and itemized list of needs in support of budgeting decisions that will have to be made. ● Data needs to be collected to help make a lease versus buy decision. ● Training alongside implementation efforts as recommended in this document has a cost component and should be itemized into all implementation plans.
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Financial savings to offset increased technology budget. Below are some options for the district to consider as possible funding sources. ● Itemize the technology budget and review the budget for operating efficiency. Perform a complete audit/review of licensing costs with software systems to review current expenses and determine where cost savings and/or data efficiencies can be obtained. Potential savings and efficiencies may be made within the budget. For example, increased use of Google applications for education will reduce costs over other (Microsoft) software licensing and server maintenance costs needed to run it. ● Textbook budget savings – The replacement of paper textbooks with online versions will save the district funds. In addition, ubiquitous access to online open source instructional resources can be used to supplement textbook expenditures. ● Personnel costs Student Geek squad or a Tech Support Internship: Students at district high schools and middle schools can become involved in and perform valuable technical support. After proper training, such as attending a “boot camp” in the summer to be trained in the repair and maintenance of the district digital devices and on other tools the school will be offering to students, such as Google, students will be ready to provide valuable services. It is also possible to offer courses on technical support for students. ○ Students benefit with highly marketable technical and people skills ○ While the district will not reduce existing IT staff with these programs, their existing staff will be freed up to provide higher level support and training for district staff and to spend more time in proactive planning and development for future endeavors. ● Printing costs As teachers and students begin to fully utilize the digital infrastructure the expenditures for print resources can be lowered. Critical to this in the teaching and learning process in the district adoption and use of a Learning Management System (LMS.) This process can be accelerated with teacher training and communication. Programs that build user awareness of printing costs can also be particularly useful. For example, combining the budget for software and online resources with the consumables budget gives teachers and teacher leader’s incentives to minimize printing. ● Reclaiming space from computer labs Savings here are dependent on district and school space needs. In each school, former basic computer labs can be reused once a portion of or all students are in the 1:1 program. Since computer labs are usually the squarefootage of 1.5 classrooms, this space recovery could avoid the need of costly building expansion for some schools.
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