Conroe ISD set lofty goals for technology hardware and technology use. The Assistant Superintendent for Technology saw where the technology field was going and set up the infrastructure to make it happen by creating wireless capability at all campuses, buying WOW Carts with 30 wireless WebPC’s per cart, and having iphone wireless as well. The stated goals of CISD are 1) to combine the tools of technology within a restructured teaching and learning environment to improve achievement and productivity, 2) to provide easily accessible and continuous support for the utilization of technology, 3) to provide technological connections for various applications between the school and the home as well as to access resources around the world, and 4) to provide continuous monitoring and updating of technology throughout the district. (www.conroeisd.net)
Teachers are offered professional development through the technology department given by the instructional technologists at the district level and at the campus level. Each campus has its own technology plan and the instructional specialists provide training specific to campus needs. There is an instructional survey every spring which is how the district technology department monitors how effective staff development was and it also helps them determine if they need more on certain topics or if there is a need in another area.
Conroe ISD has various ways of budgeting for technology. They use E-Rate, various grants and STaR Chart funds based on the STaR Chart survey filled out by every teacher in the district. They also include technology innovations and upgrades in the county bond elections.
Ways they monitor the utilization of technology vary. One factor that is reviewed is the distribution of computers throughout the district. If they buy new computers based on a need in one place, they will take the old ones and re-purpose them somewhere else. This is one way they can monitor where and how technology is being used by teachers and students. Another way they monitor is by assessing how many professional development offerings there were and how many people took advantage of it. They also monitor by viewing the implementation of individual campus technology plans. Evaluation of the development of these plans as well as the implementation helps the technology department determine where they go from here and how they are doing thus far. The individual campus technology committees meet once a month so that if an issue needs to be addressed, that is possible. This also allows campuses to make corrections and adjustments as needed.
No comments:
Post a Comment