Technology Maturity Summary Skywalker Elementary School Tatooine School District Based on maturity model benchmarks from the

Technology Use Plan Primer by Peter H.R. Sibley and Chip Kimball, I have analyzed the level of technology maturity at Skywalker Elementary School. The benchmarks proved to be a worthwhile tool in assessing how we rank on the maturity spectrum. Demographics

Maturity Model Benchmarks Administrative Policy Behavioral: Islands Resource/Infrastructure: Intelligent At the very beginning of the benchmarks, the Skywalker School runs into murky waters. The policies set in place at the district level are extremely comprehensive and iron-clad. We run into issues, however, with how it is supported and translated to our students. According to the benchmark rubric, the Islands category states, Appropriate technology use is formalized, but is mostly ignored by many in the school. I dont like the word, ignored, in this setting, as it isnt ignored, its just not well-taught and implemented. Policies are mentioned throughout different classroom environments, but not really taught or practiced, save for the classrooms that regularly use laptops and iPads. Those students are becoming fluent with their practices according to our policies, however, I believe the majority of our students who do not use devices on a daily basis are not gaining proper infusion of our policies. Planning Behavioral: Integrated Resources/Infrastructure: Integrated Technology planning at the Skywalker School begins with a small technology committee. The committee evaluates different programs and technologies and makes recommendations for our school based on curricular needs. It is made up of teachers in all grades, however, even some of those teachers do not fully implement the ideas of the committee.

Budget

Behavioral: Integrated Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated

Budgeting for technology stems from both district money and funds provided by our Home and School Association. We are able to prioritize our needs and request funds as needed, with some considerations to our long-term vision, but with an unclear long-term direction, we are providing technology for the present. Administrative Information Behavioral: Integrated Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent There are some teachers that choose to go paperless by utilizing current devices, but many are still unsure of an integrated model to do so. When I think of administrative systems, I think of those systems that control the flow of data. There is a team of technology specialists throughout the district that handle any issues students or teachers may have and are not always readily available for immediate help. This provides an issue when teachers cannot troubleshoot an issue they may have. If you provide training on troubleshooting, the infrequency of such issues allow the teachers to not readily practice solving problems, and thus we rely on those specialists who are there to help us, but not always available. Curricular Electronic Information Behavioral: Intelligent Resource/Infrastructure: Islands Students and staff transfer electronic information almost everyday, whether the students are using online resources, or teachers are posting information to their websites, or showing clips from YouTube to enhance a lesson. The school practically runs on the transfer of information electronically. The resources themselves are limited to laptops and a few iPads. The iPads could be used in two classrooms out of the building, and most students use the laptops for typing and drill and practice. Any production done are consistent with what the teachers know and understand.

Assessment Behavioral: Islands

Resource/Infrastructure: Islands

Both of these benchmarks could very easily become integrated, however, these come back to those teachers that regularly integrate technology versus those that are hesitant based on lack of understanding and fluency on their part. There are some teachers that do great things and utilize outstanding resources to assess students, but there are a few that only focus on the traditional assessment methods or lack creativity to fully assess understanding. This is an area that I expect to see improved in the next few years as more district and state reporting tools go into effect. Curricular Integration Behavioral: Emergent Resource/Infrastructure: Islands This is an area that I expect to see improved as teachers observe how other teachers are utilizing technology to enhance their curriculum and seeing positive results. In the scope of our building, only a handful of teachers fully integrate technology into their curriculum, while others are still teaching the same way they did when they started. We do have a hybrid learning initiative, which is enhancing students understanding and skill level in relation to technology, but then there is limited technology interaction in the next grade level. There needs to be more lateral movement of these skills based on integration of different technologies into every grade level curriculum. There is limited training on how to integrate technologies into different curriculums and limited time to work with individuals who could help integrate. Teacher Use Behavioral: Integrated Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated Teachers have access to their laptops everyday and they plan out their curriculums on them. They are frequently used for communicative purposes. Their role in content delivery could be better infused, but teachers are able to navigate most of the technologies in the building with little help.

Student Use Behavioral: Islands Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated

This is another area that I see our school improving upon. Teachers are using the resources that we have for drill and practice websites or reading quizzes. Very rarely do teachers use technology to allow students to produce quality projects. This is only starting to change. Most students have access to the iPads, but our infrastructure limits the creativity and accounts that the students need in order to produce different things. Support Stakeholder Involvement Behavioral: Islands Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent Our Home and School Association takes great pride in the work that our students do with technology, and our principal is a major cog in the implementation of technology. In keying in on the word, involvement, however, the Tatooine School District just brought in a team to assess our technology needs. There were teachers who were not involved in that process that should have been in order to understand how our students and our programs would be affected by any changes that would occur. Administrative Support Behavioral: Integrated Resource/Infrastructure: Intelligent The administration at the Skywalker School has been supportive in every way. Discussions about projects and direction are held often and mostly informally, making planning and idea sharing more accommodating. This has been integral to the successes that we have seen in infusing technology into curriculum and is encouraging in helping to promote the spread of that infusion.

Training: Behavioral: Emergent Resource/Infrastructure: Islands

As long as there will be teachers, there will always be those who request trainings be done but always complain that there is never enough time to practice what they learned. There are trainings offered throughout the school year, some of them customized to what teachers have been seeking. When such offerings occur, however, Most teachers will only attend if it is required. Very rarely do teachers at the Skywalker School attend a voluntary training, and if they do, they are the same teachers who came to the last one. As assessment tools change at the district and state levels, and as trends change, I foresee our school improving in this area. Technical/Infrastructure Support Behavioral: Intelligent Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated If a student or teacher runs into an issue, there is almost always somebody on hand to solve it, if not immediately, then soon. The only issue occurs on the rare times when either too many things are going wrong or an issue is too big for one person, which is our schools only full-time support professional. In a school our size, such issues do not happen often. Connectivity Local Area Networking (LAN) Behavioral: Intelligent Resource/Infrastructure: Intelligent District Area Networking (WAN) Behavioral: Intelligent Resource/Infrastructure: Intelligent The Tatooine School District has had a top-notch network and it is starting to bend to the point of unreliability based on the number of devices on the network. As the number of devices in our schools grow, the district has taken the stance that improving the network is their top priority. Based on this knowledge, we can rate our districts connectivity higher. Our school has had little issues with our network, but that doesnt mean that it will remain reliable. With our new building construction initiative, other buildings will be taking advantage of higher networking speeds until our building is ready to move in. Until then, steps are in place to keep our devices running.

Internet Access Behavioral: Integrated Resource/Infrastructure: Intelligent

All of the staff use the internet, as there is access all over the building. Student use of the internet is limited to mostly databases. This connects back to our district policies not being used fluently throughout our elementary schools. There is a fear of what students may find on the internet, which is why teachers shy away from it. Instead of using and teaching with the internet to practice safe and smart searching and research, we are locking our students into using databases and not preparing them for higher-level learning through the internet. Communication Systems Behavioral: Intelligent Resource/Infrastructure: Islands The use of email has made communication between staff, administrators, and parents much more easier and frequent. Instead of putting notes in mailboxes, or seeking out administrators who arent even in the building, email has become a way of life. Its unfortunate that we cannot communicate with our students through email, as they dont have one, as its seen as a liability. It could allow them to ask us questions from home, and even as a resource to sign up for different web 2.0 sites so that they can create and produce higher level projects. Its a simple thing for a district to monitor, since staff emails are constantly monitored. As cloud computing moves into our district, this mentality should change, along with our internet safety education. Innovation New Technologies Behavioral: Integrated Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated New technologies are often well received and some of them seek out more information about them. Some want to know how they can use things in their class, while others shy away from it because, There is no time. At Skywalker Elementary, we have a good balance of staff who are excited to try new things and willing to integrate them into their lessons. Baby steps are being taken to spread this enthusiasm out to the rest of the staff, and as teachers improve in their fluency of technologies, more teachers will get on board to try new things.

Comprehensive Technologies Behavioral: Intelligent Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated

Most of our technologies (laptops and iPads) are readily available for everyone to use and/or share. This makes it easier to share ideas and projects now, but will eventually lead to us needing more equipment. We are lacking the ability to do more creative projects based on lack of student email accounts that are required for students to sign up for different sites. Using one standard email and password for the class presents risk and security issues. We are limited by what we can do, but do what we can do well.