Technology Program Evaluation

Technology Program Evaluation

Mount Zion High School
Austin Smith
Spring 2016

Technology Program Evaluation

Part A: Program Evaluation

Executive Summary
After evaluating and observing use of the technology center and interviewing our media
specialist as well as other teachers, I can conclude that our technology center is mostly effective.
The stakeholders needs are met when visiting the center and support is provided as expected. It
is also clear that Mount Zion High School has put a lot of responsibility on the media specialist
and there are a lot of expectations that may be a little unrealistic. One of the expectations was
that all students are trained on digital citizenship and literacy. Without a school-wide plan on
meeting times and schedules, its unrealistic for the media specialist to be able to accomplish
this. She would need to pull students out of class and that is generally frowned upon.
Also, there seems to be a scheduling conflict sometimes in the technology center. There
is a sign-up sheet to reserve it but occasionally the counselor or administrator will override that
sign-up list for testing.
I would offer the following improvement suggestions:

Create an online signup sheet on Google Drive or Google Calendar and allow it to be
seen by all. Adhere to this signup sheet as it is detrimental to teachers when they plan to
use the technology center and it is not available.

Plan testing far enough ahead and create a checklist to make sure the technology center is
signed up for if it is needed.

Technology Program Evaluation

Schedule time for all students to be able to go through ethics and digital citizenship
training at the beginning of the year by rotating classes through.

Organizational Chart

Methods
The information collected for this evaluation was gathered through interviews and
observations. Interviews were given to the media specialist and assistant (Appendix A) and
observations were made of the MZHS website and the Carroll County website.
I also reviewed the document that included the Instructional Technology Specialists job
description. It included system goals that would carry over to our high school:

Technology Program Evaluation

Center Context and Goals

The vision of the center is to develop globally competitive college and career graduates.
The following are the goals:

Students come first.

Students learn in different ways and at different rates.

Effective teachers have the greatest impact on learning.

Learning is a shared responsibility - school, home, and community - for which we are all

accountable.

Technology Program Evaluation

A safe, healthy, and positive environment for students, teachers, and staff affects

achievement.

All students and employees are valuable and are treated with dignity and respect.

Continuous improvement efforts must be flexible, responsive, and

aligned to meet the needs of our students, teachers, and community.

Community-based schools foster stakeholder engagement and loyalty.

Student success is necessary for economic growth and world readiness.

The job title of the person in charge of the center is the Media Specialist and the current status of
the center is open.
Center Activities
Our media center has the following activities listed as being provided:

Learn and use Information Literacy Skills

Learning how-to and using reference materials

Research with print and electronic materials

Find information

Use information

Determine if the information found is what you need

Decide if the information is good information to use

Author study - illustrator study

Newspapers introduction and current events

Technology Program Evaluation

How to find a book in the media center based on personal or academic interest

Using the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC)

Sequencing

Basic computer skills

Advanced computer lessons

Whole group browsing and silent reading

Reader's Theatre

Story Time

Dewey Decimal Classification understanding

Parts of a story

Distinguishing types of literature

Creating picture books

Compare and contrast

Nursery rhymes

Poetry activities

Fairy tales

Folklore

Fractured fairy tales

The audience includes all students and teachers although there is a focus on ELA subjects being
given priority.
Evaluation
After evaluating and observing use of the technology center and interviewing our media
specialist as well as other teachers, I can conclude that our technology center is mostly effective.

Technology Program Evaluation

The stakeholders needs are met when visiting the center and support is provided as expected. It
is also clear that Mount Zion High School has put a lot of responsibility on the media specialist
and there are a lot of expectations that may be a little unrealistic. One of the expectations was
that all students are trained on digital citizenship and literacy. Without a school-wide plan on
meeting times and schedules, its unrealistic for the media specialist to be able to accomplish
this. She would need to pull students out of class and that is generally frowned upon.
Also, there seems to be a scheduling conflict sometimes in the technology center. There
is a sign-up sheet to reserve it but occasionally the counselor or administrator will override that
sign-up list for testing.
I would offer the following improvement suggestions:

Create an online signup sheet on Google Drive or Google Calendar and allow it to be
seen by all. Adhere to this signup sheet as it is detrimental to teachers when they plan to
use the technology center and it is not available.

Plan testing far enough ahead and create a checklist to make sure the technology center is
signed up for if it is needed.

Schedule time for all students to be able to go through ethics and digital citizenship
training at the beginning of the year by rotating classes through.

Technology Program Evaluation

Appendix A
Interview Questions
1.

What is your name and position?

2. How many people work with or around the technology center?

3. How many students (on average) do you serve per day?
4. How often do teachers bring their classes into the technology center?
5. What is the mission of the media center?
6. What are the goals of the media center?
7. How does the media center focus on digital citizenship?
8. What would you like to see changed in the technology center?