Technology Program Administrator Report

Welch Elementary School Media Center

Erika Sutton

FRIT 7739

Dr. Elizabeth Downs

Fall 2020
Part A: Program Evaluation

Executive Summary

Welch Elementary Media Center is home to Mrs. Beard, the media specialist who

started this media center in 2006 when Welch was first built. She designs the space and

continues to reorganize the shelves and the position of the furniture to make the space

more welcoming. She will be the first to tell you she would love to renovate the 1980s

chunky furniture for something more 21st century, however her funds do not allow her

to do such a thing. The Welch Media Center provides services to all 945 students and 98

faculty and staff. Welch is 1:1 with technology and every student as of the 2020 -2021

school year has been issued a Chromebook. After researching through the county and

school website, interviewing and observing it is clear to me this library needs some

assistance. A recommendation made was to create a media center committee,

specifically for Welch. This group of stakeholders will guide the media center into the

21st century learning space it needs to be. Also, this committee can help create a mission

and goals for the Welch Media Center. These 2 recommendations will help steer this

media center to become a place where students want to come and most importantly

learn.
Organizational Chart
Methods

Multiple different methods of collecting data and evaluation were completed to

effectively assess the Welch Elementary Media Center. Interviews were conducted with

the media specialist, a teacher and a student (Appendix A,B,C). Over the course of 5

days I completed 5 hours of observations and I was able to create and evaluate based on

a checklist (Appendix D). Lastly, I chose to use the Welch Elementary Website to obtain

pertinent information regarding this report(Appendix E).

Center Context & Goals

Welch Elementary School is named after Bobby Welch. Bobby Welch started his

career with the Coweta County School System in 1962 as a teacher and ended his 32

years as the superintendent of Coweta County Schools in 1994. Welch Elementary was

built a short 12 years later in 2006 and is the most recent addition to the 19 elementary

schools in CCSS. The mission of the media center at Welch coincides with the school's

mission which is “Coweta Committed to Student Success.” Our vision statement is “We

Empower Students” and “Successful students empowered for school and life.” Lastly our

goals are “We believe the Coweta County School System in partnership with the family

and the community must focus on providing rigorous, engaging, and relevant work for a

diverse student population. We believe, as leaders of learners, we must empower

students to be active and accountable participants in their learning. We believe we are

responsible for the safety and success of each student. We believe, as a learning

community, we must continuously improve.” Welch Elementary is empowering roughly

817 students, Pre-k to 5th Grade alongside the 98 faculty and staff members. The media

center is available to staff and students from 7:30 - 3:30. There are 10 desktop
computers, 1 mobile Cleartouch Monitor, 10 Chromebook carts. 1 Chromebook cart

specifically for loaning out to students having trouble with theirs, and a circulation desk

where students checkbooks in and out.

Mrs. Jennifer Beard started Welch Elementary School’s media center 14 years

ago and before that she was a middle school teacher for 10 years. Her job consists of

maintaining the collection, repairing Chromebooks, placing work orders on

Chromebooks, conducting a semesterly book fair, conserving the media center budget,

and troubleshooting any and all technical issues, check books in/out, shelving books and

conducting classes and facilitating learning. Currently the stakeholders are students,

parents, community members and administrators. The media center is not available for

classes or students due to the COVID-19.

Center Activities

Unfortunately the activities are few and far between at this media center. Mrs.

Beard offers a schedule for your class to come to the library to check out books during a

certain day and time. The first visit to the media center at the beginning of the year will

be the introduction of the library. The rest of the year during this time, if you have

planned with her, she will do a short lesson to build on what your students are learning

in class or a fun read aloud to promote literacy. Students 3-5 receive a lesson on

copyright and plagiarism. Starting this year and because we had a large budget cut we

did not renew our license with Renaissance AR program. In its place will be “The 40

Book Challenge” in hopes of motivating students to read. The media center is equipped

with a laminator and color printer for teacher use. All of these activities take place in the

media center.
Evaluation

I think it is safe to say I believe this media center does not meet the mission or the goal

of Welch Elementary. The organizational chart does not show a disconnect but in

listening to the interviews and my observations, there are very large gaps between what

is happening in the media center and what is happening in the classroom. The interview

of the media specialist alone was disheartening because in her 14 years she has not made

a mission or any goals specifically for the media center. The interview with the teacher

spoke volumes to me as well because she could not tell me what resources the media

center had to offer or if any technology was readily available for her to use. She also felt

that the school she came from had a media specialist that was involved in students

learning and that is where Mrs. Beard could improve. Lastly, were my observations. The

hour I was present I was unable to observe a lot of the items on my checklist. I even

went as far as talking to a student to see if he had been taught about Copyright or

Plagiarism. He, sadly, told me he did not know what those words meant.

Recommendations

I see quite a few things I could recommend but to keep from overwhelming Mrs. Beard I

would like to give her only a few recommendations at this time. First and foremost

creating a media center committee to help with the check and balances of the media

center. Also, this committee can help create a mission statement and goals for the

library . This committee alone will help guide the media center in a direction more

equipped to cater to the students and staff at Welch. Next, I would like to see activities

and programs that engage the students in learning and get them excited about reading
and literacy. This recommendation comes from the almost non-existent list of activities

above. Last, technology is a part of our world and digital citizenship and technology

literacy is so important. I would really like to see students K-5 engaged in learning about

digital citizenship.

Appendices
Appendix A
 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR MEDIA SPECIALIST

1. What is your job title?

2. What are your responsibilities in the media center?

3. What is the mission and goals of the media center?

4. Who are the stakeholders?

5. What activities and programs are carried out by the media center?

6. What technology do you have available for students?

7. What technology do you have available for teachers?

8. What Web 2.0 tools do you advocate?

9. What additional resources do you provide for stakeholders?

10. How do you support staff with the use of instructional technology?

Appendix B
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHER

1. What ways do you utilize the media center?

2. Do you feel the media center meets your needs and the needs of your students?

3. What technology is readily available to you?

4. How do the resources in the media center support your classroom needs?

5. Do you believe the media center could improve? If so, how?

Appendix C
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENT

1. How often do you go to the media center?

2. Why do you visit the media center?

3. Have you ever visited the school or media center website?

4. Do you use online programs? If so, how did you learn about them?

5. Do you think the media center does a good job of promoting reading and
 incorporating technology?

Appendix D
Welch Media Center Observation Checklist

1. Literacy & Tech Promotion

2. Digital Citizenship Promotion

3. Copyright/Plagiarism Awareness

4. Equipment Monitoring & Usage

5. Website Monitoring

6. Instructional Technology Information provided for teachers

and staff

7. Current, Well Maintained Resources

8. Technology Troubleshooting & Repairs

9. Classes Being Held/ Learning Being Facilitated

Comments:

Appendix E
Additional Resources -
Welch Elementary Website :
http://welch.cowetaschools.net/our-beliefs-31574e02
 Resources

Welch Elementary School. (2020). ​http://welch.cowetaschools.net/​.