School Evaluation Summary

Using the Maturity Model Benchmarks to standardize the evaluation process for technology use in schools was valuable exercise that can provided needed data about strengths and weaknesses. This should be something school districts can use to map a course towards improvement.

Unfortunately, the Morris County School District's weakness is planning. Generally speaking the culture is reactive. Fortunately for East School, they are a bit removed from district culture as they are an outlier, geographically and culturally, where they are able to rely on their community to solve problems. Being close knit allows them to cut through some of the communications barriers that exist in other parts of the district. Additionally, they have a leader in their principal who is technologically savvy, willing to take risk and lead by example. This puts East School in a position of great advantage as they have access to the abundant resources offered by the district while at the same time being relatively well equipped to overcome planning shortfalls of the district.

In completing this survey I was able to verify suspicions about district weaknesses with regard to professional development also. Teachers and students are often left out of the technology decision making process. There are such a wealth of resources that teachers and students do not typically own the technology they are given.  When something breaks, the usual reaction is to just throw up hands and wait for someone to come fix it. If not, something new will come along next year. District staff need to do better job of joining these efforts to curricular objectives and demonstrating how they can make teaching more effective and efficient, rather than just adding to teacher's to-do list.

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Technology Use Planning Overview

Technology use planning is a process school boards and district administrators should undertake annually in an effort to be proactive and effective as they seek to integrate technology in a manner that considers teaching and learning first. Deliberately formalizing instructional and educational needs will act as a catalyst as our organization moves towards its goals. However, small rural school districts often lack technical resources. They can leverage a sound understanding of national trends and best practices.

The National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) 2010 is a useful document when beginning the planning process. It encourages us to focus planning effort on five core areas: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure and productivity. These core areas are broad goals that are still relevant in 2013. They are technologically agnostic, ideas that could be built with different tools. Of particular interest for those in a smaller district is the Goals and Recommendations section. It examines the five core areas and projects a number of recommendations and actionable concepts that support each. A planning committee might examine how their organization rates on each recommendation and consider opportunities for improvement.

It would also be helpful to balance the broad goals of the NETP with the view expressed in Developing Effective Technology Plans by John See in 1992. His argument is especially important as technology planning moves towards specific year to year purchasing. Technology does move fast and organizations need to ensure open and clear communication so that they can make decisions quickly.  Experience leads me to agree with his focus on application over technology. When iPads first came out, I was puzzled by the lack of discussion around what they were using them for. It’s important to start with the problem, not the solution.

Last spring I had the opportunity to speak with a superintendent of a district ten times the size of my own who had risen through the ranks via technology. We spoke for about two hours while I detailed my own program successes and challenges. At the end of our conversation I asked his advice for me given all that we had talked about. His answer was simply to plan more and better. His district has historically had less resource per student than my own and they have some very progressive programs. It made me realize the opportunity within my current position.

From that conversation, I came into this school year with more effective planning as a goal. The nature of the culture in my current district is reactive. Over the last number of years we have run a vast number of pilots via a grant process and have many fragmented technology projects. I am seeing fatigue from teaching and support staff.

We are at a bit of a crossroads. Our current technology plan is derived from the district’s strategic plan which is now nearly seven years old. We are recognizing increased device use and seeing the needs of the classroom shift from simple access to mobile and individualized access. Some of the budget model that my district has been using seems outdated. Establishing an annual and cyclical plan with clear goals for technology integration and professional development based on open communication with schools and teachers will improve technology skill ownership.

Digital Divide/Digital Inequality

Beginning my journey through this program has been an interesting experience thus far.  Sometimes it is difficult to tell if my profession is leading my education, or if it is the other way around. Regardless, I continue to find their relationship serendipitous and mutually beneficial.

There have recently been changes within the leadership of my district. Two out of five seats changed on the school board and greatly altered the dynamic.  One of their first tasks was negotiating a separation agreement with the superintendent.

I feel technology use in the schools has gained a higher profile. I think this is good. We are updating policy and working to do a better job communicating with parents. Digital citizenship integration with curriculum and digital skills for the community overall have garnered more attention. As you can see from my presentation, this has impacted my view of priorities in my position.

In examining the literature around digital divide and digital inequality, I received a wake-up call. I am inundated with information about technology and our society in my Twitter feed all day long. You would think that I know this better. There is something different, though, when you are collecting information from people you know, rather than relying on statistics collected on larger scale. This project forced me to take a closer look at issues students are dealing with and impacting district technology initiatives. I am now in a better position to take ownership of the data and the direction of these initiatives.


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Google Presentation

Tech Trends

Here is a link to my technology trends assignment.

I chose to focus on cloud computing for this assignment. My district has been rolling out Google Apps for Education this year and it's successes and challenges have taken up a good deal of my time.  This experience has brought home to me the importance of incorporating digital citizenship and netiquette values at school and at home.

This assignment was another reminder of the value offered by Google Scholar. To some degree, the assignment was a little difficult to complete because I kept finding myself getting into articles that were just interesting and helpful at work, but off topic for this assignment.

EDTECH Research

This was a challenging assignment for me.  I have never written an instructional objective or used APA or similar formatting before.  The instructional objective alone took far more time than I anticipated.  Not coming from a teaching background has proven to be an extra challenge.
I did get to learn how I might use Google Scholar.  Diving into other people's research is certainly something that will prove useful in the future.  Additionally, I have gained an understanding of some of the research methods used and will adopt those to gain a better understanding of professional development that happens in my district.

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RSS in Education

RSS is a tool that can be very useful in education.  My school district is in the early stages of adopting Google Apps for education.  I decided to make a video that would demonstrate how classrooms could use RSS in a Google Apps environment to publish and discuss their learning.  Blogger is still a new idea in our learning environment.  It is now readily accessible, and teachers are excited to have their students give it a try.  RSS and Feedly are great for teachers and students to collect all student blogs into one clean and easy to read place.

I made this video with the intention of providing it to teachers and students in my district.  This was my first effort with some of these tools.  I believe it is something we can use and build from.  I hope you enjoy it.

In taking the time to complete this assignment I have reflected on the importance of screen casting as a method to provide instruction.  I am experiencing its value as a student in our program, especially in 502.  As a technology director, I am realizing the need to have simple instructions on topics unique to my district's computing environment available in this manner.  At the moment, we have no videos of this type available to assist staff.

Elements of Educational Technology

I am part of something. I used to joke to some of the other techs in my shop that I am an education reformer.  After reading “The Meaning of Educational Technology,” I acquired a bit of background on the shift happening in education theory. In the past, the emphasis was on teaching and delivery; now the focus has moved to the needs of the learner.

View my reflection on why learning is the most essential part of the definition of educational technology.

I love the idea of learning. When I chose a career, I chose technology. I chose it because I had no idea what I wanted to do. I understood the pace of change would require regular learning. There is so much to learn that technology can be a very humbling profession. I learned there are no experts. You have to be able to work well alone and know where to go when you need help. The Internet was invented to share solutions to technology problems.

More recently, I have had the opportunity to work in IT for a school district that was having conversations about deeper learning, 21st century learning and project-based learning when I arrived. The spirit behind these talks stressed qualities that were already of value to me in my field. The district empowered the technology department to think about and add to the learning environment. I have been known to help rearrange classrooms and cover tables with dry erase paint to facilitate small group collaboration. That is not exactly high-tech, but it is exciting to see how moving things around can change the way a teacher delivers lessons. Maybe I am an education reformer.

Welcome!

Welcome to my EDTECH Learning Log. My name is Tim Rocco and I am the Director of Technology for a K-12 school district of eight schools and 3,400 students. I intend to use this space to add artifacts and share learning as I make my way towards a Master of Educational Technology at Boise State University. Posts will be labeled according to standards set by the Association for Educational Communication & Technology.

About Me

I have been professionally helping people resolve computer issues since my start in 1994 at a Kinko's computer services desk. Since then I have had success in help-desk and network support roles with a number of organizations spanning big, small, public, and private. I've been supporting K-12 education for five years and have been involved in school district technology administration for just over a year. It is an exciting time to be involved with the educational technology field.

Personally, I love to spend time outside and cooking, either separately or together. I was raised in Cleveland, Ohio and have also lived in Tokyo, Seoul and Seattle. I live in Ketchum, Idaho and have done so since 1999. I came to ski one winter, and stayed because it turns out I enjoy the generally quieter pace of life. I am lucky to be married to an awesome wife and even luckier to have two healthy and happy daughters who are four and one.