What+do+we+want+to+know?

[2/15 Scott McLeod] Okay, I think we're ready for next steps: nice work, everyone! We have 14 subsections of possible questions (1A-1E, 2A-2C, 3A-3C, 4A-4B). In the short list below, put your name by TWO (2) subsections that you'd be interested in working on (no more than 3 people per subsection; first-come, first-serve). Also, for ALL of the subsections, not just the ones you signed up for, put down some ideas about how we might find out the answers to our questions. All ideas welcome! So... just to be clear: after each of the subsection labels immediately below (not the ones further down with the questions), put your name(s) and ideas about how to investigate the questions and find answers. Let's get all of this done by the end of February.

PUT YOUR NAMES AND INVESTIGATION IDEAS HERE:

1A - David Delong-Riviera, JM (Interview people from both education and business setting)(Survey class on vendors they have used and are comfortable with - personal recommendations)(Contact vendors and survey their education-industry knowledge)(research marketing directed towards education/government vendors) 1B - Matt Robinson, Dave Zukor, Cindy Walters (Look at successful/model districts to see how they handled this process - especially systems that have been aligned K-12)(Look at what neighboring districts are using to meet specific needs)

1D - Mary Hunt (Begin with class survey answering the questions for the districts represented), Monica Howell, John Bartucz 1E - Corey Haugen (Does anyone in class have answers to these questions which is working in their district?) Roger Whaley.(visit the support services sites for the technology products available)

2A - Greg Rien, Pam O'Connell, Kevin Champney (research with Technology Intergration Specialist about competencies/checklists developed to evaluate technology skills in the educational setting)(internet surveys abound regarding surveying staff skills as a self-report) (look at Kent, WA tech integration plan. It is excellent - http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/ksd/it/DeliverPromise/promise.htm - Dave Z) (take a step-by-step approach at what one needs to do to use the product) 2B - David Delong-Riviera, Sharon Riehle, J. Dusty Johnson (check research, national standards) 2C - Matt Robinson,Corey Haugen, Dave Zukor (interviews with school leaders, survey of students in this course)

3B - Mary Hunt, Becky Meyer, Susan Link (compare budgets, track cycles, develop recommended tech staff efficiences) (research open-source or free systems that will be a cost-reducing factor in technology upgrades) 3C - John Bartucz, JM, Kevin Champney (class input would be a good beginning)(JM - I could interview our tech specialists who have implemented Moodle for purposes of "Virtual School" in a grade 3-5 setting. While it is "free," a great deal of time and money has gone into maintenance and teacher training. Also, there should be articles on this).(Having implemented Moodle at our high school this year, I could be a resource on this too. - Sharon Riehle) (Here is a good place to start - http://richtech.ca/seul/ or http://opensourceschools.org/ - Dave Z)

4A - Greg Rien, Cindy Walters (Research current thinking in regard to school technology policies as well as what those policies look like) Roger Whaley (look at both national and state standards for technology education) 4B - Becky Meyer, (survey teachers and district tech managers, erate requirements) Pam O'Connell (UDL resources from MDE, technology planning), Sharon Riehle (focus groups of teachers)

+++ A special thanks to Doug Johnson, Director of Technology for the Mankato (MN) Schools, for chiming in and adding a few questions he thought we should be considering!

The purpose of this class is to help you learn more about how school organizations use technology to run themselves. In other words, how do schools use technology systems to improve their efficiency and effectiveness? Between now and January 30, let's brainstorm a list of questions we might address in this course. I'll start with a few to model; just add your own to the end of the list. Remember, we're brainstorming - throw out whatever ideas you have, no matter how ill-formed or incomplete!

1. Evaluating, Purchasing, & Upgrading Technology

A. Vendors

1. What tips do school leaders have for dealing with technology vendors? [Scott McLeod] 2. Who can you trust when evaluating systems?

1. Can you give some more detail here? What do you mean by this? [Scott McLeod] 2. I meant something like - can you trust a vendor who may not care about your requirements and only wants to make a big commission by selling the most expensive system possible? Can you trust an administrator who just wants the latest and greatest, regardless of whether it is appropriate for the job? Who can you trust in that sense? How do you understand people's motivations? [JohnBartucz] 3. What vendor/contractor qualifications should be considered when evaluating technology? Should the company have experience in the education arena, or merely be technology experts? [David Delong-Riviera] 4. How do educators influence the making of products so that they better align to what they need? [DaveZukor]

B. Resources for Evaluation

1. When buying new equipment or software, what processes and analytical techniques do school organizations employ to help them choose between different products? [Scott McLeod] 2. Are there resources available that review/suggest the use of software/hardware for educational purposes? (I am thinking of a Consumer Reports type of resource for educators.) (Matt Robinson) 3. What is an effective way to assess the needs of a district or specific program if the staff is often unaware of possible options? (Mary Hunt) 4. How do you handle systems that are geared toward one group over another? (ex. designed for secondary but elementary still must use it) [DaveZukor] 5. What state laws apply to purchasing? (ie. when must a purchase go to bid?) When can and should the state purchasing contract be used? -Doug

C. Costs

1. When evaluating school-info systems how do you determine which will be cost effective for small or personalized districts? (Cindy Walters) 2. Is there one system out there that will do everything in a cost effective manner? (Cindy Walters) (What does this mean? Doug) 3. How could a school district set up a "Technology Rotation" budget to allow for system upgrades, much like a textbook rotation? (Missy Peterson) 4. How can a school district with primarily leased facilities best invest its technology monies and what would be minimal expectations for a site? (Pam O'Connell)

D. Responsible Parties

1. How involved are superintendents and/or principals with technology purchasing decisions? [Scott McLeod] 2. Who is evaluating the systems before the purchase? Are they the same people that will be using it? If not, or if they are just administrating it after purchase, how do they elicit the requirements of the people who will actually be using the system? [JohnBartucz] 3. What role does a technology advisory committee play in the evaluation and adoption of new technologies? At what level should tech decisions be made - by those using them or those maintaining them?

E. Implementation

1. What procedures/policies do schools have in place for adoption of new software and tools? For example, are there any good model schools who have a good checks & balance (teacher/principal wants vs what tech dept. can support?) system in place for purchasing software? [Corey Haugen] 2. Is there a maintenance contract or service agreement for new technology? Is the technology industry-standard or cutting-edge? [David Delong-Riviera] 3. Are technology purchases needed in school's auxiliary services (PayPams, SchoolDude, etc)? (Missy Peterson) 4. What types of models are used for technology, leadership and support, in schools? Are private vendors common in schools? (Pam O'Connell) 5. What should drive the quest for new technology: instructional needs or integration of technology because it is "new" and "neat." [David Delong-Riviera] 6. Should schools purchase software programs that students can use at home and school, such as the music assessment program "SmartMusic," or should families purchase these programs for home use? (J. Dusty Johnson) 7. How can we persuade and motivate teachers and administrators to embrace technology sooner rather than later? Moving gradually is comfortable for people, but with the rapid progression of technology, we end up behind and students pay the price. [Sharon Riehle] 8. How do you evaluate a successful technology implementation? Doug

2. Staff Development

A. Evaluation of Technology Skills

1. How do you prioritize which technology skills faculty and staff need? What skills are considered "minimum" competencies and what skills are considered "advanced"? [JM] 2. How can you be sure staff have a minimal level of skills? (Pam O'Connell)

B. Technology Skills to Enhance Learning

1. Which of these competencies have direct impacts on student outcomes? [JM] 2. How do you know the extent to which faculty utilize their training for the purposes of improving student outcomes? [JM] 3. How much time will instructors need to adapt to and integrate new technologies into lesson plans and teaching strategies? [David Delong-Riviera] 4. How do we get teachers to provide training for students to be able to use classroom technology (of particular concern for students who have had limited access to technology due to poverty, immigration, language skills, etc)? (Monica Howell)

C. Training Methods/Effectiveness

1. What kind of training do schools provide teachers when a new system is purchased? Is training time sufficient? How do teachers feel about the training they receive? [Scott McLeod] 2. What training methods have people found to be most effective in implementing new technologies? [Kevin Champney] 3. Can staff development occur in an online format such as this course? (J. Dusty Johnson) 4. What staff development works the best with very diverse skill levels? What about training a frequently changing staff? (Pam O'Connell) 5. How do you train all stakeholders on multiple tools so that all can be seamlessly integrated? Often this seems counter to training on more educational aspects. [DaveZukor] I want to know this too!! (Cindy Walters) 6. How do you get non-tech people interested in the process at all, when it will affect their daily lives? [JohnBartucz] 7. How do you get teachers who are feeling pressed for time and overworked to get excited and motivated to integrate new technology into the classroom? (Susan Link) 8. How do instructors stay current on copyright and privacy issues affected by new technology? [David Delong-Riviera]

3. Economic Issues

A. Technology Costs

1. Where do products like student management or assessment tools fit into the budget? Who pays? [DaveZukor] 2. Could the expanded use of on-line learning in the K-12 environment be a potential cost saver for a school district? (Matt Robinson) 3. What grant opportunities are available? [Becky Meyer]

B. Technology Upgrades

1. How can barebones technology departments keep pace with increased infrastructure, hardware, software, and data management needs? [DaveZukor] 2. Technology is improving faster than any school budget. How can we know for certain when the time is right to update our technology? (Greg Rien) 3. What is the cost-benefit of using recycled or donated hardware? Is it a more viable long-term solution than purchasing new (and the latest and greatest)? [Kevin Champney]

C. Low-cost or Free Resources

1. What "free" (or virtually free) resources are available to schools to improve the quality of their teaching life (i.e. work smarter using technology)? (Susan Link) 2. How can free and/or open source software be used for school management and operations purposes? [Scott McLeod] 3. What experience have we all had with using open source or online applications with our students (or adults)? [Kevin Champney]

4. School Technology

A. Policies

1. What are the basic and emerging school technology proficiencies that each school should demonstrate to prepare students for post-secondary experiences? (Susan Link) 2. What are the potential benefits and disadvantages of the use of on-line learning in the K-12 environment? (Matt Robinson) THis could go into economic issues as well [Kevin Champney] 3. How are schools balancing the "proper" use of technology with the teaching of the safe use of technology resources (e.g., web filters, access to MySpace, etc). (Matt Robinson) 4. What can be done to maintain policy changes and updates as technology is improved? [David Delong-Riviera] 5. What tips do people have for communicating technology needs to the people with control of the budget? (School boards and the general public.) (RogerWhaley) 6. How much impact does the district have on your technology? For example, do they hand down decrees saying everyone has to switch to a new system or has to increase use of technology in classes or etc? (Monica Howell)

B. Planning

1. I would like to see some technology plans that have worked (relates to DaveZukors "keep pace", and "stakeholder" questions.) I am assuming that planning will help put the stakeholders at ease and get the most bang for the buck. (RogerWhaley) 2. How frequently should a Technology Needs Assessment be conducted in a school district? [Corey Haugen] 3. How can teachers who are not tech-savvy make their needs understood? How do you get super-tech people to listen to them? [JohnBartucz] 4. Is Universal Design for Learning a consideration when making technology decisions in a district? (Pam O'Connell) 5. How can we persuade and motivate teachers and administrators to embrace technology sooner rather than later? Moving gradually is comfortable for people, but with the rapid progression of technology, we end up behind and students pay the price. [Sharon Riehle] 6. I'd be interested to know how other schools use their networks to improve efficiency. Shared department folders, user spaces, student and faculty e-mail accounts etc. Some technical (and philisophical) aspects of school network management. [Kevin Champney]

[2/4 Scott McLeod] Let's see if we can get every question below into one category or another. In other words, we need to get rid of Miscellaneous. We also need to create some subcategories within our main categories. For example, we have 17 questions under Evaluating, Purchasing, and Upgrading Technology. Let's make some subcategories for that category and group questions accordingly. Finally, some questions (e.g., those about Second Life) are very interesting but aren't really about how schools use technology to run themselves (how they use technology systems to improve their efficiency and effectiveness). These questions either need to be reworded or deleted. Let's get our question list all cleaned up by Valentine's Day (Feb. 14), please. We'll then spend the remaining part of February discussing HOW we might go about answering some of these questions, WHAT will be the best ways to present what we learned, and WHO will intersect with which questions / categories / subcategories. [2/5 Dave Zukor] It's admittedly flawed but it was just meant to get the ball rolling. [2/5 Monica Howell] I moved everything that was left in the miscellaneous section into other sections, including Economic Issues and Technology Policies, Planning, and Development, both of which I created. They were the best I could come up with at the time, so please adjust them if you have an idea! [2/9 Matt Robinson] I moved the gaming discussion to "Chit chat" [2/11 Scott McLeod] Maybe we can break up each of the bottom four categories into two or more subcategories? [2/12 Pam O'Connell] I broke up Staff Development into three possible subcategories [2/13] Becky Meyer] I took at try at the Economic aspects. [2/14 Corey Haugen] I took the Getting Stakeholders on Board and disolved it into Staff Development and Implementation/Policies. It seemed like they were primarly geared to how do we get teachers to embrace new technology - In my mind, that is staff development... I also broke up Technology Planning/Polcies/Development into 2 categories instead of the one and moved a couple questions out to other categories. I think that some of the questions in Technology Planning could be moved into Evaluating, Purchasing & Upgrading Technology, but I don't want to go too crazy! :-) [2/18 Dave Zukor] I'm having trouble coming up with ways to find answers that do not revolve around interviewing administrators or tech directors. I'm trying to think of other avenues. Maybe I'll have an epiphany in my sleep tonight. I can hope!! (2/19 Roger Whaley) Dave is right about interviewing tech directors. Maybe we should put together a questionaire. Or is there a tech director's tech director that we could get to field a bunch or questions. Who is the Tiger Woods of these topics? [2/23 JM] No one has mentioned hiring programmers to create a content management system catered to the needs of a school or school district. Under what circumstances might that be cost-effective? Do other schools have that, or just mine? I'm happy to interview the guy who is aligning our K-12 system (2600 students, 4 divisions in an international school) into a system called "My dragonnet." I could probably also find out the total cost of the system from inception. It is a content management system that is still in progress - but being designed to align content in the full K-12 system. It seems like that may be one potential answer to section 4A-4. [2/24 David Delong-Riviera] I host and develop the web site for Minnesota Family & Consumer Science in Education. http://mnfacsed.org I program in PHP (Pre-Hypertext Processor: a scripting language based on the ZEN Scripting Engine http://www.php.net ) using a MySQL Database (Open-Source) http://www.mysql.org. I developed a custom-made content management system I've named Artist Market Publishing (AMP)**. http://amp.artistmarket.org & http://artistmarket.org

The university has an open source Course Management System: MOODLE https://moodle.umn.edu/