Technology Improvement Plan 1

Technology Improvement Plan for Andrews Elementary

Olivia Foy

Coastal Carolina University

EDIT 760, D1

April 24, 2022

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Introduction

As technology continues to play a crucial role in the education of students, it is important

to ensure that schools have proper programs and resources available. All students learn

differently and schools are responsible for providing the best education possible. Technology, as

we know, is constantly evolving based on updated research and adapting to the needs of the

classes. As programs and software are being redesigned each year and curriculum continue to

change, schools need to keep in mind that data needs to be constantly analyzed to determine

future trends and possible modifications that need to be made. Districts need to be updated on

necessary professional development for staff members concerning programs that are already in

practice and future goals that will soon be in place. Committees should reflect on vision plans for

the school in terms of how technology will assist in the learning process of students. Technology

leaders are responsible for determining the resources that should be allocated to grade levels and

how classrooms are expected to incorporate technology into their lessons. Only by all

stakeholders working together, can a school function effectively in terms of technology.

With so much emphasis being placed on technology, there is always corrections that will

need to be made in terms of how schools are implementing these resources in their daily

function. No school is going to perfectly integrate technology into their curriculum which is why

technology plans needs to be implemented to ensure that ongoing modifications are being made

to better adapt these programs and tools more efficiently than previously before. All schools

require a updated technology plan based on current trends and data analyzed based on the

progress of the school. Administration and other technology leaders should play a key role in the

collaboration of the technology plan and the effects that will gear how changes will be conducted

in the future. No technology plan should be made without careful consideration of all factors
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involved and possible solutions that will be beneficial to all stakeholders. According to Martin

(2021), a technology plan allows schools the opportunity to enhance their use of technology

based on shared goals and their vision statement. A technology plan allows schools to be creative

in their understanding and problem-solving concerning recent issues involving technology. It

should reflect the vision of all stakeholders and have set goals that are capable of being obtained

within the future years.

At Andrews Elementary School, we develop several plans each year based on technology

and curriculum. The plan is designed by the administration team and other technology leaders in

my school and then is shared with all other staff members for feedback before being

implemented the following year. Even though I feel that my school does a great job handing

issues that are arising in each grade level in terms of student progress, there are several issues

that I feel still need to be addressed, especially on a more district level. As a school, we are

continuously updating the technology each year, which is a positive ideal, however we are not

taking into consideration the amount of resources that will be needed. This year as my school has

upgraded their chromebooks and boards in the school, we experience a shortage that my school

has not been able to address based on what has been provided by the district. Teachers are also

experiencing shortage in devices used for teaching. Students who are having to participate in

online learning through the virtual program or homebound are not able to access their class many

times throughout the year due to internet connectivity and lack of computers to switch out if

there is something wrong with the one they currently have at home. Students who do have access

to computers are not participating in proper digital citizenship while in class and therefore are

not turning in assignments on time. Lastly, as schools are emphasizing new technology programs

each year to adapt to classroom instruction, it can lead to numerous resources that teachers are
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not able to properly have time in class to incorporate into their lessons or are not able to

effectively implement these resources as it has not been properly modeled by professionals.

These issues will be discussed in the remainder of this report in more detail.

Technology Plan

As schools are becoming more and more reliant on technology to fit the needs of all their

learners, a strong technology plan needs to be evident to focus on the goals that need to be met

and actions that need to be taken. Technology plans will be modified each year as the needs in

the school will continue to change. At my school, we have a steadily evolving technology plan in

place each year. My administration strives to ensure that all the needs are met by collaborating

with staff members to ensure that all necessary changes are present. Several of the issues that

will be mentioned in this plan have been discussed before but new solutions need to be

considered as many were still not able to be addressed as limited by the district.

One issue that has been mentioned before is the limitation of wifi connectivity in homes

as my district is still determined to continue with virtual programs. While many students were

virtual last year and part of this year, we ran into a shortage of wifi boxes to provide to the

families. Whenever we reached out to the district about this concern, we had to wait until more

boxes, if there were more available, were sent from the district to the families. I had several

parents that told me that they had to ask the district several times before one was finally sent to

them. As more and more students are having to learn online, it is important that schools are

doing their best to provide families with the appropriate resources needed to learn at home. To

handle this issue, I would recommend that the school apply for more funding to have wifi boxes

on hand themselves without having to wait on the district to provide them as the district has to

meet the needs of all the schools and boxes will quickly run out. Our technology leaders can
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apply for several boxes to keep on hand in the library for families who can then check out the

hotspots and return them at the end of the interval in which the child is attending online classes.

DonorsChoose is a great organization that schools use in collaboration with nonprofit

organizations to provide resources for students. It does not cost anything for the person who

signs up the account and in turn, if the project is funded, other nonprofit organizations will

provide the funding needed to buy the materials. The school just needs to submit thanks you

letters and proof that it is being used appropriately. Any of the technology leaders could start the

project and once it is funded, it can be used by anyone at the school.

Another issue present similar to the limitation of wifi connectivity is the shortage of

laptops in the school. While the newer devices my school currently own are more updated on

technology trends, there is not enough if replacements are needed or if we receive new students.

Each class is given a set amount of computers for the students to use and if the student is out of

school for any reason, they are expected to take the computer home to use. If that computer is

damaged in any way, they have to bring it back to school to be fixed. Some damages take longer

than others to address and if there is not enough laptops, then the student has to wait to continue

their assignments once the computer is fixed. This can be a problem for students who are virtual

and need to be on the computer for class daily. Teachers usually use more than one device when

connecting to their board or maintaining class on google meet where they can navigate the lesson

on one computer and monitor their class on the other one at all times. This year, teachers were

only given one computer and has to use their teacher laptop for conducting class online and

managing assignments at the same time, which can be stressful. An easy solution now that

teachers were given new boards in their classrooms, smart tv boards connected to chromeboxes,

is to use the teacher board to pull up google meet to monitor the class using a webcamera while
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navigating class assignments on the teacher laptop. This is a simple solution as each of the

teachers in my school were given webcams with their board if it was needed. However, in order

to help with the limited number of student chromebooks, the school would need to do something

similar to the first issue with the wifi boxes. They would need to apply for additional funding for

a set number of computers, even if it is a class set of computers that is kept in the media center

for use when needed. Donors Choose again is a possible solution as well as providing students

with ipads if they are at school. My school has an ipad cart that is kept for some of the classes to

use. We could order another one for replacement computers since ipads sometimes can be

cheaper. Title One could also apply through the district for more funding but this has to be

completed by administration if there is funding available. In addition, there are other programs

available such as Digital Wish and the funding provided through organizations such as Computer

for Learning. As the organizations are funded by non-profit organizations, there would be no cost

for the school. Additional training would not be required by staff since the technology for the

first and second issue are already in place and used regularly in our school.

A third issue in our school is need for students learn more about digital citizenship. Many

of the students who are completing assignments online are starting to focus more on playing

games instead of following the assignment with the teacher or even submitting the assignments

on time. As a virtual teacher, I had to constantly monitor my students to ensure they were on the

correct assignment that I was teaching at the moment and was actually following along. This is

harder to maintain when students are virtual or when completing assignments several times

throughout the day. Students are also focusing more on commenting to their classmates while on

google meet or google classroom instead of focusing on discussion pertaining to class. One way I

had to monitor this the last couple of year was to adjust the setting on google classroom for the
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students to only be able to send comments to me about the assignments and could not see each

other comments. While on google meet, I usually have the comment option left out of the meet

so the students can just unmute their microphone to ask me questions instead of focusing too

much on typing in the chat box. One resource to help with this issue that I used last year and this

year is GoGuardian. It syncs the student’s computer to the teacher account so that the teacher can

send what is on the student computer at all times. The teacher can even close and open tabs for

students to help them stay on top of assignments and send announcements to the class or

individual students that will stay on the student’s screen until they view and respond. This helped

tremendously last year ensuring internet safety with my students. GoGuardian can be purchased

through the district or individual schools. Training was provided by teachers who already had the

resource before so they could share the information with the other staff members in simple steps

based on questions they had. This tool also helped with the chat issue as well. Since students

could not message on the google meet, they could send me a message on GoGuardian that would

only send to me and show up immediately on my computer.

The fourth issue being addressed in this report is the adoption of overwhelming

technology programs during the school year. Even though technology is important in education,

it is not wise to try to incorporate too many new programs that teachers are not able to effectively

implement in their classrooms. Instead, a technology team needs to be in place that consist of

representatives of each grade level and administration to discuss possible technology resources

and which ones would be more beneficial to implement. Before numerous new tools are adapted

into the school curriculum, we must ensure that enough data is analyzed on the ones being used

currently and reflect on whether they need to be modified first. This leads to issue five which is

the modeling of these new programs in classrooms. Teachers are given many new resources each
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year to help with the teaching of content to all learners. Most trainings consist of a brief meeting

with a professional on what the program is and the components. Then the teacher is expected to

take the program and adapt it to their classroom of learners. Unfortunately, many teachers are

uncertain of how to effectively implement these programs or find out too late that they are not

use the resources correctly. Many of these tools have been used before in the school, such as

IReady or Discovery Education, so most training can be completed just as effectively by staff

members of that school who has used the program and can make suggestions to their coworkers

instead of always bringing in professionals for just one day. Meetings could be conducted in

several sections so teachers can go back and try out the information for that meeting in their

actual classroom and bring back any concerns or reflections to the next meeting. Most programs

also provide teachers the opportunity to become certified in that area of expertise, most of the

time for free or for a small fee. I am certified in EdPuzzle and Google software and am in the

process of completing my training in Safari Montage, all online and through the program

website. Administration could also provide rewards or incentives for their staff members to

become certified in the necessary tools being used in the school, which would also allow teachers

to feel more confident in using the resources in the classroom.

Summary

Technology is very important in helping meet the needs of all learners. As schools strive

to find the best technology available, they also need to ensure that all concerns are being

addressed in helping to maintain the effectiveness of the school’s technology goals. If technology

plans are not being updated to reflect the best practices for the students, then many will fall

behind in their education. Teachers can also start to feel overwhelmed with the amount of issues
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they are having to address. Only by making the necessary changes can the school continue to be

successful.

By providing students and families with the amount of resources they need to conduct

their online learning, students can continue to participate in class meetings and discussions as

well as continue to learn the content provided to them by the teacher to master grade-level

standards. By obtaining additional funding as mentioned in the report to purchase additional

technology resources, the school will not have to worry about the time it take for chromebooks to

be sent back from being repaired and families not being able to access instruction online. By

purchasing GoGuardian, we can cut down on the amount of students not completing assignments

or the amount of time it takes for teachers to reteach lessons due to students not focusing. Even

though this may require additional subscriptions being purchased by the school, this program is

important for the teachers to have and contains many benefits. By having teachers train in the

programs being implemented in the curriculum, teachers will feel more confident in the use of

these tools and can provide better feedback on the effectiveness of these programs. This will also

provide more efficient training of other staff members when it is by a coworker that they see

everyday and uses the resources in the same manner.

Overall, I feel that this technology plan will be beneficial in meeting the goals for my

school that is not already addressed in previous plans and goals. Most of the solutions are simple

to fix and can be easily implemented among the school members. As an educator, I believe that

all students should be afforded the opportunity to a quality education. This includes the right of

all students to the access of technology and teachers the right to feel confident in the resources

being used in their classrooms. By everyone working together, the school will function

efficiently.
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References

Martin, J. (2021, October 18). Four Reasons Your School Needs a Strategic EdTech Plan.

Vartek. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://vartek.com/4-reasons-you-need-a-

strategic-etech-plan/