Meeting Thursday May 17, 2007

The second meeting of the Elmwood Technology Focus group took place on May 17th.

In attendance: Ilene, Michael, Bridget, Elisa, Anne-Marie A., Jane, Mary H., Catherine, Kathi G., Denise, Ann Marie D.

Questions Addressed:

• What are the skills necessary for students in the 21st century?
• What does technology integration look like for us at Elmwood today?
• What is Hopkinton Public School's vision of technology integration?
• How can we make better use of our lab?

A slideshow was presented to the group that focused on Hopkinton Public School's vision of technology integration. The skills necessary for students in the 21st century were discussed. We watched a short interview with Thomas Friedman presented on the Jim Lehrer News Hour. Mr. Friedman discussed outsourcing and the loss of jobs to Americans. He also discussed how important the skills of collaboration, effective communication, problem solving, inventing and creating would be in the future.

Feedback from staff in regards to technology at Elmwood was addressed. Our grade representatives, Anne-Marie A. and Denise mentioned these issues/suggestions:

• iPass - issues with connectivity at home, cutting and pasting
• lab usage - more open flexible access, more flexibility at beginning and end of lab time
• equality of color printing
• classroom computers - need more memory
• hardware - needs to be more functional
• confusion over the role of the technology specialist
• communication with staff about hardware and software issues
• less emphasis on podcasting, blogging - greater emphasis on learning about programs such as Word, Publisher, and PowerPoint
• technology integration specialist needs to be in the lab for the beginning of all lab classes
• What is the technology curriculum? What should teachers be teaching?
• When software is updated, it needs to be updated in the classroom also.

Ann Marie D. addressed some of these issues.

• The technology standards are being reviewed and revamped by the technology department. They will be presented to teachers upon completion.
• The philosophy of HPS states that technology should be used as a tool to effectively deliver the curriculum.
• HPS's vision of the role of the technology specialist: to work with teachers to design learning experiences within the units they are teaching, and to help teachers use technology within their classrooms.
• We are working towards understanding why some of the technological issues in the lab have been happening. Lori has been making some changes to see if they help solve some of these problems. She will be creating a new image for the computers this summer.

We wrestled with the question of how we should schedule the lab for next year. No clear consensus was reached.

What we concluded:

• There was great confusion on curriculum. It seems that some teachers were given technology standards last year which they believed to be the "technology curriculum" they were expected to teach. We discussed that there is no technology curriculum, rather it should be used within the curriculum you teach. This should be clarified for all staff.
• How do we best communicate the vision of technology integration to all staff?
• Professional development will be necessary that focuses on how to teach units that infuse technology. How is this best done?
• Time is needed for teachers and the technology specialist to design units that integrate technology.
• We hope to explore ways for all students to have these common learning experiences.

Questions to Think About for Next Time:

• How can we, as a team of educators, move in a positive fashion towards this common vision of technology integration?
• How can we lend support to one another in the process?
• What kinds of professional development opportunities are necessary?
• How can we best convey HPS's technology vision to all staff?
• What should the scheduling of the lab look like?

The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Monday June 11th from 2:45-4:15. Please feel free to enter comments on this blog page. You may do so anonymously. You can also email any of the members of this committee with any of your concerns or suggestions.

Meeting April 26, 2007

The text below are the minutes from our first meeting of the Elmwood Technology Focus Group. We have and will continue to add links to articles and other information. Please feel free to write comments on our blog. We welcome your input as we strive to come up with a plan for technology integration and action steps to take at Elmwood School.

We held the first Meeting of the Elmwood Technology Focus Group on Thursday, April 26, 2007. Members in attendance are listed below. Bonnie M. is also a member of our group.

In attendance: Bridget D., Anne-Marie A., Elisa B., Denise M., Kathi G., Catherine J. Mary H., Ilene S., Michael G., Greg M., Lori B., Ann Marie D.

Purpose:
Review the district’s “Technology Action Plan” for 2006-2009 approved by the school committee last year, available on the Internet:
http://www.hopkinton.k12.ma.us/newweb2/departments/technology.php

Each school in Hopkinton except Center School is setting up a technology focus group to set goals and action steps which align with the district plan.

Philosophy of Technology Integration at Hopkinton Public Schools:
- Skills should be taught in the context of learning
- Technology should enhance learning
- Technology should be integrated, not taught separately

Goals of Committee:
- Identify strengths/weaknesses of Elmwood and decide how to address these within context of Hopkinton’s District Technology Plan
- Set action steps to be implemented and periodically evaluated
- Final decisions backed by research and in line with Hopkinton’s technology vision & philosophy
- Disseminate information and accept input of Elmwood staff through blog, emails, surveys, face-to-face communication, etc.
- Open and honest communication

Conditions for successful tech integration:
- Teacher or facilitator needs to have comfort level with technology.
- Technology available is appropriate for everyone.
- Adequate training for faculty for software in the lab
- Make sure everyone knows where technology is available.
- Software is appropriate for group of children despite reading levels, and tech exposure at home (equal access).
- Equitable across each classroom – Right now there are different levels of exposure at each grade level, no one is teaching the same thing.
- Should all students be exposed to certain pieces of software at each grade level?
- Standards (state standards – Hopkinton standards to be presented when completed)
- If not enough support for teachers, need to be realistic about goals.
- Forty-minute time in lab is challenging – How do we make it work for teachers? (Longer periods, more flexibility?)
- Hopkinton is moving towards more mobile labs for just in-time technology, can be used within subject areas, technology is not a subject.

Key Points of an Alan November Technology Conference:
He states the following are what kids need to be successful in the 21st century:
- Information Literacy (ability to process large amounts of information)
- Global Communication (whatever, whenever, wherever with whomever)
- Self-directed learners who can collaborate with others

Key to integrating technology is the pedagogy- “What makes a good teacher?”
- constructivist approach to learning
- There’s a need to learn how to infuse technology, can’t just put technology into classrooms & instruct teachers on how to use application programs (model learning with technology).

Questions:
When and how do we provide time to train teachers?
What should these professional development learning experiences look like?
How does the lab fit in?
How does the mobile lab fit in?

Suggested book to read, Good to Great

Areas in Need of Improvement at Elmwood School:
- Invest in newer hardware
- More flexible access
- Sufficient access (one mobile lab not enough)
- Increase technical support
- Make building wireless
- Examine use of lab
- What are expectations at each grade level? – (technology changes often)
- Teach kids skills within the context of learning
- Guaranteed common learning experience (What are they at each grade level)
- Professional Development - How? (within curriculum time? after school?) (through different models) What? Sharing? (binders, blogs, etc.)
- Technology used as assessment

Strengths/Improvements in Technology at Elmwood School:
- Teachers have skills and knowledge of technology
- Willing to build on this good foundation
- Labs
- Blogging and podcasting – taking risks to explore new tools of Web 2.0
- District has great website
- Beginning to see different opportunities to integrate within the curriculum
- Teachers willing to speak up
- Technology specialist providing opportunities for technology infusion
- Better communication
- Installation of book in computer lab to collect data

The message conveyed was "Crawl, Walk, Run"
Next Meeting: Thursday, May 17 - 2:45-4:15pm