See Appendix F for Hardware/Software Inventory. Main
The gap between the goal and the current reality in the district today.
Community Involvement
The Gap: in community involvement with the technology exist at Prairie Hill school primarily in the area of informing the public as to what is actually happening at the school with technology.
The Strategy: Open labs. Future classes for the community in computers are planned. A bi-monthly technology newsletter featuring student work and news about what happening technologically with students, staff and the community will be published. Another event being considered is a Technology Night, where students can give parents and interested community members a 'tour' of the computer system, the programs used, and student publications. The technology coordinator will be available for questions and answers as well as to seek community input. Students acting as lab assistance. Presence of school on the web.
Engaged Learning
The Gap: that exists in the area of engaged learning is twofold: 1) documentation and the codification of efforts and existing lab practice with Engaged Learning and 2) the infusion of engaged learning incorporating technology in the classroom.
The Strategy: The development of a formal technology curriculum would provide basis to meet both gaps: that of lack of codification of engaged learning practices already in place in the lab and the base line for staff training with infusion of technology as the goal. The primary person responsible for the documentation of 'in place' activities and the training of staff would be the tech coordinator/lab instructor.
Professional Development
The Gap: Although there has been planned staff instruction, for the most part training for staff has been more on a one-to-one basis than in group situations.
The Strategy: Funds need to be allocated to provide for staff release time to be used for training that does not necessarily include the mechanics of a software package but rather time to 'brainstorm' application of the already existing programs to what's happening already in each classroom. Trainings will be held for administration and office staff on the programs/technology involved with lunch count, student record keeping. Training for librarians and staff on Library Automation also will be scheduled.
Substainability.
The Gap: Few gaps exist in the ability of Prairie Hill School District to sustain the delivery of technology to its students and community. The lack of an Internet connection and the aging inventory of the current computers are a concern however.
Very few gaps exist as of this writing between 'where we are' and 'where we want to be'. However this is not to paint a rosy picture. Some gaps do exist.
Internet. Prairie Hill does not have an Internet connection at this time. However plans are being made and Board approval is being sought. It is hoped that the school will be connected by the third quarter of the 1997-98 school year. Staff and community concerns with access to the Internet have been addressed and an Internet Use Policy has been drawn up. Community input via the Technology Committee as well as through parent questionnaires and informal discussion indicate that the community is supportive of telecommunications in the educational environment. Many parents have indicated via the questionnaires that they have computers at home and that their children already have access to the Internet as well as E-mail accounts.
Windows 95 :The computer network is currently stationed by 486 100 MHz computers. These computers are capable of running Windows 3.1 and most Windows Multi Media programs. This gap is not seen at this time as being profound. However the age and speed of the machines will become apparent as time goes by. It is the strong belief of the technology coordinator that technology does not need to be the most up to date, and that even older programs and machines will greatly benefit students when put into the hands of a trained and motivated staff such as that found at Prairie Hill School. Since the computers will be usable as long as there are quality programs to offer to the staff and students and as long as the equipment operates, it is strongly suggested that an ongoing effort to maintain the computers as well as to purchase appropriate programs while they are still available on the market for Windows 3.1.
Staff Development continues at Prairie Hill School with training scheduled during the 97-98 school year in Windows, Word for Windows, Writing to Write, Measurement Time and Money and E-Mail. Training will also be held for the 2nd - 4th grade staff in IBM's Writing to Write. Staff development has also been ongoing with one-on-one sessions with the technology coordinator on an as needed basis. There is a need to train the staff on authoring and student use of creativity software in the classroom setting so that teachers see the benefits of these types of programs in their day-to-day teaching and to create a flow of ideas among the staff as to how to infuse these programs. Training was held in the use of classroom management software (Excelsior 2).
Office Staff. The gap needs to be narrowed in the duties of the office staff. More specifically with lunch data collection and reporting, attendance, and grade reporting. The administration, the office staff and the technology coordinator have viewed various solutions to the problem, sought information and have made plans to narrow this gap with the installation of Kim's Cafe, a program designed to monitor the data associated with the lunch program. Representatives from the software vendor trained office staff, administration and the technology coordinator on the installation and use of this program.
Long range strategies for using computer technology across the curriculum include purchase of software dovetailed to the classroom curriculum, implementing IBM's Process Writing Software Package, ALS's The Accelerated Reader, student created multi-media presentations using PowerPoint and IBM's LinkWay Live, further training for the 2nd through 4th grade teachers in Writing to Write, cataloging the library, incorporating a technology element into the fine arts program, and establishing a scope and sequence of basic and advanced computer skills (Appendix B). Lab time for primary grades and junior high electives are devoted to the skills needed for multi-media authoring, publishing and page layout, computer based fine arts skills, as well as basic skills in typing, math and language arts.
Recent software purchases at the primary/kindergarten level have concentrated on pre-reading and math skills. Middle school purchases have been of programs that compliment the social studies and science curriculums. Copies of Encarta 97 Multimedia Encyclopedia were purchased for all classrooms 4th - 8th grade, the computer lab, and the library. Copies of MicroSoft Bookshelf (CD-Rom) were installed on the computers in the middle school language arts computer, the library, the computer lab, and computers in the 4th and 5th grades. Each student has access via the local area computer network to; a word processor (either MicroSoft Works, Write Along, or MicroSoft Word), graphics (paint and draw) programs, and a page layout program (Express Publishers).
To support the publication and research efforts of the students, a visual communication element has been incorporated with the addition of digital photography and flat-bed scanning. Students photograph, process and publish pictures along with their written text in support of classroom projects, both as 'paper' publications and multi-media programs.
With the addition of Internet access to the school, the Prairie Hill Community of staff and parents see a school of fine arts, research and publication.
Essential Skill #1 - the student as information seeker, navigator and evaluator.
Each of the classrooms, 4th through 8th grade have had a copy of Encarta installed on one of it's six networked computers. MicroSoft Bookshelf has also been installed in each of these classrooms. Social studies reference material on CD-Rom has been purchased and installed on the remaining machines in the Social Studies room. Similar science and language arts based materials on CD-Rom have been purchased and installed in the science. English, and reading rooms. Students use these resources to research projects in these content areas. Material is presented by 'publishing to the screen' with LinkWay Live, a multi-media authoring package, oral presentations using PowerPoint, or by 'publishing to paper' using word-processing and page layout software. Rubrics to evaluate content area have been developed by the classroom teachers and rubrics to evaluate the technology usage have been developed by the technology coordinator/lab teacher. Because Prairie Hill School does not have an Internet connection at this point, student grouping for projects has been set to ensure that at least one student per group has an Internet account at home. Parent cooperation has been enlisted and the technology coordinator's guidance as to Web sites and searches has been proffered to ensure that Internet based resources are incorporated in student work.
Essential Skill #2 - the student as critical thinker and
selector of information.
Student assignments involve the use of technologically based information and more tradition sources. Content of student productions are evaluated with the classroom teacher.
Essential Skill #3 - the student as creator of knowledge using information resources and technology.
Projects are designed to be 'built upon'. That is to say that student work is open ended allowing for consecutive classes to review and add to multi-media and paper based publications developing 'living' student created resources for other students to use and add to. Collections of student created, similar topic, multi-media work is installed on the school's computer network and is available in all of the classrooms. Paper based work is published in quantity.
Essential Skill #4 - the student as effective communicator using a variety of appropriate technologies/media.
Students use a variety of software/hardware tools: multi-media authoring programs, PowerPoint presentation software, page layout programs, CD based research resources, word processors, vector and bitmap editing programs, scanners, and digital cameras to produce their work. Students are expected to determine the appropriateness of each tool for the desire product: i.e. using PowerPoint to create visual aids for an oral presentation, using LinkWay to create presentations for the school's computer network, or using word processors and page layout software to publish a school magazine as well as HTML authoring to support the school's planned presence on the Internet.
Essential Skill #5 - the student as technologist.
A scope and sequence of basic computer skills encompassing word processing, graphics and various publishing techniques has been developed. (Appendix B). These skills are taught, introduced and maintained by the Technology Coordinator/Lab Instructor in the school's computer lab and infused into daily assignments by the classroom teacher. Students are designated 'expert' at various computer skills and functions; i.e. a PowerPoint expert, a scanning expert, web page design, a file managing expert, photographers, etc. Student experts are available to assist and instruct other students as well as teachers in their particular area of expertise.
Essential Skill #6 - the student as a responsible citizen in a technological age.
The districts commitment to this is reflected in the Technology Vision statement. Students are instructed on the appropriate intranet behavior when using the equipment, when using the programs and when dealing with other students in small group activities as well as in an expert capacity. The district has developed policy that reflects this value. An Acceptable Use Policy for the school's network as well as the Internet has been developed by the Technology Coordinator, administration, attorneys and board members.