Standard 1.1 Shared Vision
Candidates facilitate the development and implementation of a shared vision for the use of technology in teaching, learning, and leadership. (PSC 1.1/ISTE 1a)
Artifact: shared vision
Technology has always been a passion of mine whether in the classroom or not. Throughout the years, I was always looked at as a technology leader within my schools. When coming to Paulding County, I was put on the district’s technology committee my first year with the district. Working with other teachers who shared a passion for technology in education was a joy to be apart of. We understood the importance of technology within the classrooms, and understanding the deficit we had a a district, BYOT was the next best thing. Creating a BYOT contract and guidelines for the district to follow was an important part of our plan, and we executed it successfully. It was now up to the teachers to implement.
My shared vision for technology within education is to have my school or district to have a 1:1 student to technology ratio. If technology cannot be purchased for all students, we must push students and parents to bring your own technology (BYOT) With our district offering each teacher and students access to the educational platform Canvas, teachers can create courses, modules, pages, and other assignments on Canvas and students can complete the work as partners, groups, or individuals, turn in assignments, and receive instant feedback. Parents are also able to receive feedback and grades for their children within the Canvas parent app or by signing in to Canvas online. According to ISTE, Effective technology implementation requires a clear vision of where the organization is headed and what it will take to get there. (ISTE Essential Conditions) As a district, we must prepare students for future jobs, and computers and technology knowledge will play a major role in these jobs.
Most secondary students have access to either a cell phone or tablet, as well as some intermediate elementary school students (grades 3-5). In order to facilitate the use of BYOT, the county developed teachers a BYOT contract for parents, teachers, and students to sign. Students can easily connect to the internet with the same information they log onto school computers with. Students do not need to be persuaded to bring their technology to school, but the parents do. A study conducted by Kiger and Herro stated that most parents of high performing schools are more likely allowing their children to BYOT to school, while lower-performing schools may not want their children BYOT with fears of something happening to the device.
The county technology committee created a BYOT contract for all schools to utilize. The BYOT contract was facilitated and developed during the 2016-2017 school year. The team met four times during the school year, made up of one teacher from each school, including all elementary, middle, and high schools. Each member of the team was to implement BYOT within their classrooms and provide feedback to the committee so changes can be made. Being one of those teachers, my team quickly became interested and assisted me with the implementation of BYOT. As a result, we managed to improve our technology to student ratio from 1:8 to 1:2. According to our technology committee meetings, there were similar results based on discussions we had among the group. During the 2017-2018 school year, we introduced the contract to the county. We also shared that individual teachers or schools may want to develop rules and procedures for their schools and that the county contract was generic to what the county expects.
One thing that I learned is that BYOT is difficult to implement at the elementary level. Having taught 5th grade, students were excited about the BYOT opportunity, but parents were not so sure about the idea. We introduced the information at the open house before school started and reinforced the idea during the first conference. We had little participation as a school for the first year. After the first year, parents saw what we were doing as a team and the procedures we had in place, partially from the assistance of substitute teachers who were also parents of students, and BYOT became more popular the following school year. However, we were still not at our 1:1 ratio goal. The best ratio we managed to get to was 1:2, but not every day. One thing I would do differently would be to conduct a parent meeting that explains all of our rules and procedures when it comes to BYOT in our classrooms and school. After seeing and hearing from the teachers how it works, we may have more participation. I would also have parents participate in a lesson where we would use BYOT so they will have an understanding of how students will use their devices in the classroom.
The impact it had on student learning was interesting. Students used computers more often in class, whether it was their own device or a school computer. Their typing skills improved throughout the school year, preparing them for the Georgia Milestones Assessment that they take on computers. When looking at student writing scores from their third-grade year through their fifth-grade year, writing scores improved. While we can look at lessons taught, I believe it was their typing skills that improved their scores. Most writing done in class is handwritten, since the often used computers in class, their typing improved, making it easier to complete the writing portion of the Milestones.
References
https://id.iste.org/connected/standards/essential-conditions/shared-vision?_ga=2.229173396.906821729.1580340266-1428003213.1580340266
Kiger, D. & Herro, D (Oct. 2015). Bring Your Own Device: Parental Guidance (PG) Suggested:
TechTrends. Vol. 59, Number 5 p. 51-61
Paulding County School District BYOT contract: https://www.paulding.k12.ga.us/Page/25004
My shared vision for technology within education is to have my school or district to have a 1:1 student to technology ratio. If technology cannot be purchased for all students, we must push students and parents to bring your own technology (BYOT) With our district offering each teacher and students access to the educational platform Canvas, teachers can create courses, modules, pages, and other assignments on Canvas and students can complete the work as partners, groups, or individuals, turn in assignments, and receive instant feedback. Parents are also able to receive feedback and grades for their children within the Canvas parent app or by signing in to Canvas online. According to ISTE, Effective technology implementation requires a clear vision of where the organization is headed and what it will take to get there. (ISTE Essential Conditions) As a district, we must prepare students for future jobs, and computers and technology knowledge will play a major role in these jobs.
Most secondary students have access to either a cell phone or tablet, as well as some intermediate elementary school students (grades 3-5). In order to facilitate the use of BYOT, the county developed teachers a BYOT contract for parents, teachers, and students to sign. Students can easily connect to the internet with the same information they log onto school computers with. Students do not need to be persuaded to bring their technology to school, but the parents do. A study conducted by Kiger and Herro stated that most parents of high performing schools are more likely allowing their children to BYOT to school, while lower-performing schools may not want their children BYOT with fears of something happening to the device.
The county technology committee created a BYOT contract for all schools to utilize. The BYOT contract was facilitated and developed during the 2016-2017 school year. The team met four times during the school year, made up of one teacher from each school, including all elementary, middle, and high schools. Each member of the team was to implement BYOT within their classrooms and provide feedback to the committee so changes can be made. Being one of those teachers, my team quickly became interested and assisted me with the implementation of BYOT. As a result, we managed to improve our technology to student ratio from 1:8 to 1:2. According to our technology committee meetings, there were similar results based on discussions we had among the group. During the 2017-2018 school year, we introduced the contract to the county. We also shared that individual teachers or schools may want to develop rules and procedures for their schools and that the county contract was generic to what the county expects.
One thing that I learned is that BYOT is difficult to implement at the elementary level. Having taught 5th grade, students were excited about the BYOT opportunity, but parents were not so sure about the idea. We introduced the information at the open house before school started and reinforced the idea during the first conference. We had little participation as a school for the first year. After the first year, parents saw what we were doing as a team and the procedures we had in place, partially from the assistance of substitute teachers who were also parents of students, and BYOT became more popular the following school year. However, we were still not at our 1:1 ratio goal. The best ratio we managed to get to was 1:2, but not every day. One thing I would do differently would be to conduct a parent meeting that explains all of our rules and procedures when it comes to BYOT in our classrooms and school. After seeing and hearing from the teachers how it works, we may have more participation. I would also have parents participate in a lesson where we would use BYOT so they will have an understanding of how students will use their devices in the classroom.
The impact it had on student learning was interesting. Students used computers more often in class, whether it was their own device or a school computer. Their typing skills improved throughout the school year, preparing them for the Georgia Milestones Assessment that they take on computers. When looking at student writing scores from their third-grade year through their fifth-grade year, writing scores improved. While we can look at lessons taught, I believe it was their typing skills that improved their scores. Most writing done in class is handwritten, since the often used computers in class, their typing improved, making it easier to complete the writing portion of the Milestones.
References
https://id.iste.org/connected/standards/essential-conditions/shared-vision?_ga=2.229173396.906821729.1580340266-1428003213.1580340266
Kiger, D. & Herro, D (Oct. 2015). Bring Your Own Device: Parental Guidance (PG) Suggested:
TechTrends. Vol. 59, Number 5 p. 51-61
Paulding County School District BYOT contract: https://www.paulding.k12.ga.us/Page/25004