Techology Plan

Parts of a technology plan:

*Mission: The main goal intended for all students.
*Vision: What the district plans to accomplish.
*Shared Values: Lesson plans contain all the same values throughout the district and each lesson containing technology.
*Needs Assessment: The school districts explanation of what they want to achieve by using technology and evaluating the grade levels.
*Goals and Strategies: What the school district wants to obtain using technology(Goal) and how they will obtain this goal(Strategy). This section contains specific details as to how this goal will be accomplished.
*Staff Development: Includes professional development opportunities for teachers concerning various areas of technology.
*Budget: Where the money will be coming from and what the money will be used for.
*Monitoring: Keeping track of how the goals are going and whether or not they are meeting the goals.
*Evaluation: This section is to determine how they will evaluate whether or not the plan is working by collecting a variety of data.

I think that a technology plan is beneficial if used correctly and followed closely. The technology plan will help a school district, plan, integrate, and assess the use of technology in a district. The plan will nicely lay out what is needed in the budget for the use of technology and help assess whether or not the school is correctly using technology to enhance performance throughout the district.

Network Operations-Chapter 4

Before reading this chapter I was familiar with Acceptable Use Policies because the class that I am currently taking(Information Security) actually just got done with a chapter pertaining to this. Prior to learning about it in that class, I had a somewhat general idea of AUP's and remember having my students sign and collect them while I was student teaching but never remembered signing one myself. I think when I was in grade school, technology was just starting to make a rise and it wasn't a huge part of our society yet. Now there is more of a need for AUP's in the school system then there was when I was in school.

I am not in an educational system, but I do know that Wilkes has an Acceptable Use Policy, I am just not sure how much this policy is enforced. I have never heard of any incidences involving the AUP. The mailing system that Wilkes uses is Microsoft Outlook. I use this e-mail both at work and at home. At work I can open Outlook on the computer because I have it set up under my name and password when I log on to the computer. When I use the e-mail at home I need to connect to Microsoft Outlook through the Internet.

The most important thing I learned in this chapter was something that was casually mentioned but has great importance. It was the first sentence on page 86. "The success of any netwok is measured best by the end user's level of satisfaction and productivity." So an educational system could have the best possible networking system and resources but if the person doesn't know how to use it, then there is no point. The whole point of technology is for people to get use out of it and use it as a resource, but if the user doesnt know how to access what they need or use it the correct way then the technology is useless and a waste of money. I agree that there should be mandatory workshops to help users understand all aspects of the network.

Desktop Support

I think the most important thing I learned about desktop support is how to save money on purchasing the equipment. When I become a technology coordinator I want to get all of the equipment necessary for the school with the least amount of money spent on it as possible. Something I didn't know before reading this was about vendors that can offer a greater discount to educational institutions. I was not aware of the state government contract with vendors so I would seek these vendors out to get discounts for my school district.

The proper licensing is very important for legal purposes. I learned that if you want a software package you should check to see if you can purchase the machines with the software already installed to save money and time of installation. I also learned to look into site licenses that can all computers throughout an entire building or district can have the software for a particular clost per machine. I didn't even think of how difficult it could be to keep track of which software has been installed and where it is installed for license purposes. After reading I learned how important and difficult this may be and that I can actually get software utilities to help me to keep up and organized with this issue.

Security threats are a HUGE issue when it comes to technology at a school district. I personally had to learn the hard way. With most or all computers being connected to the internet it is important to keep a current virus protection on all machines. This virus software should be updated regularly and it is the technology coordinators job to make sure of this. Not only do you need virus protection on the machines in the school but you also need it on the network. I never even thought of this! I learned you can purchase specific virus software to protect networks and this is just as important if not more than protecting all the computers.

I currently am a student and not in the school system yet but just from reading this have learned that I can get adware and spyware just from visiting websites. I need to update my computers virus protection so I do not end up without a computer again! When I get into a school and they do not have a HelpDesk, I love the idea have having a number teachers and others can call for help and having students interested in technology to be a part of this. It can be a great way for students to get experience and for teachers to have access to help quicker and hopefully be more willing to use it.

Software Selection Forms

I am not at a school right now but have both student taught and subbed at a variety of schools and never have I heard of them using software selection forms. A lot of times I feel the school administration or technology coordinators choose the software without even consulting the teachers. This doesn't make much sense since the teachers are the ones that will be using the software.

I love the idea of a software adoption committee. Having a variety of teachers from different grade levels will really allow for opinions from all angles on specific software. These opinions can be very beneficial in the decision to purchase certain software. Having the teachers fill out software selection forms can break down the negatives and positives of a software program. These forms may help a teacher realize that the software they are requesting really isn't either reasonable price range or even going to accomplish what they want out of it. The forms can also help convince the school that the software IS worth the money. I would love to propose this idea to a school that doesn't have these and see if they would find them beneficial.

Lisa Wasser's Blog ED589

The videos shown in class on a blog and wiki were great! Those videos just go to show how effective technology can be in the classroom. Instead of a teacher having to sit there and explain what exactly something is they can find a video that students can comprehend and be interested in watching.
The discussions in class have already taught me new things and opened my eyes to concepts I never thought about. I can't wait to learn even more about these concepts this semester!