080107TechSteering


 * Morning (9:15 - 11:45)** -


 * __Strengths__**:
 * A LOT of support if you want to try something new
 * Improving school-wide collaboration (reducing silos)
 * Public Wi-Fi
 * Students (most) have access at home
 * Openness to new ideas
 * What we have is current, in terms of SW and HW tools
 * Motivated faculty and staff
 * SUper teamwork between Tech and Academics
 * Opportunity for professional growth
 * Strong faculty student relationships, sense of USM community, and faculty who genuinely care about students
 * Multiplatform (Windows/PC, Apple/Mac, OpenSource/Linux)
 * Widespread use of blogs, wikis, webpages, moodle, etc (Web2.0), for classroom instruction.
 * Administrative, parent, board, support of investment in technology
 * Hefty budget
 * We have in house expertise
 * Students have a lot of eagerness, an eagerness to help, and are engadged and enjoy technology.


 * __Weaknesses:__**
 * Mentality of seeing technology as usurping curriculum instead of enhancing it.
 * We don't know wat technology actually serves student learning best.
 * The 3 divisions are not on the same page as far as philosophy of incorporating academic technology.
 * Fear - "I don't use technology...Will that threaten job security?"
 * Not enough access for students.
 * Wireless not avaiable in all parts of the building.
 * Highly invested in old models (student access, information access, networks, etc.).
 * Balance of technology and teaching (find that sweet spot).
 * Funds for some families to provide computers for children are limited.
 * What the expectations at USM of teachers, parents, and students, regarding use of technology.
 * What is the philosophy at USM regarding tech use.
 * Not enough seeing the rationale for using 21st century tools for teaching 21st century students.
 * What are the defined best practices to integrate technology into instruction?
 * Scope and sequence of information literacy.
 * Who is teaching computer skills/typing curriculum, online research?
 * Better match of national standards (do our teachers even know about them?)
 * Lack of time for Prof Dev.
 * Opportunities for professional growth are not adequatedly shared with faculty.
 * No accessment of new initiatives or professional development (What worked? What didn't? Why? etc.)
 * Some people are not interested in learning about new trends, tech tools, instruction, willingness to see beyond my classrooom and my tried and true 20th century methods.
 * General difficulties with technology (mac compatabilty, issues with students saving favorites or their files, etc.) that take away from classtime of only 45 minutes.
 * Redundancy in the amount of work that faculty have to do in using new and more tools, also creating more work for students, disorganized colletion of resources for families.


 * __Opportunities__**:
 * Resident faculty experts
 * Phase II
 * Give teachers laptops
 * The sky is the limit. Impact on education of students should be researched and supported.
 * Action research by faculty.
 * Actech opportunites better match branding for future of school.
 * Public Wi-Fi
 * Use technology to bring students together across divisions with Colleges, etc. (tutoring, book clubs, writing partners)
 * Using social networking tools for instruction, collaboration, and communication.
 * Offering online-courses/Virtual Classrooms (i.e. Second Life)
 * Onsite conferences for faculty and outside world done by faculty students.
 * Making all users self suffiicient (troubleshooting, installing, etc.)
 * What specifically are our needs as a school? Let's go for it!! We have the means, take advantage...


 * __Threats__**:
 * Introducing some technologies for technology sake.
 * Falling behind other schools.
 * Falling behind in general (life, society, etc.) if we stay put.
 * Moore's Law (every 18 months is a technology generational change). A commitment to technology, once it starts is forever on going.
 * Technology dependencies on funds ($$$$)
 * Economic downturn
 * Fear (uncertainty and doom...FUD)
 * Generational differences
 * Without a common goal and philosophy, or expectations of our efforts in technology will always remain random.
 * Equity about access for all of our families.
 * Privacy and saftey of our users.
 * Google makes us stoopid. Kids can't read and analyse in a focused and sustained way.
 * Tradition is being undermined by new technologies.
 * Will technology take something away from out interactions (i.e. the human on the Axiom in "Wall-E")


 * Afternoon (12:45 - 2:30)

__CATEGORIES / IDEAS / DIRECTIONS__**
 * **Professional Development (Need)**
 * Accessment of new initiatives, both project related and prof dev.
 * Opportunity for professional growth.
 * Action research by faculty
 * Professional Development (PD) groups - what we have now could grow into peer coaching.
 * Onsite conference for faculty and outside world could be done by internal faculty and students.
 * Opportunities for professional growth are not adequately share with faculty
 * Lack of time for prof dev.


 * **Access and Equity**
 * No student e-mail
 * Give teachers laptops
 * Multiplatform (I don't think that this is access and equity...should be philosophy and rationale?)
 * Administrative and parent support of investment in technology
 * What we have is current in terms of SW and HW tools (smartboards).
 * Public Wi-Fi
 * Students (most) have access at home
 * Most families have money to provide computers for children
 * Not enough access for students in house in current model
 * Highly invested in old models (student access, information access, networks, etc.).
 * Wireless not available in all parts of the building.


 * **Philosophy and Rationale Expectations**
 * Waht is the philosophy at USM regarding technology use?
 * Not enough seeing the rationale for using 21st. century tools for teaching 21st century students.
 * Best Practices to integrate tech into instructions (what are they?)
 * What are the expectations at USM of teachers, parents, and students regarding the use of technology


 * **Scope and Sequence**
 * Scope and sequence of information literacy.
 * Better match of national standards (do our teachers even know about them?)
 * Simple computers for word processing and internet for humanities
 * Digital Citizenship
 * Privacy and safety for all of our users.


 * **Benchmarkings, Assessment, and Evaluation**
 * Actech opportunites better match branding for future of school.
 * Balance of technology and teaching (find that sweet spot).
 * Who is teaching computer skills/typing curriculum, online research?
 * Students are engaged and enjoy technology
 * The sky is the limit. Impact on education of students should be researched and supported.


 * **Physical Space**
 * Phase II
 * Rooms not setup for tech use (US English)
 * General difficulties with technology (mac compatabilty, issues with students saving favorites or their files, etc.) that take away from classtime of only 45 minutes.


 * **Student Achievement**
 * Not enough student collaborative work (outside school)
 * More tech can mean More work for students (WebAssign)
 * We don't know what technology actually servers student learning best.


 * **School Culture**
 * Mentality of seeing technology as usurping curriculum instead of enhancing it.
 * Fear - "I don't user tech. Will that threaten job security?"
 * Some people are not interested in learning about new trends, tech tools, instruction, willingness to see beyond my classrooom and my tried and true 20th century methods.
 * Openness to new ideas
 * Students buy-in and have an eagerness to help.
 * Strong faculty student relationships
 * Faculty have a very strong sense of USM community, and teachers who genuinely care about kids.
 * The three divisions are not on the same page as far as philosophy of incorporating academic technology.
 * Technology has a perception of eating up moreand more time. Does not necessarily create efficiency, but volume.
 * Technology can provide more time for teaching, not less


 * **Resources (Have)**
 * Widespread use of blogs, wikis, webpages, moodle, etc. (Web 2.0) for classroom instruction.
 * Heafty budget.
 * A LOT of support if you want to try something new
 * Technology can create redundancy
 * Disorganized collection of resources for families
 * Using social networking tools for instruction, collaboration, and communicaction.
 * Too many apps
 * We have in house expertise
 * What specifically are our needs as a school? Let's go for it!! We have the means for it.
 * Super teamwork between tech and academics.
 * Confusing organization structure (Scope of positions, roles, etc.)
 * Resident faculty experts
 * Motivated faculty and staff


 * **Sustainablity**
 * One to one


 * **Emerging Trends**
 * Virtual Classrooms (i.e. second life)
 * Offing Online Courses


 * **Collaboration**
 * Use tchnology to bring students together across divisions with collegese, etc. (Tutoring, book clubs, writing partners, etc.)
 * Improving school-wide collaboration - reducing silos


 * __Goal of Process:__

"Develop an actionable plan to enhance student achievement and prepare students to be successfull in an world with unprecidented access to infomation, communication, and connectivity."**


 * __Next Steps:__**


 * Tie to Future Professional Development
 * Active, informational prof dev mty - write our own rational and have faculty read it at the meeting.
 * Narrow the strategies.
 * Prioritize strategies - Prof Dev is FIRST, esp. if we have a plan for summer
 * Develop tactics for all strategies
 * Board Meeting. 15min presentation.
 * Pocus on balance among all parties (faculty, students, parents, etc.)
 * Next meeting


 * __1/21/2009 - Cory's Reorganization of Strategies__**


 * **PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT**
 * Opportunities (including summer)
 * Prof Dev groupings (ongoing)
 * Time
 * In-house and outside expertise
 * **PHILOSOPHY**
 * Rationale for tech use (the changing learner and the 21st Cent. landscape)
 * School culture (mixing need for 21st teaching with established tradition of excellence)
 * Expectations (from all stakeholders)
 * **PHYSICAL RESOURCES**
 * Access (both wireless and machines)
 * Equity
 * Physical space (i.e. Phase II)
 * Storage (server vs. cloud, server vs. machine)
 * Software needs
 * (Added by Chris) Sustainability...
 * **CURRICULUM**
 * Scope and sequence (where is technology being "taught"?)
 * Benchmarks (how do we compare to _? Branding.)
 * Assessment and evaluation (how does tech use change tradition assessment?)


 * 1/23/2009 - CARP Meeting**


 * __Proposed second draft of Tech Plan Strategies:__**


 * **PHILOSOPHY**
 * Rationale for tech use (the changing learner and the 21st Cent. landscape)
 * School culture (mixing need for 21st teaching with established tradition of excellence)
 * Expectations (from all stakeholders)
 * Collaboration
 * Emerging Technologies
 * **PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT**
 * Opportunities (including summer)
 * Prof Dev groupings (ongoing)
 * Time
 * In-house and outside expertise
 * **RESOURCES**
 * Access (both wireless and machines)
 * Equity
 * Physical space (i.e. Phase II)
 * Storage (server vs. cloud, server vs. machine)
 * Software needs
 * Sustainability...
 * **CURRICULUM**
 * Scope and sequence (where is technology being "taught"?)
 * Benchmarks (how do we compare to _? Branding.)
 * Assessment and evaluation (how does tech use change tradition assessment?)
 * Student Achievement


 * __Goal of Process:__

"Develop an actionable plan to enhance student achievement and prepare students to be successful in a world with unprecedented access to information, communication, and connectivity."**


 * __Strategies:__**
 * **PHILOSOPHY - "Create a school wide academic technology philosophy"**
 * **PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT - "Provide professional development opportunities"**
 * **RESOURCES - "Develop a sustainable technology plan"**
 * **CURRICULUM - "Articulate educational technology standards in curriculum and instruction at USM"**

__**Action Steps:**__
 * **PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT**
 * Create formal and informal opportunities for ongoing and embedded PD.
 * Host October 2009 academic technology conference to deepen technology awareness and facilitate professional growth goals.
 * Create and maintain professional development teams centered around common goals.
 * Evaluate PD opportunities provided to faculty members, including faculty feedback in various forms.
 * Create an evaluative process, aligned with new faculty evaluation, for monitoring faculty progress in achieving their technology PD goal.
 * Assess, develop, and use in-house expertise in various areas.
 * Create PD Summer Academy.
 * Collect data (including school visits) about best practices in professional development relating to academic technology.
 * Set an expectation for the creation of annual academic technology PD goals for all faculty.
 * Create parent education academic technology opportunities.


 * **PHILOSOPHY**
 * Research other Academic Technology philosophies.
 * Gather faculty input to help facilitate the creation of a philosophy statement.
 * Draft and share Academic Technology philosophy statement.


 * **CURRICULUM**
 * Conduct an Academic Technology audit and gap analysis of our curriculum. (Internal & External)
 * Investigate and determine appropriate external standards, and compare the existing Academic Technology curriculum to those standards
 * Identify challenges and strengths within the Academic Technology curriculum.
 * Use identifed strengths and challenges to affect PD and curriculum decisions.
 * Establish a system for ongoing research of emerging trends in AT


 * **RESOURCES**
 * Evaluate Technology Member Group Structure.
 * Create Academic Technology Evaluation Group to access up and coming tools and technologies for deployment in USM.
 * Assess and create an accurate picture of student computing technology use and needs from the above Philosophy and Curriculum strategies.
 * Investigate possible change in student computing paradigm (1:1 vs. lab computers).
 * A 1:1 study should include:
 * Operating impact (changes in software licensing, support contracts, depreciation, etc.)
 * Infrastructure impact (changes in network space, wireless access, etc.)
 * Family impact (possible cost increases due to 1:1, financial aid)
 * Support impact (can we do this with our current staff, what vendors will allow us to run our program the way we want to)
 * Academic impact (students and faculty)
 * A Student Lab study should include:
 * Operating impact
 * Infrastructure impact
 * Space considerations (Do we need/get more real estate?)
 * Family impact (how do we pay for more labs? Tech fee?)
 * Make decision on student computing future.
 * Investigate changes to budget distrubutions with regard to technology.
 * Investigate possible shift from local/lan based group sharing to more cloud based enviornment.
 * Funding for PD opportunities, etc.

__NEXT STEPS:__

1. Create Action steps for three remaining strategies:
 * Philosophy - Cory and Nikki
 * Resources - Chris
 * Curriculum - Cory and Nikki

2. Schedule TSC meetings from now till end of school year - Gregg and Chris.

3. Create Board Tech Presentation - Gregg, Chris, Cory, and Nikki.**