5.1 Needs Assessment
Candidates conduct needs assessments to determine school-wide, faculty, grade-level, and subject area strengths and weaknesses to inform the content and delivery of technology-based professional learning programs.
Candidates conduct needs assessments to determine school-wide, faculty, grade-level, and subject area strengths and weaknesses to inform the content and delivery of technology-based professional learning programs.
The artifact for this standard was created for ITEC 460, Professional Learning and Technology. For this assignment, I selected an English teacher who I knew to use a lot of technology in her classroom, making frequent visits to the media center and computer labs. I assessed her level of technology integration and readiness through 2 surveys, a LOTI Teacher Questionnaire and a Individual Teacher Technology Use Assessment. In addition, I inventoried the technology available to her and her students in the classroom.
After analyzing the survey results, conducting my inventory, and engaging in conversations to set the foundations of a coaching partnership, I determined the teacher was an early adopter of instructional technology. Though she already used a lot of technology in her instruction, there were areas she wanted to explore such as: the opportunity for students to collaborate online; ways to go paperless; ways to use her SMART Board more interactively; ways to use her document camera more interactively; and training in Office 365.
As a result of conducting my individual needs assessment, I formed a partnership with a teacher which led to innovations such as using Wikispaces for student collaboration, exploring SMART Board Exchange lessons, and incorporating Google Drive for student collaboration and for creating a paperless classroom.
Through this artifact I demonstrate master of Standard 5.1 by distributing and analyzing an individual teacher technology assessment and a LOTI Teacher Questionnaire to determine the strengths and weakness of one teacher with whom I developed a coaching partnership to improve teaching and learning through technology.
The work I performed for this artifact taught me the value of using needs assessments to inform and direct the content and delivery of technology-based professional learning programs, in this case, a coaching partnership. As a result, I am better able to determine the current reality of technology use in the classroom and begin coaching at a level which matches the teacher’s readiness and comfort level. If I were to change anything in this experience, I would try to be present more in the classroom for observation before I began coaching instead of simply survey and then meeting with the teacher one-on-one as my assessment. I believe actively observing how the students were using technology before planning new instruction combined with the teachers assessments and conversations would have given me better insight into the needs of the teacher and the students.
The work I completed for this artifact impacted faculty development by addressing the technology needs of an individual teacher and teaching her ways to incorporate digital tools to enhance student learning. As a result, student learning was also impacted as students learned new digital age skills and collaborated online for authentic learning experiences. It also impacted my own faculty development by giving me a successful coaching experience from which I can learn and improve as a technology coach.
After analyzing the survey results, conducting my inventory, and engaging in conversations to set the foundations of a coaching partnership, I determined the teacher was an early adopter of instructional technology. Though she already used a lot of technology in her instruction, there were areas she wanted to explore such as: the opportunity for students to collaborate online; ways to go paperless; ways to use her SMART Board more interactively; ways to use her document camera more interactively; and training in Office 365.
As a result of conducting my individual needs assessment, I formed a partnership with a teacher which led to innovations such as using Wikispaces for student collaboration, exploring SMART Board Exchange lessons, and incorporating Google Drive for student collaboration and for creating a paperless classroom.
Through this artifact I demonstrate master of Standard 5.1 by distributing and analyzing an individual teacher technology assessment and a LOTI Teacher Questionnaire to determine the strengths and weakness of one teacher with whom I developed a coaching partnership to improve teaching and learning through technology.
The work I performed for this artifact taught me the value of using needs assessments to inform and direct the content and delivery of technology-based professional learning programs, in this case, a coaching partnership. As a result, I am better able to determine the current reality of technology use in the classroom and begin coaching at a level which matches the teacher’s readiness and comfort level. If I were to change anything in this experience, I would try to be present more in the classroom for observation before I began coaching instead of simply survey and then meeting with the teacher one-on-one as my assessment. I believe actively observing how the students were using technology before planning new instruction combined with the teachers assessments and conversations would have given me better insight into the needs of the teacher and the students.
The work I completed for this artifact impacted faculty development by addressing the technology needs of an individual teacher and teaching her ways to incorporate digital tools to enhance student learning. As a result, student learning was also impacted as students learned new digital age skills and collaborated online for authentic learning experiences. It also impacted my own faculty development by giving me a successful coaching experience from which I can learn and improve as a technology coach.