| Transcript: Glenn Gurley: This Town Meeting will focus on the sharing of what has been learned by the implementation of proposals in the first two years of the Technology Literacy Challenge Grant funding. Our guests are Debbie Core, Mary Forrest, Carrie Kirby, and Diana Skinner... I would like each guest to give an introductory statement about their grant. |
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Carrie: Good afternoon to all of you from the Land of Waterfalls. I'm Carrie Kirby, Instructional Technology Facilitator for Transylvania County. I have taught 20+ years in elementary, middle, and high school settings...for eight years, I was Media Specialist at T.C.Henderson Elementary. ..Thank you for allowing us to share today. A little background information... Last spring our Director of Technology, Donys-Kaye Merrill and I set about the task of writing a TLCF proposal. We knew we were needy ...perhaps we didn't realize just how needy until we began this process...Our focus is staff development -- involving curriculum, collaboration and communication. Our system and community have provided more than adequate hardware and software... C3 monies have employed two C3 Trainers -- and they are in the schools with teachers and students --- providing technical and instructional support on a daily basis... On the staff development end, we offer county classes and will launch an online component this month --- for teachers and students...I enjoy challenges and have found that implementation of our technology grant certainly meets that criteria. |
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| Mary Forrest: I've gone through
several job descriptions and titles since I began working with the technology program in
Carteret County Schools in 1986. My current title is director of media and technology. I
view the job as primarily project based. I plan for and work with several budgets,
supervise the work of a technical support staff of six, and work with sixteen media
coordinators and eight instructional technology coordinators. Carrie: Mary, that sounds like a dream. Mary Forrest: The TLCG project in Carteret County is in the category of staff |
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Debbie Core: I have been in Gaston County for 20 + years. I have been a media specialist at the elementary and middle school levels. I am currently in Technology Support Services. The TLCF Grant has been implemented in Gaston County for two years. The Comprehensive Technology Staff Development is a layered approach to teaching teachers technology. There are four layers. The four layers are Layer 1: Foundation, which is the awareness and acquisition of basic level skills; Layer 2: Preparation, which prepared teachers for integration for technology...Layer 3: Integration, demonstration and portfolio development; and Layer 4: Pinnacle, open forum and meaningful professional dialogue. |
| CCC Lab: Diana Skinner, I have been
with middle school and technology for 12 years in Wayne County. I left the classroom to do
staff development. I left Wayne to come to Johnston County to facilitate the TLCG. Our
focus is to support teachers as they begin to implement the text writers. As a resource
person I can assist teachers upon demand. Hi David - I remember the graduate years at
State. David Warlick: Hi, I'm David Warlick and I am a free agent educator -- ex teacher, ex CO Administrator and ex DPI Consultant..... no grants, just wanting to learn more! CCC Lab: We are finding that the repeated and creative use of Alpha Smarts is leading the teachers to investigate and integrate other technologies. The students take the AS2000s home and through this many parents are exposed to non-threatening technology. |
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Glenn Gurley: Here is the first question -- What technology staff development practices have you found successful? CCC Lab: KISS - keep it simple. When held after school no more than one hour. Carrie: Surveying each school population and getting an idea of perceived needs in technology training should drive the designing of staff development activities David Warlick: I would couple with that, Carrie, a vision of where the school wants to take its classrooms and student learning! Debbie Core: The teachers enjoy learning during the school day and not after hours or on Saturday... Mary Forrest: Staff development that meets the needs of learners -- for time to plan and develop projects, activities, time when people are mentally and physically alert. Debbie Core: The staff development courses that give teachers "time" to learn and play have also received high marks with teachers and shown improvement in their use of technology... Carrie: Staff Development should integrate new ideas with information already known to adults. Mary Forrest: There must be ties to the curriculum. Carrie: Self-directed and self-designed learning projects are preferred by many educators. Mary Forrest: That's a good idea, Carrie. I was going to add staff development could be more flexible in how it is accomplished. CCC Lab: Another point - staff development on equipment already housed in the school. Carrie, we use the step-by-step books by Computer Literacy Press for independent study. Debbie Core: When teachers attend the lesson plan development in Layer 2, they have the time to develop and take back to the classroom their lesson plan as well as lesson plans from the other teachers in the class. Mary Lou: I second the comment from Gaston, the teachers that I worked with in Haywood County on the TLC grant activity commented more on that aspect than anything else. |
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| Glenn Gurley: Great answers... What
types of conditions are present to make your projects successful? Mary Forrest: Why not have teachers audit student classes where technology is being taught? Or recognize first-time team teaching efforts with a technology coordinator as staff development? CCC Lab: We offer the staff development in the teachers classrooms and model lessons until the teachers feel confident on their own. Teachers are pulled together for sharing success and failures. Debbie Core: We have the support and leadership of the principals. Carrie: We use the team teaching idea quite a bit, Mary and Diana. Giving the teacher an active role in planning activities is crucial to success. Debbie Core: We offer staff development in the content areas so that teachers learn to feel comfortable with the software and concepts. David Warlick: I think that it is important for teachers to produce something in the process of their staff development, something that they can take with them and use! Mary Forrest: Our grant project has participant teachers working with mentor teachers, colleagues who are more advanced in using technology. Debbie Core: The teachers are learning to connect with each other through the staff development. The 11 schools are developing a sharing network as a result of the project. CCC Lab: We have been offering staff development to administrators and in these sessions address the support needs of teachers and give ways to reward the teacher. Example a digital camera, TV view black box. These rewards encourage creative projects and keep the equipment in the teachers' hands. Carrie: Classroom teachers have so many responsibilities and need all of the support you all have mentioned. The one thing we hear teachers say all the time is they want local staff available for follow-up... Debbie Core: I like the reward to the teachers. We are offering Hyperstudio multimedia software to the teachers when they finish the class. They are so excited about having their own software for their classroom and students. Mary Forrest: Teachers participating in the LENC project are given support in time, funding for equipment and materials, and assistance from other people. Debbie Core: The teachers are learning to apply what is taught in management techniques as well and integration in the classroom. Carrie: It's also important for our teachers to have access to the same technology--hardware and software--they are trained on |
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Glenn Gurley: Another
question: I would like you to tell about some successes. Describe a teacher/classroom
environment before and after involvement in your program. Mary Forrest: Based on student surveys and other forms of feedback, there has been a positive change in the learning environment for increased student achievement and productivity. Debbie Core: My description is a twenty-one year teacher at Beam Elementary who was so afraid to use technology that she would not sit at the computer. She went through the basics last year and this year developed a lesson plan using the Internet. She also presented at our county Tech Fair. She is on fire using technology in the classroom and now has hundreds of questions. Mary Lou: After Internet training, teachers began to distribute htm files to students to focus students on web sites and also developed web pages to better focus students Mary Forrest: We see more enthusiasm for learning, for exceeding the minimum requirements-- the same attitude towards school that students might have towards out-of-school activities. More integrated relevant learning environments are "appearing" that make use of information age tools. Debbie Core: I agree with Mary Lou and Mary Forrest. The teachers are having fun learning and are then having fun teaching students what they have learned. After training, more of my teachers "want" the computer in the classroom. Some of the schools are also beginning to complain about not being able to get into the lab. They want more technology now! Mary Forrest: Have any of you ever heard of the Change Game? I always think of that when we talk about what we are planning to do to effect change. The object of the game is to get the most STUBENS or student benefits. We know we are successful when there are many student benefits. |
| Glenn Gurley: Here is another
question - What do you think makes a technology program truly useful? Carrie: At the end of last year, each of our eight schools had one Internet (dial-up) connection. Today we have a webserver --- and approximately 350 connections. Communication between staff and students in our system has become a daily event. Sharing of curricular ideas and projects is happening -- We know more about each other. That benefits students! Debbie Core: Great Carrie! We have higher test scores on the NC Computer Skills Test. We know that students are learning. Students are also developing projects that are multimedia and integrated. Mary Forrest: On a somewhat philosophical plane -- a technology program is truly useful when it meets the needs of students who will live in the next century, who will be knowledge workers. Further -- students who will need to know how to access information and how to make the best use of information once it is acquired. Carrie: A truly useful technology program is ... about the flow of information ... and what we do with that information ... Debbie Core: I agree with all of you. A good technology program enables growth for students to reach well into the Competency Goal 3 where they learn to analyze and synthesize etc. |
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Mary Lou: Obviously these grants are effecting change...good changes but are any of you able to document quantitative effects of technology on learning? Carrie: Difficult -- but very important question, Mary Lou. Mary Forrest: Quantitative effects on learning -- One of the student products in one of our LENC projects is going to be used by our local Chamber of Commerce as a promotional tool for the County. CCC Lab: The primary data shows more writing -- more writing, which is edited and published, is becoming better writing. Mary Forrest: A trifold that some middle school students are creating (with technological tools) on victims' rights will be used by the Victim's Rights Organization (I don't know their official name) to distribute information about their work. |
| Glenn Gurley: Good question Mary
Lou, what are some things that are present which make a measurable difference for the
students? Debbie Core: Teachers who learn to use technology and begin to integrate the technology into the classroom address a variety of learning styles and also enhance the curriculum. This will increase time on task and increase learning for students. Carrie: There are more studies now which are helping to document the impact of technology on education --- Portfolios are entering the assessment arena... and right, Mary, student products and presentations which demonstrate content, etc. |
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Mary Lou: Talk about good questions. We are working on development of assessment tools that can be used to show the effectiveness of technology. Those are good examples that all of you are giving but are they quantitative in nature? Products/portfolios/presentations can of course be constructed that way --- but the problem is... there always seems to be that element of subjectivity. CCC Lab: Carrie, I agree. Mary Forrest: They are probably more qualitative. Could you give an example of good quantitative data? Mary Lou: Improvement of test scores directly linked to the use of technology. Carrie: Rubrics or assessment tools for technology |
| Glenn Gurley: I would like Debbie,
Mary, Carrie, and Diana to give one final statement about what they have learned and the
direction they are heading. Debbie Core: I have learned that change takes time and addressing technology issues is more human that it is technological. Mary Forrest: One of our goals is to make project-based, student-centered learning a "way of life" in our schools. We want hands-on, relevant learning to be the rule instead of the exception. Carrie: In closing, Mary, would love to have an opportunity to discuss this with you. When I consider what we have learned and where we are going --- it goes like this... While effective staff development opportunities have certain characteristics and we surely must consider those...We've realized there are really no "wrong ways" to help teachers become comfortable with technology -- only lessons to be learned as we continue our journey into a most exciting future! CCC Lab: Well-said, Carrie. NCDPI: We have enjoyed hearing about your projects and are so proud of all of you and of what you are doing. Thanks for your time in coming together today to share. This is what it takes to help spread the word. Mary Lou: Technology will not replace teachers but teachers who use technology will replace teachers who do not! Carrie: It's been a wonderful afternoon in these foggy mountains -- thanks to all of you. Mary Forrest: What great comments! I agree with your last statement, Mary Lou, wholeheartedly. Debbie Core: I have enjoyed each of your comments. I am learning from each of you. Thanks Mary Lou: Isn't technology great? Glenn Gurley: It has been a wonderful Town Meeting... thanks to Debbie, Mary, Carrie, and Diana for sharing. Carrie: Thank you, Glenn and the staff of Teachers Connect -- am very glad my camera was inoperable! Glenn Gurley: The transcript will be in the Town Meeting archives sometime next week. Glad you all could join us today and hope you can make another session. |
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