School Technology Needs Assessment Final Report

Transcription

1 School Technology Needs Assessment Final Report Champaign Community Unit School District 4 March 25, 2015 Educational Collaborators Janet Herdman, Lead Collaborator Jim Gerry, Senior Collaborator Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 1

2 Table of Contents Purpose of the Engagement. 3 Goals of the Engagement.. 3 Description and Approach.. 3 Executive Summary 4 District Description.. 4 General Recommendations 4 I mplementation Assistance Recommendation 8 General Report.9 Vision. 9 Policies.12 Equitable Use of Technology 14 Infrastructure Development..16 Capacity/Support 19 Professional Development 23 Curriculum Integratio n...26 Administrator Use of Technology.29 Budget..30 Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 2

3 School Technology Needs Assessment Purpose of the Engagement This engagement was designed to assist Champaign Community Schools with a balanced analysis of their technology capacity to get a comprehensive picture of where their district currently stands in relationship to its plans and vision for digital learning. By participating in a district technology needs assessment, districts will have an accurate measure of where they fall on the continuum to transition from a primarily print focused delivery system to digital and online learning environments. Goals of the Engagement Review the district s plans to accomplish its current goals; Establish the district s baseline of technology readiness; Create a non binding outside report regarding the district s technology profile; Assess the district s capacity to shift from a print to digital environment; Uncover bottlenecks to current and continued success. Description and Approach Senior Collaborator, Janet Herdman, served as Project Lead based on Champaign s unique characteristics, culture, and preliminary needs. Information was gathered from both the building and district level looking for the gap between what is and "what should be. The assessing process includes data gathered from nine categories while keeping the focus on teaching and learning and not just on hardware and connectivity. The nine categories include: Vision, Policies, Equitable Use of Technology, Infrastructure and Telecommunications, Capacity/Support, Professional Development, Curriculum Integration, Administrator Use of Technology, and Budget. Champaign staff submitted a prescribed self study describing many facets of their current technology implementation. Ms Herdman spent one day on site interviewing Champaign district leadership and IT staff. In addition there were two 90 minute calls conducted with both EC collaborators and various district staff. These interviews coupled with the self study, and follow up phone interviews serve as the basis of information gathering for the findings. After the visit, the Collaborator team discussed findings and produced a working document. Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 3

4 Executive Summary District Description Champaign Community Unit School District #4 is a large unit school district serving more than 9,600 students in grades pre K through 12 in Champaign, Savoy, and Bondville, Illinois. The 20 campuses employ more than 1,400 teachers, administrators, and support personnel. With proximity to the University of Illinois and Parkland College, Champaign Schools work to build strong community partnerships which provide unique, world class educational opportunities to students. Their focus is to foster positive learning environments and prepare all students for college and career readiness after graduation. Student demographics include over 55% of the students participating in the national Free and Reduced Lunch assistance program. The district is led by Superintendent Dr. Judy Wiegand. The board has tasked her with six goals. The sixth of which addresses technology equity and use. The goal reads: The Superintendent will revitalize, build, and maintain facilities that are safe, sustainable and allow equitable access to programming services across the District. Establish energy efficiency as a priority in all renovation and new construction projects Commit to ensuring all facilities have equitable access to and incorporation of technology as appropriate to support student achievement Develop partnerships with community stakeholders to secure land for future school location based on projected community growth Continue review and revision of the District Capital Improvement Plan with a yearly report to the Board of Education General Recommendations Details of all recommendations, along with the evidence from the self study and focus group interviews to support them, can be found in the general report in the following section. The entire body of recommendations is numerous and may seem at first overwhelming to the district. EC recommends that as a part of the work in the development of technology planning that district stakeholders use this report as the foundation to begin prioritizing and outlining by timetable how to approach the work. Priorities will need to be established in what the district IT staff and users can realistically accomplish in any given school year. A summary of the recommendations are listed below. Vision District staff are in the initial stages of developing a digital learning plan for the future. Initial conversations include recommendations for the creation of a 1:1 learning environment beginning in grades 1 or 2. Even though there is preliminary conversation regarding digital learning, there are no formalized vision, goals, or evaluation plan for implementation. It is strongly recommended the district: Create a district technology leadership team comprised of learning community members; Collaboratively create a vision with defined goals and objectives; Create benchmarks with timelines and accountability for monitoring progress; Create an evaluation plan; Develop an ongoing technology plan that includes ongoing budget requirements. Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 4

5 Policies It is recommended that Champaign: Revise or replace the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). The AUP should have a Social Media portion specifying what is acceptable and what is not. An equity statement may be included in the policy as it relates to what access all students should have to required learning technologies; Create an archiving policy for faculty and staff. A policy on and procedures to be followed will aide the district in the event of legal discovery; Create a mobile equipment policy to support future 1:1 and BYOD. The new policy may have an impact on or replace the cell phone use policy. This policy should be accompanied by procedures, forms and signatures required at specific stages of taking ownership, particularly when equipment is taken off campus; An archiving policy reflecting the laws specifying record retention requirements for schools should be developed. With many records in digital form, policy should specify requirements for this storage and retention. These should be accompanied by procedures for how often, how long, and where archives are kept; Policies are living documents that need to reflect changing conditions over time. It is recommended that regular periodic policy review and updates be strongly considered. Equitable Use of Technology Building technology access varies and is widely disparate across the district. The district needs to: Set and support minimum standards to meet district goals and curriculum; Provide mobile technology for all adult and student learners. Infrastructure Development Champaign has many opportunities to improve user experience in this area. eschool Student Information. Provide user training. The current goal of moving away from as many software customizations as possible is essential and completely on target. Develop plans to stay as current with software versions as possible. Create easily accessible and easily understood system documentation for district users on regularly used key software features. Develop and require training for new users at multiple levels. Develop a plan for the implementation of Decision Ed for data warehousing and reporting that includes timelines and milestones along with training for technical and non technical staff. Engage an eschool (Cognos) report writer to add system functionality meeting user needs. Networks (WAN and Building). Hire or contract people with certified network engineering and security expertise to advise the district moving forward. Define a minimum standard for network equipment (capability and age) and develop a plan to immediately upgrade existing equipment to meet or exceed this standard. Develop a multi year plan for keeping network equipment up to standards. This plan directly informs the budget plan. Incorporate new and upgraded network management and monitoring tools to increase network reliability while reducing staff maintenance load. Establish a routine for periodic checks of Internet use to proactively keep bandwidth at optimum levels for users. To accommodate utilization spikes, normal utilization should not exceed 70% of capacity. Be aware that bandwidth requirements for both the WAN and Internet access will increase at a rate of approximately 50% per year according to Nielsen's law of internet bandwidth. Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 5

6 Establish redundant Internet services as dependency in cloud based resources increases in the district. Include in the technology planning the requirements these recommendations will have on training and budget. Servers. Continue to move in the direction of cloud based services for students and staff. Design an implementation plan that takes into account training and user readiness for this transition. Consider student using Google cloud services. Capacity/Support The district support structure is unique and is not meeting the district s current needs. The structure needs to be redesigned so that employee s salaries reflect their actual duties and each of the categories are staffed by demand. The technology team needs to take advantage of area training from support groups and vendors with new installations. The team needs to fully implement tools which have been purchased and ensure a timeline for implementation for new purchases. Professional Development Champaign has started planning and conducting Professional Development opportunities to support digital learning. Most of the training is voluntary and provided by the district ETC. Recommendations for Professional Development to support the digital learning implementation include: Conduct a baseline survey and subsequently annual assessment of staff skills. Surveys should be designed to gather data on prerequisite attitudes and skills required to achieve goals. Instructional strategies and technology use be embedded in all Professional Development. Strengthen the collaboration between the instructional department and the ETC Approach training for staff as multi faceted, so as to include technology skills, pedagogy changes, and classroom management with technology. Curriculum, instructional strategies, and technology skill training should be integrated wherever possible. Build a professional development program that allows staff to construct lessons and use products. Allow time to model, try, and apply technologies in lessons for the classroom. Consider requiring new teacher training programs that integrate technology components. Schools like any organization should anticipate growth as well as turnover. Implement individualized professional growth plans for teachers and include 21 st Century teaching skills as related to the initiative s goals, as well as needed technology literacy skills. Identify, set, implement, and measure accountability standards for technology literacy skills for all staff. Establish effective leadership and internal capacity at the building level by involving district and site leaders in setting goals, expectations, modeling, and establishing accountability for staff and student use of technology. Define minimum technology infused instruction training along with resulting classroom implementation expectations and set this as a requirement for all teachers. There is a need for an organized and systemic training for all staff. Curriculum Integration Recommendations for curriculum integration include: District . A district review and possible conversion plan to cloud based services with stakeholder input should be developed for file storage and for staff and students. Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 6

7 Collaboration. The district has some formalized collaboration structures to ensure that technology is meeting instructional needs. There are a few areas in which the structure could be enhanced: Development of broad based stakeholder group to assist with technology planning and recommendations. Ongoing technology planning will benefit from stakeholder input and stakeholder buy in results from this approach. The district ETC and instructional leaders in curriculum and instruction are not routinely meeting. The district will benefit from ongoing collaboration between these groups. Review digital literacy standards for staff and students. It is critical for the digital learning implementation that staff and students have a strong background in information and digital literacy. EC recommends that Champaign review the International Society for Technology Education s (ISTE) National Education Technology Standards (NETS) for Students, Teachers, Administrators, and Technology Coaches and develop a plan to include the standards throughout the curriculum integration process. The plan should include information literacy and digital citizenship. Learning Management Systems. Champaign staff are making some use of Schoology and Edmodo. However, the district needs to standardize a Learning Management System (LMS) to support student and staff learning as well as serve as a district curriculum collaboration site for teachers and curriculum team members supporting teachers. Administrator Use of Technology Building and district leaders need to have access and be provided training opportunities for staff modeling and support. Building and district leaders desktops should be replaced with laptop technology. Establish effective leadership and internal capacity at the building level by Involving district and site leaders in setting goals, expectations, modeling, and establishing accountability for staff and student use of technology; Modeling technology usage within staff development and in service opportunities and establishing accountability for staff use throughout the instructional day by district leaders and coaches, as well as building principals; Discuss staff training and what principals should look for in the classroom during the next year. Many districts find follow up Reader s Digest training helpful for principals. Possibly use online videos and offer optional follow up training; Principals and administrative assistants should be provided training in the technology tools which support their work. The training should be a part of the new employee orientation and ongoing as tools are acquired and developed. Budget Budgeting cannot take place without development of a clear, itemized, multi year technology plan. Develop a three to four year technology plan along with its cost components and timelines. It is anticipated that outside support is needed to move the district over some of the existing technology hurdles pointed out in this document. Data needs to be collected to help make a lease versus buy decision. Training alongside implementation efforts as recommended in this document has a cost component and should be itemized into all implementation plans. Consider financial savings across the district to offset an increased budget for digital readiness. Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 7

8 Implementation Assistance Recommendation Educational Collaborators is experienced with digital readiness implementations. Champaign s highest needs for external assistance with the digital learning plan, vital for stakeholder communication and to change student outcomes in the district are: Collective vision and goal formation and evaluation and technology planning Project planning assistance Integrated, transformative, and sustained staff development Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 8

9 General Report Vision Successful 21 st Century learning initiatives begin with a clear understanding of the institution s vision and goals. The vision sets out the District s long terms goals and aspirations and is intended to inspire and motivate stakeholders by providing a picture of where the district is heading. Once the vision is established everyone will know when they are on the path to success. To ensure success, all program objectives for digital learning must align with Champaign s vision, mission and goals. Additionally, the district must define, up front, what success means, establish baselines for comparison and determine how success will be measured going forward. District Summary and Planning for Initiative Champaign s district mission reads: The mission of the Champaign Unit #4 School District, in partnership with the community, is to guide all students in gaining knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to direct their lives, improve a diverse society, and excel in a changing world by providing dynamic, resource rich learning environments and experiences in which people and lifelong learning are valued. GOAL #6: The Superintendent will revitalize, build, and maintain facilities that are safe, sustainable and allow equitable access to programming services across the District. Establish energy efficiency as a priority in all renovation and new construction projects Commit to ensuring all facilities have equitable access to and incorporation of technology as appropriate to support student achievement Develop partnerships with community stakeholders to secure land for future school location based on projected community growth Continue review and revision of the District Capital Improvement Plan with a yearly report to the Board of Education Noteworthy in the goals is the need to have equitable access to technology across the district. This point is discussed later in the equitable access section of the report. District technology staff are in the initial stages of developing a digital learning plan for the future. Initial conversations include recommendations for the creation of a 1:1 learning environment beginning in grades 1 or 2. However, the district has not yet formed a clear collective vision, goals, or measures of success for the digital learning environment. The lack of a clear vision and plan was identified as a barrier for implementation during the focus group interviews. One of the challenges for any digital readiness implementation is the involvement of stakeholders in careful planning to incorporate the planned changes. Technology leaders have informally met with various stakeholders but there is not yet a formalized digital learning Leadership Committee with broad based membership. The district has involved leaders and staff in the collaborative efforts in other instructional areas of growth and change. The collaborative model that has been created should be replicated for the digital initiative. The district leadership has been collecting some baseline data through informal surveying of staff. They also have gathered considerable information regarding instructional practices through building walkthroughs. Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 9

10 Vision Risks Champaign has yet to outline in declarative terms the vision, goals and specifics: There is not a named district technology committee. There are not defined vision, goals and measurable objectives for the digital learning initiative for the short term and long term, There are not defined benchmarks for monitoring progress for digital learning. There is not a defined evaluation plan for digital learning. There are no measurements of staff technology skills During focus group interviews the following were listed as challenges/barriers for technology implementations. Many addressed vision, communication, and collaboration. Well structured plan for implementation Not a belief that teachers have control on what is happening Administrators need a vision of what this could look like Vision Recommendations Create a district technology leadership team. Form a broad based committee of district stakeholders. The committee should be ongoing and meet regularly. The committee should be tasked with setting a vision, goals for implementation, make recommendations for implementation, and communicate updates to constituents. The upfront involvement of this large base of stakeholders will serve the district well throughout the change process. Purposes of a stakeholder group include: Communicating decisions as they are made; Assist with stakeholder buy in; Identify areas for potentially unknown barriers in which to focus to eliminate problems during implementation; Create district diversity on the planning team. Defined Goals and Objectives. Goals and objectives with measurements need to be articulated and communicated. Plans are being identified for 1:1 beginning as early as grade 1. Yet the district has not stated the specific goals in terms of student outcomes and other return on investments to clarify the purposes or priorities of goals for this initiative. As the district proceeds with everything from infrastructure development, communication plans, curricular adoptions and Professional Development, it will be imperative for the common themes identified by the focus groups to be formulated into measurable goals. Once developed, the measurable objectives of the initiative should be published and shared as much as possible with all constituencies. Set realistic expectations and timelines for implementation to be shared with all stakeholders. The district technology plan should be updated to include one to one plans and used as a living document within the district to guide implementation and support of the program. Benchmarks for monitoring progress. Champaign has been collecting teacher data through building walkthroughs. However, they need to gather additional data around staff readiness and determine measures of program success to benchmark progress periodically. Suggestions include free surveys for staff and students from Speak Up Tomorrow and internally lead focus groups. The most comprehensive method of doing this is via a technology plan engagement. Tech planning will address the data collection and data evaluation in the short and long term as well as assist Champaign with providing comprehensive assistance in identifying operational efficiencies to support the vision. Data collection sources would include data from teacher, student, and parent surveys; learning walks through classrooms; and teacher and student portfolio evaluation as well as additional in depth studies of IT operations. In addition to teacher surveys, focus groups and classroom walk throughs, consider other baseline data for measuring the success of the program such as student attendance, engagement, and post secondary preparation. Further enhance this report to develop a more detailed strategic plan that includes evaluation measures and benchmarks for the action plans, timelines, data collection, resources needed, Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 10

11 policies and procedures, training, etc. EC can aide in the full development of measurable strategies to benchmark progress in each identified area of work. In addition to the teacher surveys, student and parent surveys and/or focus groups are also recommended to collect data around current teaching and learning practices. The district has not historically assessed staff technology literacy skills, and has had minimal measurement of student technology literacy skills. The ISTE NETS will be referenced in later sections and can be the foundation for the technology literacy skill development and assessment of teachers, students and technology coaches. Evaluation Plan. Champaign has not yet identified measures of success for digital learning. Champaign can begin conversation about what will be important to measure, especially once the goal themes suggested above are refined and officially adopted. The district can then consider data currently available such as standardized tests scores and technology assessment tests that can be used to inform each goal and identify additional instruments that may need to be developed. Data should be collected and analyzed annually as part of the program evaluation. It is imperative that digital learning Leadership Committee formalize the goals and objectives as suggested above in order to articulate and start thinking about what things the district wants to answer. Once decisions are made and communicated, the evaluation plan, complete with methodology can be developed. In order to build a rigorous evaluation, it would be best to engage a pre post design with some type of matched comparison group, if possible. Evaluation efforts need to be maintained over a series of years to examine short term and long term effects, as well as to identify fade out effects or compounding effects. Ongoing Plan. Once developed, the technology goals and objectives should include action plans with timelines, budgets, and responsible individuals. The plan should serve as a living document for the district with which professional goals and actions will be formed on an annual basis. An example of a document is below: Goal : Objective(s) : Benchmark(s) : Action Steps Timeline Responsibility Estimated Cost Funding Source Measurements/Review Dates Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 11

12 Policies Developing digital media school policies is a balance of two basic principles, protect and provide. Protection is required by federal and state laws but specifics are left up to schools to define. The provide side of the equation deals with equitable access in support of engaged learning goals. Policies are guides to shaping decision and actions and generally answer the What and Why questions. Procedures defining details of policies are written to cover the How, Who, and When questions. District Summary and Planning for Initiative Champaign school board has an Internet usage policy that covers appropriateness of material as well as student expectations, guidelines for posting student information, appropriate use of , and guidelines regarding hacking of networks and systems. Student and parent signature confirming policy understanding is required. Policy Risks Focus group interviews and phone interviews indicated the following policy needs and barriers: Acceptable Use Policy has been created but needs revision A archiving policy for staff does not exist Cell phone use policies are building specific Mobile equipment policy does not exist for students (including BYOD) or staff Policies are in the process of being updated for social media use Policies do not include considerations for equitable use as may be required for flipped classroom or required online curricular resources Overall written procedures defining how policies are to be carried out are lacking Policy Recommendations Revise or replace the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). Success of the AUP is critically dependent on students sense of ownership, since they are the prime audience. Typically one of two methods is selected to revise the AUP, either by naming a school official to work alone or lead a small team to write and revise the policy or create a committee comprised of the stakeholders to work on the policy. If the committee method is selected, it is highly recommended that students be represented on the committee which will help ensure their ultimate buy in. Policies, although written, must be carried in the mindfulness of those affected for successful implementation. The AUP should have a Social Media portion specifying what is acceptable and what is not. An equity statement may be included in the policy as it relates to what access all students should have to required learning technologies. A best in practice approach on policies is to think of them not as separate technology policies, but completely in line with good teaching and learning policies already in place. Create an archiving policy for faculty and staff. Certain employee pertaining to employment, parents, and students should be retained by the users for potential legal reasons. Other can be deleted. A policy on and procedures to be followed will aid the district in the event of legal discovery. Included in the procedures should be archiving requirements stipulating how long these are kept and what access (on site and off site in backups) is required. Mobile Equipment Policy. With a 1:1 implementation anticipated and expectations for staff access to mobile equipment, policy can delineate requirements and liabilities of all parties. With the advent of BYOD, the school s position in their use should be set at the district level. This may have an impact on cell phone use policy. This policy should be accompanied by procedures, forms and signatures required at specific stages of taking ownership, particularly when equipment is taken off campus (this is recommended). Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 12

13 Archiving Policy. Laws specify record retention requirements for schools. With many records in digital form, policy should specify requirements for this storage and retention. These should be accompanied by procedures for how often, how long, and where archives are kept. This policy may be incorporated in the district s records retention policy and not written as a separate policy. Policy Updates. Policies are living documents that need to reflect changing conditions over time. It is recommended that regular periodic policy review and updates be strongly considered. COSN Policy resource Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 13

14 Equitable Use of Technology Districts should create digital learning environments to a specified minimum standard to meet curricular and learning goals of the district and individual school where needed. Technology infrastructure, devices, and resources should be adopted that are needed to support the learning goals. After the standards are adopted the digital environment should be consistent and supported systemically and universally across the district. Schools with unique goals may have technology that exceeds the minimum standards but there should not be schools that don t have the minimum standards. District Summary and Planning for Initiative Champaign has begun the process of identifying minimum technology standards. In their renovated elementary buildings they are beginning to meet those standards. The district has installed projectors, smartboards, and document cameras in all classrooms across the district. They have a teacher station in all classrooms. However, in the non renovated classrooms the teachers use a desktop and in the renovated buildings they have a laptop to use. Another major difference in equipment is the access to student devices. The students have access to an assortment of desktops, laptops, ipads, and chromebooks. The renovated classrooms have a chromebook for every student in grades 3 5. The non renovated buildings have various carts of devices that teachers can wheel in for student use. They also have the largest percentage of desktops still used in the district. The building student to computer access ratio ranges from 52% to 1.27%. The schools with the lowest ratios also have the oldest and non mobile technology. Equitable Use of Technology Risks The following were identified as equitable access to technology risks: District wide technology standards matched to district goals and curriculum have not been formally adopted. Access to technology for teachers and students is not universal. Having the Bandwidth (Internet) mentioned numerous times Equitable Use of Technology Recommendations Setting standards to meet district goals and curriculum. Recommendations include: After the district defines the technology goals for the district, minimum technology standards to support those goals and the curriculum need to be identified. Funding and implementation of the technology to meet the standards needs to be installed universally across the district. The minimum standards that have been implemented will need to be reevaluated after technology goals have been identified. Provide mobile technology for adult and student learners. Recommendations include: Specific recommendations for a district technology implementation cycle are needed that will support and sustain the established standards between grade levels and curriculum areas. It is important for future staff development and instructional direction for the district to provide mobile technology access for all teaching staff and administrators. Mobile technology will provide new opportunities for staff collaboration and in service. When establishing district wide standards for technology include multiple levels: Instructional technology standards by grade level and throughout all buildings should be established, communicated, and implemented based on the curriculum standards. Currently, some schools have better technology access through building renovation funds, funding of grants or PTAs. Staff and students should have an understanding of the minimum level of technology that is to be expected to be supported by the district. Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 14

15 This will assist district leaders in planning for new initiatives and provide continuity across the district. New equipment or software purchases, donations, and acquisitions need to go through and be authorized by a joint IT and instructional clearing committee to ensure capability and that support can be maintained. Future technology refresh cycles should be guided by district programming and instructional decisions rather than being rolled out on an individual building basis. The district s technology implementation must maintain the established standards between grade levels and curriculum areas. Flexibility in choosing the level of technology should be considered. Individual buildings which support unique goals or curriculum may have technology which exceeds the district minimum standards but that technology should be compatible and supported by the district vision. Develop a long term vision and plan that articulates how students should be using technology in the classroom. The plan should set minimum standards of availability and the resources the devices should support, as well as how teachers will be accountable for implementing additional technology resources in course content and instruction. Establish an ongoing equipment refresh budget. The budget should be sufficient to replace or lease 25% of the devices per year. Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 15

16 Infrastructure Development Technology infrastructure is the backbone that is often unseen but never the less critical component of any technology program and is a baseline for equity in access to digital resources. As envisioned by the technology team, a networked mobile computing device in the hands of every student will undoubtedly require an institution to re evaluate its current IT Infrastructure to be sure it can handle the incremental load that will be placed on it. Teachers will quickly become disenchanted with the program if the network is not reliable. A digital readiness or BYOD program presents unique challenges to school network administrators, such as new demands on login servers, wireless routers, data security and storage capacity. District Summary and Planning for Initiative Champaign encompasses over 20 buildings of varying sizes and ages. eschool is the Student Information System and is used as the primary system for student data collection, grading, and reporting. This system is integrated with other systems in the district and is the primary tool for student related data reports. There is a large amount of user frustration with the system at multiple levels. There is no Learning Management System (LMS) in place at a district level. Champaign has a mixture of new and old equipment that provides networking to all locations. Much of the network equipment is documented in the self study submitted as part of the report discovery. The building inequality found in devices is also apparent in the network infrastructure. New or renovated buildings have had network infrastructure upgraded. With the PARCC testing this spring, the infrastructure was put under load where access demands were critical. Getting ready for this testing has expectedly taken much of the technical team s time and effort, but to good result. Testing results have demonstrated that the infrastructure is in place to support this type of demand load. Infrastructure Risks Focus group interviews indicated the following infrastructure needs and barriers for Champaign: Lack of a certified Network Engineer and Network Security Officer Need for a multi year technology plan detailing equipment, training, and software along with cost estimates Technology standards need to be defined for switches, implementation procedures, and training levels for new installations Old network equipment located in non renovated buildings One internet connection is a single point of failure and bandwidth will become an issue as more devices are simultaneously connected eschool frustrations exist with getting the system to do what is needed, ease of data retrieval and reporting, and quality of stored data. In addition, support of teaching and learning methodologies seems to be a common source of concern There are a multitude of custom reports for eschool that are not well cataloged and understood by end users eschool is currently two release versions behind Software systems have been purchased but not fully implemented Lack of training on technology and systems A help desk ticketing system should be in use that is beyond work orders. The right system will track inventory, log user requests, track the time it takes to address these requests, support an escalation procedure, and management reporting of key metrics Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 16

17 Infrastructure Recommendations As the 1:1 implementation progresses over the next several years, particular attention should be paid to the user experience as the program grows and increases demands on the network. As with any new initiative, extraordinary effort should be made to ensure that unforeseen problems are caught and rectified as soon as possible, moving from a reactive to a proactive approach. This ranges from front line (in the classroom) user support to analyzing back end network logs. To do this, the district should closely monitor all systems for unintended consequences. The effect of the large increases of student devices on the new infrastructure can be difficult to predict and the district should be prepared to address problems before they become apparent to end users. eschool Student Information. Recommendations include: Provide user training to accomplish several goals: Provide technical and support staff with the latest and most advanced knowledge to maintain and manage the system for maximum effectiveness. Provide user staff with knowledge that permits them to not only input data accurately but to understand why this is such an important step in the process. Provide users who need to retrieve information from the system with documented methods and processes to regularly and successfully accomplish this. These users include teaching and administrative staff who access information at different levels. The current goal of moving away from as many software customizations as possible is essential and completely on target. While some customizations are required, keeping these to a minimum provides a much smoother and faster upgrade path while also reducing maintenance costs and ongoing budget needs. Work should focus on customization for district needs incorporated into system settings and system option selection in place of customized software wherever possible. Changing procedures to better fit the software is in the current plan which is also recommended. Customizations, when needed, should be well cataloged, documented, and part of the end user training. Creating customized reports is of little use if end users aren t aware of the availability and functionality. Develop plans to stay as current with software versions as possible. This will make potentially useful upgrades available to users. The district is currently two versions behind in software releases. One striking problem with this is the current systems dependency on Internet Explorer which is relieved by the new version. This single dependency has a big effect on the district with its implications on hardware requirements and security concerns. A planning approach should be incorporated with this type of change. New versions of the software need to be beta tested by the district before fully implemented. Develop a plan for in district new version implementations, which includes: System testing as new releases are announced and anticipated User training on the changes that will provide for a successful transition. These testing users may be used to train others Upgrade district user documentation to include new and changed features. Create easily accessible and easily understood system documentation for district users on regularly used key software features. This can provide data input guidelines for all users that will, if followed, reduce data input errors. Reports that are regularly used should also be included in the documentation pointing a path to data retrieval at all levels. Develop and require training for new users at multiple levels including (see the professional development and administrative use sections): building staff that are responsible for data entry teachers who use the system for attendance, grading, assessment, and reporting administrative users using the system largely for data reporting and analysis Develop a plan for the implementation of Decision Ed for data warehousing and reporting Include a progress timeline with benchmarks within the implementation plan Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 17

18 Include training for all users with extensive training for technology staff Consider contracting implementation help to bring experts in that can provide additional temporary resources to help get it done. Use these contractors to train technology and other staff. Ensure that the program is well integrated with existing software systems to reduce manual transfer of data where possible Plan the rollout for a time where it fits with existing workload so as not to overwhelm the current staff Take advantage of what the system has to offer while minimizing customizations Create a communication plan to keep stakeholders abreast of developments and trainings Engage an eschool (Cognos) report writer to: Meet with users and identify their needs for regular reporting Identify existing system reports that meet specified needs and create new reports as required Create documentation for new reports Train technical staff on nuances of report creation Networks (WAN and Building). Recommendations include: Hire or contract people with certified network engineering and security expertise to advise the district moving forward. (See the Capacity/Support section for more information.) Significant expertise is needed to anticipate problems and maintain a robust network infrastructure as more and diverse types of equipment get added to the network since this becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. Define a minimum standard for network equipment (capability and age) and develop a plan to immediately upgrade existing equipment to meet or exceed this standard. The emphasis again is in equity and parity throughout the district. Develop a multi year plan for keeping network equipment up to standards. This plan directly informs the budget plan. Incorporate new and upgraded network management and monitoring tools to increase network reliability while reducing staff maintenance load. Establish a routine for periodic checks of Internet use to proactively keep bandwidth at optimum levels for users. To accommodate utilization spikes, normal utilization should not exceed 70% of capacity. Annual planning for bandwidth should also take into consideration anticipated new Internet programming and resources. Be aware that bandwidth requirements for both the WAN and Internet access will increase at a rate 1 of approximately 50% per year according to Nielsen's law of internet bandwidth. Keeping ahead of this demand will provide excellent experiences for all district users and build confidence in the increasing dependencies on cloud based resources. As a guideline, SETDA recommends Mbps for and 1 Gbps for for each 1000 students. Establish redundant Internet services as dependency in cloud based resources increases in the district. Include in the technology planning the requirements these recommendations will have on training and budget (see the professional development and budget sections for more information.) Servers. Recommendations include: Continue to move in the direction of cloud based services for students and staff. Design an implementation plan that takes into account training and user readiness for this transition. Consider student using Google cloud services. 1 of bandwidth/ 2 Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 18

19 Capacity/Support The shift to a digital readiness project drastically changes the level of support required of a technology department. A ubiquitous computing program requires that all students have working computers all the time. Teachers will depend on the technology for delivering content and find confidence in knowing the material will be accessible to students when and where they need it. For support to meet expectations, it is important that Champaign set the standards for support and publicize them to teachers, students, and parents. Good operations can save the district significant money in reducing spares, increasing up time, and thus increasing the opportunity for quality integration into the curriculum. There are added challenges of planning and maintaining a digital readiness program. The first year of a rollout is the most difficult and will require additional support. District Summary and Planning for Initiative The district employees a Director of Technology. The director reports to the Assistant Superintendent for high school programming. His staff are organized as follows: Help Desk Specialists (2). The help desk employees are the first line of defense. They also perform account and management and user instruction on management and SIS. They do have the ability to remotely manage computers across the district which reduces support time. Data analysts and support (2). They are divided into: data systems manager data analyst and webmaster Level 2 technicians (4) The team is in charge of all major systems including servers, switches, wireless, controllers, virus protection, firewalls, s, chrome and ipad management, and imaging. There is not a titled lead to the team but one individual serves as the lead. The lead is very dedicated and knowledgeable regarding the district systems. Because of minimally installed monitoring systems the lead starts the work day early to check on systems. In addition to network management and support, 3 of the 4 team members have buildings to support for level 1 responsibilities. Level 1 technicians (3) Support building technical issues by fixing computer and assorted work orders that cannot be resolved by the help desk. these individuals are housed in a separate building from the rest of the IT staff. Educational Technology Coaches (5) The ETC are assigned by school and divided among the 19 campuses. Each is assigned to 1 secondary school and then a few elementary schools. There are conversions regarding reassigning them to a particular initiative or focus area such as Google Docs. Assessment secretary (1) Assists with program setup getting students enrolled, assigning students to classes, and also organizes chromebook and asset management. The IT department makes minimal use of outsourcing. They are in the planning stages of a student computer club to add support. The director meets regularly with the district leadership meeting. He also meets regularly with building principals and sends out a communication to the leaders. The director meets regularly with the data team, technicians, and the ETC. There is not an organized structure for the ETC to meet with the district curriculum and professional development staff. District work orders are generated by teachers or end users. All level 1 and level 2 technicians see the work orders. The district current work order system is homemade and doesn t have monitoring capabilities. To monitor or review work that is getting done individuals have to dump all the data and run a pivot table. The district has purchased Web Help Desk for work orders and asset management. They have implemented the asset management module with plans to convert to the new work order system next school year. Technology Needs Assessment Report Champaign Community School Page 19