LIBERTY COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM. Instructional Technology Plan

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1 LIBERTY COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM Instructional Technology Plan

2 CHAPTER 1 Instructional Technology Plan

3 The goal of the Liberty County Instructional Technology Department is to increase student achievement by providing teachers and students with the most innovative technology tools, professional development, and support that is available. There are two components that are the foundation of the Instructional Technology Department: The first component is the SAMR model which describes technology integration through four level (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition). Substitution In the substitution level, teachers or students are only using new technology tools to replace old technologies. Augmentation Though it is a different level, we are still in the substitution mentality but this time with added functionalities. Modification This is the level where technology is being used more effectively not to do the same task using different tools but to redesign new parts of the task and transform students learning. Redefinition In this level, students use technology to create new tasks that are otherwise unimaginable. The SAMR model allows teachers to move from enhancing learning to transforming learning depending on the level of SAMR that is represented in the lesson. Dr. Ruben Puentedura explained that the SAMR model is not intended for the purpose of moving from one level to the next but rather a model that is to be used throughout the unit. Some lessons especially in the beginning may be at the Substitution level however as the unit progresses, modification and redefinition levels should be reached. When students are expected to demonstrate understanding, you may see modification or even redefinition occurring. The goal behind SAMR is to increase rigor and to use technology to help students achieve tasks for learning that were once unconceivable. The second foundational component are the ISTE Standards which are standards for learning, teaching and leading in the digital age and are widely recognized and adopted worldwide. ISTE Standards for Students (ISTE Standards S): The standards for evaluating the skills and knowledge students need to learn effectively and live productively in an increasingly global and digital world. ISTE Standards for Teachers (ISTE Standards T): The standards for evaluating the skills and knowledge educators need to teach, work and learn in an increasingly connected global and digital society. ISTE Standards for Administrators (ISTE Standards A): The standards for evaluating the skills and knowledge school administrators and leaders need to support digital age learning, implement technology and transform the instruction landscape. The Liberty County Technology Department develops trainings with ISTE Standards in mind to ensure that we are preparing our students, teachers, and administrators. 2

4 SECTION 1 As students enter the Liberty County School System (LCSS), they are given the opportunity to embark upon the Liberty Learning Experience where learning is transformed through innovative, engaging, and personalized instruction. All 4-12 LCSS students are empowered with a 1:1 environment using ipads. Pre-K thru 3rd grade students are provided a set of ipads in each classroom for small group and personalized instruction. Students are able to take charge of their own learning while becoming responsible digital citizens. The Liberty County School System is excited to offer the most innovative teaching and learning tools. Teachers and students will be given access to a variety of apps used for teaching, practice, and production. All students are given the same opportunity to be successful through the use of ipads in the classroom. The Instructional Technology Department will work closely with all teachers to model, share resources, and provide support to be successful in implementing the technology in their classrooms. 3

5 CHAPTER 2 Professional Development The Instructional Technology Department will offer three tiers of professional development: Tier I: Professional Development for all teachers on the basic functionality of the technology. Tier II: Professional Development that is data driven. This professional development will often times be merged with teaching and learning. Tier III: Professional Development targeted to PD plans and individuals that have specific needs deemed by site administration.

6 SECTION 1 Tier I - All Teachers SAMR Training All teachers have been offered training on the SAMR model. During this session, teachers will learn the levels of SAMR, see examples of the lessons that meet each level as well as learn how to achieve each level. This training is a foundation for the other trainings that will be offered. MacBook Training All Liberty County teachers have participated in a basic MacBook training where teachers were able to learn the basic functionality of the MacBook, Safari, iworks suite, Microsoft Office on the Mac, Outlook, connecting to servers, and more. The Liberty County Technology Department will offer follow up training on the MacBook as needed. ipad Training All Liberty County teachers have participated in a basic ipad training where teachers were able to learn the basic functionality of the ipad such as loading apps, , calendars, and Safari. The Liberty County Technology Department will offer follow up training on the MacBook as needed. 5

7 ebackpack Training Teachers have been and will continue to be given the opportunity to attend ebackpack training where teachers will learn how to utilize the virtual locker for student assignments and grading. Teachers can upload assignments and distribute to classes, students will receive the assignment on their ipad and complete the assignment via many methods. Students can then save their work back to allow teachers to grade directly from their ipads. Students will be able to see scores as the teachers return them and will also be able to create a digital portfolio of all of their work throughout their educational career in the Liberty County School System. Keynote Training Keynote training has been offered for all teachers. This training will allow teachers to learn how to create presentations on both their MacBooks and ipads. Keynote is user friendly and allows teachers to add pictures, videos, links to webpages, etc. Teachers can presentation to other teachers and students as well as upload their notes to ebackpack to share with students. Pages Training All teachers were offered training on Pages. Pages allows teachers to create newsletters, flyers, and other documents using a variety of templates or they can choose to create their own using a blank template. Documents can be exported to Word or PDF and can be ed to parents, students, and other staff members as well as uploaded to ebackpack. imovie imovie training will be offered for all teachers. Teachers will be able to create trailers to introduce topics or allow students to create movies to demonstrate learning. imovie provides numerous templates and is a great learning tool. imovies can be uploaded to ebackpack. itunes U Training itunes U training will be offered for all teachers. This training will allow teachers to learn how to create courses by pulling digital content together to one location. Students will be able to subscribe to the teachers course(s) and view the content anytime, anywhere. 6

8 Cyber Safety The mission of the Liberty County School System is to provide all students an education which promotes excellence, good citizenship, and a love of learning. In promoting good citizenship, it is important to focus on all areas of citizenship including digitally. Our students are given the opportunity to open the walls of the classroom through the use of ipads. As these learning opportunities are created, it is vital that students understand how to be safe, responsible, and honest digital citizens. To prepare our students responsibly, the Liberty County Instructional Technology Department is partnering with the elementary computer lab teachers and middle/high school media specialists to ensure that all students participate in a cyber safety course. Content for this course will be pulled from ncing-our-free-ibooks-textbooks Cyber Safety Topics: - Internet Safety - Privacy & Security - Relationship & Communication - Cyberbullying - Digital Footprint & Reputation - Self-image & Identity - Information Literacy - Creative Credit & Copyright 7

9 FLASH Courses To ensure that teachers are provided ongoing professional development opportunities, the Liberty County Instructional Technology department is committed to offering FLASH courses every month. These FLASH courses will be offered in one hour increments after school so that no instructional time is being taken away from the students. Courses will cover a variety of topics such as Using imovie on the ipad, Keynote, Pages, ebackpack, PowerSchool Grade Book on the ipad, and many more. These sessions are hand-on so participants are asked to bring their ipads and/or MacBooks with them to get the most out of these courses. Materials for these courses will be added to an itunes U course that the teachers will load and have access to anytime they need to refer back to the materials from the sessions. As participants complete these FLASH courses, they are given a certificate of completion of one hour of professional development in which they can combine with certificates from other FLASH courses to turn in for PLU credit. The Instructional Technology Department has taken some of the most popular and harder to learn topics to provide professional development on but is willing to offer courses requested by teachers and/or administrators. As some of the basic courses are taught and teachers become more comfortable with the topics, the focus will shift to content s pecific courses such as Apps for Social Studies and Creating imovies in Math. 8

10 SECTION 2 Tier 2 Content specific training with Teaching & Learning The Liberty County Instructional Technology Department will partner with teaching and learning to provide a solid foundation of training where technology is embedded and used to transform learning. Some of these topics may include: - Differentiation with ipads in a Social Studies (or other content areas) classroom - Using imovie in Math - Apps for Thinking Maps Apple Professional Development The Instructional Technology Department will be offering a technology learning opportunity where the Apple Professional Development team will come and work with teachers to build advanced skills with Apple creativity apps to create interactive, media-rich lessons focused on literacy, critical thinking, and research skills by content area. These sessions will be held outside of school so that we are not pulling teachers from instructional time. 9

11 Apple Educational Technology Profile The education technology profile from Apple was administered in May of 2014 as a pre-assessment for professional development. This profile is created for teachers to self assess the level(s) of SAMR that they are reaching. The Liberty County Instructional Technology Department will offer this survey again every May to look for growth as we have deployed ipads to all 4-12 students as well as sets of ipads to Pre- K -3. The profile will also be offered again at the end of the year to show continued growth. The results from this profile as well as administrator s input will drive the technology professional development offered at each school. 10

12 SECTION 3 Tier 3 Individual Support As teachers request or as administrators recommend, the Instructional Technology Department is committed to offering individual support for teachers. This support will be appointment based where collaboration will occur on planning lessons that incorporate technology to achieve the deeper understanding for students by varying the levels of SAMR used in the lesson. ITS will model lessons for teachers as well as assist in the beginning stages of implementation to ensure teacher comfortability of the technology and flow of the classroom as it is being used. As teachers begin to incorporate technology, there may be apps, programs, etc that the teacher is not comfortable with. The Instructional Technology Specialists (ITS) will provide one on one training if needed to allow all teachers to utilize the technology and be able to transform lessons in their classroom through the use of technology. The Liberty County Instructional Technology Department will work closely with the administrators to determine needs and goals for individual teachers. 11

13 SECTION 4 Media The media programs in the Liberty County School System believe students should be offered the best educational opportunities possible. As part of this belief, the American Association of School Librarians Standards for the 21st- Century Learner and the ISTE. NETS for Students are integrated into collaborative instruction. Through the use of direct instruction, facilitation, and projectbased learning, LCSS media specialists engage students and strive to increase their knowledge of information literacy. Multiple literacies are included under the umbrella of information literacy. Digital, visual, textual, and technological literacy are all addressed through multiple programs. Media specialists at each level, elementary, middle, and high school have their sights on: increasing media and information literacy, using tools like GALILEO databases, nettrekker, ebooks, online sources, and print increasing the level of collaboration with teachers that result in more media festival projects assisting teachers with the use of new technology equipment The media festival develops digital, visual, textual, and technological literacy. It is a vehicle to increase the level of collaboration and technology integration with teachers. 12

14 Each school year, media specialists collaborate with teachers to facilitate the creation of media festival projects. During the preparation process, students are introduced to the storyboard as a planning tool. Students brainstorm, conduct research, summarize information, organize information, and write for multiple purposes. Utilizing a variety of technology tools, students transform their planning and writing into visual presentations. Various project options are explored: live action video, animation, sequential stills class projects (k-5 only) electronic picture book, photographic essay, interactive stills, website, and audio podcast. In addition to guiding students through the project creation process, the school media specialists facilitate the school level media festival and assist students in evaluating, editing and improving their work as it advances through each level of the festival: school, county, and state. As seen in the previous diagram, the number of projects advancing to the county, state, and international levels of the competition has increased each year since (Unfortunately, the International Student Media Festival was discontinued after the 2013 festival, due to loss of funding.) Increasing the number and quality of student projects will continue to be a goal for the media centers in Liberty County. Student Media Festival Projects at each Level of Competition The Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl develops textual literacy, and will assist in raising the Lexile scores of our students. The media programs support and enrich the educational experience of the students of Liberty County School System through multiple activities. Students are encouraged to read rigorous texts. The Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl is a program facilitated through the media centers across Liberty County. Each year hundreds of students in grades four through twelve volunteer to read quality literature. The elementary and middle school students read books from the Georgia Children s Book Award Nominees. The high school students read books from the Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers. The reading bowl lists range in size from fourteen to twenty books each year. 13

15 Since teams can only consist of ten members and two alternates, students must earn their spot on the the team through reading multiple books, taking Accelerated Reader quizzes, writing comprehension questions, and attending team practices. After earning the right to compete at multiple state-level bowls and taking first place at the high school level, second place at the middle school level, and second place at the elementary level of the Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl, Liberty County has built a reputation in reading bowl circles! Liberty County media specialists will continue to facilitate this activity and strive to win the state level reading bowl in each level! understandable pace. Students are assisted with locating, summarizing, organizing, and presenting information during this multi-layer verbal presentation contest. If students select to participate in the 4-H competition, they are scored on appearance, visual aids, delivery, orderly progress, research-based information, knowledge of subject, and time limit. The media centers in Liberty County have been celebrated twice at the state level for being exemplary media programs. Each media center in the district is dedicated to being an essential member of the instructional team. Through innovative, technology-enriched, and standards-based instruction, the media centers in Liberty County will continue to offer the best educational opportunities possible. Project Achievement Develops Visual and Textual Literacy. It is a vehicle to increase media and information literacy. It encourages the use of tools like GALILEO databases, nettrekker, ebooks, online sources, and print. In addition, it gives students an authentic writing purpose. Project-based learning and authentic purpose are common themes found in collaborative media center lessons. Georgia Performance Standards are also abundant. Partnering with 4-H, media specialists work with classroom teachers to assist students with summarizing written text, presenting information aloud and visually, using appropriate facts, details, and main ideas to speak clearly and at an 14

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21 CHAPTER 3 Support Support is vital to the success of the technology use in the Liberty County School System. The Instructional Technology Department is committed to offering ongoing support for all teachers in all areas of technology.

22 SECTION 1 Teacher Support One-on-One Teacher Support Just as students do, teachers sometimes need individualized instruction to become comfortable with the technology tools. The Instructional Technology Department offers support from all levels. One important piece that teachers need is one on one support. During this time, the Instructional Technology Specialists will show teachers how to use the hardware and software components, collaborate with an ITS to write lesson plans that embed technology as well as model lessons. During the support sessions, teachers can expect assistance for the following: - First time app deployment - Classroom management with ipads - Small group instruction with technology integration - Media Festival Projects Weekly Technology Tips Every week, the Instructional Technology Department will release an with Weekly Tech Treats and Appy-tizers. These Tech Treats and Appy-tizers will be quick tips to assist in the classroom. The tips will range from productivity for teachers to engaging apps for students. The upcoming Flash courses will also be noted on the weekly tech tips to encourage teachers to sign-up for sessions that will assist them. 21

23 App-tastic App of the Month Each month, the Instructional Technology Department will release an App-tastic App of the Month. The ITS will choose an app to showcase where they will provide a link to the app, a description of the app, step-by-step directions for using the app, as well as a video tutorial demonstrating the use of the app. Some apps will also include a lesson plan that incorporates the app into an activity in the classroom. The App-tastic App of the Month is a great form of online professional development as well as support. The teachers will have the apps and all the materials in an itunes U Course where they will be able to access the content anytime they need them. How do I get my pictures and videos off of my ipad onto my MacBook? Quarterly IT Walkthroughs The Instructional Technology Department will conduct quarterly walkthroughs to determine technology use and levels of implementation. The data collected from these walk throughs will drive professional development at the school level as well as individually. Knowledge Base The Instructional Technology Department has created a knowledge base for teachers where they can search for answers to questions that they may have related to technology. Some of these topics will include but are not limited to the following: How do I add to my ipad? How do I change my network password on my MacBook? How can I access school servers from my MacBook and ipad? 22

24 CHAPTER 4 Innovative Digital Instruction In a study conducted by Discovery Education in 2012, students in Collier County, Florida scored higher on the FCAT when their experienced teachers used digital textbooks versus those students with experienced teachers who did not use the digital textbooks. The study concluded that digital textbooks appeared to bolster the effectiveness of experienced teachers.

25 SECTION 1 itunes University itunes U is an easy and effective way to pull materials together to create courses for students. itunes U allows teachers to gather content from a variety of sources, post assignments, and join an online collaboration session. These courses can be set as public or private to retain the integrity and safety of students. Teachers are able to tailor courses to meet the standards they are teaching with the most up to date materials without having to worry about locating materials year after year. These courses are saved to use forever and can be edited and updated as needed. As teachers are ready to publish courses, the Instructional Technology Department will review the courses to make sure they are high quality and the materials, links, and apps all work properly. We encourage all teachers to monitor materials that they are publishing to be certain that they are abiding to all copyright guidelines. -education/id

26 SECTION 2 Digital Textbooks There is a big push to move towards digital textbooks. The printed textbooks are oftentimes outdated by the time they are printed and received by students. Digital textbooks allow for more accurate and up to date information for students and teachers. As the digital textbook popularity increases, more and more publishers are offering digital versions of textbooks. As publishers begin to release these, the Liberty County Instructional Technology Department will partner with the Teaching and Learning Department to choose and implement the digital text into the hands of students. ibooks Author from Apple is a great tool that allows teachers to create their own digital textbooks. Teachers can pull a variety of resources into an ibook including PDF s, links to files, pictures, videos, Keynote presentation, as well as a variety of widgets that allow for polls and quizzes right inside the book. Students have the ability to create their own notes within an ibook and highlight text so that they can refer back to it later to study with. The built in dictionary tool is extremely helpful when students are learning new vocabulary. They can highlight a word and choose look-up to display the definition. ibooks is a great resource and is easy to use. Students can also use ibooks as a written report where they can add pictures and video evidence to support their research. 25