Methodology


 * Methodology**

The main technology issue at Perryville High School is the lack of technology use in classrooms. Students enjoy using technology and studies have shown that it can increase student achievement. A discussion took place with the members of the technology initiative committee on how more technology can be used during instruction. Everyone agreed that teachers who do not use technology in their lessons do not feel comfortable enough to use it. These teachers need training on how to integrate technology effectively. The next question to answer was to determine what teachers need to be trained on. The list that was generated included the following: SMART Boards and Notebook software, Microsoft Office 2007, NetOps, Discovery Education, Atomic Learning, Clipart.com, Soundzabound.com, Dropbox.com, and Wiki’s.

The following gives more detail on why the technology initiative committee selected the resources that were placed on the choice list sent to all teachers. SMART Boards are becoming more popular in education. Perryville High School currently has twelve and is expecting to order more. Cecil County has a contract for the licensing of the Notebook software. This software can be installed on any Cecil County Public School computer. With this being the case, every teacher can use the program even if they do not have an interactive board. Since the school is plannning on purchasing more of these boards, now would be a good time to start training teachers how to use them. Most of the computers in the high school have Microsoft Office 2003 on them. Next school year every computer will be upgraded to Office 2007. Since there is a drastic difference in the appearance of the newer version, the committee added this type of training to the list. NetOps is the software that allows teachers to monitor students’ computers. There are many extra features this software with which teachers are not familiar. Discovery Education is an underutilized Internet resource where teachers can download educational videos. Atomic Learning is another Internet resource that many teachers do not use often that allows them to view instructional videos that explain how to use technology. Clipart.com and Soundzabound.com are websites where teachers can download copyright free graphics and music. Cecil County Public Schools pays for the subscriptions to these two sites, so they should be used more often. Dropbox.com is a new website that can backup files and allow those files to be accessible anywhere where there is Internet access. Wiki’s are a great new and easy way to create a free website for any class. These types of websites work well for two way communication and introduce teachers to the new wave of Web 2.0. All of these tools can be used throughout the school by every teacher and no one teacher uses all of these effectively in their classroom.

To narrow the focus down more for the majority of the faculty, the committee decided to conduct a survey. An online survey was created on Zoomerang.com. A link was emailed to the entire faculty with an explanation on the purpose of the survey. Friendly reminders were sent out for two days afterwards. Teachers were asked to rank the items on the list from greatest to least importance for their training needs. Additionally, t here was a question that asked when the training should occur. The options for this final question were either during their planning period or after school.

There is a large range in skill levels within the Perryville High School faculty. There are teachers who do not want to use a computer, but must in order to enter grades into the online grade book. There are also individuals who feel it is necessary to have a computer and other technology to teach. Once the survey closed, an informed decision was made by the committee based on which topic was selected to have the greatest need for training. From here, a technology solution was designed.