Welcome to my Project Integrate Wiki Site!
Basic Info:
My name is Marci Leberman and I am the Technology Coordinator at Parker School District in Parker South Dakota.
This wiki was created as place to house all documents, discussion and all things Project Integrate!
As tech coordinator but administrator in this project, my biggest issue will be to understand all the "educational" terminology, use the tools such as test scores and school improvement plans to come up with a goal for my project.
List of Activities:
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Face 2 Face Large group meeting - Attended Project Integrate BLC in Sioux Falls |
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November 2010 |
Surveyed staff on 21st Century Skills knowledge |
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On-site coaches visit with Cate in Parker to discuss Project |
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Face 2 Face Large group meeting - Admin Meeting at East Dakota |
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January 2011 |
Started the Sam & Sam Student Tech Integrationist project
Click here for the Sam & Sam Web Site |
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February 2011 |
On-site coaches visit with Cate in Parker to discuss Project |
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Spring 2011 |
Administrator Webinar #1 |
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May 2011 |
Post-survey given to staff on 21st Century Skills knowledge |
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Spring 2011 |
Administrator Webinar #2 |
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June 6 & 7, 2011 |
Face 2 Face Large group meeting - Symposium |
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Action Research Project:
Problem: After surveying staff, Cindy Froiland and I noticed a lack of knowledge by our staff in 21st Century Skills.
Question: How can we increase staff knowledge of 21st Century Skills?
Plan:
Our original plan was to provide professional development to our staff on a designated day for professional development. Due to some budget issues, several in-service days were spent discussing these issues so unfortunately we weren't able to execute our plan like we wanted to.
We implemented an alternative plan. Through the use of email and the Internet, we did some professional development on 21st century skills. On the left, on this web site, there are 2 links that describe what was done and the participants in this part of the project. They are "21st Century PD" and "21st Century PD Participants".
In addition to the professional development, Cindy and I implemented a student tech integrationist program to further help staff in integrating technology into their classroom and to help them better understand 21st century skills and how they can be developed in the classroom.
Reflection:
After doing a post survey of the same staff, their 21st Century Skills knowledge increased slightly in a few areas. It's unfortunate that we weren't able to implement all of the activities we had planned due to unforseen events. I think if we had been able to do what we initially planned, we would have seen a larger increase in 21st century skills knowledge from pre to post test.
I liked the idea of the Student Tech Integrationist and might look to continue that in the future. We had 2 really good students who interacted well with staff and students. They will only be juniors in the fall of 2011 so they could potentially do it another 2 years. The teachers who had the tech integrationist in their classrooms had very positive things to say about the program and would like to have them again next year. It took away some of the busy work from the teachers so they could concentrate on other things.
I thought the program was also very good for the students. They were able to learn new technologies and teach the students how to use it. They quickly realized the things they needed to improve upon and were able to work on their public speaking skills. They seem to enjoy their time in the classroom as a tech integrationist.
Implications for Future Work:
I would still like to see a day devoted to 21st Century Skills professional development for all of our certified staff. I know there is still a need for it and would like to see it next school year. Parker School will be going to a 4-day week with the 5th day for professional development. I'm excited to have more time to work with the teachers and know we will get even more PD on 21st Century Skills.
As I mentioned earlier, the student tech integrationist was somewhat successful and I would like to continue to develop that in the years to come. We have 2 wonderful students right now with room to expand with more.
Baseline Data:
I really didn't do a lot of scientific research on this. After years of providing technology in-service classes for our staff, I knew that they needed to improve their knowledge of 21st Century Skills. This spurred us to create the initial survey of our certified staff. It did show a lack of understanding of the 21st Century Skills.
Integration Plans:
Basically our project consisted of 2 parts:
1) PD in-service for our certified staff
2) Student Technology Integrationist Program
For part 1, we used online videos, youtube and email to perform this part of the project.
For part 2, the students used a variety of technology including the following: Photostory, internet search tools, Google Sketchup, Smart Senteos, Atomic Learning and VoiceThread.
Project Assessment:
Pre and Post survey links on the left-hand side of this web site.
Reflections:
This was the first time I've done a class like this, basically most of it online. As far as the module portion of the class, it took me a while to figure out WebCT regarding what was expected of me. I just learned of the webinars too so there were certain aspects I wasn't aware of, probably not because of anyone else but more so my lack of learning to read through all the information for the class in different areas such as WebCT and the wiki.
I was disappointed my project wasn't what I wanted it to be but really felt there were some things just out of my control and I had to adjust to that.
I really want to continue to work on this in the upcoming years as I feel it's very important for teachers to have a grasp of these concepts.
