If you remember keeping your grades in a handwritten gradebook and having to average grades by hand at the end of the quarter, then you have been in education long enough to have witnessed dozens of shifts over to the digital side. Online grading and attendance, securing a substitute, professional development tracking, and many other educational processes and tasks are now done using technology rather than manually (Picciano, 2011, p. 64). Some of these have been more challenging and painful than others, but streamlining and simplifying certain areas is often beneficial for faculty, staff, and administrators as we all try to manage our students and improve our schools.
Levin and Schrum (2009) remind us that leaders should take a systemic approach as outlined by the NETS-A standards and consider “how change in one area impacts other areas” (p. 23). These planned changes are “designed to move toward shared goals and vision” and will ultimately support the integration of technology in every aspect and area of the school system. Essentially, both administrative and instructional uses of technology warrant careful consideration because they are part of the larger picture that may not count in test scores but are crucial components to school improvement and district success. In my district, we recently stopped having to fill out employee time sheets and sending them in at the end of the month. The whole process has been digitized with a locally-developed program called ‘Timekeeper’ which provides the payroll department with every employee’s hours worked each day. Technology personnel collaborated with the finance department to create a program that would allow a long-time manual process to become digital. This new program had some initial costs, like new coded badges for all employees and scanners in each building, but the investment will provide long-term benefits to administrators, human resources, and the payroll department. The whole process took a little over a year to fully implement, and I suspect that a year from now, we will forget the old way ever existed.
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| Image retrieved from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrTbxPoKZXkpO2jngW_XKzj4wxfeDivkjR29EbUHBBRzSU6u0OTYJ3Wi8Ac68ZPIG5x9mcQGRQg-_gIf59fBM-YSBnIGgiwM6f_XvJMd3VTk1hOgHLM3x_Qu_4fkZOvv2wIcsj4QJS8b8/s1600/DataWarehouse+Flow.png |
When planning for the implementation of an automated task, a digital workflow, or an online software program that replaces a manual process, a technology leader or team should consider a series of questions before making a selection. Here are 5 key areas of consideration for district or school leadership:
- How much does a program cost and will the investment be worth the results? An expensive product that will last several years may not exceed the salary expenses for personnel doing that same task. Another option for some districts is to have someone develop the program ‘in-house’ for little or no expense.
- Will the program developers provide ongoing support for their product? Districts need assurance that the product will continue to be improved and updated.
- How is student and employee data kept safe and secure? State and federal laws must often be applied to decisions that involve collection of data (Roscorla, 2015)
- Who needs training on the software and how will it occur?
- Based on the type of program, when will the rollout begin and what does the timeline look like?
A new wave of free and low-cost programs built just for education have surfaced in recent years. In the Lincoln Middle School case, they started from scratch and wasted time and effort in developing a program that did what they needed (Picciano, 2011, p. 66). Most districts now have student information systems (SIS) and learning management systems (LMS) that provide that information to teachers in a secure, efficient, and user-friendly way. In Alabama, all districts use iNow combined with products like Global Scholar, Schoology, Edmodo, Moodle, and others that effectively gather data and produce reports that give teachers concrete information on their students’ progress. The best part is that it no longer takes months for someone to input scores and grades into a database, generate reports and graphs, and then safely deliver those printed files to teachers; it now happens within days or hours (p. 54).
Another potential game-changer is the ever-evolving Google Apps for Education (GAfE) collection of apps and tools that is making huge impacts in K-12 education. District domains are free and locally managed, but the users get unlimited cloud storage in Google Drive and access to hundreds of learning apps in a secure digital environment. Systems that have GAfE often purchase Chromebooks as laptop-like devices that run Chrome OS and let users sign in with their Google ID.
If districts are to continually make progress toward their goals, then leaders in that system need access to the critical information giving them the ‘expert power’ necessary to achieve success for their students and stakeholders (p. 53). Accurate and timely information is crucial knowledge that our school leaders continually need to make the most effective decisions, and modern technology offers a way to achieve this goal.
References
Image retrieved from http://www.acpcomputer.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/LMS-team.png
Image retrieved from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrTbxPoKZXkpO2jngW_XKzj4wxfeDivkjR29EbUHBBRzSU6u0OTYJ3Wi8Ac68ZPIG5x9mcQGRQg-_gIf59fBM-YSBnIGgiwM6f_XvJMd3VTk1hOgHLM3x_Qu_4fkZOvv2wIcsj4QJS8b8/s1600/DataWarehouse+Flow.png
Picciano, A. (2011). Educational leadership and Planning for Technology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Roscorla, T. (2015, Jan 7). Top K-12 digital policies issues to watch in 2015. Retrieved from Digital Learning Now: http://digitallearningnow.com/news/top-k-12-digital-policy-issues-watch-2015/
Schrum, L., & Levin, B. B. (2009). Leading 21st century schools: Harnessing technology for engagement and achievement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Although I have not been teaching long enough to have averaged my grades by hand, I have been teaching long enough to have used two different programs--one to average the grades, and one to enter/record the grades for report cards. I must say, I was relieved when in my third year of teaching my school began using a database that held all our information--attendance, grades, etc.--in one program. Picciano (2011) states that "database applications are by far the most important of the three categories of administrative applications" because they involve the management of all the different activities in a school (pg. 54). As you mentioned in your blog, all of the aspects/processes of schools--and in reality our daily lives--are converting to digital. At times, the amount of technology available can be overwhelming. There are so many applications and programs to choose from, how do we know what is most applicable for us to use? I believe it is our responsibility as life-long learners to investigate the programs/applications available through technology in order to help us achieve our goals as educators.
ReplyDeleteI remember playing with an early iteration of Moodle back about 12 or 13 years ago. It's free and open source, and I thought it was really cool. There are several LMSs that are both free and open source (the latter meaning you can see the code and modify it to suit your needs), and I wondered why anyone would pay for an LMS when there were free and open options available--especially when cost is always a consideration.
ReplyDeleteEducation week published an article on how to pick an LMS (see the link below) that gives some insight to that question. The first recommendation they make is to "start by figuring out what you want from your learning management system and how it fits into the overall teaching and learning structure of your school or district." As a part of that step you need to determine if you even need an LMS in the first place, and then what kind of features it needs to have. The free and open LMSs have a lot of features, but they may not have everything you want, so you will either have to write the modules you want or have someone else do it. Sometimes this can be more expensive than just paying for an LMS that has everything you want.
At Thompson, where my kids go to school, the different teachers use different things--Edmodo, different blogging platforms, etc. As a parent, it would be nice if the school picked one and had all the teachers use the same thing.
http://goo.gl/THVdW5
Angela, you make a valid point when you said, "In Alabama, all districts use iNow combined with products like Global Scholar, Schoology, Edmodo, Moodle, and others that effectively gather data and produce reports that give teachers concrete information on their students’ progress." I agree, but wouldn't it be nice if we could add that all of these programs and services gather data, produce reports and "safely and securely share that data with one another"?
ReplyDeleteIt absolutely would be great! If the SIS and any one or all (I know I'm dreaming on this) LMSs could interact and report data, it would be incredibly empowering for teachers. If personalized learning and differentiated instruction have any hope, I think having accurate, current data provided in that way are an essential piece.
DeletePaul, my system also has multiple options for teachers as far as LMSs available to them. One reason is that teachers like to pick what they can handle using and will do what they need it to. Another reason is that as students get into high school, it is more beneficial for them to experience an LMS like Moodle too because it is much more like Blackboard or Canvas that many colleges use. I see your point from the parent perspective though and many administrators have expressed this too. It may benefit our students to have been exposed to a variety of these programs in the long run because they get bored or too comfortable using just one all the time.
ReplyDelete