Purpose:
The main purpose of technology use is to increase students’ motivation and achievements, therefore, the following workshop intends to introduce the implication of technology into the district wide schedule, as well as professionally develop the participants.
Target Group:
As the main purpose of this workshop is to implicate the use of technology in the schedule, its main target will be professors along with administrators that will be taught how to utilize the technology correctly in the curriculum and teaching process. Even though participating professors already have several years of experience in teaching, they still do not have enough practical skills in modern technology being used today. However, they possess basic knowledge about technology that will make learning easier, and faster.
Objectives:
This workshop’s primary aim is the introduction of technological advances into the curriculum, and also making life of professors easier in terms of using technology during their classes.
Time Frame:
The primary focus of such workshops will be using the most popular personalized software such as MS Office, Google Docs, Youtube, podcasts, digital photography, educational websites, and social media. These workshops will be held every week and on each one on a different topic.
Instructional Strategies
The needed instructions for these workshops will be provided to participants, and will give them a chance to experience the hardware and software for themselves. These instructions will be as a guide to the participants for particular lesson that will help them in creating their own project. After the course will be finished all professors will be required to plan one full lesson by utilizing all the technological stuff they have been taught.
Workshops will be held on a step-by-step basis, with the evaluation of each participant being carried out at the end of each such by their teammates. After the evaluation is complete, all the feedback will be gathered to be analyzed in order to assess the actual effectiveness of that program. During workshops participants will be filling out training evaluation forms that will be a vital part of the overall process, and the created products will only add to the final results.
Follow-up Activities
After the program is complete the follow-up trainings will be held with IT coordinators being available to answer any questions.
Evaluating Effectiveness
The results on effectiveness of the program will be mainly based upon the feedback of those, who are actually using that program, whereas feedback from professors will help to find out if all participants felt the workshop to be useful enough bringing any new information.
Utilizing the 4 C’s of Planning
Among the possible ways of implementing the workshops a system of 4 C’s planning has been selected. The first pillar of this system is comprehensiveness, and the needs of the entire district have been taken into account in order to determine the best way of implementing that exists. Such factors as school and its entire environment have been considered to make the best suitable plan. The second part of the system is collaboration between all participants, which was accomplished by getting professors and administrators to take part in the program, and allowing each student to give feedback on the effectiveness of the workshops, which turned to be an important part of the evaluation process.
The last two “C”s are commitment and continuity. It this two parts the chosen district demonstrated a commitment in program implementation and making technology an essential part of the curriculum. And it is in implementing the planning and evaluation phase step-by-step did the continuity of the program was accomplished. And finally, all the acquired feedback allowed the program to change, or even evolve where necessary.
