A Snapshot of Instructional Technology in the PSESD Region Puget Sound Educational Service District

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A Snapshot of Instructional Technology in the
PSESD RegionPuget Sound Educational Service
DistrictTerry HippenhammerConn McQuinnLenny
Reisberg
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District Instructional Technology Survey

• Process
• Administered to I.T. staff in spring of 2009
• 21 districts responded out of a total of 35
  distributed.

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School Districts Responding
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FINDINGS
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
What best describes your position in your school
district?
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How Many FTE Employees does your school district
employ?
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What Internet filtering product does your school
district use?
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What Internet filtering product does your school
district use?

• The field uses many different products. No single
  product has emerged as a standard.
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of
  various filtering products?
• What are you looking for in a filtering product?

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Do you permit students to access personal email
at school sites?
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Do you permit students to access personal email
at school sites?

• The tide is shifting and a majority of schools
  are allowing access to personal email.
• What are the concerns or obstacles for allowing
  personal email at school?

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How many schools in your district have wireless
access?

• 1. 13/13 2. 0/8
• 3. 1/3 4. 27/27
• 5. 0/8 6. 36/36
• 7. 22/22 8. 1/22
• 9. 33/33 10. 2/5
• 11. 0/10 12. 5/5
• 13. 2/2 14. 38/38
• 15. 5/15 16. 3/8
• 17. 49/49 18. 8/8
• 19. 13/13 20. 9/09
• 21. 2/25

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How many schools in your district have wireless
access?

• The tide is beginning to shift and while many
  schools do not yet provide wireless, a
  significant number are doing so.
• What are the obstacles and concerns regarding
  wireless access?
• In school with wireless, what are the advantages
  you find?

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What organizations are you using to provide
online learning?
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What organizations are you using to provide
online learning?

• No single product has yet to emerge as a
  standard. Districts are using many different
  tools.
• What are the advantages of various tools?
• What are you looking for in the tools?

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How many schools are equipped for video
conferencing?

• 1. 0/13 2. 0/8 3. 3/3
• 4. 0/27 5. 1/8 6. 0/36
• 7. 22/22 8. 1/22 9. 0/33
• 10. 0/5 11. 0/10 12. 1/5
• 13. 1/2 14. 10/38 15. 1/15
• 16. 0/8 17. 0/49 18. 1/8
• 19. 1/13 20. 0/9 21. 0/25

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How many schools are equipped for video
conferencing?

• This technology has not yet spread to general
  acceptance and implementation in schools.
• What are the obstacles and concerns regarding
  providing video conferencing?

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Are any factors precluding you from meeting your
distance learning needs? (Check all that apply.)
...
Other - Bandwidth
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Factors precluding meeting distance learning needs

• While many factors exist that are obstacles for
  meeting distance learning needs, funding and
  absence of clear mandate to provide this service
  are high on the list.
• What are innovative ways of providing funding?

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
What content does you district currently offer
through distance learning courses? (Mark all that
...
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Content Currently Offered

• Traditional, required course work is most
  frequently offered.
• What courses are the most commonly subscribed?
• What are effective uses of distance learning?
• What are some of the less effective?

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
My school district's Information Technology
(I.T.) efforts are organized ...
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Organization

• Housing instructional technology in one
  department seems to be the norm.
• What are the reasons for continuing with multiple
  departments?

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Input for district planning is provided by the
I.T. department through. (Mark all that apply.)
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Additional Comments

• Director has access to superintendent.
• Each school has a Technology Team to provide
  input
• Various groups, committees, depends on topic
• Director reports to Sup, but not part of Cabinet
• Curriculum and IT work together in planning

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Is there a technology advisory committee in your
district that provides input into information te
...
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Tech advisory

• This is an idea with wide acceptance although not
  universal.
• What kinds of support and progress has been
  realized through the efforts of a tech advisory
  committee.

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
If yes to question 15, are the following
constituents represented on the technology
advisory comm ...
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Composition

• Students are rarely included in the Tech Advisory
  Committee.
• Reasons?
• What constituents provide the most effective
  advocacy and advice?

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
What recommendations and input does your
Technology Advisory Committee consider? (Mark all
that a ...
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
If no technology advisory committee was involved
in the development of your district technology p
...
31
Please note the percentage of your district's
total technology budget (enterprise and
instructional funds) that comes from each of the
following sources during this fiscal year.
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Funding

• General funds and tech levies provide the bulk of
  funding for technology.

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What percentage of your district's total
technology budget is devoted to each of the
following areas?
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
When hardware breaks or technical support is
needed at your schools, how long does it usually
tak ...
35
Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Has your district adopted and published a Service
Level Agreement (anticipated response schedule
...
36
Service Level Agreements

• For districts with SLAs, what improvements have
  you found?
• What advice can you offer districts with out such
  agreements.

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
How does your district track its software
inventory and monitor for license compliance?
(Mark all ...
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Where is formal technology training offered?
(Mark all that apply.)       
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On average, how many hours of formal technology
training has a typical teacher in your district
received in the last year?
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Of the above hours, how many would you estimate
were for  
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Training

• Integration of technology and instruction is not
  yet a primary emphasis.

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
When is formal technology training offered? (Mark
all that apply.)       
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Additional Comments

• before school 1
• summer 2
• August summer institute
• Late star morning
• half days

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
How are Professional Development priorities for
technology developed in your district? (Mark all
...
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Are prospective teachers applying to your
district required to demonstrate technology
skills for ...
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Proficiency for New Teachers

• What are the obstacles for assessing the skills
  of new teachers?
• Would this be useful?

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What tools does your district use to assess
teachers' technology skills?

• PILOT 4
• Interviews 2
• Informal Assessment 1
• None 2
• Applications package - 1
• Online applications package- 1
• Hands on test or 2 classes - 1
• Informal Observation - 1
• State Assessment - 1
• Survey - 1

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Are technology skills required in teachers'
individual professional development plans?
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PDP

• What are the obstacles in requiring technology to
  be included in PDPs?

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Are prospective administrators applying to your
district required to demonstrate technology skill
...
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Proficiency for Administrators

• What are the obstacles for assessing the skills
  of new administrators?
• Would this be useful?

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Considering the overall needs in the school
district, check the level of assistance needed
for each of the topics listed below.
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Select, access and use technology to expand
student learning opportunities, skills and
knowledge.
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Plan, implement and use hardware to make use of
the Internet for instructional purposes.
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Need and Provision

• There appears to be a disconnect between the
  perceived need and the focus of PD.

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Use technology-based applications to access and
analyze student assessment to guide instructional
...
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Identify and apply for state, federal and/or
private funding related to the access and/or use
of ...
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
If you have adopted Educational Technology
Standards into your district curricula, what
sources o ...
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Who provides help to teachers with integrating
technology into the teaching and learning? (Mark
a ...
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Other Comments

• Building technology
• Coordinators/Librarians
• These two positions have been eliminated for
  09/10
• Media Specialist
• Director of Tech Services - we're small
• We really don't have anybody to do this

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
On average, how long does it take to get support
for instructional issues regarding technology an
...
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Other Comments

• depends on what teachers sign up for
• depends on the application, usually within a day
• follows SLA types of response

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
What process does your district use to identify
instructional software for purchase? (Mark all th
...
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Are teachers expected to have lesson plans with
specific student learning objectives related to t
...
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Technology Included in Lesson Plans

• Would this be useful?
• What are the obstacles to implement this?
• For school districts that require this, has there
  been benefits?

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Does your district install a standard desktop and
disk image used for the following users? (Mark
...
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Does each school in your district have its own
web-page?
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
If yes to question 44, who is responsible for
maintaining the websites?
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Maintaining Websites

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of each
  model?

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Other Comments

• Staff from school using district template
• Some schools have own staff, otherwise we do it
• maintained both centrally and at building level
• All of the above.
• Communications dept

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Does the district have a mechanism for each
teacher to post a website?
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
If yes to question 46, is there a stated
expectation that teachers maintain their websites?
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Teachers Maintain Websites

• Advantages
• Obstacles

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
What programs are used to create district
websites?
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Programs to Create Webpages

• Advantages of various programs.
• Disadvantages of various programs.
• Looking for

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Other Comments

• DreamWeaver
• PHP w/CSS
• in district developers
• Open source tools like Drupal and Moodle

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Approximately what percentage of teachers
actively maintain a web-page?
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Increasing the percentage of teachers who
maintain a website

• How can the percentage of teachers who maintain a
  website be increased?

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Has your district adopted any desktop level
open-source software for administrative or
instructio ...
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If yes to question 50, what programs has your
district adopted?

• 1Drupal, Moodle2looking at Moodle, just
  purchased Community Server and will see if that
  will work3moodle4Moodle5This is a long list
  for us. Think about Edubuntu and you have all the
  desktop stuff, on the admin/it side Moodle,
  Joomla, Many network services, Wordpress,
  LifeRay, and anything else we can implement.
  6Moodle7Moodle, Gimp, Paint.net, video
  lan(vlc), Openoffice, Firefox, MYSQL, Apache, 7
  zip, wink, freemind, juice, NVU/Kompozer, VNC,
  Camstudio, Geogebra, Stellarium, Audacity, Format
  Factory, PDF Creator, Ekiga and numerous freeware
  applications like Google Earth, Irfanview, color
  pic and others

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Does you district use an electronic grade book
system?
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
If yes to question 52, are student grades
available online to parents?
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Other Comments

• Right how, secondary student report cards are
  accessible via WestPak Skyward
• not yet, but they will be
• Yes
• Yes
• It has mainly been implemented through the
  district student information system, eSIS at
  volunteer school sites, mostly middle school at
  the moment. However, the district is currently
  looking at a requirement that all schools
  participate.

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
If yes to question 52, are teachers required to
maintain an electronic gradebook?
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Do teachers in your district enter grades into an
electronic report card?
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Other Comments

• with new SIS rollout
• still teacher choice at elementary
• All grades entered in Gradebook and then exported

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Electronic Grade Book and Report Cards

• What are the advantages?
• What are the obstacles?
• What are you looking for in a program?

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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
Does your district have policies that inhibit the
instructional use of Web 2.0 tools? If so pleas
...
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Other Comments

• when tools open access to undesirable content,
  limits are enacted.
• We do lack some bandwidth that we are now
  addressing.
• We block a majority of 2.0 products
• We have yet to find a definitive definition of
  what Web 2.0 is for educational purposes. So we
  think we are using it, but it depends on the
  definition.
• because we block facebook/myspace but do allow
  access to many other tools. Didn't know if this
  was a yes or a no.
• But this is now being changed.
• Some sites are blocked for content (ie blogspot)
• block social network sites
• Staff have much broader access to tools than
  students.
• Personal page websites are blocked except for a
  few educational oriented ones that are in a
  managed environment.

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What Web 2.0 tools are used most commonly by
teachers in your district?
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Puget Sound ESD Instructional Technology Survey
If teachers wish to access sites normally blocked
by the district filtering software, do they hav
...
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Additional Comments

• via ethernet connection instead of wireless
• Throught the Tech Department on a case by case
  basis.
• beta testing an override for youtube
• There is a process to request a site be
  unblocked.
• Students and teachers can sumbit an unblock
  request by clicking the unblock request button on
  every blocked page. It generates an email that is
  sent to our Websense administrators who review
  the requests.
• with a building level override password
• Contact Customer Support Center
• A teacher will request a site be permanently
  unblocked. The request will initially be
  approved/denied by the Technology Coordinator and
  subject to final decision by the Technology Work
  Committee at the next meeting.
• They must make a request to the district to
  unblock filtered sites. Sites will be reviewed by
  district staff or administrators before sites are
  unblocked
• Principal request
• They may request a review to have the site
  unblocked, if yes it is unblocked for everyone

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Access

• What problems have you discovered through
  providing access?
• What are the obstacles to providing access?

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Are there any additional questions you would like
to know about the use of technology in the
districts?

• Districts with One-to-One programs. Computer to
  student ratio. Technology hardware standards.