Running head: ANALYZING THE TECHNOLOGY LANDSCAPE: PARTS I & II 1

Analyzing the Technology Landscape: Parts I & II

Pia L. Bowes

Grand Canyon University: TEC 544

Dr. Amy Blowers

6/13/18
ANALYZING THE TECHNOLOGY LANDSCAPE: PARTS I & II 2

Analyzing the Technology Landscape: Parts I & II

To properly support staff you should know what technology is available to them, within

the school as the district. Kenmoor Early Childhood Center (KECC), a school in its third year of

existence within Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS), primarily serves students

with special needs, who are found eligible throughout the school year. The student population

consists of boys and girls who range in ages from three to five, with and without special needs,

who may be in inclusion settings or self-contained settings. The following paper addresses the

district and school-level mission, vision, and strategic plans and the infrastructure and available

resources at Kenmoor Early Childhood Center.

Part I

Information about PGCPS’s technology plan and resource provide a more complete

picture of the capabilities within the district’s Instructional Technology department. This allows

the read to better understand the funding and initiatives that dictate school technology

availability and use.

District-Level Technology Landscape

Prince George’s County Public Schools’s (PGCPS) technology plan contained an

enduring goal, which is supported by its technology plan, and a mission statement, which is

supported by its strategic plan. PGCPS’s enduring goal is to “improve student learning and

technology literacy through the seamless integration of technology through all the facets of the

educational system” (Burnett, 2005, p. 33). PGCPS plans to meet this goal through

accomplishing five numbered objectives: (1) Access to technology will be universal to all

participants in a child’s educational development, and the existing digital inequity will be
ANALYZING THE TECHNOLOGY LANDSCAPE: PARTS I & II 3

narrowed; (2) all school-based personnel will acquire the understanding in expertise to use in

integrate technology effectively in the classroom; (3) all teachers and students will routinely use

technology tools and digital resources for teaching and learning; (4) technology will be used

effectively to improve school administrative functions operational processes; (5) conduct

effective research, assessment, and evaluation on the impact of technology use on student

achievement, teacher skills, and administrative functions to achieve continuous improvement

towards goals (Burnett, 2005, pp. 1, 13, 18, 22, 23). Each objective has from two to ten strategies

by which PGCPS can accomplish the objective. Within each strategy, an evaluation plan “which

describes how progress toward each goal will be measured and identified,” includes actions,

school years to support a timeline, the responsible parties, and a description of what is required

to determine that the action has been accomplished (Williamson, 2015, p. 20). PGCPS’s mission

statement is “to ensure that all students acquire information and skills as well as the ability to

apply their knowledge to become a lifelong learners and productive citizens in a technological,

diverse/global society” (Burnett, 2005, p. 33). PGCPS uses various numbers of the previously

mentioned objectives and strategies to accomplish its mission and reach its enduring goal.

PGCPS has education Board Policies and Administrative Procedures to support

technology integration with in the schools (PGCPS, 2018-b; PGCPS, 2018-e). Within the staff

portal resources menu, there is an instructional technology sub-menu which contains links to

instructional technology resources and trainings (PGCPS, 2018-d). The Instructional Technology

department also has its own mission to “ensure that the technology infrastructure, including all

information systems needed to support instructional and administrative programs, are available

to perform the functions necessary to properly operate each business within the school system”

(PGCPS, 2018-c). This page also list responsibilities, programs, and services that the IT
ANALYZING THE TECHNOLOGY LANDSCAPE: PARTS I & II 4

department provides, to accomplish all of these objectives, the Information Technology budget,

Instructional Technology grants, ESOL, Special Education, Title I, OLMS, SPSS support

PGCPS’s technology resource funding needs.

School-Level Technology Landscape

Sadly, Kenmoor Early Childhood Center currently has no mission, vision, strategic plans,

policies, programs, or procedures for technology. In fact, the school’s overall vision and mission

statements were created during the current school year. The school’s technology coordinator, Pia

Bowes, will most likely develop KECC’s mission, vision, and strategic plan for technology.

Hopefully, knowledge learned within this course will help Ms. Bowes create them. This will

probably occur within the 2018-2019 school year.

Pia Bowes and the Joseph Finney, the IT Technician who is shared with Kenmoor Middle

School and Chillum Elementary School, serve as the primary resources for technology support at

KECC. They give support to individual teachers by answering questions and solving problems

related to technology. KECC “does not have a technology budget” and any technology that has

been issued has been requested from PGCPS and is funded from PGCPS’s budget, (Alma

Lawson, personal communication, June 18, 2018).

District Approved Digital Resources

After locating approved resources, PGCPS approved hardware is what has been

purchased by the district. Whether they are iPads, Smart Boards, Chromebooks, Mac laptops,

Dell laptops, and desktops computers, they are only approved to be used with students if they

have been purchased by PGCPS. Students are allowed to use their cell phones as part of

classroom activities, though. Much of the approved software has already been installed on
ANALYZING THE TECHNOLOGY LANDSCAPE: PARTS I & II 5

computers, but PGCPS also has an approved software list of almost 450 programs that teachers

and students can use to support instruction (PGCPS, 2018-a).

Personal Mission and Vision Statement of Technology

ISTE-C standard 1 is about “visionary leadership” and how the technology coach can

support technology integration within the school (Schrum & Levin, 2015, p. 16). After reviewing

the mission statements from the PGCPS technology plan and the Instructional Technology

websites, considering the KECC student population, and reviewing the ISTE-C standard 1, this

mission statement was created: to support effective technology integration in instruction through

affecting change in school policies, teaching practices, and student engagement with technology

within the early childhood classroom.

This is the vision statement that was created: to improve digital literacy skills and

increase technology accessibility and effective technology use within the early childhood

classroom thereby preparing students for growing, developing, and achieving within the global

digital environment.

Part II

As there is no technology plan and support system in place at Kenmoor Early Childhood

Center, this list has been created from inventories, interviews, and observation.

Infrastructure and Available Resources List

There are specific items within or assigned to each of the 21 classrooms:

Hardware: Dell desktop computers (2+); either OPTIPLEX 3020 OR OPTIPLEX 745

Interactive Board (1); either M600 or SB680

ANALYZING THE TECHNOLOGY LANDSCAPE: PARTS I & II 6

iPad 4th Generation (1);

telephone (1).

Each teacher has a Dell laptop or Mac book.

Within the building:

Epson Projector (1)

Fax/Printer/Copy Machine (2)

Fax/Copy Machine (1)

Printer (6)

Communication Devices: Big Talk Triple Play (4), Cheap Talk (4), Small Talk (5), Big

Mack (4), 6 Level Communicator (4)

Software: These are pre-installed on teacher Laptops:

Microsoft Office Applications;

Smart Notebook,

Keynote,

Photo Booth,

iMovie,

Toast Titanium,

Google Chrome,

Launchpad,
ANALYZING THE TECHNOLOGY LANDSCAPE: PARTS I & II 7

GarageBand,

FileMaker Pro,

Google Drive

Connectivity: The KECC uses 100Mgps for internet access, as compared to 1Gbps for

middle and high schools (Joseph Finney, personal communication, June 18, 2018).

Support Systems: Teachers primarily seek support from Pia Bowes and Joseph Finney, as

opposed to any online support system

Help Desk on PGCPS Website,

Videos on Instructional Technology Website and

PD sign-up on Instructional Technology Website

Commonly used technology-based resources:

Google Apps

Youtube.com

Abcmouse.com

Abcya.com

Starfall.com

ClassDojo.com

Waterford (Individualized literacy program)

SchoolMAX (online record keeping system)

ANALYZING THE TECHNOLOGY LANDSCAPE: PARTS I & II 8

Maryland Online (online Special Education system)

PGCPS Staff Portal

Meduclaim (Medicaid recording system)

BoardMaker (picture creating system to support vocabulary)

Conclusion

The technology plan for PGCPS is thorough and well written and it is reinforced with

policies and administrative procedures to support proper implementation. Though each

classroom has a Smart Board and is assigned an iPad, the other building resources are dated and

teachers seldom use more than the basic technology needed to perform their jobs. Hopefully,

over the next couple of years, that can change.

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References

Burnett, H. M. (2005). Realizing the vision: A plan for the infusion of technology in the Prince

George’s County Public Schools. Retrieved from

http://www1.pgcps.org/uploadedFiles/Offices/Information_Technology/Training/Instructi

onal_Tech/Tech%20Plan%20Final.pdf

Schrum, L. & Levin, B. B. (2015). Leading 21st century schools: Harnessing technology for

engagement and achievement. (2nd ed.).Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.

Prince George’s County Public Schools. (2018-a). Approved software. Retrieved from

http://www1.pgcps.org/it/softwareall.aspx

Prince George’s County Public Schools. (2018-b). Board policies 0000 – Basic commitments.

Retrieved from http://www1.pgcps.org/generalcounsel/boardpolicies/bp0000.aspx

Prince George’s County Public Schools. (2018-c). Instructional Technology. Retrieved from

http://www1.pgcps.org/it/

Prince George’s County Public Schools. (2018-d). Staff portal. Retrieved from

https://staff.pgcps.org/

Prince George’s County Public Schools. (2018-e). System guidance and community relations.

Retrieved from http://www1.pgcps.org/generalcounsel/index.aspx?id=