ET680 Technology Planning Paper

Alison Doubet

Loyola University

Analysis of Current Situation

 Joppa View Elementary School is a Lighthouse School in Baltimore County. Our

school piloted the digital conversion starting in 2014. As of 2015, all students K-5 at our

school have been 1:1. Since the conversion, teachers have adapted to integrating

technology into daily lessons. My internship focuses on introducing teachers to digital

tools that will assist in planning meaningful independent work for students in an

innovative way. There are 20 teachers participating in this project. Each participant will

complete a series of online, asynchronous professional development sessions that each

focus on a specific tool.

My internship project began in August of 2017. At that time, most Joppa View

teachers had progressed from the Entry Stage of the ACOT model to the Adaptation

Stage. Technology was being used on a daily basis, yet direct instruction and traditional

teaching methods were still evident. While teachers were becoming more comfortable

with the technology available, and students were independently utilizing technology in

classrooms, the teaching methods were not changing significantly to use the resources

effectively. For example, teachers may have used a digital word processing tool with

peer editing rather than paper and pencil. At this time, the 30 participating Joppa View

teachers are beginning to enter the Appropriation Stage of the ACOT model.

Participants have completed PD’s on three different digital resources. As a result of their

participation, most of these teachers are now using these tools effortlessly to

accomplish a variety of instructional goals in their classroom. Through various

reflections, teachers have admitted to incorporating these tools in their instruction on a

weekly basis, creating assignments that address specific skills. These participants have

progressed from integrating technology into traditional practices, to utilizing the tools to
redefine students’ independent work. For example, instead of using Padlet to enhance a

collaborative activity and post student responses, participants are now using classroom

blogging tools to host collaborative discussions that incorporate critical thinking skills.

Moving forward, I intend to continue to support teachers in their progression through the

ACOT model. Instead of providing participants with specific ideas on how to use the

tools with their students, I’d like teachers to personally discover new ways to utilize the

technology in an innovative way.

In order to further expand on the status of the ACOT model stages, I will describe

three participants and their current personal progress. I will refer to these three

individuals as Participant 1, Participant 2, and Participant 3. Participant 1 is currently

functioning at the Adoption stage of the model. This participant has only been involved

in one PD thus far in my internship. Participant 1 began at the Entry stage, as he/she

was not necessarily using technology, but learning about technology instead. At this

point, this participant is using technology in lessons on a weekly basis. However, the

method of use is not serving an innovative purpose or enhancing learning. The

technology might support traditional teaching or substitute an existing activity.

Participant 1 has not yet reached the Adaptation stage yet, as he/she is not utilizing

technology effortlessly as a constant resource in lessons. The technology is not being

used for interdisciplinary, transformative activities. This participant is also far from the

Invention stage. In order to discover new uses for the technology, this teacher must first

become comfortable with adapting technology in a more effective way. To assist this

teacher with moving from Adoption to Adaptation, I will offer support and assistance with

becoming familiar with a specific tool that fits his/her comfort level. This participant
sometimes struggles to conceptualize or understand technology, so my job is to simplify

it in a way that allows for connections to be made.

Participant 2 proves to function at the Adaptation stage of the ACOT model.

Participant 2 has surpassed the Entry and Adoption stages, as he/she has learned the

basics of technology resources and tools, and is currently using them to increase

student engagement and productivity. For example, this teacher often allows students to

choose a word processing program to complete an assignment over paper and pencil.

This participant also uses a program such as Dreambox to motivate students and

provide interactive extension activities. However, Participant 2 is not using technology in

a way that addresses goals outside of student engagement. In order to move onto the

Appropriation stage, this teacher must find ways to redefine an activity using

technology. In my future PDs, I will contact this participant personally to discuss ideas

for implementing the tool in this way. In the future, this participant can reach the

Invention stage by creating activities without my assistance, using digital tools to

address goals specific to his/her students.

Participant 3 has reached the Appropriation stage of the ACOT model. This

participant in particular has spent the past several years in the Adaptation stage. At the

beginning of the digital conversion, Participant 3 quickly surpassed the Entry stage by

learning the basics of many tools and becoming familiar with new technology. Soon

after, this teacher moved on to the Adoption stage and used basic digital resources in

lessons on a weekly basis. In the beginning of this year, Participant 3 was working at

the Adaptation stage, using new tools to enhance student motivation and increase

engagement. This teacher was familiar with tools such as Padlet and Kahoot, and used
these tools as an addition to more traditional teaching methods. Most recently, this

teacher has started operating at the Appropriation stage. After participating in two of my

PDs, Participant 3 is creating activities for students that are cooperative and higher

level. I believe this participant will reach the Invention stage by the end of the year. In

my current PD, this teacher has already expressed new ideas for the specific tool and is

communicating specific innovations that can be made in his/her classroom by using the

resource. This participant has expressed a plan to execute these ideas with his/her

students in the near future.

Similar to Stage Three of the ACOT model, most Joppa View teachers proved to

be functioning at the Augmentation Stage of the SAMR model at the beginning of my

internship. Technology, though it was present and being utilized, was not functioning on

a level that redesigns learning. For example, in an average Joppa View classroom,

students may have been presenting their ideas on a digital publishing platform such as

Wixie instead of poster paper. However, this method still categorizes too closely to

substitution to be considered a redesigned activity. Currently, participants prove to be

functioning at the Modification Stage of the SAMR model. Each PD provides teachers

with ideas and inspiration for using the tool with students in a way that completely

changes independent work. Many teachers are recreating my ideas and implementing

the activities with their class. As I move forward in my internship, I hope to assist

participants in reaching the Redefinition Stage of the SAMR model. I’d like to see

teachers finding new ideas for using the tools that were previously inconceivable.

Allowing teachers to try out these digital tools requires time, which many

teachers argue that they do not have. This is why I chose to offer each PD as an online,
asynchronous session. This would alleviate the pressure of trying out the tools during a

constricted time and allow teachers the flexibility of working it into their own schedules.

This also will not interfere with Joppa View’s weekly faculty meeting after school on

Monday afternoons. Participants are given 2-3 weeks to complete each PD session.

According to recent teacher feedback, this online format is convenient for their daily

lives and achievable. Moving forward, I will continue to design the PD’s as online

sessions and allow for 2-3 weeks (depending on the complexity of the tool) to complete.

When teachers implement a tool for the first time in a lesson, they are able to see

an immediate innovation to student activities and work. However, the observed change

in student progress because of the tools is more difficult to measure and takes more

time. I believe teachers observe innovation immediately upon implementation, but

struggle to observe the effectiveness of the innovation until enough time has passed. I

have taken this into consideration when designing my PD sessions. In each session, I

include detailed examples of how the tool is being used in my classroom, accompanied

with picture and video evidence. This allows teachers to observe the innovation and

connect the idea to a relative advantage in their classroom. I also discuss the benefits

that I have personally observed in my classroom, in order to provide an example of the

potential benefits they may experience.

Thus far, I have been diligent about providing specific examples of how each tool

can be utilized in a way that surpasses traditional independent work. The difficulty I

have faced is convincing special area and resource teachers to understand the relative

advantage of a tool. For example, a classroom blogging tool may not be seen as useful

by a special educator. As I move forward with my internship, I plan to take more time to
find advantages for each tool specific to every subject area. This may require

personalized segments of the PD that relate to individual participants, to encourage

them to see a relative advantage for the tool

From my experience, teachers usually immediately perceive a new tech tool as

complex when first hearing about it. This sometimes prevents them from ever even

exploring the tool. After being trained and trying it out, they realize how simple it can be.

I have taken this idea in consideration while planning and designing each PD. Since

most of the staff at Joppa View expresses an intimidation of new tools, I keep each PD

very basic, simple, and easy to understand. While there are many innovative,

multifaceted uses for each tool, I limit the number of ideas I include in order to allow

participants to view the tool as more simple than complex. However, I do realize that a

select number of teachers are capable of handling more complex uses of each tool.

Moving forward, I plan to consider these differences and personalize my future PD’s to

address these participants’ capabilities.

I feel that most teachers find these tools compatible with their teaching and

classrooms already. Since we are 1:1, there is no issue in terms of available resources.

Also, our SPP has been focusing on students being engaged in meaningful independent

work while in centers or small group. Our administration has voiced the significance of

designing independent work that is constructive and enhanced. Towards the beginning

of my internship, teachers had expressed an interest in finding ways to meet these

goals. I plan to continue focusing each PD on creating meaningful independent work, to

align with our administration's expectations and also to convey the compatibility of each

tool.
 A recent survey conducted with the twenty participants of my internship assessed

the current state of Ely’s Eight Conditions of Change. I was able to analyze this

information and use it to make necessary changes to my internship moving forward. At

the start of my internship, staff expressed a slight dissatisfaction with the status quo.

Teachers were using technology, but wanted a deeper understanding of resources and

a stronger set of skills to utilize it effectively with students. Currently, participants are not

expressing a dissatisfaction. Taking this into consideration, I am planning to identify

specific problems or challenges in classrooms that a new digital tool can address.

Teachers have mastered several tools to create innovative student activities, creating a

sense of satisfaction. In order to continue to make a difference, it will be necessary for

me to identify other dissatisfactions and address them in future PDs.

According to recent conversations with participants along with the survey results,

teachers have admitted feeling more knowledgeable and skilled with new digital tools.

Many teachers have acknowledged the helpful content of each PD and have expressed

a feeling of strong understanding with how to utilize each tool with students. I plan to

continue to include deep, detailed instruction for each PD to further build each

participants’ skill set.

The availability of resources has remained consistent since the beginning of my

internship. All classes remain to be 1:1, so there is no shortage of technology available

to teachers and students. In terms of staff support, participants responded that they

have experienced adequate support from me as well as our STAT teacher. Teachers

who need assistance will contact one of us for help with a tool. Being a strong source of

support for participants, I plan to ask administration to allot time and coverage for me to
meet with classes and teachers to assist with the technology. In regards to time

availability, most teachers admitted to having sufficient time for learning and

implementing, and attributed their response to the online format of the PD. In the future I

plan to stick with the current course completion timeline of 2-3 weeks.

Rewards or incentives is the condition of change that I am currently focusing on

the most. Beginning my internship, the major incentive being offered to participants was

one CPD credit for completing all PD sessions. This reward encouraged participation,

and all twenty participants completed the first PD session. However, only nine teachers

successfully completed the second PD session. After this outcome, I decided to

consider additional rewards or incentives moving forward. After meeting with my STAT

teacher and administration, I was given permission to offer a reward of dismissal

coverage for the first five participants who complete the third PD session. This incentive

would give these five teachers an extra thirty minutes of planning time on a chosen day.

Another incentive that was added was offering participants one credit towards Joppa

View’s “Bird University”, which is a school-wide professional development initiative.

These are the current incentives that I have in place for participants. Depending on the

success of my current PD, I will either maintain, change or add to the list of incentives

and rewards for participating teachers.

Participation from stakeholders started strong in the beginning of the year. This

could potentially be attributed to the initial engagement of the incentive. However, after

the second PD, participation began to decline. I believe this resulted from various

factors that affected teachers at the time of the PD, including parent-teacher

conferences, report cards, American Education Week, and winter break. At this time,
our administration was also changing considering our principal resigned in December

and our assistant principal took a short leave of absence. As I continue, I hope to see a

growth in participation with the added incentives and new administration.

Similar to participation, commitment from participants also declined. Over half of

teachers did not stay committed to the process. As previously mentioned, there were

several factors that may have influenced commitment. There was an obvious decline in

commitment from administration, as our previous principal resigned mid-year. Moving

forward, I hope to gain commitment from our new acting principal and regain

commitment from teachers with the incentives and extra support from administration.

Leadership is another major goal I have moving forward with my internship PDs.

Joppa View has a new acting principal in place for the remainder of the school year. As

this principal grows accustomed to our school, it is my goal to gain support from the

whole team of administrators to play an active role in each PD. Recently, I have

attempted to contact administrators to discuss possibilities in terms of involvement. I

would like to include content in the PD directly from administrators that connects the

work in the PD to our school progress plan and observation expectations. As I move

forward, I hope to see a stronger role from leadership with more support from

administration.

Stakeholders

In August, I enlisted Joppa View’s S.T.A.T teacher as my first stakeholder.

During this meeting, I gathered insight on possible needs that are relevant to our current

staff. During the meeting, we discussed the focus on P21 skills at Joppa View and

across the county. Meaningful independent work relates to the “4 C’s” of 21st century
learning: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. We discussed

how digital tools can be used to address all four of these areas by creating purposeful

activities for students. After our meeting, we decided that many new (and some

seasoned) teachers can potentially benefit from professional developments that focus

on using digital tools to create meaningful independent work. We also decided to offer

these PD’s as optional, realizing that the content is not relevant to the needs of all staff

members. Currently, our S.T.A.T teacher has a very minor role as stakeholder.

Recently, I met with her to address the concerns about participation and commitment.

She assisted with incentive ideas and reward possibilities. She also is a resource to

participants as they utilize the tool in each PD. If I am not available for assistance,

teachers will contact the S.T.A.T teacher for help. According to the most recent survey,

teachers are comfortable with the supportive role our S.T.A.T teacher is playing in this

process, so I do not plan to make any changes to this stakeholder position.

After my initial conversation with our S.T.A.T teacher, I conducted a pre-

assessment survey to determine which teachers would be interested in participating as

well as specific needs to address. The survey data resulted in thirty teachers expressing

interest in the PD program. Of these teachers, twenty-five were classroom teachers, two

are special area teachers, one is an ESOL teacher, and two are resource teachers. This

group of teachers would become the PD participants and my group of stakeholders in

this process. Currently, all thirty teachers are still involved in the process and receive

updates, notifications, and resources sent regarding each PD.

In addition to teachers, students of participants would also be considered

stakeholders in my internship. These students would be directly affected by the PDs

and the most involved with the digital tools. Several classes from kindergarten to fifth

grade have utilized new technology this year due to their teacher’s participation in my

PDs. This group of stakeholders will provide the observable benefit of using new

technological resources in an innovative way.

My last targeted group of stakeholders was administration. I met with our

previous principal to discuss my plan and gain approval. The principal was supportive

and appreciated the connection this plan was making to our school progress plan. At

the time, I did not have a plan of action to include administration as an involved role in

each PD. This initial meeting was solely to gain approval and support to continue with

the project. As mentioned previously, this principal resigned mid-year. BCPS assigned

Joppa View an acting principal to complete the school year. I have not yet had the

opportunity to personally meet with our new principal and discuss the possibility of

becoming an acting stakeholder in my internship. This is something I plan to do in the

near future.

Concerning the roles of each member of the stakeholder group, my role is

predominantly the most involved and influential in this project. I have become a

committed and flexible leader for the participants throughout each PD. In addition to

being an instructor of new content, as well as a designer of online learning, I have also

been a main source of support for participants as they experiment with new technology.

Our S.T.A.T teacher has taken more of a resource position as a stakeholder, supporting

teachers with technical issues. She has also been a support resource for myself,

assisting with any concerns I have and providing ideas to help enhance my success.

The participating teachers started as learners, experiencing innovative technology use

for the first time. Currently, these teachers are becoming professionals, as they

progress to being experts with effective technology use. In the future, these experts

might make a strong addition to a possible technology committee at Joppa View.

In order to further involve the S.T.A.T teacher in future PDs, I am considering

allowing her to assist in designing one of the sessions. S.T.A.T teachers are trained on

new technology and well equipped with innovative ideas and practices. Her input can

enhance my PDs and include a different perspective that might relate better to some

participants. I plan to discuss my original ideas for the tool, then allow her to provide

additional insight to include. Furthermore, providing teachers with the additional

incentive of a “Bird University” point will contribute to the Joppa View professional

development platform that our S.T.A.T teacher has designed. This involvement in her

PD initiative, as well as mine, will continue to motivate her commitment to the process.

I also plan to further involve leadership and administration as a stakeholder. I

hope to see our new, acting principal play a supportive and involved role in future PDs.

For the next PD I design, I plan to include direct commentary from administration that

outlines the connection each tool can make to the expectations they have for teachers.

For example, our principal will comment on how the tool can be used to address the

standards and framework for observations. This will also assist in keeping participating

teachers involved as well. With support from leadership, as well as additional rewards

and incentives, teachers will hopefully remain committed and active as stakeholders in

this process.

My current group of stakeholders is missing several representatives from the

“ideal” group in the Guidebook. I have not involved parents in my stakeholder group.
Since I am personally working directly with staff, and not directly with students, I did not

feel it was necessary to involve parents in this process. For similar reasons, I also

chose not to include community members in my group. Due to the nature of my

internship, I did not feel that community members would have a beneficial role in the

purpose of the PDs. I did, however, share each online course with BCPS members and

staff via Twitter after each session was completed by participants. This allows other

teachers and BCPS staff to participate in learning new tools. My stakeholder group also

lacks outside business professionals. Teachers and students are already provided with

the technology resources needed for the PDs, and all tools are either free to use or

purchased through a subscription by BCPS. Therefore, there was no need to enlist any

business members in my group. Unlike the “ideal” group on Guidebook, I do not have

participation from a layperson as a stakeholder. Again, I did not feel that this was

necessary personnel to include in my group due to the focus of my initiative. Finally, my

stakeholder group is lacking participation from a librarian. Our school librarian is not a

participating member of my internship group, as she did not express an interest in

learning about new digital tools. At the beginning of the year, I did not see a need to

seek our librarian’s involvement. However, I can now visualize ways that our librarian

(or media specialist) can be a possible positive influence on my work. Working with all

grade levels, our librarian often utilizes various digital tools in her lessons. Going

forward, I will consider including our librarian as a member of my stakeholder group.

Administration and participating teachers will assist in helping me address the Ely

Conditions of Change that need improvement. As previously mentioned, I plan to focus

on enhancing a leadership role with future PDs. I hope to see stronger participation from
administration to meet this goal. In the near future, I will be meeting with our new acting

principal to discuss these needs. In this meeting, I plan to express the importance of

strong leadership to provoke innovational change in teachers. I also plan to collect

specific feedback from administration to utilize in future PDs. Teachers will play an

important role in addressing the need for commitment and participation. By

implementing new incentives and stronger leadership, I hope to meet this goal and

enhance the role of these stakeholders.

Plan of Action for Technology Planning

As I continue to move forward with the second half of my internship, I have

specific goals I’d like to meet for myself and for stakeholders. In regards to personal

goals, I would like to work more closely with leadership and other stakeholders to

achieve more involvement. I would like administration to play a larger role in my

internship, including showing continued support for teachers and students utilizing the

tools. I hope to see teachers show strong commitment and consistent participation as

we continue with future PDs. In addition to demonstrating commitment, I’d like teachers

to progress from the Appropriation to the Invention stage of the ACOT model. Similarly,

I’d like to see participants reach the Redefinition Level of the SAMR model. This will

allow students to participate in innovative, previously inconceivable tasks.

Considering our school progress plan includes a focus on meaningful,

independent activities, this initiative will assist in meeting these needs. Teachers will

continue to implement new tools that will be used to design innovative activities for

students. This outcome will be observed by teachers and administration, and used to

support Joppa View’s plan.

 To move forward with this plan and continue with success, below is a specific

timeline of actions and steps as well as assessment opportunities.

Action Stakeholders Date Assessment

Contact participants ● Me Friday, March Determine success of

and explain the ● Participat 9th incentives by evaluating the
additional rewards ing quantity of participants of
and incentives in Teachers the current PD and
place for the current compare it to the previous
PD PD participation.

Meet with ● Me Friday, March Take anecdotal notes

administration to ● Administr 16th during the meeting of
discuss further ation specific feedback from
involvement in leadership. Analyze these
future PDs and notes to decide how
maintain support significant the leadership
moving forward role will be in the future.

Take time to meet ● Me Planning time, While assisting in the

with teachers who ● Participat 11:15-12:45 on classroom, through
need assistance ing Monday, March observation and
with using a tool in Teachers 19th and interactions, assess the
their classroom ● Students Thursday, progress of technology and
March 22nd the implementation of new
tools with students.

Check in with ● Me Friday, March Through our conversations,

teachers (by email) ● Teachers 23rd and possible meetings,
who are still determine specific needs for
functioning on the each teacher and use this
Adoption or information to form a plan of
Adaptation stage of action moving forward.
the ACOT model to
discuss further
steps and actions to
progress forward

Analyze the results ● Me Tuesday, April Analyze the final reflections

of the current PD ● STAT 3rd from participants of the
and begin to Teacher current PD. Use this data to
formulate a specific ● Administr discuss further planning and
plan for the ation action steps.
 following PD based
on this information

As I continue moving forward with my innovation, I hope to design a plan similar

to that of Jose H. Damian Elementary School. In this school’s plan, a very detailed

description of current conditions and situations is included. This school also seems to

have a strong member of stakeholders, including representatives from each grade level.

This design is easy to understand and outlines a very detailed action plan for each goal.

However, I will personally choose to limit my plan to one or two measurable goals. I

believe it is important to have a clear, specific narrative for an initiative. Setting too

many goals can pollute the progress and spread stakeholders thin.

Another exemplary plan is from Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School. The

simplicity of this plan caught my attention. I appreciate how clear, concise and

straightforward this school’s goals are. The description and plan for each goal is brief

yet strong. However, I would have liked to see more specific needs this school has and

a more detailed breakdown of the action steps. In my future plan, I will utilize a similar

setup in terms of simplicity, but include crucial information such as a needs assessment

and action step outline.

Conclusion

In the process of continuing my internship initiative, I have many specific goals to

address. I will focus on making an impact on several of Ely’s Conditions of Change that

require development, such as commitment, participation, and leadership. I hope to

increase participation from specific stakeholders including Joppa View’s new acting

principal as well as our S.T.A.T teacher. I plan to analyze the participation outcome from
teachers in my current PD to assess the effectiveness of newly implemented incentives

and rewards, and use this information to plan for future PDs. I also hope to support

specific teachers to assist with progressing to higher stages (Appropriation and

Invention) of the ACOT model. Finally, I hope to witness teachers using these new

digital tools to design interdisciplinary activities for students that align with Joppa View’s

school progress plan. I will continue to monitor progress and adjust my plan accordingly.

References

Technology Plan. (2011, July 01). Retrieved March 14, 2018, from

http://spps.noacsc.org/about-us/technology/technology-plan/
JDE Technology Plan [PDF]. (2014, May 14). El Paso: Jose Damian Elementary

School.