Evaluation (Beta Group)

Group Work: Dann Mosteller and Erin Okazaki

School Demographics: Sand Dune Middle School Sand Dune Middle School is private school for the elite of society. It is an all boys school and 99% are national citizens of the country where the school is located. It is a bilingual school, meaning that some instruction comes in their native language but most of the courses are taught in English. Many of the teachers can speak English and the native language. The faculty and administration, up to the principal level, is mostly foreign staff, with less than 50 % from outside the region. The upper administration are primarily national citizens, who are the most direct contact for stakeholders such as parents and community leaders. The school uses an international curriculum that is not associated with countrys education system of where the school is established. In terms of technology, Sand Dune Middle School is on the verge of implementing new technology systems. A network administrative system has just begun this year but it is being implemented in phases. Currently, the teachers use the network to keep a record of attendance and grades, but at this point it is all internal. Other features are available but they are not in widespread use. The school plans to give parents and students view access in the near future, as well as provide interaction with the teacher regarding academic or behavior issue. The international curriculum calls for technology integration but it is not adhered to or closely monitored at this time. There are computer labs, which are used as a computer instruction class. Lessons seem to focus on projects involving Internet searches. Most students are very familiar with mobile technologies, but use of them is not encouraged in the class. The network has experienced incapability problems with some devices. I. Administrative a. Policy Ratings: i. The rating of the policy subsection was given an emergent for behavioral and islands for resource/infrastructure. Policy implemented at Sand Dune Middle School shows that the behavioral area is emergent due to the lack of acceptance of the majority of administration for online record keeping and the lack of maintenance of the standards within the staff. The policy in relation to the infrastructure at Sand Dunes is islands since there is electronic use of grading and attendance, but it has not reached the point of being used online. b. Planning i. The rating of the planning subsection was given an islands for behavioral and emergent for resource/infrastructure. Planning towards behavioral is rated at islands since the administration is using technology for planning purposes, but it is not used for the staff. Resource/infrastructure is rated at emergent because core subjects are not using standardized

technology within the classrooms although resources are available, such as, a computer lab and interactive whiteboards. c. Budget i. The rating of the budget subsection was given an islands for behavioral and resource/infrastructure. The budget toward behavioral and resource/infrastructure implementation are rated as islands since the budget does exist, but there is no comprehensive implementation of the resources across the curriculum. Besides the laptop with Internet access, all teacher and student resources are geared toward printed textbooks and reproducibles. d. Administrative Information i. The rating of the administrative information subsection was given an integrated for behavioral and intelligent for resource/infrastructure. Administrative information behavioral aspects is rated at integrated because, like mentioned before, internal dissemination of attendance and grading are in place, but there is a lack of standardization in the system. Resource infrastructure is rated at intelligent since funding exist and it is shown in the access to laptops given to all staff. II. Curriculum a. Electronic Information i. The rating of the electronic information subsection was given an emergent for behavioral and islands for resource/infrastructure. The electronic information behavioral aspect is rated at emergent since most students have access to electronic devices, such as, mobiles devices, but it is used for personal use and largely not directed towards school use. The resource/infrastructure is rated at islands because it is considered beyond basic, but the depth to all areas of access are lacking. b. Assessment i. The rating of the assessment subsection was given emergent for behavioral and resource/infrastructure. Assessments behavioral and resource/infrastructure is rated at emergent since most students show proficiency with manipulating technology, but the skills are not applied to formal testing across all subject areas. c. Curricular Integration i. The rating of the curricular integration subsection was given emergent for behavioral and resource/infrastructure. Curricular integration is rated at emergent due to the lack of standardized technology application throughout the school, so it is left to teachers discretion an official training is very limited. Resource/infrastructure is rated as emergent since teachers all have access to Internet and devices, such as projectors, but application is limited because of lack of training and experience. d. Teacher Use

The rating of the teacher use subsection was given an islands for behavioral and integrated for resource/infrastructure. Teacher use in the area of behavioral aspect is rated at islands since most teachers use email but it is not a reliable form of communication among all staff. They use the Internet for things like grading and attendance, and this is a new challenge for some teachers . Resource/infrastructure is rated at integrated, like mentioned before, all teachers are provided with laptops and internet access, but the support for particular technologies have lapses. e. Student Use i. The rating of the student use subsection was given an islands for behavioral and emergent for resource/infrastructure. Behavioral and resource/infrastructure aspects for student use show ability and promise for students and that students are capable with the use of mobile devices, but support is not provided for students in school and for many teachers it proves to be more of a distraction. III. Support a. Stakeholder Involvement i. The rating of the stakeholder involvement subsection was given an integrated for behavioral and emergent for resource/infrastructure. Stakeholder involvement in the behavioral aspect is rated at integrated since administration currently implements technology and has well adopted its procedures. Resource/infrastructure is rated at emergent due to the high rate of turnover amongst the staff, which severely cripples retention. b. Administrative Support i. The rating of the administrative support subsection was given an emergent for behavioral and islands for resource/infrastructure. Although administration and staff discuss technological support in the system, there is a lack of involvement and action. Resource/infrastructure is rated as islands since the implementation process shows weak formal administration, time lines, and support infrastructure. c. Training i. The rating of the training subsection was given emergent for behavioral and resource/infrastructure. Trainings behavioral aspect is rated as emergent since the staff show the lack of participation and technological training activities and administration seem to be preoccupied with more policy over technology implementation. Resource/infrastructure is rated as emergent due addressing limited formal training activities. d. Technical & Infrastructure Support i. The rating of the technical and infrastructure support subsection was given islands for behavioral and integrated for resource/infrastructure. Technical and infrastructure supports behavioral is rated as islands since all teachers have computers, but there is a lack of depth in their use so

i.

they often require assistance. Resource/infrastructure is rated as integrated since assistance is provided through staff hired to help with technology issues, but they are limited to resolve higher level issues such as network and available resources. IV. Connectivity a. Local Area Networking i. The rating of the local area networking (LAN) subsection was given islands for behavioral and integrated for resource/infrastructure. LANs behavioral aspect is rated as islands due to the fact that staff and students have access to networks, but the uses are limited and unsophisticated. Resource/infrastructure is rated as integrated because although the network is widespread, connection speeds are slow and spotty. Multiple layers of proxies and access points slow down the network speed. b. District Area Networking i. The rating of the district area network subsection is not available since Sand Dunes Middle School is a fully funded private school not relying on state provided access. c. Internet Access i. The rating of the Internet access subsection was given islands for behavioral and intelligent for resource/infrastructure. Internet access behavioral aspect is rated as islands since staff and students frequently access the Internet, but there is limited integration of curriculum. Resource/infrastructure is rated as intelligent due to access throughout the campus. d. Communication Systems i. The rating of the communication systems subsection was given islands for behavioral and resource/infrastructure. Communication systems behavioral aspect is rated as islands since email communication is often used, but the culture within the faculty shows weak regard toward email often leading to more face-to-face contact to communicate. V. Innovation a. New Technologies i. The rating of the new technologies subsection was given emergent for behavioral and islands for resource/infrastructure. New technologies behavioral aspect is rated as emergent since many teachers have adopted an old school philosophy which has possibly limited their adoption of new technologies. Resource/infrastructure is rated as islands because although staff is doubtful of larger implementation of technology,

there is a widespread feeling to start to adopt newer technologies. The largest hurdle is the use of English to communicate changes. b. Comprehensive Technologies i. The rating of the comprehensive technologies subsection was given integrated for behavioral and islands for resource/infrastructure. Comprehensive technologies behavioral aspect is rated as integrated since the foundation is laid, but the application of advance techniques is low, which is due to the time it takes for staff to figure out these practices. Resource/infrastructure is rated as islands because there is technology available, but utilization is kept to one to two types of technology for staff and students. Conclusion The overall rating for Sand Dune Middle School according to the Technology Maturity Benchmarks is Island. The following statistics indicate that the Island field was marked more than any other field: 13 Emergent, 14 Islands, and a total of 8 spread across Integrated and Intelligent. The main reason for this rating is due to the evidence of a foundation for technology use. The school is determined to put in place a web-based system that allows for administrators, teachers, students, and parents to communicate and collaborate for a better learning process. This system will be a powerful upgrade from the former/current system, but the implementation process still lacks both from an administrative dissemination and limited teacher acceptance or experience. Also, many parents will experience a learning curve to access and review relevant data as it will be the first time for them to use such a system. As the process for an administrative network system develops, more training and information will likely become available and teachers can learn from the benefit of using the technology services. Until the school offers more training for technology use and monitors how and when the teachers are using it, the school will likely not emerge from Island. Because of the transitory nature of staffing, the school administrators will have to be as selective as possible when choosing new staff in order to minimize the time spent on the training process.