an article entitled
How To Sustain Technology Innovation In The Classroom
The link to the article is below in case you want to read it for yourself. In essence, the article lays out the critical areas for sustaining innovation. They are:
- Get the support of key business partners for funding and get them to buy into your initiative by providing research to back up your plans. (This next part is not from the article). While securing business partners is ideal, I have found that this is not always easy. Businesses are hit left and right for donations, and while many are willing to help there are usually many guidelines and limitations as to how they can help. One of the best models I have seen for funding technology within a single school is the 10 for Technology Initiative at Legacy Elementary. If you want to get people to "buy in" to your program, start with getting "buy in" from your parents and local community. The 10 for Technology initiative is a letter writing campaign by the students. Every child brings in 10 addressed and stamped envelopes for a letter writing day. A form letter is put into each envelope along with a personal message from the child, a small token of appreciate (school calendar with the child's picture), and a return envelop/card for the donation. Students who do not bring in the envelope still participate by sending letters to area businesses and politicians. As the donation cards are returned with personal messages written back to the students from the person donating, these are posted outside the classroom for everyone to see. There are also incentives for the students to return their addressed envelopes and a theme for the year. This year every student received a small plastic football and was able to compete in a competition with the football for prizes. There was also a faculty/parent flag football game for the whole school to enjoy. Over the past several years, this initiative has funded laptops, projectors, Promethean Boards and iPads for the classrooms. The goal for future money is to maintain the technology and add as needed. Here is a video: 10 for Technology Letter Writing Day
- The next step is to provide professional development for the teachers. (This next part is not from the article). I commend schools and systems for putting technology in the classrooms, especially to the extent in which I have seen in many schools in our area. However, I wish more teachers had opportunities for ongoing professional development in the technology they have in their classrooms. An ideal situation would be for every school to have a technology coach to help teachers with technology integration, but this is not financially possible in most situations. Over the summer I researched a model for ongoing professional development, but this model was based on the use of a technology coach. I would love to find out how other schools and systems effectively integrate technology without a coach on site....maybe this can be my research topic.
- Enable online collaboration tools. (This next part is not from the article) http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/Collaborative+Tools
- Encourage students to use their own devices. (This next part is not from the article) Hmmm... I would definitely encourage the use of personal devices at home, but this isn't feasible for all schools and systems.
- Set targets and report results, including standardized testing scores in core subjects and feedback from ALL stakeholders. (This next part is not from the article) While test scores are important, so is the feedback from EVERYONE! If you was requesting donations, then input from those who donated should be considered.
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