Wilmette Public School District #39 Curriculum Focused Technology Reform Staff Development Course Evaluation Proposal
Background and Context
My school district currently offers a staff development course to teachers called Curriculum Focused Technology Infusion (CFTI). The CFTI process was developed for teachers to learn every aspect of technology.
The CFTI process has a number of simple goals. First, it is the hope that teachers will begin to think of the curriculum and then find a way to infuse technology into the material that is already being taught. Often times, teachers think of technology projects as additional work on top of the many curriculum items they need to cover throughout the year. By going through the CFTI process and creating their own technology-based project, it is the hope that teachers will see technology projects as a way to enrich or enhance what is already being taught. Because an experienced technology user guides the process, it is also the hope that teachers will become less intimidated by the use of technology. The process allows for teacher work time on the technology-based curriculum project. This allows time for the teachers to use and learn the software they have chosen to complete the project in. The experienced technology user is there to assist teachers, answer questions, and guide the teachers through what they might find intimidating if they were using the technology on their own. At the end of the CFTI process, the teacher should have a technology-based project ready to use with their students, including any rubrics, worksheets, research materials or websites that would be used in teaching the curriculum.
Over the last calendar year, roughly 35 teachers have participated in the CFTI process. At this time, we would like to evaluate the CFTI program to determine the program's success and to find methods for improving the process. Key stakeholders would include the WPS #39 Administration, the Director of Curriculum, and Teachers.
Methods
In order to determine the program's success and learn methods for improving the process, we will conduct a survey of those teachers that have participated in the CFTI process. In addition to surveying the teachers, we will also conduct interviews of students that have created the technology-based projects with their classroom teacher. We hope to gain information from both the teacher s and students to improve upon future CFTI classes.
In the evaluation of the CFTI process, we intend to survey all teachers that have completed the process as well as interview students that have created the technology project with their teachers in the classroom. The evaluation is the determination of the level of success of CFTI and learning new methods for improving the process.
The teacher survey will be web based and sent out via email. Because the teachers that have participated in the CFTI process are of many grade levels and six different schools, we felt a web based survey would be a simple way to reach all of our participants. The survey will take approximately 30 minutes to fill out. In the survey, we have asked many open-ended questions in the hopes that we will gain insights for program improvement. The teacher surveys will be submitted through a web survey to a database for collection. Upon analysis of the data, we will summarize common themes and compare them to the benchmarks set up with the client. Click the link to see the evaluation benchmarks. Figure 1
The district keeps a record of all the teachers that participate in staff development courses. The district has provided us with the class lists of all the CFTI courses so that we will be able to ask all CFTI participants to answer the survey.
Because Wilmette is a K-8 district, we wanted to interview a variety of student age groups. We chose to interview grades 2, 4, 5-6, and 7-8. We then found teachers we knew had completed the CFTI project with the students in their classroom. We asked teachers to randomly select four to six students to participate in our student interviews. The students will be asked to bring an example of their technology project and will be asked questions about their experience when creating the project.
The survey and corresponding cover information will be sent out in an email message. We will ask the teachers to finish the survey within a three-week time and then begin to analyze the data. Click link below to view survey.
www.wilmette.k12.il.us/cftisurvey
For student interview, we have asked teachers for the names of 4-6 students for each grade level. It is our hope to receive permission from parents to interview 4 students from each grade level: Grade 2, Grade 4, a Grade 5-6 mix, and a Grade 7-8 mix.
We will conduct a 30-minute interview of students and collect a sample of their finished technology project. A rubric will be used with a standard set of questions for all students. Positive and negative comments will be written down for each interview question. I will analyze the data according to the benchmarks set up with my client. Click the link to see the evaluation benchmarks Figure 1 Click link below to view interview rubric.
Interview
Rubric
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Acrobat Reader to view rubric.
Figure
1
Evaluation Benchmarks
Have used their
project or are scheduled to use their project in the
2001-2002 school year. Think of a
curriculum idea first and then how to infuse technology into
the curriculum. Is more
comfortable using technology without the direct assistance
from the technology teacher. Completed one
new curriculum project. When
implementing the curriculum project in the classroom had all
the necessary tools: demonstration example, student
directions, product descriptors completed and read to use
with the class. CFTI projects
helped in the learning and understanding of the curriculum
concepts. CFTI projects
provided positive motivation and attitudes toward the
curriculum.
Management Plan
1.Are there
more hands-on technology projects, which have been created
as a result of CFTI? Have they
completed their CFTI project, have they used the project
with students, have you created more CFTI projects, other
components as they arise. CFTI
Participants 1. Web Based
Survey 2. Results to
be collected by J. Muffy Pacey at Harper School 3. Information
will be anonymous and kept confidential 2. Are teachers
more comfortable creating technology infusion
projects? Do you use
technology more since CFTI training, In what ways are you
more willing to use technology, Do you like completing
projects that infuse technology as opposed to more
traditional methods? CFTI
Participants 1. Web Based
Survey 2. Results to
be collected by J. Muffy Pacey at Harper School 3.
Information will be anonymous and kept
confidential 3. Was the
curriculum delivered to the students using technology
infusion? A) How has CFTI
changed the way you present the curriculum, has the CFTI
process changed the way you infuse technology B) How did
completing the technology project help you to understand the
information about the topic, what did you find most
interesting about this topic, how did your teacher help you
answer questions about your topic during the
project A) CFTI
Participants B) Student Focus
Groups A) 1. Web Based
Survey 2. Results to
be collected by J. Muffy Pacey at Harper School 3. Information
will be anonymous and kept confidential B) 1. Student
Interviews 2. Results to
be collected by J. Muffy Pacey at Harper School 3. Information
will be anonymous and kept confidential A) Survey all
participants Survey will be
emailed to all participants We will request
that the survey be filled out within three weeks. Weekly
reminders will be sent out for the duration of the 3-week
period. Survey answers
will be submitted to a database for analysis. Statistics
will determine current program success. Summarize major
themes for future implementation. B) Student
Interview Groups chosen by classroom teachers Students will
participate in a 30-minute interview and will share an
example of their finished technology project. Permission
letters will be sent to parents and interviews will be
conducted in the end of March and the early part of
April. Interviews will
have a rubric to write down positive and negative comments
given by students during the interview. Summarize major
themes for current success and future
implementation. See Figure 1
for Benchmarks WPS #39
Administration, Director of Curriculum, Teachers Help answer
questions: Is the program
a success? What
improvements can be made for the future? 1. A formal
meeting to discuss results. 2. A PowerPoint
presentation will be created to present results. Meeting with to
discuss results in early during the week of May
12th.
Timeline
Click the link below to view a chart of the evaluation timeline.
Timeline
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Acrobat Reader to view timeline.
Budget and Personal Needs
Fee $250 per 8 hour
day Time will be
rounded up by the half day. Travel $ 0.31per
mile Communication $50 per month
email access $39.99 per
month Ameritech phone charge Printing and
Duplication Printing and
Duplications costs will be $0.10 per page Supplies 5 reams printer
paper @ 4.99 a ream 3 packages of
pens @ 1.99 a package
Meta-Evaluation
To ensure the quality of the evaluation, a meta-evaluation will be conducted prior to the final reporting of the evaluation findings. Dr. Lizanne Destefano, Merrill Chandler, and members of the EdPsy 399EA course will be asked to examine the evaluation findings. The evaluation will be posted in a webpage in WebBoard for evaluators to examine.
Reporting Plans
Evaluation results will be presented in a formal meeting the week of May 12th. An executive summary will be put into a PowerPoint presentation to show evaluation findings. The client will receive 3 formal copies of the evaluation paper and the executive summary PowerPoint presentation. The presentation will be made to my client, Matt Fuller, Director of Technology for WPS #39.