September 2002 — Features
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Piloting, Polishing & Perfecting: Creating and Implementing a Technology Staff Development Model
The modules were written to provide basic technology training for teachers as well as a vehicle for successful training in all participating districts. Teachers were required to complete modules in the following areas: basic Mac/ Windows, word processing, database, spreadsheet, multimedia, presentations, e-mail/ Internet, assistive technology and graphics. A very important component of the training was a portfolio that the participants kept, reflecting their work on each module. Participants com-pleted a pre- and post-checklist of skills, and produced a product for each module. There were associated readings from publications and reflective questions associated with each module. Each applicant was also expected to complete classroom application pieces. These components were kept in a binder and assessed by each facilitator as evidence of the progress being made.
The Need for Expansion
Much progress was made in the first year of the grant project. Districts received equipment, teachers were trained, facilitators took a leadership role and modules were developed. However, more remained to be done. Additional modules needed to be completed and the completed modules needed to be refined. Teachers who had gone through the training wanted more training, and other districts wanted to participate in the program. The decision had already been made to seek funding for a second year and continue the work that had begun during the first year of the grant.
By the second and third years, the consortium had expanded to 15 districts. Level 2 training evolved into the Integration Institute and an Administrator's Academy. The Integration Institute focused on individuals who had participated in the Foundations Program the year before and wanted to integrate technology further into the classroom. The Administrator's Academy was added for principals and other district administrators. The Principals' Center at Texas A&M was assigned to evaluate the project. The evaluation process involved keeping monthly logs, holding interviews and assembling focus groups. Evaluators took the information provided by each school district and created a report that was distributed to the participating school districts, as well as to the project director, the project coordinator and the funding agency.
As part of the evaluation, teachers were asked to complete a technology questionnaire at the beginning of each project year and again at the end of each grant year. The surveys were used to assess teacher attitudes toward technology in instruction. Because the surveys were the same, and were never revised throughout the first three years of the project, the Principals' Center was able to compare attitudes at the beginning and end of a single grant year. The center was also able to compare attitudes for all three grant years.
The Principals' Center evaluation team also conducted interviews with teacher facilitators, participating school administrators and executive committees for each year involved with the evaluation of the TIE grant. The purpose of the interviews was to complement the information obtained through participant logs and technology questionnaires. The variety of data produced a thorough description of the TIE program and its effects. Using action research methods as prescribed by Argyris and Schon (1974), and Erlandson et al. (1993), plus descriptive data, the Principals' Center was able to derive important themes and insights into how participants were impacted by the TIE project training.
