5.1 Needs Assessment
Candidates conduct needs assessments to determine school-wide, faculty, grade-level, and subject area strengths and weaknesses to inform the content and delivery of technology-based professional learning programs. (PSC 5.1/ISTE 4a)
Artifact:
Reflection:
technology_assessment_narrative1.docx | |
File Size: | 2974 kb |
File Type: | docx |
The Individual Technology Needs Assessment assignment for ITEC 7460 is the artifact for Standard 5.1. The purpose of this assignment was to gain knowledge of a colleague’s level of technology use and follow-up with needed supports. I collaborated with my cohort peers to create the surveys, I researched resources and strategies and collaborated with my colleague on the best way to meet her needs.
Standard 5.1 Needs Assessment indicates that I need to demonstrate the ability to conduct a needs assessment and use the needs assessment to inform the content and delivery of the technology-based professional learning program. I conducted a needs assessment deter determine my colleague’s strengths and weaknesses in using technology based on her responses to the LoTi Survey and the Middle School Adopter Survey. Her results indicated that she was currently a LoTi level 3 based on the LoTi Level Decision Chart and that she is an Early Adopter according to her survey responses. Using the needs assessment results to inform her technology-based professional learning program, we used the partnership approach to determine the course of her coaching via Google Hangouts. We decided to meet weekly and I modeled technology-based tasks that are unique to our learning environment, such as notating attendance logs, creating GoFar benchmark assessments and the implementing the process for preliminary retention for students.
During the Needs Assessment and subsequent Coaching, I learned that buy-in for certain strategies and tasks was needed to be established first before my colleague would positively approach learning them. This surprised me because she self-identified as an Early Adopter of new technologies. In the future, remembering that the ‘why?’ has to be established before many adult learners will buy-into learning new tasks would be something I would add to inform and improve the professional development plan delivery.
The work that went into creating this artifact impacted school improvement, faculty development, and student learning. Since the colleague was a math teacher some of the strategies that were coached were in fulfilment of the school improvement plan for benchmarking student learning. The coaching sessions not only helped her meet school improvement goals by assessing her student learning, but it also provided an opportunity for her to remediate identified weaknesses in student learning. The impact of faculty development could be assessed by the colleague’s adoption of best practice strategies with her students and implementing her learned skills as a virtual faculty member. The student learning could be assessed by the student results on GoFar benchmarks assigned and analyzed the colleague.
Standard 5.1 Needs Assessment indicates that I need to demonstrate the ability to conduct a needs assessment and use the needs assessment to inform the content and delivery of the technology-based professional learning program. I conducted a needs assessment deter determine my colleague’s strengths and weaknesses in using technology based on her responses to the LoTi Survey and the Middle School Adopter Survey. Her results indicated that she was currently a LoTi level 3 based on the LoTi Level Decision Chart and that she is an Early Adopter according to her survey responses. Using the needs assessment results to inform her technology-based professional learning program, we used the partnership approach to determine the course of her coaching via Google Hangouts. We decided to meet weekly and I modeled technology-based tasks that are unique to our learning environment, such as notating attendance logs, creating GoFar benchmark assessments and the implementing the process for preliminary retention for students.
During the Needs Assessment and subsequent Coaching, I learned that buy-in for certain strategies and tasks was needed to be established first before my colleague would positively approach learning them. This surprised me because she self-identified as an Early Adopter of new technologies. In the future, remembering that the ‘why?’ has to be established before many adult learners will buy-into learning new tasks would be something I would add to inform and improve the professional development plan delivery.
The work that went into creating this artifact impacted school improvement, faculty development, and student learning. Since the colleague was a math teacher some of the strategies that were coached were in fulfilment of the school improvement plan for benchmarking student learning. The coaching sessions not only helped her meet school improvement goals by assessing her student learning, but it also provided an opportunity for her to remediate identified weaknesses in student learning. The impact of faculty development could be assessed by the colleague’s adoption of best practice strategies with her students and implementing her learned skills as a virtual faculty member. The student learning could be assessed by the student results on GoFar benchmarks assigned and analyzed the colleague.