Where does Your School Stand Technologically?

• Are the computers in your school being utilized to their fullest capability? Utilizing computers fully can begin to replace textbooks in many curriculum areas.
• Is administrator technological preparedness at a level to provide the vision that staff need? Administrators are undoubtedly the force that sets the educational expectations within each building.
• Is your school in competition with other schools in your area? Innovative and sophisticated integration of technology into curriculum gives a competitive edge.
• Are summer technology workshops enough? Teachers need be able to use and experiment with what they've learned in workshops immediately, or much of the time and money spent is wasted. This requires coordinated and year-round support for their home and school computers so that they can carry on with what they learned.

The State of Schools and Teachers Technologically:
Lots of money has been spent on hardware, but little on training and support. Of a district's technology expenditure, at least 25% should be used for staff development. 

Time must be Scheduled for Teacher Technology Training
With the full schedule, planning, and the large numbers of students that teachers must work with daily, it is difficult for most to devote additional time to becoming productive with technology. Yet this is what schools need in order to have their programs truly adapt to current and future job skill and higher education demands.

Teachers as Technology Problem Solvers:
Many teachers lack the confidence and understanding to really use computer technology as a daily teaching tool. Teachers can learn to solve many of the technology problems they face in the classroom through support and mentoring programs.

Teachers using the Web as a Delivery Vehicle:
Schools must begin to encourage teachers to explore using the Web as a major delivery vehicle for course content. Teachers need to learn how multimedia and web page production can become part of course content curriculum. This is a new paradigm for education, including new authentic assessment modes in order to meet current content standards within traditional time constraints. 

Alignment and Assessment Issues:
The issue of content standards and benchmarks follow teachers today whenever they search for a new text, and each year when MEAP and HSPT scores are published. Computer technology, properly applied to interactive and online lesson production, can help provide many solutions to the problem of aligning course materials to accepted benchmarks.

Administrators Learning How to Integrate Technology:
Administrators create the all-important climate and expectations for teachers in their buildings. By learning some of these technology skills, administrators will be better prepared to offer the leadership schools need to make the next real advances in technology integration.

Experience that Counts!

• 30 years teaching experience
• M.A. in Instructional Development and Technology
• 9 years experience in educational multimedia software and courseware development
• 4 years workshop and presentation experience
• Producer of many educational and commercial web sites
• 13 years curriculum development and alignment experience