Standard 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 - Teacher Technology Implementation Needs Assessment
Reflection
Prior to beginning my coaching field experience with a colleague, my professional learning team collaboratively developed an individual assessment of technology use, which we each administered individually. My narrative of one teacher’s assessment of technology implementation demonstrates my ability to conduct a needs assessment to determine strengths and weaknesses prior to professional learning.
Developing our needs assessment instrument collaboratively represented several challenges. Each member of the professional learning team, all media specialists at different schools, had slightly different perspectives of the best ways to phrase questions that would yield the most effective information that we needed to begin our coaching efforts. However, ultimately we were able to address all our concerns and develop a brief assessment we all could use. Creating the assessment was only part of the effort. Data by itself is not useful, but provides a context for developing questions and strategies to address these questions. After administering the assessment to one of my teaching colleagues and analyzing her responses, I was able to identify areas in which I could support her use of technology.
My teaching colleague is a very talented, energetic teacher who engages her students in learning activities. She believes in supporting and encouraging all students to give their best efforts and also maintains high standards for her teaching efforts. One of her strengths in technology use is that she is willing to learn new tools and strategies that will help students learn and help her to be more effective. Even when faced with technical challenges in the classroom, she managed to creatively use alternatives, even resorting to old-fashioned overhead projectors when LCD projectors didn’t work. Her greatest weakness, however, lay in not recognizing her own knowledge. She is not afraid to use technology herself for productivity, but lacked confidence in trying a new tool we had talked about, Edmodo. My use of the needs assessment instrument as a basis for analyzing her strengths and weaknesses informed the content and delivery of coaching her to use Edmodo to extend her reading lesson about genre and writing styles over a three week instructional period.
In creating my needs assessment and analysis of my colleague’s strengths and weaknesses, I learned how difficult it is to develop brief surveys that gather effective information. I also learned that the analysis of this data, once collected, is really the more important use of the needs assessment. The data is really only important to help prompt questions, and stimulate ideas. Synthesizing the information into a format that makes sense and can be shared helps others understand the issues, regardless of what the needs assessment is intended to find. I would like to conduct a more in-depth needs assessment of technology professional learning needs at our school, as a follow up effort to my SWOT analysis, and help design formal professional learning plan.
The work that went into this needs assessment analysis will impact professional development and school improvement by improving my expertise in this area. Because we are converting to a Google environment at our school, I was asked to develop and administer an instrument last week to the entire staff to identify strengths and weaknesses in using Google products. I used what I learned in developing this needs assessment and resulting analysis to create a needs assessment, and my resulting analysis identified exactly which tools we are familiar with, and which staff members require additional professional learning. This use will be measured by the effectiveness with which our school’s technology team provides professional learning and coaching, and the confidence and effectiveness all staff members demonstrate in using Google to communicate and collaborate in an online environment.
Prior to beginning my coaching field experience with a colleague, my professional learning team collaboratively developed an individual assessment of technology use, which we each administered individually. My narrative of one teacher’s assessment of technology implementation demonstrates my ability to conduct a needs assessment to determine strengths and weaknesses prior to professional learning.
Developing our needs assessment instrument collaboratively represented several challenges. Each member of the professional learning team, all media specialists at different schools, had slightly different perspectives of the best ways to phrase questions that would yield the most effective information that we needed to begin our coaching efforts. However, ultimately we were able to address all our concerns and develop a brief assessment we all could use. Creating the assessment was only part of the effort. Data by itself is not useful, but provides a context for developing questions and strategies to address these questions. After administering the assessment to one of my teaching colleagues and analyzing her responses, I was able to identify areas in which I could support her use of technology.
My teaching colleague is a very talented, energetic teacher who engages her students in learning activities. She believes in supporting and encouraging all students to give their best efforts and also maintains high standards for her teaching efforts. One of her strengths in technology use is that she is willing to learn new tools and strategies that will help students learn and help her to be more effective. Even when faced with technical challenges in the classroom, she managed to creatively use alternatives, even resorting to old-fashioned overhead projectors when LCD projectors didn’t work. Her greatest weakness, however, lay in not recognizing her own knowledge. She is not afraid to use technology herself for productivity, but lacked confidence in trying a new tool we had talked about, Edmodo. My use of the needs assessment instrument as a basis for analyzing her strengths and weaknesses informed the content and delivery of coaching her to use Edmodo to extend her reading lesson about genre and writing styles over a three week instructional period.
In creating my needs assessment and analysis of my colleague’s strengths and weaknesses, I learned how difficult it is to develop brief surveys that gather effective information. I also learned that the analysis of this data, once collected, is really the more important use of the needs assessment. The data is really only important to help prompt questions, and stimulate ideas. Synthesizing the information into a format that makes sense and can be shared helps others understand the issues, regardless of what the needs assessment is intended to find. I would like to conduct a more in-depth needs assessment of technology professional learning needs at our school, as a follow up effort to my SWOT analysis, and help design formal professional learning plan.
The work that went into this needs assessment analysis will impact professional development and school improvement by improving my expertise in this area. Because we are converting to a Google environment at our school, I was asked to develop and administer an instrument last week to the entire staff to identify strengths and weaknesses in using Google products. I used what I learned in developing this needs assessment and resulting analysis to create a needs assessment, and my resulting analysis identified exactly which tools we are familiar with, and which staff members require additional professional learning. This use will be measured by the effectiveness with which our school’s technology team provides professional learning and coaching, and the confidence and effectiveness all staff members demonstrate in using Google to communicate and collaborate in an online environment.