District Technology Training Plan: Using Blogs in the Classroom

Rebecca Conrad
UMUC 640 Leading Technology Change in Schools
July 11, 2014













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DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PLAN

Charles County Public Schools

The School System
Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) is one of the fastest growing school
systems in Maryland. With 35 schools, 4 education centers, over 26,000 students and
almost 3,500 employees, CCPS takes its mission to provide an opportunity for all
school-aged children to receive an academically challenging, quality education that
builds character, equips for leadership and prepares for life, in an environment that is safe
and conducive to learning very seriously. Charles County is unique because it has both
urban and rural settings in close quarters. With a county population of 153,000 and over
67,000 persons living in Waldorf alone, many of the county schools experience a wide
range in demographics when it comes to student population (Charles County, 2014). It is
possible and common to have students from high income families sharing classrooms and
learning experiences with students who live without running water at home. With this in
mind, educational opportunities involving technology in the schools are not only
important, but imperative. For some students, classroom experiences may be some of the
only opportunities for students to interact with technology before moving into the
workforce or higher education.
According to CCPS Bridge to Excellence/Race to the Top Master Plan 2011
Update, significant progress has been made in making technology resources accessible
to teachers and students . All classrooms have internet access and at least one computer.
Students have access to grade appropriate instructional software. LCDs, interactive
whiteboards, wireless tablets, and handheld response pads are in use
county-wide to enable teachers to more effectively use digital content in the classroom. In
2011, a variety of training opportunities were provided to staff to increase
their technology skills. These included face-to-face, hybrid, and online offerings.

The Problems
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DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PLAN
CCPS identified three challenges in the Master Plan Update. First, access to
teachers and time for technology training was identified. CCPS needs ways to reach
more teachers for initial training and ways to provide ongoing support and
follow-up as newly learned skills are tried. Second, CCPS needs to embed technology
activities which practice technology literacy standards into the curriculum for ready
access to teachers and students. And third, CCPS needs to replace equipment and
hardware as it becomes unusable or outdated (Charles County, 2014). This last challenge
involves budget considerations and better adherence to the five year replacement plan.
The first two challenges can be addressed together as outlined in this plan.

The Need
It is obvious from the Master Plan and Update that CCPS is working hard to
educate its staff on the technology available. However, the professional development
opportunities that are available tend to focus on operational skill and lack the more
important topic of technology uses in the classroom. Knowing how to use a piece of
technology is useless without also knowing how to apply the technology in a way that
encourages and enhances learning. Schools can use digital resources in a variety of ways
to support teaching and learning. Electronic grade books, digital portfolios, learning
games, and real-time feedback on teacher and student performance, are a few ways that
technology can be utilized to power learning (Use of technology, n.d.).
To supplement the goals outlined in the Master Plan and summarized above, teachers and
staff need support in the following areas:
brainstorming content specific ideas,
access to resources and lesson examples,
modeling of projects and programs, and
follow up support that encourages follow through of programs and projects
implemented.
The following District Technology Training Plan will address these needs and should
be implemented along with the goals of the existing Master Plan.


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DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PLAN
Who is This Training For?
Charles County Public Schools employs 3,481 people. Included are 2,014
teachers (Charles County, 2014). Teachers are the most direct link to the students and
have the biggest impact on the students educational experience. This training will be
available to all teachers (including instructional assistants) at all levels. Administrators
are important in this plan because they serve as a valuable source of support for the
teachers. The plan will not be viable if the time is not available for workshops. The role
of the administrators in this plan is to find the time. This pertains to the first challenge
described in the CCPS Master Plan Update.

Goals/Objectives
1. Teachers will be given one additional planning period per week to devote to
technology integration and application.
2. Teachers will be given one planning period per month to meet as a
department/team to discuss technology integrated lessons.
3. Workshops will be offered once a month with grade, subject, and ability level
specific content. The workshop objectives will be to provide ideas and examples
of uses of technology, not how to use the technology.
4. Lessons generated as part of workshops will be compiled, organized, and made
accessible online for all teachers. This will include updates with lesson/project
results which will encourage teachers to follow through with technology projects.

Content
Workshop Description Audience Dates
Creating a
Classroom
Website
A five day workshop spaced over 4
weeks. Improve communication and
accountability by creating a
classroom website. Learn how to
Beginners Day1 September
Week1
Beginners Day 2 September
Week 1
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DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PLAN
create a free site, organize pages,
upload content, documents,
calendars, and links. Beginner
classes will start from the basics for
those who have never created a
website before. Advanced classes
available for teachers who currently
have a website but would like to add
features.
Advanced Day1 September
Week 2
Advanced Day 2 September
Week 2
Follow Up Q&A September
Week 4
Classroom
Blogs
Use blogs to connect your students
to each other and other classrooms.
Elementary
Teachers
Tuesdays in
October
Secondary
Teachers
Thursdays in
October
Digital
Portfolios
In this workshop, we will explore
various online portfolio hosting
websites.

Integrating
Smart
Boards
So you know how to use a Smart
Board. Now what? This workshop
will consist of brainstorming
sessions in content areas.
Breakout
sessions for each
department
Every Monday in
November
Using
Surveys to
Improve
Instruction
Feedback is key. Learn how to
create both student specific and
anonymous surveys to aid both
formative and summative
assessments. This is a two part
workshop. Session 1 walks you
through creating a survey and
Session 2 helps interpret and apply
data. Sessions are one week apart so
that you can use your own data in
Session 2!
Session 1
(all audiences)
January
Second Tuesday
Session2
(all audiences)
January
Third Tuesday
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DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PLAN
Web 2.0:
Resources
for
Todays
Classroom
The internet hosts a plethora of fun,
helpful, and informative tools for
instructional use. Come be
introduced to the most popular Web
2.0 Tools today and add to the
District Resource Page from your
experience.
Breakout
sessions for each
department
Every Monday in
March

Instructional Strategies
Each workshop will be led by a technology coordinator or member of the schools
technology team. Teachers will attend based on their content and ability/experience level.
Sessions will begin with an informal survey or discussion about prior knowledge or
experience. Workshops will consist of large group instruction and small group activities
so that teachers can have the benefit of a variety of experiences and points of view, but
also be able to have more in depth conversations about the topic. When possible, teachers
will use their own content so that products of the workshops can be immediately used in
the classroom and real feedback can be provided to the instructor and shared with other
workshop attendees.

Workshop: Creating a Classroom Website
Course: Creating a Classroom Website: Starting from Scratch Day 1
Prerequisites: None
Materials Needed: Computer lab with internet access
Grade Levels: K-12
Duration: One Day
Teacher Level: Beginner
Goal/Objective: Teachers will create a basic classroom website using Weebly.
Course Description: This course is designed for teachers who have little to no experience
creating a website. The day will begin with an exploration of example classroom websites
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DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PLAN
so that teachers can begin thinking about what they would like their website to look like
and include. Each teacher will create a Weebly account and choose a name to be used for
their web address. Teachers will choose a theme or look for their website. Under the
direction of the instructor, teachers will create their home page. Teachers will break for
lunch and brainstorm about what other pages they would like to include on their website.
In the afternoon hours, teachers will create additional pages. Suggested additional pages
include teacher bio, contact, links, grades, calendar, and class work. By the end of the
day, each teacher will have a website with a home page and at least 6 additional pages.
Content on these pages will be added on Day 2.
Evaluation: Before the beginning of Day 2, the instructor will peruse each of the
workshop attendees websites to insure proper publishing to the web. Any problems will
be addressed before Day 2 begins.

Course: Creating a Classroom Website: Day 2 Starting from Scratch Day 2
Prerequisites: Weebly website created on Day 1
Materials Needed: Computer lab with internet access, content to be added to website (ex:
current unit plan, homework calendar, etc.)
Grade Levels: K-12
Duration: One Day
Teacher Level: Beginner
Goal/Objective: Teachers will add content to each of the web pages created on Day 1.
Course Description: Teachers will begin the day by adding content to their home page.
Teachers will include a photo of themselves and a course description. Then teachers will
add content to the teacher bio page in the same manner. Teachers will learn to add a
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DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PLAN
hyperlink and create a list of links valuable to their students and parents. Teachers will
use the Weebly feature contact form to add to the contact page . To conclude the
morning hours, each teacher will link their Edline grades page to the grades link on the
website. During lunch, teachers will decide how they would like to arrange their
curriculum related content (notes, classwork, homework). Teachers will use the afternoon
hours and what they have learned so far in the course to add their content to their
additional web pages. The instructor will be on site to handle individual questions and
teachers will have the opportunity to share ideas with each other as they work. By the end
of Day 2, each teacher should have a working classroom website that will serve to
connect teachers to both students and parents.
Evaluation: Teachers will communicate the existence of their website with their students
and students parents. After one week of using their website, teachers will complete a
survey about the training and the effectiveness of the website created in the course.

Course: Creating a Classroom Website: Enhancing Your Website Day 1
Prerequisites: Teachers must already have an existing Weebly website that they created
either on their own or as part of the Starting from Scratch workshop. Teacher should
provide students and teachers with a survey about their existing website and come to the
course with those results in hand. If the website was created as part of the Start from
Scratch days, the survey should be administered as soon as the existence of the website
is communicated to students and parents.
Materials Needed: Computer lab with internet access
Grade Levels: K-12
Duration: One Day
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DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PLAN
Teacher Level: Intermediate
Goal/Objective: Teachers will engage in peer review of their websites and brainstorm
ideas for using website based lessons.
Course Description: To begin the day, teachers will compile a list of their existing
classroom website URLs. This list will be distributed to each of the other teachers in the
workshop. If the workshop is a large group, smaller groups can exchange website URLs
and peer review in smaller groups. Teachers will explore each others websites and
provide constructive feedback. Comments can include ease of navigation, appearance,
content, links, and contact info. Teachers will describe what works well with the website
and what can be improved. Suggestions for improvements are welcome. Teachers will
read through their peer reviews and brainstorm ideas for improvement during lunch.
These suggestions combined with the survey results from parents and students should
give the teacher a well rounded review of their website from many points of view. After
lunch, teachers will work on improving their websites according to the reviews they
received. This can include simple fixes like appearance adjustments or fixing links that
do not work or larger fixes like adding pages or new features. Teachers can work
individually or in their groups to research feature implementation tutorials or learn from
each others experience and skill levels. By the end of the day, teachers will have an
improved version of their existing website creating better communication between
students, parents, and teacher.
Evaluation: Teachers will ask students and parents to complete a follow-up survey about
their website.

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DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PLAN
Course: Creating a Classroom Website: Enhancing Your Website Day 2
Prerequisites: Enhancing Your Website Day 1
Materials Needed: Computer lab with internet access, one existing lesson or unit that
could use improvement.
Grade Levels: K-12
Duration: One Day
Teacher Level: Intermediate
Goal/Objective: Teachers will create a website based lesson to be used in their current
unit with their students.
Course Description: To begin the day, teachers will explore a list of example web-based
lessons. This list will be provided by the instructor and an exemplary lesson or two will
be chosen to walk through together as a class so that teachers see more than one way that
web-based lesson can be organized. Teachers will brainstorm how to transform their
existing lesson into a web-based form. This will require searching the internet for
resources that enhance their lesson. After lunch, teachers will use skills learned in the
Starting from Scratch days to create a web-based lesson page on their website. This
should include an authentic assessment from which student data can be used to evaluate
the lessons effectiveness. By the end of the day, teachers will have a web-based lesson to
be used as part of their current unit.
Evaluation: The web-based lesson should be used with students before the final workshop
day, 2 weeks later.

Course: Creating a Classroom Website: Follow Up Q&A
Prerequisites: Previous workshop days 1&2, also open to those who completed all 4 days
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DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PLAN
Materials Needed: Computer lab with internet access
Grade Levels: K-12
Duration: One Day
Teacher Level: Beginner and Intermediate
Goal/Objective: Teachers will share their experiences with using their classroom website
and learn from others experiences.
Course Description: After teachers have completed the first 4 days of the workshop and
had time to implement, use, and tweak their websites over the course of 4 weeks, website
URLs will be compiled and published to a database of effective classroom websites.
County teachers will have access to this list as a resource for websites that have been road
tested and examples of web-based lessons. Then, teachers will use this workshop time to
share their experiences with making a website, web-based lesson, and implementation.
Teachers will describe what went well, what could have been improved, and their own
ideas for what they could have done differently. Teachers will benefit from hearing
others experiences and learning what ideas worked from the brainstorming sessions
earlier in the workshop. This will also be a chance for teachers to share Weebly features
that they find are useful, online resources that they find effective in web-based lessons,
and web 2.0 tools that can be incorporated in future web-based lessons. By the end of the
day the end of the workshop, teachers will be proficient in using their self-created
website and proficient in creating web-based lessons to be used as part of their
curriculum.
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DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PLAN
Evaluation: A final workshop evaluation will be provided to teachers. Teachers will
comment on workshop effectiveness, areas that need improvement, and suggestions for
improvement.

Materials
See Evaluation of a Classroom Website Survey

Field Test/Revision
This workshop will be tested using a control group of teachers in the spring. Each
school will send one beginner and one intermediate skill level teacher to participate in the
workshop pilot. Elementary level teachers will complete the workshop together and
secondary level teachers will complete the workshop together. After the workshop has
been completed by the pilot group, final evaluations described above will be used to
revise the workshop before implementation in the fall.

Evaluations
See Workshop Evaluation Questionnaire

Budget for Creating a Classroom Website Workshop
Item Price Quantity Total
Instructors $40/hour 1 instructor per
school x 35 schools,
30 hours per
workshop (25 hour
workshop + 5 hour
planning), plus one
pilot group
= 1,080 hours







$43,200


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DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PLAN
Follow-Up
This District Technology Training Plan, when used in conjunction with goals and
activities outlined in the Master Plan, will provide teachers with the knowledge and
confidence to not only use technology, but apply it to facilitate meaningful learning
experiences in the classroom. Because this training is provided in the fall, participating
teachers will be contacted in the spring to provide follow up feedback with how the
classroom website impacted teaching and learning in their classroom. Anecdotal and
quantitative student data (if available) will be compiled to support repeating the
workshop each year.






















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DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PLAN

Name: __________________________________________ Date:____________

EVALUATION OF CLASSROOM WEBSITE SURVEY

Website URL:

Start by clicking through each of the pages on the website. As you navigate the page,
answer each of the following. If you answer no, please explain the problem under the
General Suggestions section.

YES NO
Is the website easy to navigate?
Are all of the navigational links working?
Is the teachers name and class name clearly visible on the home page?
Is this site relevant to the classroom students and their parents?
Is there a clear description of the class on the home page?
Is the contact form and information correct for the teacher teaching this
class?
Are classroom guidelines and expectations posted on the website?
Does this site address the needs and interests of classroom students and
their parents?
Does this site feature a calendar of classroom work?
If so, is it up to date?
Does this site feature a calendar of homework assignments?
If so, is it up to date?
Does this site provide a variety of relevant educational links for students?
If so, are the links functional?
Does this site provide a variety of relevant links for parents?
If so, are the links functional?
Are there spelling or grammatical mistakes?
Do graphics or sound files appear correctly throughout the website?
Is the website accessible, navigable, and readable from a mobile or tablet
device?

General suggestions for improvement of this website:









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DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PLAN

WORKSHOP EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE

Workshop Name: _________________________________________________________
Date: ___________________________________________________________________
Participant Name (optional): ________________________________________________
School/Grade/Subject (optional but helpful):____________________________________
Experience Level: ________________________________________________________

1=Strongly disagree 2=Disagree 3=Neither agree nor disagree 4=Agree
5=Strongly agree N/A=Not applicable
1 2 3 4 5 N?A
Workshop Content
I was well informed about the objectives of this workshop.
This workshop lived up to my expectations.
The content is relevant to my teaching responsibilities.
Workshop Design
The workshop activities were engaging and useful.
The activities in this workshop gave me sufficient practice
and feedback.

The difficulty level of this workshop was appropriate.
The pace of this workshop was appropriate.
Workshop Results
I feel comfortable with what I learned in the workshop.
I will be able to use what I learned in this workshop.

What improvements would you recommend in this workshop?




What is least valuable about this workshop? Explain.




What is most valuable about this workshop? Explain.



Would you recommend this workshop to your colleagues?


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DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PLAN
References

BTE/RTTT Master Plan Update (2011). Charles County Public Schools. Retrieved from
http://www.ccboe.com/PDF/instruction/MasterPlan_Part1.pdf.
Charles County, MD (2014). State & County Quickfacts. Retrieved from
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/24/24017.html.
Use of technology in teaching and learning (n.d.). U.S. Department of Education.
Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/oii-news/use-technology-teaching-and-
learning.