Blog 6: Technology Training

Technology training at Locust Grove High School seems inconsistent and vaque through my eyes (a paraprofessional who has been there since October.) Our school has an instructional technologist who is one of six for the county. Each I.T. person covers a cluster of schools, where he/she is responsible for teaching both old and emerging technologies to students and teachers. Because each instructional technologist's domain is so wide spread, our school does not have a set time for professional development with technology, or at least not a consistent time. Last semester each faculty member took a survey that allowed them to express their comfort level with various websites and tools as well as their desire to learn more about the available resources. A professional develoment day was then set up based on those responses where Ann, our I.T. catered her mini workshops around what each department wanted to learn about. The response was neither negative nor positive, but it was very evident which teachers wanted to learn more.

This year has been a year of transition for the school because they have a new principal, quite a few new faculty members who have come in in the middle of the school year, and a new grading/data collection program that is being implemented. Because of these things, I cannot say whether what I have witnessed is the "norm" or if it is the result of change. Many of the teachers have become very frustrated witht the new grading program because it is so new and has experienced quite a few gliches. This frustration has unfortunately clouded their vision with technology in general, and has hindered them from wanting to learn more. Other teachers however, have embraced tools like Promethean planet, activotes, and Edmodo. For these teachers, they contact Ann with questions, and do more seeking of training, as opposed to waiting for training to be scheduled. 

I have found that more technology training would certainly help with the media center due to the fact that we house multiple devices that teachers could use in their classrooms if they had the proper training. We have become the first place that teachers go to when they need help with ANYTHING technology related. With the proper training, the media center could not only answer many more questions, but we could also promote our products with confidence because we would know how to use them.