Technology Plan 2018-2023

Technology Plan 2018-2023
Dinwiddie County Public Schools

The mission of Dinwiddie County Public Schools is to provide each student the opportunity to become a productive citizen, engaging the entire community in the educational needs of our children.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary
Learning
Teaching
Leadership
Infrastructure
Technology Plan Implementation Summary
Glossary of Terms

Executive Summary

Dinwiddie County Public Schools serves over 4,300 students by providing them access to an array of various assistive and instructional technologies. In 2014, the school division began a three year initiative at the high school to provide each student with a personal learning device. The initiative expanded in 2017-2018 to eighth grade students at the middle school. Additionally, teachers throughout Dinwiddie County Public Schools integrate and infuse technology daily to provide students with robust learning experiences.

The technology plan of Dinwiddie County Public Schools is divided into four domains:

• Learning (Enhance Personalized, Equitable Student Learning Experiences with Technology)
• Teaching (Support Innovative Professional Learning with Technology)
• Leadership (Create Cultures of Change through Innovative Leadership Practices)
• Infrastructure (Secure and Robust Infrastructure)

The technology plan of Dinwiddie County Public Schools is directly aligned with the school division’s strategic goals. The technology plan supports and promotes student achievement by deploying the most efficient and effective technologies; thus, providing students with access to secure and high-quality resources.

Committee Members

Dr. Royal Gurley, Assistant Superintendent
Mrs. Carly Woolfolk, Director of Secondary Education & CTE
Mrs. Paige Hannon, Director of Elementary Education & Title I
Mrs. Christie Clarke, Director of School and Community Relations
Mr. Timothy Ampy, Director of Technology
Mrs. Toni Wynn, Assistant Director of Technology
Mr. Charles Moss, Principal
Mrs. Barbara Hale, Occupational Therapist
Mrs. Latia Pollard, Instructional Technology Resource Teacher
Mrs. Patty Massengill, Software Specialist
Mrs. Sherrill Mellick, Librarian
Mrs. Teresa Stump, School Board Member, District 1
Mrs. Betty Spiers, Instructional Specialist

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Dinwiddie County Technology  Plan 

LEARNING

Enhance Personalized, Equitable Student Learning Experiences with Technology

“Technology alone isn’t going to improve student achievement. The best combination is great teachers working with technology to engage students in the pursuit of the learning they need.”

~ U.S. Secretary of Education, Arnie Duncan

GOAL: T1

Promote and support student personalized, deeper learning experiences to demonstrate workplace readiness by creatively solving complex problems, thinking critically, collaborating, communicating and demonstrating responsible citizenship.

Anticipated Results: (What do we want to accomplish?)

• Create an environment that allows teachers/students to explore, create, and model/demonstrate learning.
• Provide resources that address the learner’s interest, abilities, and learning paths.
• Provide opportunities to use technology to collaborate with peers and the community.
• Provide digital literacy instruction and experiences across the curriculum.
• Offer opportunities to conceptualize learning by supporting real-world work.

Indicators: (What evidence will exist of completion?)

• Promote in-school and out-of-school technology-based learning opportunities (such as pursuit of industry certifications, professional licenses, and dual enrollment courses) along with career exploration, exposure, and planning opportunities.
• Provide technology and computer science cross-curricular connections starting in the elementary grades and across all disciplines to promote meaningful, real world applications of knowledge and skills and promote deeper learning opportunities aligned to the Virginia Standards of Learning.
• Surveys

Action Steps: (What action will be taken?)

Strategy 1: Transform learning environments by leveraging technology to create learning pathways aligned with Virginia standards for all students.

• Provide resources that allow students to experience universally-designed, individual and collaborative, formal and informal learning in technology-enabled environments within and beyond the classroom.
• Support schools in providing technology-enabled learning experiences personalized for the strengths, interests, and needs of each learner, in consideration of their family, community, and culture.
• Ensure appropriate staffing and collaboration time among teachers and media specialists/ITRTs/resource personnel.
• Review and evaluate DCPS curriculum and resources:
  • include technology resources within curriculum documents;
  • align standards with Virginia CS Standards and ISTE Student Standards.

Strategy 2: Create learning environments wherein students utilize technology and tools to empower, collaborate, apply, and publish products that demonstrate mastery of knowledge.

• Curate and provide training for a collection of digital tools and resources, including Open Educational Resources that are available to all educators and students.
• Create resources that support educators in designing opportunities for students to:
  • regularly examine issues from multiple viewpoints, using digital tools to interact with people from varied perspectives and cultures within the local and global community;
  • learn how to evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility and relevance of resources;
  • collect data or identify data sets, and use digital tools to analyze, represent, and synthesize data to extract key information, form conclusions, solve problems, and understand increasingly complex systems;
  • perform tasks or participate in multi-stage scenarios that empower authentic engagement with others and foster deeper learning;
  • learn problem solving and decision-making skills through hands-on and project-based experiences.

Strategy 3: Support educators in creating environments wherein students collaborate, communicate clearly, and express themselves creatively for a variety of local and global audiences and purposes.

• Support collaborative learning opportunities for students to contribute in project teams, assuming various roles and responsibilities that help them work effectively with others.
• Share resources that assist students in demonstrating mastery of content by presenting work clearly and effectively using tools (i.e. visualizations, models, simulations, other digital artifacts) suited to their audience and purpose.
• Create partnerships that support local and global learning opportunities, and develop accompanying guidance for educators.

Strategy 4: Promote students’ understanding of the rights and responsibilities of living, learning and working in a digital world, and the importance of demonstrating behaviors that are safe, ethical and self-aware.

• Promote positive digital citizenship and leadership within and beyond the classroom.
• Curate and promote a toolkit of digital citizenship resources that address cultivating a positive digital identity, engaging in social interactions online, respecting intellectual property rights, and understanding digital privacy.

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TEACHING

Support Innovative Professional Learning  With Technology 

“If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.”
~ John Dewey

GOAL: T2

Promote current and emerging technology-based resources that empower educators to develop and employ innovative strategies and practices to support student-centric learning models that increase the quality of education and equity for students.

Anticipated Results: (What do we want to accomplish?)

• All instructional staff will use current technology standards to increase 21st century skills and awareness.

Indicators: (What evidence will exist of completion?)

• All instructional staff will demonstrate competence of integrating technology successfully throughout the curriculum while meeting the goals and expectations of required standards.

Action Steps: (What action will be taken?)

Strategy 1: Design personalized learning opportunities for instructional staff that lead to effective use of digital tools and resources, and inspire them to become lifelong learners and leaders in their schools and professional communities.

• Provide ongoing technology training to teachers and other support staff.
• After school workshops and training.
• Online professional development.
• Provide annual professional development for all staff; e.g., iDCPS Conference.
• Provide training to teacher coaches (ITRTs, Math and Reading Instructional staff) via training institutes.
• Provide opportunities for a multitude of classes aligned to teacher needs, throughout the school year and including summer workshops.
• Provide instructional learning opportunities to incorporate the use of effectively using data results from various software to guide instruction integration of technology.

Strategy 2: Increase the capacity of instructional staff to provide personalized learning through instruction and assessment that integrates technology to engage, develop, and build a productive learning culture.

• Correlate useful technology resources to curriculum standards.
• Provide access to curriculum and VDOE standards to all instructional staff.
• Organize or create training on how to achieve personalized learning through use of technology.
• Create and provide interactive curriculum resources and supplements to instruction.
• Update instructional staff on current and changing curriculum standards.
• Provide current applicable resources for student engagement and teacher support.

Strategy 3: Increase positive awareness of digital citizenship to all instructional staff.

• Provide professional development regarding the importance of demonstrating and promoting digital citizenship.
• Update staff with pertinent technology use information as needed.

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LEADERSHIP

Create Cultures of Change through Innovative Leadership Practices

You can focus on things that are barriers or you can focus on scaling the wall or redefining the problem.
~Tim Cook

GOAL: T3

Create transformational, equitable, technology-rich environments through innovative leadership practices by immersing students in a challenging personalized learning curriculum.

Anticipated Results: (What do we want to accomplish?)

• Educational leaders develop a vision for teaching and learning that includes the appropriate integration of technology; creating a shared vision for building 21st century skills and leveraging resources to support learning, teaching, and assessing.
• Ensure that educators access opportunities for personalized professional learning.
• Educational leaders will communicate and guide the implementation of division and school goals for teaching and learning that integrates technology and promote meaningful innovation.
• Educational leaders will model tolerance for risk and experimentation and create a culture of trust and innovation.
• Educational leaders will support, secure, and advocate for resources to sustain technology initiatives and goals including those designed to support personalized learning environments.
• Educational leaders will promote the use of a variety of innovative instructional strategies and practices developed with current and emerging technology-based resources to support the innovative instructional approaches in the classroom.
• Educational leaders will possess the capability to efficiently and effectively use technology in the performance of job duties (data-driven decision making, educator evaluations, communications, and more).
• Technology is included in technical assistance and school improvement resources provided by to educational leaders based upon school and school division needs as determined by criteria such as the VDOE Accreditation Matrix Performance Levels.

Indicators: (What evidence will exist of completion?)

• Types and numbers of professional learning opportunities are documented and recorded.
• School division leaders will use current and emerging technology-based resources (such as newsletters, social media, cloud-based shared online content, etc.) to model use of technology.
• Increase in new technologies and instructional approaches used by leadership positions.
• The use of technology-based achievement reports are used in student scheduling, remediation, and extension planning.

Action Steps: (What action will be taken?)

Strategy 1: Incorporate hiring practices for school and division leadership positions that support the need to fully integrate technology throughout the division.

Strategy 2: Provide professional learning opportunities (e.g. pilot projects, requirement waivers, resources, etc.) regarding technology leadership and new methods in education and develop a database of resources.

Strategy 3: Implement and annually evaluate new technologies and instructional approaches that require stakeholders to seek out and acquire new knowledge and apply this knowledge to the use of technology.

Strategy 4: Utilize division Instructional Technology Resource Teachers (ITRTs) to further deepen knowledge of technology among students and educators to equip our stakeholders with greater leadership qualities.

Strategy 5: Collaborate with other instructional staff and instructional leaders throughout our division, region, and state using cloud-based productivity software, and social networking tools to promote professional learning, leadership, and cooperation.

Strategy 6: Provide communication that supports the Profile of a Virginia Graduate, the VDOE Accreditation Matrix, and VDOE College, Career, and Civics Readiness initiatives.

Strategy 7: Support the role of technology in local and statewide systems to collect, monitor, and report achievement to inform practices surrounding continuous improvement efforts.

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INFRASTRUCTURE

Secure and Robust Infrastructure

“A rising tide doesn’t raise people who don’t have a boat. We have to build the boat for them. We have to give them the basic infrastructure to rise with the tide.”
~ Rahul Gandhi

GOAL: T4

Provide a robust, secure, and comprehensive infrastructure to support a culture of technology integration and innovation throughout the school division.

Anticipated Results: (What do we want to accomplish?)

• Students, educators, and leaders will have equitable access to secure and robust networks that provide high quality, reliable access to the Internet and other networks.
• Implement best practices that comply with federal, state, and industry guidelines and recommendations to minimize network threats and vulnerabilities and protect educational data while allowing access to technological innovations.
• Students, educators, and leaders will have equitable access to computing devices and other digital resources, including assistive technologies.
• Provide access to technical and human resources that enable the effective evaluation of infrastructure costs and other considerations necessary for high quality and reliable access to the Internet and other networks used by students, educators, and leaders in an innovative way.

Indicators: (What evidence will exist of completion?)

• Increased reporting of equitable and continuous access to secure and reliable networks by students, educators, and leaders as indicated by the Technology Usage Survey.
• High Quality digital content for teaching and learning will be accessible by all staff and students.

Action Steps: (What action will be taken?)

Strategy 1: Provide equitable access to high quality, effective learning environments for all students by reducing barriers to technology access.

Strategy 2: Provide technical assistance such as network standards, recommendations, and other information available from various stakeholder organizations that provide guidance on interoperability, broadband, and network capabilities.

Strategy 3: Continually expand broadband capability to support digital learning and innovative education using guidance provided by relevant stakeholder organizations.

Strategy 4: Participate in federal (such as e-Rate) and state (such as the Virginia Public School Authority) programs to maximize resources available to students, educators, and school leaders.

Strategy 5: Assist the school board and division leaders in the development of plans and programs that balance safety and security issues while allowing for instructional innovation.

Strategy 6: Enhance evaluation criteria and standards that allow the school division to make informed purchases of computing devices and other digital resources, including assistive technologies.

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Technology Plan Implementation Summary

–  Professional development attendance
–  Lesson plans
–  Student learning activities-  Attendance from professional development activities
–  Software and subscription data
–  number of social media followers-  Reports (active current technology, work-order data)

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GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Accessibility – The design of software, devices and learning materials that enables all learners to fully use content and features. Although it is most generally associated with students with disabilities, the idea can be extended to include the individual learning needs of any student.

Authentic Learning – Learning situations where students work on real- world experiences and challenges.

Blended Course – A course that combines two modes of instruction, online and face-to-face.

Career and Technical Education  (CTE) – A set of learning experiences – both in and out of the classroom – that helps students gain the skills, technical capacity, academic foundation, and real-world knowledge they need to prepare for high-skill, high-demand, high-wage careers.

Culturally Responsive Practices – Instructional and support practices that acknowledge that culture is central to learning and encouraging to learn by building on the experiences, knowledge and skills they bring to the classroom, group, office or meeting.

Curriculum – A plan or document that a school or school division uses to define what will be taught and the methods that will be used to educate and assess students.

Cyber school – An online instructional program (public, private, state, charter, etc.) that offers full-time education delivered primarily over the internet; term used synonymously with the terms “virtual school”, “eSchool” and “online school.”

Deeper Learning – Based on the definition from the Hewlett Foundation, the foundation of deeper learning is mastery of core academic content. However, that is not sufficient. Students must master six competencies: master core academic content, think critically and solve complex problems, work collaboratively, communicate effectively, learn how to learn, and develop academic mindsets. Traditional approaches to education do not support deeper learning. Students need to be “immersed in a challenging curriculum that requires them to seek out and acquire new knowledge, apply what they have learned, and build upon that to create new knowledge.”

Digital Learning – Any instructional practice that uses technology to support student learning, including digital learning content (which may include openly licensed content, software or simulations); access to online databases and to primary source documents; online and computer-based formative and cumulative assessments; interactive collaborative environments which may allow student collaboration with content experts and peers; hybrid or blended learning; and fully online course opportunities.

Digital Fluency – A broad set of skills which include the ability to communicate respectfully with a variety of people, evaluate and judge veracity of digital resources, evaluate and learn to use digital tools, and adapt to rapid technological change.

Distance Learning – Learning in which the participants are at a distance from each other – in other words, are separated in space. They may or may not be separated in time (asynchronous vs. synchronous). Various forms of technology are used to provide educational materials and experiences to students.

Electronic Learning (eLearning) – Education in which instruction and content are delivered primarily over the Internet; synonymous with online learning, cyber learning and virtual learning.

Full-time Online Program – A program that allows students to take a full load of online courses.

Multi-division Online Provider  (MOP) – Refers to (i) a private or nonprofit organization that enters into a contract with a local school board to provide online courses or programs through that school board to students who reside in Virginia both within and outside the boundaries of the contracting division; (ii) a private or nonprofit organization that enters into contracts with multiple local school boards to provide online courses or programs to students in grades K-12 through those school boards; or (iii) a local school board that provides online courses or programs to students who reside in Virginia but outside the boundaries of the school division.

Online Course – Any course offered over the Internet; synonymous with e-course, virtual course and cyber course.

Online Learning – Education in which instruction and content are delivered primarily over the Internet; synonymous with e-learning, cyber learning and virtual learning.

Online Learning Program – An organized offering of courses delivered primarily over the internet; synonymous with eLearning Program, cyber learning and virtual learning.

Online School – A formally constituted organization (public, private, state, charter, etc.) that offers full-time education delivered primarily over the internet; synonymous with virtual school, e-school and cyber school.

Online Teacher (or Online Instructor) – An appropriately licensed teacher who is responsible for instruction in an online course.

Open Education Resources (also known as openly licensed educational resources) – Digital learning resources that have been published with a copyright license that permits their free use and modification. Examples include digital textbooks and apps.

Personalized Learning – An educational approach which varies the learning objectives, instructional methods, content and assessment methods based on the needs of the student, with the involvement of the student in selecting content and educational objectives.

Professional/Staff Development – Training for teachers, principals, superintendents, administrative staff, local school board members and Board of Education members designed to enhance student achievement and is required by the Standards of Quality.

Project-Based Learning – An educational approach emphasizing creativity and critical thinking which uses broad, complex problems as a method for learning both content and skills. Projects are authentic and generally cross-curricular and require collaboration, either with peers or experts.

Synchronous Learning – Online learning in which participants interact at the same time and in the same space.

Universal Accessibility (online) – A requirement of Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act, that learning materials, including interfaces, images, sounds, multimedia elements and all other forms of information, must be made available for use by anyone, regardless of disability.

Virtual Learning – Education in which instruction and content are delivered primarily over the internet.

Virtual School – A formally constituted organization (public, private, state, charter, etc.) that offers full-time education delivered primarily over the internet; synonymous with online school, eSchool and cyber school.

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