Proposal for an ITDE Program

Proposal for an ITDE Program

by

Adrienne Fuller

IDT 8012

Management and Evaluation of ITDE Programs

Dr. Michael Simonson

Nova Southeastern University

August 12, 2017

Certification of Authorship

Submitted to: Dr. Michael Simonson

Student’s Name: Adrienne Fuller

Date of Submission: August 12, 2017

Purpose and Title of Submission: Proposal for an ITDE program

Certification of Authorship:I hereby certify that I am the author of this document and that any assistance I received in its preparation is fully acknowledged and disclosed in the document. I have also cited all sources from which I obtained data, ideas, or words that are copied directly or paraphrased in the document. Sources are properly credited according to accepted standards for professional publications. I also certify that this paper was prepared by me for this purpose.

Student's Signature: Adrienne Fuller

Introduction

“School Board of Broward County (Broward County Public Schools, 2017e) is the sixth largest school district in the nation and the second largest in the state of Florida” (para. 1). Broward schools believe that investments in safety, music & art, athletics, renovation, and technology (SMART), will lead to lead to SMART students (BCPS, 2017g).The strategic plan for the school district has three goals to provide high quality instruction, continuously improve, and effectively communicate (BCPS, 2016a).BCPS is committed to embracing technology and ensuring that all stakeholders benefit from the resources.The intent of this proposal is to provide background information about the ITDE departments of the Broward County Public School System. This paper will discuss the status quo of the ITDE units, describe the players that makeup the ITDE unit, describe the need for change within the unit, explain the suggested change, provide organizational charts for the unit, and describe the proposed staffing needs for the change.

Background & Demographic Information

Workplace

BCPS has been in existence since 1915 and became the first school district in the state of Florida to receive full accreditation back in 1962 (BCPS, 2016b). Based on the enrollment for the 2016-2017 school year BCPS served over 270,000 students. “BCPS serves a diverse student population, with students representing 208 different countries and 181 different languages” (BCPS, 2017e, para. 1). BCPS consists of over 300 schools, nearly 30% charter schools, 40% elementary, 11% middle, 10 high, and the remaining 9% are combined schools or centers (BCPS, 2016b). BCPS employs nearly 33,000 people with approximately 45% of them being instructional staff. In addition to serving over 270,000 students and employing over 33,000 people, BCPS also serves about 175,000 people in the technical schools and the adult and community schools (BCPS, 2016b).

BCPS strives to educate students to prepare them for the future by providing many programs such as magnet programs to help students prepare for college and careers (BCPS, 2016b). BCPS provides global experiences for students exposing them to international business practices, teaching, hospitality and tourism, and so much more. BCPS makes technology a top priority for the district and they provide support for students and families. The online platform provides opportunities for the needs of students to be met on an individual basis. Students are also able to set educational and career goals using some of the technology tools provided through the BCPS. BCPS leaders are determined to reach all students and help them strive for greatness. BCPS formed a strategic performance management team that began operations in the 2016-2017 school to begin tracking and monitoring improvements across the school district (BCPS, 2017e). When it comes to improving communication, BCPS (2016a) desires to “focus on three main areas: external communications; internal communications, and marketing our schools, programs and initiatives” (p. 40). BCPS wishes to effectively communicate goals and initiatives to all stakeholders and remain connected to help improve the overall perception of the school district (BCPS, 2016a).

ITDE unit

“Technology is one of the cornerstones of the SMART initiative. The work to improve technology infrastructure and provide new devices in schools is already underway” (BCPS, 2017g). BCPS received close to $80 million dollars to use for any technology needs within the district from the Bond Program that was voted on and approved back in 2014 (BCPS, 2017g). According to BCPS (2016a) every school in the county offers activities and courses related to computers. BCPS has two departments related to ITDE, the Information and Technology (I&T) department and the Innovative Learning department. The Information and Technology (I&T) department of the BCPS is responsible for providing services for the entire school district that are technology and communication based (BCPS, 2017c). The innovative learning department seeks to help students strive for success using their unique innovative abilities, collaborating tools, and using digital tools and resources (BCPS, 2017d).

The Status Quo

The I&T department of BCPS researches, designs, implements, monitors, and manages solutions that are designed to increase student academic success and improve productivity (BCPS, 2017c). “I&T delivers and supports computer equipment, software solutions, communications systems, network connectivity, project management, and application hosting and support services for schools and support operations throughout the school system” (BCPS, 2017c, para. 1). This department has provided and supported tools that aid in classroom instruction, assessment tools, and virtual instructional tools.

“The Innovative Learning Department is an integral part of Broward County Public Schools' Learning Division, focusing on supporting and implementing innovations in teaching and learning to assist BCPS students, teachers, and administrators with transitioning to personalized learning environments” (BCPS, 2017d, para. 1). In addition to the IT department, the innovative learning department is also a part of the ITDE efforts for BCPS. The innovative learning department is divided into five units: instructional material, instructional technology, gifted & talented, distance learning, and the Broward County school library (BCPS, 2017d). The instructional materials and digital materials team is responsible for all instructional materials including the textbook adoption process (BCPS, 2017b). The instructional technology team is responsible for providing digital tools and resources and training and support for the digital resources for all individuals throughout the school district. The gifted & talented team ensures that the needs of all gifted and talented students within the district are met (BCPS, 2017d). The distance learning team focuses on webinars and global scholars which connects middle school students with others across the nation (Innovative Learning, 2017e). The Broward County school library offers in array of resources not only for librarians but for teachers and students as well (BCPS, 2017d). The resources are digital tools that can be used for enrichment purposes or as instructional strategies in the various subject areas.

The Players

The Innovative Learning department for BCPS is a vital part of the learning initiatives for the district (BCPS, 2017d). This department focuses “on supporting and implementing innovations in teaching and learning to assist BCPS students, teachers, and administrators with transitioning to personalized learning environments” (BCPS, 2017d, para. 1). The Innovative Learning unit of BCPS consists of five units, the instructional technology team, the instructional materials team, the library media team, the distance learning team and the gifted and talented team (BCPS, 2017d). This department is currently being led by the visionary leadership of Dr. Daryl Diamond, who serves as the director of the Innovative Learning department. Dr. Diamond leads a team of approximately 27 people that have taken on various tasks to aid in the success of the department through the promotion of innovative learning efforts (Innovative Learning, 2017c). The department is made up of instructional technology specialists, online course designers, staff developer, project manager, curriculum supervisors, gifted services coordinators, assistants, and supporting personnel. There are seven instructional technology specialists: Dominic Church, Sharlene Kellier, Adam Rizza, Dana Rubenstein, Ellen Siversen, Randy Stephen, and Rhonda Weimann (Innovative Learning, 2017c). “The Instructional Technology team works with schools to develop pathways to personalized learning through the digital classrooms and digital infusion programs” (BCPS, 2017d, para. 2). The next group is the online course design team. This team consists of four people: Martina Blanco, Claudia Dilgen, Ranald Marx, and Jarlyn White (Innovative Learning, 2017c). The online course design team assists in managing instructional materials that promote student achievement, facilitate online course content, manage digital resources that have purchased by the school district, etc. (BCPS, 2017d). Neena Grosvenor is over staff development and library media (Innovative Learning, 2017c). LoriAyn Stickler, serves as the only project manager for technology and instruction. There are two curriculum supervisors, Lynne Oakvik for the library media unit, and Zuzel Rodriguez for the gifted and talented unit. Gifted and talented services also has three coordinators, Jacalyn Schulman, Jacob Aronin, and Cathy Keeler. This department is also supported by a staff assistant that leads helps with the Global Scholars program and leads videoconferences. Additional support staff are as follows: Sue Barber (Clerk Specialist III), Desiree Berger (Manager Destiny & MARC records), Cindy Chaulsett (Secretary), Shernell Dozier (Technical Service Specialist), Harold Dugue (Micro-Computer Tech Specialist), Dee Moncrief (Instructional Materials Distribution Facilitator), Ivette Rivera (Office Manager), and John O’Bryan (Training Analyst).

Need for change

The strategic plan for 2016-2017 for BCPS set specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant goals for the upcoming years to help the school district face their biggest challenge (BCPS, 2016a). According the Superintendent of BCPS Robert Runcie, “Today, we face our greatest challenge, which is to achieve consistent, steady and sustainable Districtwide improvements in teaching and learning, while closing achievement gaps” (BCPS, 2016a, p. 3). Mr. Runcie believes that closing the achievement gap must include assisting educators by providing innovative strategies to help them with the task of educating students. He wants to ensure that students receive foundational elements and learning tasks where students must use their problem-solving skills (BCPS, 2016a). Mr. Runcie recognizes that something must be done to recruit and retain quality educators. He highlights the need for continued excellence in professional development in addition to other strategies to attract quality educators to the school district. Mr. Runcie believes that the time has arrived for BCPS to make adjustments to the status quo of the school district and become innovative with the intent of ensuring that all students succeed.

Another reason change is needed in the ITDE departments is to help improve or maintain quality instruction (BCPS, 2016a). The strategic plan for BCPS identifies high quality instruction as one of the areas that need improvement. Over the next three years BCPS is looking to increase the percentage of student proficiency in reading and math by approximately four percent for reading and seven percent for math. This improvement will require the efforts of teachers, parents, and others within the community. BCPS (2016a) is “committed to working with families, social organizations and communities to improve the quality of learning that students experience before they enter school” (p. 20). The improvement is needed primarily in early childhood education and middle grades education (BCPS, 2016a). BCPS also recognizes that intensive training is needed for educators and parents in understanding adolescence, creating rigorous learning experiences, preparing engaging and challenging thematic units, and preparing students for colleges and careers. BCPS desires to build a culture for the school district that is college and career driven, but they recognize that training and overall instruction must be set in order to accomplish this task.

Another reason why change is needed in the ITDE departments is because BCPS recognizes the need for improvement in communication with stakeholders (BCPS, 2016a). The district desires to increase social media engagement with all stakeholders and increase mobile app downloads. At the time of publication of the BCPS strategic plan 2016-2017, there were 19,000 downloads for the mobile app for the school district, approximately 11,500 likes on Facebook, and 36,000 followers on Twitter. BCPS employs and serves over 400,000 people with 30,000 of those individuals being employees (BCPS, 2016a). There is a need to improve communication and engagement between the school district and their stakeholders (BCPS, 2016a).

The need for change is identifiable and the resources lie within the Innovative Learning department of BCPS that many of BCPS stakeholders are unaware of. There are numerous resources for teachers, students, parents, and others within the community that are made available through the Innovative Learning webpage free of charge (Innovative Learning, 2017b). These resources have been strategically chosen based on the needs of the school district and have been purchased for usage for the stakeholders. According to Public Agenda (2012) surveys show “that almost two thirds—65 percent— of parents surveyed said they wished they could be doing more when it comes to involvement in their child's education and only 34 percent are satisfied with the way things are” (para. 3). Parental involvement decreases as students move into secondary schools (Public agenda, 2012). One of the barriers to increasing parental involvement is parents not being aware of information or the options that are related to the schools. Parents need additional resources to help their children complete learning tasks and they need to be made aware of what is going on not only in their child’s school but the school district as well. As a teacher within the school district, I was unaware of many of the resources made available through the Innovative Learning department. A few of the resources I discovered through word of mouth. The Innovative Learning department provides links for over 10 applications and they also provide a newsletter that contains information about the department with information about trainings and other resources that are available (Innovative Learning, 2017d). For example, for the summer the department compiled over 30 resources for teachers entitled “Teacher Summer Playground”. These applications were made available but many teachers are unaware that these resources were provided. If the school district desires to involve the community in helping improve the achievement gap or if they desire for parents and educators to receive training, then continued changes are necessary. Change must first begin in this ITDE department.

The current organizational structure for BCPS does have a Social Media unit but it is under the public information department which is responsible for all communications between the district and news media (BCPS, 2017g). According to BCPS (2017g), “From media releases to the District's website - to events and press conferences, the Public Information Office continually looks for ways to engage the community, while sharing the incredible achievements of Broward County Public Schools” (para. 1). According to the strategic plan for BCPS there is still a need for improvement in communication and social media presence (BCPS, 2016a). The department currently solely handles these efforts. To improve in these efforts at a faster pace it will be beneficial for this department to partner with the Innovative Learning department to include some educational content. The social media unit is managed by the Integrated Marketing Communication & Social Media manager who decides the approach the school district will take as it relates to social media (BCPS, 2017f). This title alone reveals that the purpose of BCPS social media accounts is to market the school district. Due to the nature of security and privacy I do feel it is necessary for this unit to remain under the supervision of the Marketing/Social media manager and the Chief Public Information Officer but I do feel it is necessary to have a program that prepares and/or shares instructional strategies and resources on social media platforms. There is an array of other social media platforms that the school district can explore for adding this educational piece and allowing the creation of this program through the Innovative Learning department will benefit all stakeholders of BCPS.

Social media and education

Social media in education is growing in popularity as we move into the future. Jennings (2017) mentioned in his article about “8 Social Media Accounts to Learn From” that, “Social media is no gimmick; it’s a direct line to audiences you wouldn’t otherwise reach and mediums better served to deliver your message than any traditional approach” (para. 1). Many school districts and schools are on board with increasing social media usage (Jennings, 2017). The school districts use the social media pages to share a multitude of things from announcements, to photographs and video clips of various events, to highlighting educational apps. Hughes (2016) points out in his article on “How Social Media is Reshaping Today’s Education System”, that social media has gained popularity amongst teenagers with over nine out of 10 of them having at least one of the social media applications. Students, parents, teachers, and others are using social media to build relationships, share ideas, share best practices, etc. (Hughes, 2016). Social media is now being used within classrooms, within local schools, and within school districts around the world. Although social media has gained popularity, many parents, teachers, students and community leaders that utilize social media still may be unaware that the school district has social media pages or for whatever reason they haven’t had the desire to download the applications, follow, or like the various pages. This is one of the issues that BCPS faces (BCPS, 2016a). It is time to make this connection between BCPS and all stakeholders through the engagement of social media. The Innovative Learning department already has the duty of managing all the instructional resources for the school district and it would be befitting if the new social media program to be added to this department (BCPS, 2017d).