Technology Needs Assessment Blog Post 1

For my grad class INST 6914 I have been challenged to create a professional development course using technology.  One of the first requirements is to conduct a needs assessment so I can assess, analyze and tailor PD sessions to best fit the needs of the teachers in my school.

I conferenced with my school and system technology coordinators.  It was determined that the most recent needs assessment completed was not recent enough and it mostly contained questions dealing with technology accessibility rather than applications.   I also met with my principal to determine what would be the best way to approach with our faculty. It was determined that I would create a survey that Mr. Futral, principal, would promote in a faculty meeting and send out via email.  He was also willing to provide faculty meeting time, if needed, to introduce the professional development sessions and provide time on PD days if necessary.  It was also decided that our next PD days are in mid-April so that would probably be too late to start the sessions.

There were 16 responses to the survey.  We have about 30 faculty members so only half participated.  Honestly, that was a better percentage than I thought I would get.  Out of the 16 who participated only half are interested in participating in sessions.  The responses to what they wanted to learn was varied so I may not have but a handful participate.

I found the results interesting in some respects.  Our county pays for and offers CANVAS Learning Management System.  It automatically loads our rosters and schedules.  It will soon be linked to INOW our grading system so that when activities in CANVAS are graded it will automatically link to our gradebook in INOW resulting in a teacher not having to transfer grades manually.  No one who responded to the survey has used this LMS.  And the results showed that no one is really interested in learning how to use it.  I find that very sad that our system spends money on such a tool and not many are using it.  I actually use it quite often and have had great success with it.

What my results did show is that I have a few teachers interested in adding more technology use but their interests are varied.  Because of this I have decided to do a basic professional development on google classroom to show teachers how to use a LMS to deliver their instruction and then may make additional modules to overview and give basics on some of the applications available.  This will allow teachers to focus in on one application at a time and they can start with the what interests them the most.