STaR Chart - Infrastructure for Technology

The Infrastructure for Technology area of the Texas STaR Chart provides detailed guidance for implementing appropriate technologies in order to improve school districts and individual campuses. Specifically, focus is given to the student to computer ratio, as well as to specific LAN and WAN technologies that are in place at the district and campus levels.

As the internet and emerging web technologies have replaced many desktop dependent programs, more and more focus has been placed upon the bandwidth a district purchases from an Internet Service Provider. In the past, many schools operated on a single T-1 line, but as more robust content took the place of text only web pages, the need for bigger pipes coming into our schools was obvious. Distance learning has also been a proponent of the faster internet connections which are now commonplace in our schools.

The STaR Chart and its many Long Range Plan for Technology correlates are one component of an integral system for ensuring that public schools are able to purchase technology infrastructure equipment such as switches, routers and network cabling that will ensure students benefit from a connected classroom and are truly enabled to be 21^st century learners. Once strengths and weaknesses in technology are identified by teachers and administrators on campus, the district’s technology department is required to submit an e-plan for technology for the following one to three years. Once the e-plan has been submitted, district technologists can begin to submit and accept requests for proposals and requests for bids that eventually lead to the district spending it’s technology dollars on infrastructure equipment, wth partial funding through the e-rate system of the schools and libraries division of the US Department of Education.

Scaffolding Curriculum

A scaffolding curriculum is one in which skills are introduced and gradually taken to higher levels over time. One example of this is in the Technology Applications TEKS for middle school (grades 6-8). For example, a student might be introduced to spreadsheet software in the 6th grade year, but not taught to create charts and graphs from data until the following year. Finally, during the 8th grade year, the student may build in-depth formulas to perform complex calculations on the data. In this model, students are given the opportunity to take the software one piece at a time in order to internalize one part of the functionality before delving into another.

Pre-K Technology Applications TEKS

The Pre-K Technology Applications TEKS are a set of guidelines for developing age-appropriate technology skills in Pre-Kinder students. Students should begin learning to operate a variety of programs, using oral or visual cues to navigate the software. Additionally, students should begin to benefit from the rich multimedia offerings of computer programs in areas such as read-alouds or digital storytelling. The successful implementation of Pre-K Tech Apps TEKS will ensure that our students are on track to begin and to continue to develop 21st century learning skills.

Long-Range Plan for Technology

The Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology lays out the specifications for the need to adapt our classrooms for the 21st century. This specifically addresses the areas of Teaching and Learning, Educator Preparation and Development, Leadership, Administration, and Instructional Support, and Infrastructure for Technology. As a new administrator at a campus, the LRPT should be a guide for integrating technology into the classroom, for preparing teachers to deliver technology-enriched instruction, and for deciding where technology funds should be spent.

Reflection on Technology Assessments

I first want to provide a little background information to give you some insight into my thoughts on the required surveys and my responses to the questions therein. I hold a BS in Computer Information Systems and have done graduate work in the field of Computer Science. I currently serve as a Business Computer Information Systems teacher at a charter school in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. This is my fourth year working for our district and my third at my current campus. I am certified to teach Technology Applications for grades EC-12 and ELA and Reading for grades 8-12. I worked as a Tech Apps teacher for two previous years, one serving elementary and middle school students, the other working only with elementary students. I now work with high school students. I took a brief hiatus during the 2008-2009 academic year to work as our district's Educational Technology Coordinator and as a member of our data systems team. While this role was both challenging and rewarding, I prefer to work closer to the end product in our system - our students.

My responses on the Technology Applications Inventory will show that I am very competent in the use of technology for instruction. I noticed that the questions asked were very closely aligned with both the Technology Apps TEKS and the NETS-S and NETS-T standards. The SETDA assessment was much more comprehensive in that it focused more on evaluating technology use in the classroom than on whether or not the appropriate skills were present. The combination of these two tests should give a fairly accurate picture of the respondent’s skill set and his/her ability to implement technology in the classroom.