Now that tools such as Survey Monkey are readily available to us, what do you feel is an appropriate frequency for the District getting a "pulse" on how 1:1 computing is going? Does your individual school do anything to get an anonymous read of where teachers are with implementation?
Since the 1:1 is so new, I think an appropriate frequency of an anonymous survey should be done every quarter. Once teachers start getting more training on implementation of technology it will be helpful to the technology team. It is something that could help put together future trainings on what teachers feel they could use the most help with.
I like the idea of quarterly surveys. It is so important to get the teachers' input and we often do not do this.
I agree!
I suggest we survey students quarterly too. Compare student concerns and perceptions of 1:1 with teachers and staff.
It would be great if SUSD would develop an instrument that everyone could use so that the data could be compared across the district.
I agree. I think it would be good to have the district create a survey which could be answered on a quarterly basis to track how implementation is going and to identify areas of need (so that PD can be provided by district). I think though, that schools should also provide surveys on a monthly basis to track teacher progress in implementing technology and provide more individualized support. These monthly surveys should not be anonymous and at the middle school level could be managed by the technology facilitator. This way the tech facilitator can provide individual help to teachers as need and has a constant tab on how teachers in the building are doing.
I think Survey Monkey serves its purpose in providing giveing feedback to an administrator. This can be construed as anonymous feedback does not benefit like planned feedback . I disagree, since we teachers are a team and collaborate ofen, our ideas we put together for technology integration, and our view points is what we would like to see happening. That is what would be important, not necessarily individual feedback.
I agree. It would be good to have the district use a survey quarterly to track how implementation is going and to identify areas of need so that professional development can be provided by the site technology facilitator of the district.
I hope that when data is collected from Survey Monkey that the data is then used to make changes. I remember when surveys were completed about connectivity back in January, but I haven't seen improvement yet. Perhaps that takes more time than four months, but a timeline for improvement could be communicated.
Becky, I totally agree. One thing I will say for GSW is that they were good about sharing the information gleaned from surveys with us in a small-group setting. We have yet to see any of the data collected from the many tech surveys we have taken, at least to my remembrance. I've heard people say, "Oh, we didn't do so hot," but I have no idea what they mean by that! If we're moving towards greater transparancy and accountablity -- and towards "just-in-time" data sharing with our students -- shouldn't teachers be clued in to the data being gathered by and about them?
While I think frequency is important to consider, so is the length of time necessary to complete the survey. (Some of them are monstrously long!) Quarterly sounds like a good place to start, although maybe beginning, middle and end-of-year would be better.. I just think it's important to identify a few key aspects to ask about rather than trying to cast too wide a net. (I'm just thinking about quarterly SRI testing and how "done" students are with it by the third go-around... plus, it eats up a whole instructional day each time it is administered).