Londonderry News

By Susan Ballard, Director of Library Media and Technology and Mark Blount, Assistant Superintendent

Last Spring, the Londonderry School District Technology Committee sought proposals from Londonderry teachers for the next generation of Technology Rich Classrooms. For proposal purposes, a technology rich classroom was defined as one that has extensive and modern equipment and software immediately available “at point of need” to the teacher(s) and students. While not all of the hardware and software has to be “state of the art,” it does need to be modern enough so that it will replicate real world applications and model the world outside of the school.

The committee used Federal Funds then available under Title V to fund grants. Proposals first had to be vetted through curriculum coordinators at the middle and high school, assistant principals at the elementary level, and the kindergarten coordinator at Moose Hill. In turn, these administrators provided the Assistant Superintendent and Director of Library, Media & Technology with a list of proposals being submitted for review before proceeding. Next, applicants had to attend a mandatory meeting for a required application review and discussion of grant expectations.

For the most part the committee was interested in funding proposals to address the general classroom environment and core content areas. The intent was to solicit thoughtful proposals which provided teachers with the opportunity to either create environments utilizing multiple technologies and related resources, or to focus on the inclusion of a particular technology which facilitates and encourages student learning. Teachers were asked to concentrate on innovative uses of technology that may already be in place the district and for which the district had already determined that a capacity to further implement was in place (i.e. power, bandwidth, support, etc.). If proposals sought to use technology that was not currently in wide-scale use in the district, applicants needed to document consultation with library media and IT personnel to ensure that the capacity existed to successfully implement.

Teachers also understood that if their proposal was funded, the equipment/resources would remain with one teacher and/or team of teachers and in one classroom or instructional area all day, every day, but that the Technology Committee intended that all students in the grade and/or content or team area should benefit from the innovation. Teachers who wished to be considered were required to include an element in their written proposal that outlined not only how they envisioned using the technology with their students, but how they would involve other students and teachers in their grade level and/or content area. The greater number of students impacted, the more favorably the application was considered. Preference was also given to those proposals which aligned to the goals and objectives of the District’s Strategic Plan and Technology Plan.

Proposals were also required to be “turn key” in nature; if there was an assumption of incorporation of other district support, resources, personnel or space the proposal had to indicate the same and provide assurance that other staff or program resources required had knowledge of and agreed with the proposal and that no additional resources would be needed. Further, teachers needed to demonstrate that they required no additional training or had included the funds for such training in the grant request. Each proposal was also required to include an action research component in which a research question was posed, timelines established and data collection methods detailed. This ensured that an evaluation component was in place and that evidence would be generated in order to assess effectiveness/ non-effectiveness. Finally, a presentation to the Londonderry School Board was required from those staff members who were awarded grants.

The Technology Committee was able to fund a number of proposals and the teachers began implementation last April. The projects will continue through the end of the 2009-10 school year and the Technology Committee will utilize preliminary data sets from the action research components in order to make recommendation to the Superintendent for possible budget consideration.

Projects underway include:

• Interactive White Board Technology – Grade 4 at South School is sharing three units among five teachers and one unit between two Grade 5 teachers; Matthew Thornton is sharing one unit between two Grade 4 teachers; North School is sharing one unit between two Grade 5 teachers; the Middle School is sharing one unit among a Grade 7 English teacher and a Grade 6 and Grade 8 Math teacher; and at LHS, a unit is assigned to a Biology teacher.
• Digital Photography – At LMS, a science teacher is exploring the creation of student developed content using digital cameras.
• One-to One-Computing – at LHS, a junior English teacher is utilizing one-to-one classroom computing.
• Student Response Systems- at LHS, 2 Physics teachers and a Social Studies teacher are using student response systems for formative assessment.