Needs+analysis+02-Gantz+Revised

Link back to Melissa Gantz's Page = = =Section 1 - Need Analysis Report=

Executive Summary
Conewago Township Elementary is an elementary K-3 building located in the Conewago Valley School District. It is an organization that affects many different people in various ways. There are children aged four through nine receiving a high quality education through the school. Also many people rely on their career through CVSD. There are bus drivers, custodians, aides, coaches, teachers, and administration that help keep the district running smoothly and efficiently. The need for our school is to train teachers and administrators in teaching technology standards to students set by the government. Teachers need to be aware of the technology standards and understand the importance of their students learning these standards. There are many causes of this need. They include teachers not being exposured to new technology, teachers being unwilling to learn new skills, having insufficient funds for training materials, and having inadequate equipment for technology.

The mission of the Conewago Valley School District, in partnership with family and community, is to develop productive and responsible citizens by educating students to their fullest potential.

Business Need
 The scope of this project is for teachers to clearly understand and apply basic technology functions and programs in order to effectively integrate technology into the curriculum. Some of these applications are word processing programs using Microsoft Word, interactive whiteboards using applications such as Activinspire, and curriculum specific software such as Study Island and finally communication conferencing tools such as Skype. The current performance levels for our building are as follows:

- Only a few teachers have an understanding for safe use of technology. - Only a few teachers have an understanding of technology vocabulary. - Teachers have access to a mobile lab for 1 hour/6 day cycle. - Only 3 teachers have access to an interactive board. - Only 2nd and 3rd grade teachers in a K-3 building have data projectors. - There is one digital camera for the building to share

Learning Opportunity
 Trainings will be held during the contracted school day. These trainings will be held during 1 in-service day (4 hours) and during multiple grade level planning times (1 hour x 8/year) for a total of 12 hours. The training will be done in-house so that outside trainers do not need to be paid. Some topics that will be discussed during training will be: educational programs to be used by both teachers and students, proper technology language etiquette, safe technology usage, and the different uses of technology in the classroom. It is my goal that teachers will be able to take ideas and resources back to their classrooms for use immediately.  It is desired that the staff within the school uses technology with their students to address the technology standards at least 10% of the time (3 hours/week). Benefits to the organization:
 * Students will be able to use their knowledge of technology to express content knowledge by using presentation programs.
 * Students will improve their communication skills by presenting information found through technology to their peers.
 * Students and staff will be able to collaborate with ideas and programs with others in different school districts and states.

Audience Analysis
 Based on a survey that was completed by 28 staff members, the only program that mostly everyone was comfortable using was Microsoft Word. However, the majority of the staff members were not very comfortable using other programs such as Moodle, powerpoint, and Activinspire. Based on observations and knowing my staff, about 5 classroom teachers at Conewago Township Elementary out of 22 classrooom teachers use technology with their students in their classroom at least 10% of the time. 

I am proposing that we have an instructor-led class/synchronous with lap-tops. Teachers will have the opportunity to explore new programs and get to know how to use the technology they will be usin​g to teach their students. There will be a need for a technology committee to develop the necessary content to present to the teaching staff at Conewago Township Elementary. This content includes: acceptable websites for instruction, presentation software, keyboarding activities, digital camera usage, and proper internet usage instruction.

Project Success Measures
I will be sending out a survey at the end of the training. This survey will be utilized as an exit slip. Teachers will be required to provide their knowledge of the different skills that were taught during the training. They will also have to provide questions that they still have.

Also, there will be a follow up. The follow up will be a teacher observation. Administration will be observing teachers successfully integrating technology into the curriculum. Teachers' questions will also be reviewed throughout the year to make sure that their needs are being met and students are successfully using technology themselves in the classroom.  

Out of Scope
These items will not be covered:
 * Using email
 * Actual use of a digital camera
 * Using the overhead data projector

Estimated Project Costs
 The actual training will be $25/hour for 8 hours training with each grade level. This comes out to be $800. There will also be OJT for one full cycle week for the trainer to visit individual teachers during their planning to answer any questions and to assist them with any individual needs. At a sub rate of $90/day, this comes to $540. Also, all the trainings will be held during grade level meetings which are during the contracted school day. The training sessions will be short, however there will be many throughout the year. The only other cost will be about 10 reams of paper for photocopies of individual lessons and modules of ActivInspire Primary. The cost to the district is about thirty dollars. This brings the total to $1,370.