5.1 Needs Assessment
Candidates conduct needs assessments to determine school-wide, faculty, grade-level, and subject area strengths and weaknesses to inform the content and delivery of technology-based professional learning programs. (PSC 5.1/ISTE 4a)
Artifact: Teacher Technology Assessment, ITEC7460.
Reflection:
As part of the activities for the ITEC 7460, candidates were required to undertake an individual teacher technology needs assessment to determine where professional learning programs needs to be focused. I had a contact with a teacher in a junior high school in Ghana, where I had always found the need for improvement in technology integration, and held an interview to ascertain his level of technology integration and adopter level. Having personally taught in the country, I knew his response would be enough to determine the kind of professional development that needed to be organized for himself, the staff in the school, the district, or even for the teachers nationwide. Communication was carried out via the internet.
Besides the informal communication, questionnaire was given to the teacher to respond. The questions were grouped into two with one group of questions determining the LoTi level and the other for the teacher technology adopter level. Based on the teachers responses to the first group of question, a LoTi level of 2 was assigned. This proved that there were more to be done to help improve the level of the teacher's technology integration, or even for every other teacher in the country. The teacher's response to the next group of questions proved that he was an early adopter of technology, making him an appropriate starting point to provide the teachers the necessary technology tools and professional development programs to help improve student performance.
The assessment indicated that there had been some improvements in the use of technology in the country since I left. Before, public junior high schools did not have computers for student use. So, for a single school to have 24 computers means a lot for the school. This however did not apply to every other school even within the same district. If I had to do this assessment again, I would include the exact responses of the teacher in the report.
As part of the activities for the ITEC 7460, candidates were required to undertake an individual teacher technology needs assessment to determine where professional learning programs needs to be focused. I had a contact with a teacher in a junior high school in Ghana, where I had always found the need for improvement in technology integration, and held an interview to ascertain his level of technology integration and adopter level. Having personally taught in the country, I knew his response would be enough to determine the kind of professional development that needed to be organized for himself, the staff in the school, the district, or even for the teachers nationwide. Communication was carried out via the internet.
Besides the informal communication, questionnaire was given to the teacher to respond. The questions were grouped into two with one group of questions determining the LoTi level and the other for the teacher technology adopter level. Based on the teachers responses to the first group of question, a LoTi level of 2 was assigned. This proved that there were more to be done to help improve the level of the teacher's technology integration, or even for every other teacher in the country. The teacher's response to the next group of questions proved that he was an early adopter of technology, making him an appropriate starting point to provide the teachers the necessary technology tools and professional development programs to help improve student performance.
The assessment indicated that there had been some improvements in the use of technology in the country since I left. Before, public junior high schools did not have computers for student use. So, for a single school to have 24 computers means a lot for the school. This however did not apply to every other school even within the same district. If I had to do this assessment again, I would include the exact responses of the teacher in the report.