1.3 Policies, Procedures, Programs, and Funding
Candidates research, recommend, and implement policies, procedures, programs and funding strategies to support implementation of the shared vision represented in the school, district, state, and federal technology plans and guidelines. Funding strategies may include the development, submission, and evaluation of formal grant proposals. (PSC 1.3/ISTE 1c)
Artifact: Technology Integration Grant Proposal
Reflection:
The artifact I chose for Standard 1.3 is a grant proposal that I created for ITEC 7410, Instructional Technology Leadership. While the overall research methodology in the class was geared toward implementing a shared vision for the school and seeking out and following the guidelines of federal, state and local grants, the professor allowed us to focus on local grant processes if we wished. To that end, I independently researched the process to secure a grant from the Parent Teacher Student Association’s Foundation at my school. The attached artifact is a grant application developed specifically for the foundation at my school. In its development, I collaborated with the other technology teacher at my school as well as the art teacher who will also use the product, my principal who signed off on the request, and members of the PTSA foundation who would finally approve or reject the request.
In the process of creating the grant proposal, my technology colleague and I conducted a brief needs assessment for our technology education program. We examined the equipment and resources available to us and cross-referenced those with the lessons and units of study that we had planned for the coming school year. We found that many of our lessons required the use of a video or still camera in order for students to complete the final step of the engineering design process and communicate their solution to an identified problem. We created a list of required attributes for the cameras that we needed and began to conduct research into the existing solutions. Our research led us to the newly announced GoPro Hero+ camera. We chose it for its durability, flexibility and unique concept and design.The grant process required a rationale for the purchase of the equipment and a list of the planned activities as well as the methods that we would use to train other teachers on the use of the cameras and share the cameras with other teachers in order to facilitate the widest possible integration of the technology solution. After the grant was approved, I worked with the bookkeeper at my school to complete the proper requisition paperwork, and order the cameras. When the cameras arrived, I conducted a brief demonstration of the capabilities and uses of the new cameras during a faculty meeting and arranged a drop-in training session for other teachers to learn to use the cameras in their own classrooms.
The main thing that I learned from completing this artifact is to complete more research than you believe is necessary up front. In the process of completing my research, I focused on the capabilities of the camera in question and the accessories that would work best for our purposes. I neglected to identify the accessories that were included in the camera, and more importantly, the required components that were not included. To that end, when we received the cameras, memory cards were not included. Luckily, we had completed a separate grant proposal that included the proper memory cards for the cameras, and we were able to use those cards in the cameras. In the future, I will be more careful to complete all the proper research. On the same note, in a separate grant, I focused on the uses of the requested equipment and overlooked the possibility of receiving a discount on that equipment as part of a contract with particular suppliers. After the grant was awarded, and when the products were ordered, we discovered a surplus of funds that had to be filled with similar equipment. While the surplus was a happy surprise, it left me scrambling with a deadline to follow the proper procedures to spend the extra grant money.
The work that went into completing the grant application mostly affected student learning and faculty development at the school. Student learning was affected first and foremost through the use of a relatively new technology in the technology education classes and in other academic classes throughout the school. Faculty development was affected in a somewhat less intensive manner through faculty members and teachers learning to use the new technology in their classrooms and lessons should they see fit.
The artifact I chose for Standard 1.3 is a grant proposal that I created for ITEC 7410, Instructional Technology Leadership. While the overall research methodology in the class was geared toward implementing a shared vision for the school and seeking out and following the guidelines of federal, state and local grants, the professor allowed us to focus on local grant processes if we wished. To that end, I independently researched the process to secure a grant from the Parent Teacher Student Association’s Foundation at my school. The attached artifact is a grant application developed specifically for the foundation at my school. In its development, I collaborated with the other technology teacher at my school as well as the art teacher who will also use the product, my principal who signed off on the request, and members of the PTSA foundation who would finally approve or reject the request.
In the process of creating the grant proposal, my technology colleague and I conducted a brief needs assessment for our technology education program. We examined the equipment and resources available to us and cross-referenced those with the lessons and units of study that we had planned for the coming school year. We found that many of our lessons required the use of a video or still camera in order for students to complete the final step of the engineering design process and communicate their solution to an identified problem. We created a list of required attributes for the cameras that we needed and began to conduct research into the existing solutions. Our research led us to the newly announced GoPro Hero+ camera. We chose it for its durability, flexibility and unique concept and design.The grant process required a rationale for the purchase of the equipment and a list of the planned activities as well as the methods that we would use to train other teachers on the use of the cameras and share the cameras with other teachers in order to facilitate the widest possible integration of the technology solution. After the grant was approved, I worked with the bookkeeper at my school to complete the proper requisition paperwork, and order the cameras. When the cameras arrived, I conducted a brief demonstration of the capabilities and uses of the new cameras during a faculty meeting and arranged a drop-in training session for other teachers to learn to use the cameras in their own classrooms.
The main thing that I learned from completing this artifact is to complete more research than you believe is necessary up front. In the process of completing my research, I focused on the capabilities of the camera in question and the accessories that would work best for our purposes. I neglected to identify the accessories that were included in the camera, and more importantly, the required components that were not included. To that end, when we received the cameras, memory cards were not included. Luckily, we had completed a separate grant proposal that included the proper memory cards for the cameras, and we were able to use those cards in the cameras. In the future, I will be more careful to complete all the proper research. On the same note, in a separate grant, I focused on the uses of the requested equipment and overlooked the possibility of receiving a discount on that equipment as part of a contract with particular suppliers. After the grant was awarded, and when the products were ordered, we discovered a surplus of funds that had to be filled with similar equipment. While the surplus was a happy surprise, it left me scrambling with a deadline to follow the proper procedures to spend the extra grant money.
The work that went into completing the grant application mostly affected student learning and faculty development at the school. Student learning was affected first and foremost through the use of a relatively new technology in the technology education classes and in other academic classes throughout the school. Faculty development was affected in a somewhat less intensive manner through faculty members and teachers learning to use the new technology in their classrooms and lessons should they see fit.