School Technology Report

School Technology Survey

1.      School name: Uintah Elementary School

2.      Name of Principal: Shanna Carl- Interim, Chelsea Malouf- coming later.

3.      Names of teachers talked with whose classrooms you visited and grade level: Mrs. Traughber, second grade and Mrs. Jennings, second grade.

4.      Ask the teachers/principal their perspective on current and future use of technology in the classroom: Mrs. Jennings said that she thinks that it is really beneficial. She says that it helps her students think in different ways and shows them what kinds of things are out in the real world.

5.      Does the school have its own website? If so who maintains the site what is the URL? Yes, the technology committee which is made up of teachers and the librarian of the school maintains the website. The URL is http://uintah.slc.k12.ut.us/

6.      Do teachers at the school have class blogs? If so who has access to them? Mrs. Jennings said that she had a class Facebook page that her students can look at. Teachers also have UEN pages and older students are encouraged to make one as well. The 5^th and 6^th grade teachers have blogs for their students to look at, which serve as a good communication tool for the students and teachers.

7.      Is there a school technology supervisor? Name? There is the committee that I mentioned above, a professional that works in the downstairs computer lab, and also a district tech. Mrs. Jennings is one of the teachers on the technology committee.

8.      Do all the classrooms have computers in them? Explain what you find: Yes, all classrooms had computers in them, however some only had one or two. Mrs. Jennings was lucky for a lower grade level teacher and had six. In older classrooms, like 5^th and 6^th grade, there is a computer for every two students and those computers are at their desks.

9.      Is there a computer lab/s? If so how is it used and by whom? Yes, there is one downstairs used by all students in the school during their once a week lab time. There is also one in the library upstairs that all students use as well.

10.  What kinds of computers are in the school – PC’s, Laptops, Mac’s etc.? Overhead projection equipment etc.: They have PC’s that are in every classroom and in the lab and the library. They have overhead projection equipment in every classroom, lab, and library as well. Also every room had a Smart Board.

11.  What software programs are regularly used by teachers? Teachers use the Smart Board program, YouTube, and Skype. Mrs. Jennings was going to connect with another teacher who is going to Costa Rica to teach and have her class Skype with the class over in Costa Rica.

12.  Can/do teachers use the Internet in their instruction?  Detail findings. Yes, to show videos and use other software.

13.  How does a teacher get further training to use technology? The technology committee at the school does classes called professional development. Also the lab professional helps teachers. Teachers can also go through the district to get more training.

14.  See if you can get a sense of the % of students who might have a computer in their home: At that school about 95% of students have computers in their homes, however not all of those students may have access to those computers. Mrs. Jennings said that she suggests to students who don’t have computers to go to a library or they can use the few computers that are in the classroom before or after school.

15.  Did you observe students using computer-based technology? If so detail what you observed: Yes, just passing by in the hall. Some students were in the lab and they all seemed to be doing different things on the computers. Some were doing a word-based program and others had some program that dealt with blocks. All the students were wearing headphones, probably so they wouldn’t disturb the student working next to them.

16.  Other: Mrs. Jennings said that she tries to go paperless with everything that she does. She got an email from every one of her students and she emails them things that they are supposed to do or some even email her with questions about their homework. She got her Masters with teaching with technology and she said it is something that she really believes in.