With ITEC 7460, the Needs Assessment Artifact was for me to collect data on

what technology we had Simpson, how it was being used, and what
technology we needed. The assessment data also showed the percentage of
teachers who were and were not using technology in their classroom. The
assessment gave insight on what improvements have been made and we were
we need to move forward at Simpson regarding the usage of technology and
how meaningful those lessons are when technology is a part of them.
For this artifact I conducted a needs assessment to determine schoolwide, faculty, grade-level, and subject area strengths and weaknesses
by collecting school wide data on technology use, by surveying ALL teachers
and seeing how they were using technology and see the lesson plans that
incorporated the technology. After the data, the survey, and observing the
lesson, was able to conduct a report that outline the strengths (STEM lessons
in math for example) and the weaknesses (no technology being used in 6 th
grade Social Studies for another example).
After this artifact (or report) had been created and analyzed, I presented it to
the staff at our SSP meetings. I used the needs assessment to inform the
teachers of where we were ( having a lot of technology but not know what to
do with it) and suggestions on how to improve such as having more
technology in house trainings on such topics as apps in the classroom and
gaming based projects. The suggestions and the assessment allowed our SSP
team to start brainstorming goals and suggestions on how to inform the
weakness that were in the report for all subject areas. This collaboration
allowed for great ideas on how we can be more successful with our
technology.
I learned that we have a lot of technology at Simpson such as I pad carts,
document cameras, and devices for hearing and impaired students plus so
many more great tools; however, we do not use it often and several times,
correctly. I think if I were to do this assignment again, I would make sure to
include ideas for more meaningful technology use in the classroom. The lesson
and content have to drive the technology not the other way around.
This artifact improved school improvement by allowing us, as a staff, to
discuss and see how technology is being used in the school and also what
tools we have for the lessons in our classrooms. Many teachers need this
reminder that there are tools here in place for a variety of lessons. The
technology that we have at Simpson can make a lesson more engaging and
hands on. This assessment lets us know how the technology is being use and
we can reflect and learn from that.