Technology Program Administrator

Stacy Sears

Part A: Program Evaluation

Executive Summary

The purpose of the Joseph Knox Elementary Media Center is to enrich and support educational programs
by providing a wide range of materials and services to its patrons. The media center supports teachers
and students by locating resources in both print and digital formats. The center strives to increase student
achievement by collaborating with teachers and recommending instructional resources that will have the
greatest impact on student growth. Students are encouraged to explore digital resources while learning
the principles of information fluency and digital citizenship. The center is fully functional and is
available to teachers and students during school hours.

Organizational Chart

Methods
Data was gathered through multiple site visits to the Knox Elementary Media Center. I used a variety of
data collection methods: observations checklist, media center website, and interviews. This use of
multiple collection methods ensures accurate information due to triangulation of data. Over the course
of the semester I made multiple visits to the center and recorded my observations on site activity.
Checklist were utilized to note activities and technology use of the center. I also conducted interviews
with Mrs. Hicks, the media specialist at the center.

Center Context and Goals

Knox Elementary opened in 2008 and the media center has had two media specialist. Dixie Harper was
the media specialist from 2008 to 2016. She took a job to be a technology specialist for the county in
2016. Mrs. Hicks was hired to begin the 2016 school year and still serves as the media specialist.

The Knox Elementary Media Center had its mission posted on the school website, to enrich and
support the educational programs in the school by providing a wide range of materials and services that
will encourage growth in knowledge and a love of reading. Mrs. Hicks looks to provide resources and
services that impact student learning and instill a love of reading. She also strives to teach students at all
grade levels the importance of digital citizenship and information fluency.
Mrs. Hicks has many goals for the media center, all of which are student centered. Mrs. Hicks makes a
point the showcase the materials she has available in a way that makes learning appealing for the
students. She also strives to teach students information fluency and the availability of resources other
than print. Mrs. Hicks provides presentations and announcements to showcase the technology programs
available to teachers for use. She strives to work alongside teachers to provide meaningful learning
experiences for students. Mrs. Hicks has also worked on arranging the media center to allow multiple
learning activities to go on at the same time. She is currently working to create learning centers for
students to complete when they visit the media center. She is developing a S.T.E.M corner to allow
students to self-explore various concepts. She plans to expand her student led learning activities by
collaborating with teachers to ensure cross-curricular learning opportunities.
The stakeholders for the center include: teachers, students, administrators, and community members.
Mrs. Hicks works with all stakeholders to run a program that meets the needs of the students.
Mrs. Hicks serves and the only media specialist at Knox. She does not have a clerk but utilizes
volunteers to help with clerical tasks. Mrs. Hicks served as the media specialist at Woodstock High
School for three years. Prior to working at WHM she was a classroom teacher for 7 years. Mrs. Hicks
has multiple roles and responsibilities at Knox Elementary.

The media center is currently in working order to serve its patrons. Patrons include: students, teachers,
and staff.
Center Activities
1. Destiny (online catalog)
The purpose of Destiny is to maintain accurate inventory of circulation materials. This program
impacts teachers and students. Destiny assists Mrs. Hicks in maintaining inventory, including:
 purchasing new materials, removing damaged materials, and replacing lost materials. Mrs. Hicks
uses monthly reports to determine the usage of materials in the media center. This requires
purchasing books that are frequently circulated and getting rid of books that have not been
circulated. Mrs. Hicks also collaborates with teachers to ensure the media center has materials
related to specific content areas. This program can be accessed in the center or off site on the
computer.
2. Student self-checkout
The purpose of self-check out is to allow students and teachers to check out materials when Mrs.
Hicks is not available. Self check out impacts the students, teachers and staff. Students are
trained in kindergarten to type in their number and scan books to check out. Students can visit
the media center throughout the day without a teacher. This program can only be accessed on
site in the media center.
3. Technology Check-Out
The purpose of technology check out is to track the usage of technology and ensure that all
teachers have the opportunity to use technology resources available. This program is geared
towards teachers but impacts students since technology is used in the classroom.
Mrs. Hicks is in charge of all the technology resources that are available for checkout: 2 laptop
carts, ipad card, osmos, and the lifesize. Each resource is barcoded to ensure accurate inventory.
Teachers check out technology resources the same way they check out print resources. Mrs.
Hicks also maintains a calendar on the school website, showing availability of technology
resources. Teachers report any technology problems to Mrs. Hicks and she reports the problem to
the technology specialist. Technology checkout can only be done in the media center but
teachers can reserve technology using the calendar on the website.
4. Class Visits
The purpose of class visits is to teach students about resources available and digital citizenship.
Students are the audience and class visits take place on site. Mrs. Hicks collaborates with
teachers to plan lessons that supplement the lessons being taught in the classroom. Mrs. Hicks
uses a revolving schedule for class visits so teachers know when to come each month. She
schedules specific grade levels on the same day so she can utilize the same lesson for each class.
In addition to teaching material requested by teachers, she teaches digital citizenship lessons and
information fluency. Knox just received the Common Sense Media certification and Mrs. Hicks
uses this program to teach interactive lessons on digital citizenship.
5. Book Fair
The purpose of the book fair is to allow students and teachers to purchase new books available
from scholastic. All stakeholders can visit the media center and purchase books on site.
Mrs. Hicks collaborates with the Scholastic book company to plan the book fair. The book fair
takes place in the fall and spring. Mrs. Hicks is in charge of setting the school theme and
decorating and setting up the books when they are delivered. She also advertises the book fair on
the announcements to encourage students to visit. Putting on the book fair requires a great deal
of work so Mrs. Hicks uses volunteers. She sends out an email to parents and staff allowing
them the sign up for particular tasks.
6. Reading nook
The purpose of the reading nook is to provide a place for students read quietly.
Students are encouraged to visit the media center throughout the day. The media center has a
reading nook with two couches and a rug. When students have extra time they can visit the
media center and read in the reading nook.
 7. S.T.E.M. corner
The purpose of this area is to foster critical thinking skills. This area also encourages students to
visit the media center with down time in the classroom. This area is for students but teachers can
use the area for whole class instruction. Mrs. Hicks just started this program, allowing students to
complete various learning task in the media center. She started by implementing S.T.E.M boxes
which contain a challenge and the materials needed to complete the challenge. Mrs. Hicks plans
to expand this area allowing students to work on puzzles, riddles, and coloring pages with free
time.
8. S.T.E.A.M
The purpose of this program is to introduce and expose students to coding. Students can access
the coding application from home on personal Ipads. Mrs. Hicks has recently implemented a
coding program at Knox Elementary. She began by bringing in technology staff from the county
to teach coding to the students. They started with a maze activity where students guided teachers
through a maze with various sounds. Mrs. Hicks also has a coding application on the ipad that
she uses to teach coding to older students.
9. Read across America Day
The purpose of this program is to make reading fun for students in teachers. This is also a great
week to create community for the school as community members coming in to read to students.
Mrs. Hicks organizes a theme week to get students excited about reading. Each day the student
can dress up depending on the theme. Mrs. Hicks also works with the teachers of all grade levels
to schedule mystery readers in the classrooms during this week. The entire school participates in
a DEAR, drop everything and read on a particular day and time during this week. This is a fun
week that gets students and teachers excited about reading.

Evaluation
Overall, the Knox media center is doing a great job to meet the needs of students. Mrs. Hicks is striving
to meet the centers mission, to enrich and support the educational programs in the school by providing
a wide range of materials and services that will encourage growth in knowledge and a love of reading.
Each time I visited the center, I saw different learning activities taking place. Mrs. Hicks utilizes
technology to engage students in content lessons. Students are excited to visit to visit the media center
and most come in with a specific book in mind. I was amazed to see a group of fifth grade boys visit the
media center so excited to check out books. Mrs. Hicks is working to meet the center goals she set. She
is creating new programs that encourage higher order thinking. She has started with the STEM
challenges for students to complete as they visit. She wishes to expand these programs to design
challenges. Mrs Hicks has introduced coding activities to all grade levels, differentiation for different
age groups. Each lesson I observed Mrs. Hicks teach utilized technology and offered interactive
activities for students. Mrs. Hicks strives to collaborate with teachers through newsletters and emails to
show teachers what resources are available in the media center. Mrs. Hicks has recently been certified in
Common Sense media and uses the program to teach digital citizenship to all grade levels. I have
observed multiple digital citizenship lessons, bullying vs. cyber bullying, avoiding plagiarism, and
digital citizenship. Students are confident in using the self check out system to check out books when
Mrs. Hicks is not available. The media center has a physical layout that is accessible to all students.
Shelving is arranged to allow students with wheelchairs easy access all materials. Mrs. Hicks has re-
arranged some sections to create the STEM corner and a shelf that showcases new books available in the
media center. The technology resources available in the media center were seen unused in the media
center on multiple site visits. While it is apparent that Mrs. Hicks utilizes technology, teachers are not
utilizing laptop carts, ipads, and osmos. In talking with Mrs. Hicks, a handful of teachers check out
these technology resources on a regular basis. The majority of the staff does not utilize the available
technology resources. The center is currently fulfilling its mission to enrich and support students. Mrs.
Hicks is working to meet the goals of the center by adding programs that utilize critical thinking skills.

Recommendations

The available technology resources available for checkout were sitting in the media center unused. Mrs.
Hicks noted that she modeled possible uses of technology as teachers brought their classes in for lessons.
The use of modeling, however, is not sufficient to increase technology usage. One recommendation for
improvement would be collaboration between the media specialist, technology specialist, and principal.
The media specialist and technology specialist could create training opportunities that would assist the
staff in technology implementation. The principal can set expectations for the staff to use technology
and work with the media specialist and technology specialist to implement a training plan. Trainings can
take place monthly during the school day during grade level meetings. Mrs. Hicks will continue her
newsletter and will add a section for suggestions on practical applications of technology. Teachers will
have the opportunity to visit the media center to use the ipads or laptops in the media center for whole
group instruction. Mrs. Hicks will be able to work with the teachers in the media center to assist the
teachers and students. Technology usage should be tracked and analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of
the training plan. Upon review, if technology usage does not increase a new plan will need to be
implemented
 Appendix

Media Specialist Interview

Questions:
1. What role does the media center play in student learning?
2. Do the students know how to use the technology resources, how do they learn?
3. How do you teach digital citizenship?
4. What barriers are there to technology implementation?
5. Do you feel you have adequate technology in the media center, if not what is lacking?
6. How is the technology shared among staff, is it used fairly?
7. Do you feel your staff has adequate training to utilize technology to enhance student learning?
8. Do you have unused technology in the media center?
9. Do the students have e-books available in addition to print resources?
10. How do you use technology to collaborate with the staff?
11. What are your goals for the center?

Site Observations

I used the following observation checklist as I visited the center over the course of the semester.

Media Center Observation Checklist

Activity Observed/Not Observed

Technology well maintained and up to date
Available technology is being utilized the
majority of the time
Students know how to use the self checkout
There is evidence of digital citizenship lessons
being taught
Technology being used to enhance student
learning
Students know how to use technology
appropriately
Students know how to locate resources on the web
using the programs paid for by the county
(pebblego, Galileo, noodletools, nettrecker)
The media center a place for quiet reading
Meaningful learning is taking place in the media
center
Students enjoy being in the media center
Programs are available to encourage higher order
thinking
Students spend the majority of their time checking
out books
Media specialist collaborates with other teachers
to increase student achievement
There is evidence of collaboration with the
community
Media Center has resources for students with
disabilities
Media center set up to meet the needs of students
with disabilities.