Jeff Welch 1

MEDT 7464
Assignment 1- Needs Assessment

Training and Performance Needs Assessment Report

I. Overview

Recently, the Coweta County School district used SPLOST money to purchase 1:1 technology
in the form of Chromebook’s for students in grades 3-12. With the purchase of 1:1
technology there has yet to be any formal training on usage of the new technology. The
purpose of this study is to investigate the needs of the faculty and if a protocol is needed to
ensure school and district technology performance goals are being met.

II. Data Collection

In order to measure the needs of the teachers, parents, and students 3 surveys were
created through Google Forms and distributed to all contributing groups. Upon review, the
data revealed some constraints that could impact achieving the end goal. According to the
self-evaluation, teachers, parents, and students exhibit varied amounts of technological
skills. In addition to skills, the participants revealed inconsistency of WIFI access outside of
the school building. Teachers expressed a concern of a lack of instructional technology
professional development courses.

III. Sources of Data

The sources of data used in this assessment came from both internal and external sources.
The data was used to assess the technology needs of teachers and parents that will affect
roughly 1100 students with access to technology. Teachers/Students were surveyed about
technology inside the school building and parents were surveyed to determine
needs/perceptions outside of the school. All 3 surveys sought out to investigate the level of
knowledge and needs pertaining to instructional technology. The data was complied and
analyzed using Google Form survey data, along with the School Improvement Leadership
Team (SILT) survey, which identified teacher’s specific needs in regards to professional
development and technology.

IV. Conclusions

Based on survey data it can be determined that multi-leveled training will be needed to
satisfy the district performance goals. It was discovered that there were performance
deficiencies such as a lack of knowledge of how to successfully use the technology to
enhance student learning complicated by varied levels of working knowledge on behalf of
teachers, parents and students. The causes of these deficiencies can be contributed to a lack
of a shared focus/high expectations at the school and district levels and the lack of
collaboration among all stakeholders to utilize the 1:1 technology to its fullest potential. The
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MEDT 7464
Assignment 1- Needs Assessment

consequences of these deficiencies are the absence of checks and balances to ensure
students are using technology to develop 21st century and college readiness skills.

V. Recommendations
A. Training Recommendations

Training will be needed to address the working knowledge among teachers, parents and
students in regards to 1:1 technology. The goal of this training is to provide a clear and
shared focus to properly equip teacher, parents, students, and the community with the
technology skills need to achieve district and school level technology performance goals.
Benefits that will emerge from completion of training is for all students to meet learning
standards and to foster the development of 21st century learner that are college and
career ready and foster parent and community support. Anticipated training problems
that could possibly occur but are not limited to the varied about of comfort levels
among all stakeholders, and stakeholder’s willingness to take risks to achieve the shared
goal.

B. Non-Training Recommendations

Non-Training elements will need to be implemented to ensure that all stakeholders are
working towards the development of a 21st century learning culture. Once training has
been implemented this will allow for the schools administration to encourage teachers
to use the technology and foster a sense of comfort for teachers to take risks when
exploring ways to use 1:1 technology in the classroom. This can be measured through
administrative walkthroughs and teacher lesson plans. Students will create products and
develop a working portfolio using technology to promote the benefits of using
technology while achieving school and district level goals. Parents will develop a sense
of connection through this technology to their student’s progress and the community
can contribute to the development of the culture by involving businesses and
community service through the form of technology. These non-training elements will
allow for all stakeholders to continually work together ensuring student engagement
through the use of the district 1:1 technology while meeting the school and district
performance goals. Anticipated problems that could possibly occur are weaknesses in
communication among all stakeholders, and all stakeholder belief in the shared focus
and performance goals.

C. Other recommendations and commentary

Following the proper training and successful implementation results, other

recommendations for the school would be to establish permanent weekly professional
development for teachers to ensure the continual development of technology skills to
continue to build confidence and comfort in using technology in the classroom. In
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MEDT 7464
Assignment 1- Needs Assessment

addition to more teacher development, another recommendation would be for the

school to host a parent night to ensure parents understand the school and district
technology performance goals to continue to foster a connection to student
performance and progress. To ensure students are developing the 21st century and
college and career readiness skills a Digital Citizenship class or presentation would be
recommended to build on the student’s knowledge of usage of the 1:1 technology in
order to strive to meet the school and district technology performance goals. Lastly, to
ensure that all stakeholders have a role in ensuring students 21st century and college
and career readiness skills, a technology showcase could be held to allow students to
display their technology portfolios, allow parents to connect with technology and the
benefits of classroom usage, and for the community to witness the success of students
who are 21st century learners and career and college ready.
Jeff Welch 4
MEDT 7464
Assignment 1- Needs Assessment

Technology Needs Assessment Survey Questions

The following list of questions would be distributed among all stakeholders associated with the school in
order to effectively determine their technological needs. The questions complied in this list would be
presented in three separate Google Forms to then be sent to all stakeholders. A paper version would
also be available for those who could not assess the electronic survey.

Teacher Survey Questions:

 How would you rate your overall skill in using educational technology?
 How often do you use technology in the classroom?
 What ways do you use technology in class? (Drop box with choices)
 What areas would you like training?
 How would you like to improve?
 Other comments/Technology Concerns (Allow teachers to express opinions about technology
that they feel were not addressed in the survey.)

Students Survey Questions:

 How would you rate your overall skill in using educational technology?
 How often do you use technology? (Ex. Socializing, in school, to study, etc.)
 Do you have access to technology/Internet outside of school?
 What would you like to learn in regards to technology?
 How would you liked to see technology used in the classroom/school?

Parents Survey Questions:

 How would you rate your overall skill in using educational technology?
 Do you have access to the Internet at home?
 Do you have technology in the home? (If so, in what forms?)
 How often do you access technology to support your child’s learning?
 What programs do you use to support your child’s learning? (Ex: Infinite Campus, Quizlet,
Quizizz, Google Classroom, Etc.)