Instructional Technology

The Instructional Technology Initiative was established in 2007 with the Board of Education adoption of the Valley Stream 30 UFSD six year technology plan. This plan outlines four key dimensions: Instructional Environment, Professional and Instructional Capacity, Community Connections, and Support Capacity. These dimensions are regarded as synergistic parts of a single system. The framework they create emphasizes a combination of critical elements that are necessary for a school district and/or school to effectively use technology to accelerate student achievement and learning.

Information literacy, the ability to find, analyze, manage, present and share information as well as the ability to adapt rapidly to the changes brought about by the availability of information, is a critical skill for 21st century citizens. Students need to become skilled in the use of the range of technology resources they will encounter. These skills will not come from special computer classes or from drill and practice computer use, but through the full integration of technology in their education.

As 21st-century jobs become increasingly information based, workers need to:

  1. use multimedia tools to communicate and present ideas and concepts orally and in writing

  2. separate the important, relevant information from the vast mountain of information

  3. quickly learn specialized information in an ongoing fashion

  4. work effectively in physical and virtual groups

  5. The district’s philosophy of integrating technology into the instructional program reflects these issues.

 

Integration of Technology into the Instructional Program

Valley Stream 30 UFSD shares the perspective of the New York State Education Department as presented in the Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Frameworks:

  1. Students will have knowledge, skills and attitudes to pose questions, seek answers, and design solutions.

  2. Students will use a full range of information systems, including computers, to process information and to network with different school and community resources, such as libraries, people, museums, businesses and industries.

  3. Students will acquire the knowledge and skills related to the tools, materials, and processes of technology.

  4. Students will understand the relationships among various disciplines, identify and connect common themes, and apply these themes to other areas.

  5. Students will apply the knowledge and thinking skills of various disciplines to address real-life problems and make informed decisions.

In order to implement these standards, and to support the belief regarding the importance of computer technology the following hardware and infrastructure has been incorporated into the instructional program:

  1. During the course of the 2007-2008 school year all classrooms received new workstations, computer labs were upgraded, the infrastructure was updated and improved, and the IT department was restructured to improve support to all.

  2. In 2008-2009 the Technology Curriculum Circle developed a technology skills scope and sequence that outlines what students should know and be able to do at each grade level. Part of what was discussed during the development of the scope and sequence was the tools and skills teachers need to provide the instructional opportunities to prepare students to meet the technology skills.

  3. The focus of the 2009-2010 school year was to provide the tools and training to the instructional staff that were identified by the 2008-2009 Technology Curriculum Circle.  The district accepted forty proposals from the instructional staff, to be divided into a Fall and Spring group, who received an Interactive whiteboard, a mounted projector, a netbook, a document camera, and a CD/Stereo speaker system. In addition, the instructional staff members are provided over 30 hours of professional development focusing on how to use the tools to support instruction and the technology skills scope and sequence.

  4. The Instructional Technology Initiative has been very successful in providing the instructional staff with the tools needed to enrich the learning environment and the district’s instructional capacity to integrate technology.  As a result of this success, 2009-2010 Technology Professional Circle established a Technology Integration Rubric , aligned with the district’s technology skills scope and sequence, to articulate the levels of technology integration.

  5. As a result of three years of hard work the student to computer ratio is now 1 computer for every three students. Pushin resources are now available with the creation of teacher presentation carts, class laptop carts, and multimedia support. Wireless networking has been installed throughout all district buildings, and an increased support of Apple resources have been deployed to support both Art and Music.

Technology and Staff Development

Teachers are trained in the mechanics of using the hardware and software through the exploration of tools that enhance and expand the curriculum by including learner-centered, interdisciplinary, constructionist activities. The teachers engage in activities that involve collaborative learning, discussion and independent research.