Technology plan summary for Weatherford ISD

The main goals of the technology plan of Weatherford ISD are integration of technology in all curricular areas, professional development in the use of technology, connectivity and infrastructure, and student/teacher/parent access to data.  The first strategy to implement these goals is to have an instructional technologist at each campus to provide professional development and help to integrate curriculum with technology.  Another strategy mentioned is to have Dell Mini 10 laptops given to all teachers who complete six hours of training at a level 1 proficiency of technology.  The next couple of strategies is to have a wireless laptop carts available at each campus by department or grade level, and to provide all students with a Windows Live email account.  More strategies involve the Infinite Campus SIS system that provides parent and students with a portal account in which they both can check progress, grades, and attendance, using Eduphoria to track and log faculty professional development seminars, and to a project share software Epsilen so that teachers can network to improve instructional strategies.  Final strategies of the plan include a customer service plan for improvement, increase bandwidth, internet filtering, antivirus software, and email archiving.  There are professional development opportunities available to take throughout the school year and during the summer as well.  A few examples are, Blended learning- your students with Epsilen, using the IPad and ITouch, teaching with Powerpoint, and digital storytelling: Moviemaker and Photo Story 3.  The professional development opportunities are setup by the technology department and they use instructors from their departments to teach the courses offered.  Yes there is a sufficient amount of funds to facilitate these professional development courses.  The hardware used is assessed by surveys from the technology department to students and teachers.  The feedback they receive is used to make changes to software, hardware, and other telecommunications services to further facilitate student learning.  The district evaluates the progress of technology by using the information collected in the student/teacher surveys.  They take this information and decide where our strengths and weaknesses are and then allocate funds and personell to improve our weaknesses and maintain our strengths.