Using Technology Integration Projects as a Staff Development Tool

Technology Integration Projects are project-based lesson plans that contain everything a student needs to create a technology product:

• the tutorial movies
• an example of the finished project
• any images or other media needed to recreate the example project exactly as it is demonstrated in the movies

As such, they are easy projects for classroom implementation and can be used as a way to bring a technology component into the curriculum.

“Student” doesn’t have to mean just the children or teenagers in a classroom! Teachers and staff can also use the Technology Integration Projects to increase their own technology skills.

The tutorial movies progress step-by-step through the process of creating a fun and interesting project. A person who completes every step demonstrated in the movies will have a tangible end-product that shows off their newly acquired skills.

The movies are easy to follow and can be viewed over and over again at the viewer’s discretion. Best of all, these resources are available online 24 hours a day, seven days a week!

1. Identify a Technology Integration Project to use:
   
   What type of software skills would you like your staff to learn or enhance? Working with a database or spreadsheet? Using a presentation or multimedia application?
   
   Technology Integration Projects are categorized by
   
   
   • type (i.e., database, spreadsheet, word processing, etc.),
   • specific application (i.e., FileMaker Pro, Excel, Word, etc.)
   • by platform (Mac or PC)
   
   You can sort and filter the list of available Technology Integration Projects by any of these criteria and then watch the Preview movie to find the one that best meets your needs and interests.

2. Once you have chosen a Technology Integration Project, prepare to follow the tutorial movies:
   
   
   1. Download the resource packet that contains the materials needed to complete the project as demonstrated in the tutorial movies. This packet includes a Project Activity Guide as well as any images, text documents, or other files that are used in creating the example project.
   2. Read through the Project Activity Guide so that you have an understanding of the goals and objectives for the project.
   3. Save copies of all the resource files to the computers your staff will be working on.

3. Recreate the example project:
   
   Introduce the example project to your staff as a way to become familiar with the basic tools used in the software application. Technology Integration Project projects are relatively short and easy projects to complete. An individual should be able to watch all the movies and recreate the example project within just a couple of hours.
   
   The example project gives the participant a context in which he/she can practice and acquire new skills working with a particular software application. The content or subject matter presented in the example project may or may not be directly related to the subject matter the staff person currently teaches, but they’ll find these exercises effective and valuable no matter what the topic.

4. Go beyond the example project:
   
   The example project is structured so that it can be easily adapted for other subject/content areas.
   
   For example, the Technology Integration Project entitled “Painting Light and Shadow” uses information about three great French Impressionist painters as the subject of a PowerPoint presentation. The same skills and procedures that participants will learn by creating the example project could also be used to create a presentation about writers, music composers, scientists, or any other subject the participant would like to research.
   
   Have your staff demonstrate that they have learned the skills taught in the Technology Integration Project tutorials by choosing another subject that is relevant to their area of expertise, finding images and information that fit that subject, and creating a project similar to the example project, but using their own material!

5. Assess the work that has been done:
   
   Your school or district may require some type of assessment to document that a staff member has met certain technology competency standards.
   
   Many districts are basing their own requirements on a set of standards which are published by the International Society for Technology Education (ISTE) as the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Teachers. You will find more information about NETS for Teachers, and also NETS for Students on which the NETS for Teachers is based, on the ISTE Web site

Rubrics are useful tools to assess demonstrated competency in achieving specific, measurable objectives. The Project Activity Guide found in the downloadable resource packet for each Technology Integration Project includes objectives and task list for creating the example project.

Many of the Project Activity Guides also include a rubric that the teacher can use to assess student work, or that the student can use for self-assessment. The LA rubric could be used “as is” or modified to provide an assessment tool for staff development, regardless of whether the project being assessed uses the sample subject matter provided with the LA or uses custom material.