Leah Doughman Project One: The Interview

 A local school board member  Service Years: 9 th year of Third Term  Education: Health Care  Job: Respiratory Therapist working as a Compliance and Policy Procedure Manager/Officer  One of the First School Boards to pilot online eBoard, which is online format of board meetings (includes policies, procedures, and agendas)

 What training in technology do you have or have you received since serving as a school board member?  Formal school board training which occurs every year  Mini-sessions on updates, new technology, etc.  Since serving, what technologies have you seen enter into the arena?  Interwrite Pads  Smartboards  Side Note: When Mr. Goodnoe started serving, the school system was buying most of their technology products, but now they are leasing them. Or they were until the economic crisis. Companies are now forcing them to purchase again. This makes it extremely difficult to keep up to date with the current technologies.

 What technologies do you see being most beneficial to students? Teachers? Administrators?  Elementary: Interwrite Boards and Smartboards  Middle: Interwrite boards  High: Smartboards and diverse computer classrooms depending on the type class (example: graphic design, keyboarding, landscaping, etc.)  Administrators: PDAs and Smartphones (allows them to pull information quickly without having to go through paper files), ConnectEd which allows administrators/teachers/coaches to send information quickly throughout the school system, Video Security  Lunchroom: scannable lunchroom equipment, information on a computer (example: Infinite Campus)  Transportation: technology and programs to help calculate transportation routes, Video Security

 As a school board member, how do you help with the implementation of technology?  Attend Trainings, Articles, and Research  New technologies are brought to their attention by the Director of Technology or School Board Members themselves bring technology that they see at different trainings to the discussion table. The Director of Curriculum can also brings technology options that could be considered for integration which can help with alignment of the standards and SACS accreditation. It is not a “one person job”.  As a school board, they are very open to being flexible. They feel like they should embrace the technology in the classrooms since this is the world that these students live and surround themselves with. For example: not banning phones or iPods on school grounds. They are trying to incorporate them into the everyday classroom.  Budgets and their roles in technology?  Its hard to keep up with the technology because it changes so frequently. When buying technology, it has to be updated. Repairs and updating cost money that some systems don’t always have.

 As an educator, we do not feel like we have adequate training on a lot of technology that we are expected to integrate. What do you all do to help alleviate this problem?  Try to buy programs or packages where they offer teacher training  Include a Technology Specialist at every school  Director of Technology is sent to various trainings to stay up to date on current technology and can train others.  Encourage teachers to “keep an open line of communication” with their technology specialist.

 What innovations have you seen that appear to be working effectively?  Interactive classrooms (Smartboards)  Systems that accurately and quickly assess student’s needs (daily student assessment)  What innovation have you seen that did not appear to work effectively?  Wireless Computer Labs (The computers batteries do not last to facilitate large numbers of students and/or usage.)

 Strengths of the School System:  Personnel, Teachers, and Positive Leadership  Weaknesses of the School System:  The message can get lost in translation, and with so many people working for one employer this can occur. So the challenge becomes making sure everyone is on the same page and is working for the same goals.  Trends:  Interactive Classrooms and the tools to prepare students for their futures  Anticipated Challenges:  Budgets  Keeping everything up-to-date