K-12 Technology Integration and Professional Development Program

IDE 761 Strategies and Techniques In Project Management

Submitted to

Dr. Tiffany Koszalka

8 April 2018

Executive Summary This project Management Plan has been developed for a Middle School Educational Technology professional development project. The problem defining this project is that Teachers in this middle school lack knowledge to use effectively and efficiently the varieties of educational technologies in the classroom to support student learning. Therefore, project goal is to train teachers to be effective at using variety of educational technologies for efficient teaching and student learning in the classroom. The goal of this project has been defined into six (6) achievable objectives. The Objectives are planned for implementation through a practical and systematic work breakdown structure. The Work breakdown structure and its critical path seeks to demonstrate the fulfillment of the PD by designing and developing professional development services, implementing professional development services, performing cyclical evaluation services, and make revisions and improvements for successive years/phases. This Project Management Plan has been developed as a working tool for skilled and professionals Educational Technologies, Instructional Designer, Program Evaluators, Videographers/Graphic Artists, Technical Support Staff, and Technology Integration Specialists to implement the Professional Development of Teachers with educational technology skills through a two years summer and 2-weeks training program. To control the Project within its scope, schedule and time, it has been developed within a Gantt Chart to track progress of the team and resources. At the Close Phase of this project, the team will be present summary of reports( design, develop, and implement) and write ups trends for areas of improvements. More importantly the team will create a website to help encourage teacher explore technology integration content for use in their classroom to enhance students performance.

1

2

PLANNING THE PROJECT DEFINE PHASE

Problem/Opportunity Teachers in this middle school are not able to effectively and efficiently use the varieties of educational technologies in the classroom to support their teaching and their student learning. Many rarely use available technologies though they are highly involved in technology purchasing decisions and positive about the current and technology integration approaches. Research suggests these teachers are missing specific knowledge and skills in their professional development that could enable them to effectively use technology to enhance teaching and integrate it effectively into student learning. Therefore, teacher’s professional ability need to be enhanced to integrate educational technology into classroom practices, operate new educational technologies, and modify lessons and assessments with technology resources. Project Goals Generally this project goal is to train teachers to be effective at using variety of educational technologies for efficient teaching and student learning in the classroom. Over the period of three years this project aims to achieve the following:

1. Training teachers to be effective users of old educational technologies for instruction. 2. Training teachers to be effective users of incoming new educational technologies to

upgrade instruction. 3. Training teachers to be able to integrate old and new educational technologies into

classroom activities ( i.e lesson preparation, lesson presentation, evaluation of lesson, etc).

Project Objectives (specific measurable sub-goals that guide the project work; provide measurable indicators of progress, realistic, and achievable within time frame)

❖ Hire All Required Personnel By Week 10 ❖ Submit Written Curricula To Administrators By Week 26 ❖ All Materials Submitted To Project Managers By Week 40 ❖ Perform All PD Logistical Tasks By Week 52 ❖ Implement All PD Sessions During The School Year ❖ Improve Teacher Performance on Assessments Regarding Technology Integration ❖ Achieve High Evaluation Scores from Teachers to Indicate Value of PD ❖ Submit Project Review to Administrators and Receive Approval for Revision Plan

3

Success Criteria

● Instructional training for two-week summer intensives are completed on-time, within budget, and according to the objectives outlined above

● Instructional materials and personnel have been vetted and approved by the project manager and clients to ensure quality and content control

● Purpose, design, and assessment methods of the training program are communicated clearly to participating teachers and administrators to ensure accountability and focus

● Work packages are managed by their respective leaders in an orderly and communicative manner with respect to constraints, client needs, and overall purpose

● Project planning, implementation, and evaluation are internally documented for the purpose of perpetual improvement and external reports to stakeholders

Assumptions - Threats To Project Plan

● Technical support staff and Technology integration specialists inefficiency supervising both the teachers and the students during the summer

● Two days each month is insufficient for the professional development (i.e considering teachers learning existing technologies and the new technology)

● Teachers prior level of basic computer/technologies skills is not known. ● Compensation for one sitting creates room for teachers to be absences, since is going to

be during the vacation ● Weather related issues may cause power outages and transportation issues during January

and March.

Risks - What May Occur Without Project Plan

● Teachers may be unable to integrate the following educational technologies into classroom practices:

- Microsoft word,office - Powerpoint - Projectors - Blackboard

● Learning process and skills of students will not be enhanced with the use of computers, interactive whiteboards and other available technologies

4

PLAN PHASE Work Breakdown Structure

Critical Path

5

Gantt Chart (Simplified Overview)

Project Proposal Statement

Teachers in the K-12 middle school are unable to use old technologies to enhance classroom activities, amidst their challenges the administration is bringing in new technologies to enhance student learning. This steps seems brilliant on the part of the administration but more challenging to the existing technologies difficulties faced by teachers. Therefore, The K-12 technology integration and development program has been design to enhance teachers skills in using old and modern technologies for classroom purposes. For this purpose, the Project Management plan is an organized document of objectives, activities, work packages, deliverables that can make this possible for improving students performance. The implementation of this training on schedule, scope and the provision of the necessary resources are mostly important to having teachers skills develop for the use of these technologies skills to enhance performance. As a two years project, this project has to be implemented with the necessary stakeholders full support.

6

7

ORGANIZE PHASE Work Packages Descriptions / Assignments: Screenshot of Work Package and Descriptions:

8

IMPLEMENTING THE PROJECT Team Organization Structure

9

Recruiting Criteria for each position:

10

CONTROL PHASE Gantt Chart: Specific Task Breakdown

11

Here is a list of each aspect of the Gantt Chart and its primary function:

➔ Task Number and Title - Corresponds to the PLAN document and package breakdown for more detailed reference

➔ Task Timeline - Shows the total timeline as comprised of its sub-tasks’ timelines. ➔ Sub-Tasks - Identifies every sub-task that must be completed for the major task to be

finished. Shows their timelines relative to one another.

A Gantt Chart like this one is successful if it gives the work package managers and the client a clear idea of when and to what extend a task must be completed. While a 2-year cycle does not every extremely precise estimates of completion (since our Period Units are weeks, as shown above by the dotted lines), this does allow all stakeholders to keep a global perspective on the project.

Variance Reporting

Each phase of the project’s implementation (“Phase 1 - Curricular Design,” “Phase 2 - PD Session Development,” and “Phase 3 - Implementation & Evaluation,” as outlined in our Work

12

Package Breakdown) are separated into a blue, orange, and grey section. For each phase (such as Phase 1 above), there are four fields of data in our variance structure:

1. Task Number and Description 2. Assigned Personnel 3. Scheduled Period (using weeks) 4. Status Report (color-coded) 5. Timeline (shown at top)

As time progresses, the main timeline at the top (and the mini-timelines towards the right) automatically shift to show projected progress and give an instant-picture of what a given individual is working on. This makes it easier to prioritize issue logs and allocate resources and personnel to optimize the project’s overall efficacy.

Combined, these displays give a total overview of the project’s process and double as a dashboard for notifying task leads, project managers, and clients about the status of the project.

13

CLOSE PHASE Format for Final Project Report

● Summary of reports ( design,develop, and implement)

● Write-ups of trends and areas for improvement for the design develop and implement phases

● Performance reports

Present Products to Client / Client Sign-off Procedures & Checklist

★ Prepare deliverable checklist and schedule a meeting to submit summary reports of the design, develop, and implement phases.

★ Present recommendations for improvement of each phases of the project during schedule meeting.

★ Present Performance reports during schedule meeting ★ Present signatures pages for sign-off, and seek sign-off at meeting

Post Project Audit/Debrief ➢ Design rubric for support staff to use regarding learning objectives

➢ Schedule “blind” dates for support staff to “sit in” on teachers using technology

➢ Design assessment protocol for support staff to assess teacher application of professional development in their classrooms (based on learning objectives)

➢ Regularly release content on website to help encourage teacher exploration of technological integration

➢ Prepare protocol for seeking for seeking feedback

14

REFERENCES

REFERENCES DOCUMENT 5-Phase Project Management: A Practical Planning & Implementation Guide JOSEPH W. WEISS, Ph.D., Bentley College ROBERT K. WYSOCKI, Ph.D., The TMS Group Monday.com (Variance Reporting Software)

15