Bluffton Exempted Village Schools
District Information
Why did the district create such a program to utilize students as technology support staff?
What technology support do students provide to the district? (e.g. software, hardware, website creation or maintenance, etc.)
How long has the project been in effect?
Did another district's student tech program influence the way you modeled your program? If so, which district.
What resources or policies were necessary to start up and maintain the program? (i.e. funding, human resources, board approval, ect.)
What are the goals of the program?
How much did it cost to create the program?
Please itemize costs and expenditures in an Appendix.
How much does it cost annually to maintain the program?
Please itemize costs and expenditures in an Appendix.
How many students have participated in the program to date?
How many students are participating in the program this school year?
Do students work during or outside school hours? Please detail.
Are students paid for their work? If so, how much per hour and how are they funded? If students are not paid, do they receive credit as a course?
What grade level(s) are students who participate in the program?
Is your student technical program integrated with your district curriculum? How?
How have you solved logistical problems (matching student/teacher schedules, transportation between buildings, etc) so that students can do work where it is needed?
How and by whom are students trained to be able to support district technology?
What training and reference materials are provided to the student participants?
How many technical support staff (non-student) are employed by the district? Describe the role of each.
What lessons has the district learned during the program? Include strengths, weaknesses and obstacles encountered.
What process and instruments are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program?
How is cost-effectiveness of the program determined? What information has been gathered to date showing the cost-effectiveness of the program? Include samples.
Why does your district believe that it is has a model for other districts to implement?
Describe the type of product(s) you anticipate creating to communicate to all districts your program? (e.g. website, CD Rom, video, etc.)
-
District Information
Top
-
| District name: |
Bluffton Exempted Village Schools |
| District IRN: |
45211 |
| Contact Person: |
Mr. Gene Lloyd |
| Contact Person Title: |
District Technology Coordinator |
| Contact Person Address: |
102 South Jackson Street
Bluffton, OH 45817 |
| Contact Person Phone: |
419.358.7909 Ext: |
| Contact Person Fax: |
419.358.4871 |
| Contact Person email: |
lloydg@bf.noacsc.org |
| Requested Funding Amount: |
$10,000.00 |
| District Size: |
1,501 to 6,000 Students |
| Grades Involved: |
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 |
| Project Artifact: |
PDF |
| Dates of Presentation: |
| Presentation One: |
Location:
NWOET Tech Conference Findlay, Ohio
Date:
10/8/2001 |
| Presentation Two: |
Location:
SchoolNet Tech Conference
Date:
2/6/2002 |
-
Why did the district create such a program to utilize students as technology support staff?
Top
-
The Bluffton Exempted Village School Board wanted to improve teaching and learning by implementing technology resources in all areas of its organization. However, it did not have needed financial capital to accomplish this task. As little as three years ago, the district had meager technology tools and little, if any, meaningful technology integration into the curriculum. Today, the Bluffton Exempted Village School district is considered one of the leaders in the state of Ohio for innovative technology implementation. The district believes that its students have the right to learn using the five digital skills of freedom which include: 1. All 21st century learners have the freedom to learn from a digitally literate instructor, and have access to multiple instructors from anywhere at anytime. 2. All 21st century learners have the freedom to access reliable, vast, digital databases from anywhere at anytime, as well as know how to strategically search and produce quality information. 3. All 21st century learners have the freedom to a multimedia learning environment from anywhere at anytime. 4. All 21st century learners have the freedom to use problem-solving skills, and apply those skills to real world problems from anywhere at anytime. 5. All 21st century learners have the freedom to co-develop his or her education. How did this significant transformation occur? In a word (acronym) it is the SWIFTY (Student Workers In Future Technologies) program.
-
What technology support do students provide to the district? (e.g. software, hardware, website creation or maintenance, etc.)
Top
-
SWIFTY district/community support is grouped into ten distinct categories. They are curriculum integration assistance, training assistance, world presence assistance, network assistance, a giving back to the community assistance, disseminating best practices, software assistance, hardware assistance, telephony assistance, and cutting edge technologies. Examples of these categories are as follows: A. Curriculum Integration Assistance There is only one goal for providing educational technologies at the Bluffton Schools. That is to improve student learning. SWIFTY's assist teachers in any way possible to facilitate this goal. It is the cooperation between teacher, student, and SWIFTY that creates the synergy to accomplish some amazing projects. These projects range from using specific software, to constructing a new wireless lab from scratch. SWIFTY's are trained to ask this question, "How can I help you (the teacher) efficiently integrate technology in the curriculum in order to improve learning?" B. Training Assistance Training is ongoing at the Bluffton schools. This training is for teachers, administrators, support staff, parents, and community. The district averages between forty to fifty days a year of "outside" instruction for educational technologies. These learning groups vary in size from four participants to fifty. When the groups are large, SWIFTY's assist the adult instructor. This provides the capability to answer participant's questions in a timely fashion. These classes take place after school hours or in the summer. The district utilizes its technology facilities twelve months a year. As a Raising the Bar School, and Virtual Middle School, middle school students are allowed to take home Dell laptops for their use. However, students cannot take these computers home unless parents receive six hours of training. This training focuses on how the technology offers new ways of doing new work. Over two hundred parents received this training. The SWIFTY's were invaluable in helping answer parents' questions on such items as ProQuest Direct, Internet resources, HyperStudio, PowerPoint, etc. in a hands-on setting. Every year for the last three years a month of summer computer camps have been offered to the elementary grade students.
-
How long has the project been in effect?
Top
-
The SWIFTY program has been in effect at the Bluffton schools since 1999.
-
Did another district's student tech program influence the way you modeled your program? If so, which district.
Top
-
The Bluffton director of technology was formerly technology director at Pandora-Gilboa local school district. While there, he created the SWIFTY program 11 years ago. Now as director of technology at the Bluffton Exempted Village Schools he has implemented the SWIFTY program at Bluffton schools for the last three years.
-
What resources or policies were necessary to start up and maintain the program? (i.e. funding, human resources, board approval, ect.)
Top
-
In order to implement the SWIFTY program coordination must occur between the computer teachers, guidance counselors, principals, and classroom teachers. The elementary, middle school, and high school computer instructors coordinate content covered with the tech director. When SWIFTY's are not implementing in the field, they are working on content in the tech coordinator's office. This content is delivered via ElementK's over 300 course offerings.
-
What are the goals of the program?
Top
-
The primary goal of the SWIFTY program as with all technology integration in the Bluffton schools is to improve student learning. Secondly, it is hoped that the SWIFTY program will provide students with digital skills of freedom by integrating technology into the curriculum. Finally, the SWIFTY program sees itself in some way giving back to the community.
-
How much did it cost to create the program?
Please itemize costs and expenditures in an Appendix.
Top
-
This field appears as an appendix in the PDF
-
How much does it cost annually to maintain the program?
Please itemize costs and expenditures in an Appendix.
Top
-
This field appears as an appendix in the PDF
-
How many students have participated in the program to date?
Top
-
In the first year only ten students participated in the SWIFTY program due to its infancy and no schedule set. The second year, forty students participated. This year eighty students are participating in the program. Based on next year's pre-registration, there will be more than one hundred students in the SWIFTY program. This will definitely build capacity from within.
-
How many students are participating in the program this school year?
Top
-
There are currently eighty students participating in the SWIFTY program. (60 boys and 20 girls)
-
Do students work during or outside school hours? Please detail.
Top
-
Students work both during the school day and after school, which usually includes ten days during Christmas vacation and forty days during summer vacation. During the school day SWIFTY's are released from study halls or during technology class to meet with the technology director and problem-solve issues e-mailed by staff. It should be noted that response time average has improved from an average of 19 minutes in 199-00 year to 10 minutes in the 2000-01 school year. An average of ten students come to the tech coordinators office every period. During this time students assist teachers with the implementation of technology, refine their technology skills by completing ElementK coursework, or completing community projects. These students will also work on their own time before and after school. The academic performance of the SWIFTY must remain constant or improve. If not, the student cannot continue to participate in the SWIFTY program.
-
Are students paid for their work? If so, how much per hour and how are they funded? If students are not paid, do they receive credit as a course?
Top
-
SWIFTY's are obviously not paid for duties performed during the school day. They do receive credit for release time during the day that coincides with technology class time. When SWIFTY's work during Christmas vacation and summer months, they receive minimum wage. Some of the seniors may receive a little more per hour based on their experience.
-
What grade level(s) are students who participate in the program?
Top
-
Students in grades five-twelve participate in this program at the Bluffton schools.
-
Is your student technical program integrated with your district curriculum? How?
Top
-
The SWIFTY program correlates with the course of study for technology in grades 5-12. This course of study is aligned with the ISTE standards. It is the district's hope, as indicated by technology plan, that technology is a transparent tool to assist students in learning, and not a separate entity unto itself.
-
How have you solved logistical problems (matching student/teacher schedules, transportation between buildings, etc) so that students can do work where it is needed?
Top
-
The logistical problems were minimal since the elementary, middle, and high school buildings are within a 100 yards of each other. If the buildings were separated, a SWIFTY program would be integrated in a self-contained setting for that building. Electronic communications email, between staff and students expedites the process. Also by creating instructional web pages for staff and students many questions can be answered in a 24/7 environment. The technology teachers in cooperation with classroom teacher assign or match SWIFTY's. After the semester the students are then re-assigned to a new teacher.
-
How and by whom are students trained to be able to support district technology?
Top
-
Students are trained using the train the trainer model. The technology teachers and technology coordinator instruct SWIFTY's with the basic skills needed and any new software/hardware skills that should be acquired. The older students, juniors and seniors, will take younger students with them to observe and assist in the tasks at hand. As the year progresses the younger students become more proficient with these tasks and in turn assist even younger students (5th grade) with these tasks.
-
What training and reference materials are provided to the student participants?
Top
-
Students create their own training material that correlates with their particular area of expertise. This student-generated library then grows from year to year and is refined. Some SWIFTY's may be more proficient in networking skills, while others may excel in graphics or web design. Web tutorials have been created by SWIFTY's to assist staff and students with answers to the most common questions from an anywhere, anytime platform. The material is electronic in form so that all can share. ElementK is the major reference guide with its 24/7 reference library. Also, ElementK course delivery is extensively used by SWIFTY's. Also the technology director provides information on current trends in technology culled from Web casts, weekly technology television shows, and periodicals. SWIFTY's also have access to a reference library located the in tech director's office.
-
How many technical support staff (non-student) are employed by the district? Describe the role of each.
Top
-
The district has three technology teachers and one full time district technology director. The elementary technology teacher is responsible for working basically with fifth grade students integrating technology into the curriculum. The middle school technology instructor works with grades seven and eight implementing technology into the curriculum. The high school technology instructor is responsible for computer classes in grades 10-12. These courses are more content related including such items as programming, web design, and authoring tools.
-
What lessons has the district learned during the program? Include strengths, weaknesses and obstacles encountered.
Top
-
The SWIFTY program is a very powerful tool in student learning, economical savings, community resources, and promoting technology integration to improve student learning. In order for the technology to be effectively integrated into the curriculum, research shows that three components must be present in the learning organization. They are: readily available adequate technology, on-going professional development, and timely staff support. The SWIFTY program, while not a "silver bullet", greatly facilitates these three components. Experience has shown that while these students have more freedom and responsibility, they must continually be counseled on trust, attitude, and communication skills. SWIFTY's must remember that they are to show respect to staff and act accordingly. An attitude of cooperation must be fostered with the teachers so that work can be accomplished together. It is important that SWIFTY's communicate to staff how the work is accomplished and if possible demonstrate to staff how to complete the task themselves if possible next time.
-
What process and instruments are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program?
Top
-
Three people evaluate SWIFTY work. They are the cooperating teacher assigned to the SWIFTY, the technology instructor or district coordinator, and the community customer for whom the SWIFTY's have completed work. The teacher, community customer, or technology instructor completes an evaluation form that is calculated into the SWIFTY's grade (Appendix B). Staff who give informal evaluations via e-mail concerning SWIFTY work and attitude in general continually evaluates the program. Administrators regularly evaluate the program in their monthly meetings with the district technology coordinator.
-
How is cost-effectiveness of the program determined? What information has been gathered to date showing the cost-effectiveness of the program? Include samples.
Top
-
This field appears as an appendix in the PDF
-
Why does your district believe that it is has a model for other districts to implement?
Top
-
While no one model can adequately meet the needs of every district in Ohio, the SWIFTY model does provide flexibility in creating an e-learning community that brings resources to the district that would not otherwise be available. With minimal financial investment, this model can be instituted and greatly effect change within the district while providing students with digital skills vital in the 21st century. What does take time is creating an atmosphere where this meaningful new work is done with new tools in new ways.
-
Describe the type of product(s) you anticipate creating to communicate to all districts your program? (e.g. website, CD Rom, video, etc.)
Top
-
Six products/tools are or will be in place to disseminate the SWIFTY program information. Currently a website that is linked on the Bluffton schools web page explains the SWIFTY program as well as providing tech help to Bluffton staff, parents, and students. Next, the SWIFTY's and their cooperating teachers have been presenting and assisting at state and national conferences for years. This collaboration has facilitated the implementation of similar programs throughout the state and country. Third, a program CDROM will be created that is ethnographic in nature, generated by students and staff about their SWIFTY work, that describes implementation of such a program in any school district. Fourth, the Bluffton schools welcomes and will continue to welcome all visitors to observe program implementation. To date over seventy-five school districts have sent representatives to the Bluffton district to observe the SWIFTY program. Finally, the Bluffton SWIFTY's will be collaborating with eight other tech teams in Allen County during the 2001/002 school year. The focus of this collaboration involves exploring new ways of implementing the IVDL equipment into the curriculum and sharing ideas for improving and expanding the SWIFTY program with other consortium members. Since IVDL is a statewide initiative, this collaboration is scaleable statewide.
|
|
|
