Ottoville Local School District
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.)
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District Information
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| District name: |
Ottoville Local School District
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| District IRN: |
49387
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| Contact Person: |
Ms. Shelley Allgire
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| Contact Person Title: |
Director of Technology
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| Contact Person Address: |
300 West Third Street
Ottoville, OH 45876
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| Contact Person Phone: |
419.453.3012
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| Contact Person Fax: |
419.453.3367
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| Contact Person email: |
ov_allgire@noacsc.org
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| Requested Funding Amount: |
$10,000.00 |
| District Size: |
6,000 or More Students |
| Grades Involved: |
9 10 11 12
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| Project Artifact: |
PDF |
| Dates of Presentation: |
| Presentation One: |
Location:
Ohio SchoolNet State Technology Conference - Columbus, OH
Date:
2/5/2001 |
| Presentation Two: |
Location:
District Tech. Dev. Team Meeting
Date:
4/9/2002
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Why did the district create such a program to utilize students as technology support staff?
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Ottoville Local School district created the Networking and Technology Integration via Distance Learning class to offer support to the teaching staff and to encourage real-life learning experiences for the students in the district. These students are referred to as the Technology Assistance TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More).
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What technology support do students provide to the district? (e.g. software, hardware, website creation or maintenance, etc.)
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Students who are part of the Technology Assistance TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) offer software, hardware and maintenance support while they are part of the class. Since many of these students are underclassmen they continue this support throughout their high school years. These students also work on the school districts website. Students are in the TEAM class for one semester and the second semester they are in a web-design class. Therefore, the troubleshooting and technological skills are integrated with the ability to maintain and manage the district web-site. (Appendix A)
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How long has the project been in effect?
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This class has evolved into a class for one semester hour of credit with the 2000-2001 school year. Having students assist in the classrooms with technology and volunteering their time has been taking place for the past several years. As computers were implemented into the district students were assisting in the classrooms with the Director of Technology offering guidance to the students.
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Did another district's student tech program influence the way you modeled your program? If so, which district.
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This program was implemented to encourage a network of people who would have the ability to problem-solving technology issues. Based on a great need for this type of service this program was developed in collaboration between Ottoville and Miller City School. The IVDL equipment is being used with the project to encourage collaboration and assistance with time management. Team teaching this class has allowed for greater flexibility with the instructors time schedule and has encouraged growth for both districts, drawing upon the different strengths of each instructor.
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What resources or policies were necessary to start up and maintain the program? (i.e. funding, human resources, board approval, ect.)
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- IVDL equipment was purchased as part of an IVDL pilot grant. Common planning time between the two school districts (Ottoville Local School and Miller City School) was necessary so that the class instruction via distance learning could take place.
- It was necessary to have board approval to offer the class via distance learning. In addition, parental approval has to be given for the students to be involved in the class. See Appendix B, which is attached for the Student Agreement Form.
- Principals at each district recognized the importance to provide support for the technology program. Thus, The Director of Technology was given permission to allocate time to develop this program and provide instruction to the students. The computer Technology Class Syllabus was developed collaboratively to meet both districts needs. (Appendix C)
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What are the goals of the program?
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The six primary goals for the program are:
- Provide learning experiences where students troubleshoot and problem-solve by making it hands-on with technology equipment.
- Instruct student learning on the Vtel Distance Learning Equipment so that students understand how to operate the equipment and can assist teachers with distance learning opportunities.
- Provide assistance to the Director of Technology and district teachers by having the students work through real-life problems with technology.
- Encourage and demonstrate cooperative learning by having the students wortogether in class at Ottoville, with students from other districts (Miller City), as well as, work with teachers in their classrooms.
- Provide a network of resources for technology assistance (people network) by working with neighboring districts.
- To encourage and support the ability for students to fix their own computer problems outside of school and to provide support to fellow students with hardware and software issues. (Please see Appendix D) This Learner Technology Profile Checklist document is used as a guideline for student technology skills for the TEAM assistance.
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How much did it cost to create the program? Please itemize costs and expenditures in an Appendix.
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This field appears as an appendix in the PDF
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How much does it cost annually to maintain the program? Please itemize costs and expenditures in an Appendix.
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This field appears as an appendix in the PDF
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How many students have participated in the program to date?
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To date approximately 80 students have participated in the Technology Assistance TEAM program. The average class size for Ottoville Local school district is 40 students, therefore we typically have about 10% of the student body who are trained in assisting with computer related issues. The benefits of the TEAM program have become very evident in our community. Currently, we have approximately 10% of our seniors going to college for Computer Science and 40% who are attending college for a computer related field. Several of our students who attend college have received jobs as freshman working in the university labs. In addition, several of our students are now operating the Internet Service providers businesses within the area. (Q1 and bright.net)
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How many students are participating in the program this school year?
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This year the number of students participating in the program has greatly increased because of the Technology TEAM Assistance class being offered for one semester of credit. Currently there are 30 students involved with the Technology TEAM Assistance program; this compares to approximately 20 students per year in the past. So that the district can filter the learning to lower grade level, this summer a TEAM training camp will be offered in August as part of the summer school program and will provide courses to Junior High students. (See Appendix G)
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Do students work during or outside school hours? Please detail.
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Students are available during school hours from 7:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. TEAM members create business cards the first day of class to give to their assigned teachers. The information on the card states the class periods that the students are available (study halls) and their email address. (See Appendix H) Teachers use this service to contact TEAM members for needed assistance. During the semester, students are in class Monday through Thursday and then check-in with their assigned classrooms every Friday. Throughout the week teachers ask for assistance from the students by sending them email or contacting the TEAM Helpline which is located on the school's webpage. (www.noacsc.org/putnam/ov) (See Appendix I)
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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?
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Students are not paid for their work in the classrooms. Instead, they receive credit on their high school transcript for the course. Each student receives one semester hour of credit for the Networking and Technology Integration Class via Distance Learning. In addition, these students are enrolled in the Web Design Class during the opposite semester where they receive one semester hour of credit. Many of these students will volunteer time in the summer to assist with computer repairs. Also, several of these students are enrolled in a Post-Secondary Enrollment Options Class on Saturday mornings, through the University of Findlay. With this class they receive college credit while they design web-pages for businesses throughout the county.
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What grade level(s) are students who participate in the program?
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Currently, students in grades 9th through 12th are enrolled in the Assistance TEAM program. Due to the large amount of interest generated by Virtual Middle school, which was offered during the summer of 2000, the school district plans to offer a TEAM training class for seventh and eighth grade students this summer. This TEAM training class will be implemented in conjunction with summer school in August of 2001.
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Is your student technical program integrated with your district curriculum? How?
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Through the TEAM class, students are developing the tools to work on project based learning activities in various areas of the curriculum. For example: PhotoShop and PageMaker are utilized in Art class, word processing and presentation software are integrated into Language Arts, History, English and foreign language and spreadsheet and databases are useful for Math and Science. Students who are part of the TEAM assistance program are able to offer class technical support within the classes they are currently enrolled. These skills are taught and developed throughout the technology portion of the district's curriculum. (See Appendix J) In addition, this class satisfies many outcomes in the Learner Technology profiles published by Ohio SchoolNet. (See Appendix D) Class activities are matched with specific outcomes in the high school portion of these technology standards.
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How have you solved logistical problems (matching student/teacher schedules, transportation between buildings, etc) so that students can do work where it is needed?
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Ottoville Local School district is located in one building so transportation between buildings has not been an issue. Students and teachers are matched with their schedules by pairing teachers and students with schedules that are as a like as possible. The first week of class students complete business cards which are then given to the teachers so that they have the students e-mail account and listing of available times. In addition, this information is available on the schools web-site. Also, on the TEAM web-site, a link is provided for the TEAM Assistance Helpline where teachers can e-mail questions. Located in digitalbackpack, which is an e-learning tool that the students use, is a bulletin board feature that members of the TEAM use for help. Students can post a question at this location and get assistance from the Director of Technology at either school district, as well as, from fellow classmates. (Appendix K)
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How and by whom are students trained to be able to support district technology?
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Students who work as TEAM assistance have been enrolled in the majority of the districts technology classes. This program draws upon the resources of two districts Director's of Technology because it is being taught through teleconferencing equipment. Four days are in-class instruction and one day is hands-on in the classroom.
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What training and reference materials are provided to the student participants?
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A syllabus was written for this course outlining basic skills needed such as set-up and operation of V-Tel equipment, Macintosh/PC operating systems and troubleshooting of equipment. Troubleshooting Resources Appendix L shows the website which students use to troubleshoot, Appendix M is an example of the Troubleshooting Macintosh and Troubleshooting PC's worksheet and Appendix N is an example of the unit offered to students concerning the V-tel equipment.
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How many technical support staff (non-student) are employed by the district? Describe the role of each.
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Ottoville Local School District employs one full-time Director of Technology. The Director of Technology is responsible for maintaining the schools two-hundred fifty plus computers that are on the Novell Network. Currently the district has three computer labs, two automated libraries and approximately four machines in every classroom. Fifty of the machines in the district are wireless and this allows for two mobile labs. The Director of Technology is also responsible for grant writing, e-rate and OneNet. There are two teachers at the high school level who instruct computer classes for the district. A computer repair person who is Apple certified is employed through the county office and is funded by Ottoville Local School District to come to the district ten days a year to assist with repairs.
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What lessons has the district learned during the program? Include strengths, weaknesses and obstacles encountered.
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Since implementing TEAM Assistance the district has discovered the importance of being selective about which students are taking part in the program. It has been beneficial to the students and the district to have individuals who are younger in age. These students typically have schedules that are less busy and they are not receiving training and then leaving the district to attend college. One weakness has been the schedule conflict because of working with another district. In some situations the schedule has kept some promising candidates from the program, therefore independent study has become an option for individuals. In addition, students who have completed the TEAM Assistance class have become anxious to continue learning more thus, Element K accounts are being implemented next year for independent study classes for these students. One obstacle that has been encountered with the program has been the fact that we have a county technology meeting every month which involves both district's Technology Director's. Thus, class time is lost once a month for this activity. To offset this situation plans have been made to incorporate Element K into the curriculum to provide activities when the instructors are not available for instruction.
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What process and instruments are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program?
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To evaluate the students progress and classroom work the class students complete a self-evaluation every week. The teacher's also evaluate the students at the end of each nine-weeks with the Teacher Evaluation. (Appendix O) Assessment Checklists and rubrics for each assignment given in class are also completed. (Appendix P)
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How is cost-effectiveness of the program determined? What information has been gathered to date showing the cost-effectiveness of the program? Include samples.
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This field appears as an appendix in the PDF
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Why does your district believe that it is has a model for other districts to implement?
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Our district feels it has a model that would be easy to replicate in other district because it is a program that is already in practice at two school districts. The facts and figures which were obtained from Larry Kaslop, with Ohio SchoolNet IVDL show that there are over 350 IVDL High Schools and 400 or more Telecommunity Schools with IVDL equipment. Using this method of instruction has been very beneficial to both districts and is a worthwhile use of the equipment. Also, this program was presented at the Ohio SchoolNet State Conference (2001), it was titled Trekking the Net (Appendix R)
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Describe the type of product(s) you anticipate creating to communicate to all districts your program? (e.g. website, CD Rom, video, etc.)
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The TEAM project can be explained best by sharing the class with other schools. This can be accomplished best by using the VTEL equipment and allow other schools to join the connection for observation and participation. In addition, the TEAM class at Ottoville will use iMovie2 to produce video documentaries and provide assistance with files and evaluation techniques distributed on CD ROM.
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