The Diocese of Orange schools have five Technology Coodinator (TC) meetings a year. There is one more meeting on the calendar for April 25, 2009. This meeting will be held at Mission School at 8:45AM-12:00PM.  At this meeting the TC's will be participating in the National Virtual Conference hosted by Discovery Education.  Discovery will host the brunch for the event. The TC's will be collaborating with other educators from around the Nation through the conference.

The TC's have created a PBWiki for collaboration and for posting  resources for teachers in the diocese. This was started last year and has continued to grow in the 08-09 school year.  This wiki is still a work in progress but it is a start to using Web 2.0 tools for communications. Educators receive these Wikis FREE of charge. The link to the Wiki is: http://octechteachers.pbwiki.com  

NCEA Attendees Here is the Wikispace we wanted to share with you from the technology strand speakers.  Please share these resources with all your teachers to build a network community among Catholic School Teachers in the Nation.  This wikispace will keep all the information in one place and help with future implementation of new concepts. Here is the URL to the Wikispace: http://rcbotech.wikispaces.com

Technology Plans: The Diocese of Orange Schools are working on writing school site technology plans and the template below is to be used as a guide for the process. The plans are due into the Office of Faith Formation on June 1, 2009.  There is a check list below that will help to make sure all required sections are included in the plans.

 Technology Plan and School Site Template 2007 12/09/2008,10:14

TECHNOLOGY PLANS CHECK OFF LIST:
This is a general list of items that might help you check for information at your school.  All the BOLD AND UNDERLINED items are required sections for the technology plans.  The bulleted items are suggested resources to include.
• TITLE PAGE
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• SCHOOL SITE INFORMATION
• TECH COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
• MISSION STATEMENT
• VISION STATEMENT
• TECHNOLOGY CURRICULUM TAUGHT AT EACH GRADE LEVEL
• Aligned with Information Literacy from California State Standards
• Along with NETS for Students 2007
• Students benchmarks
• PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
• Annual Teacher evaluations use Ed Tech Profile site
• Budget for Technology training?
• Discovery Education Network – Star Teacher Program
• Title II-Part A and Title II--Part D Funds
• OCCUE, CUE, KOCE, OCDE, ISTE
• Atomic Learning Subscription?
• Accountability of teachers meeting NETS_for Teachers 2008
• Accountability of Administrators meeting NETS_for Administrators
• INFRASTRUCTURE
• Topology map of network
• Number of Servers and Server Operating systems/Platform PC or Apple
• Inventory of all technology items in the school (Computers, printers, scanners, digital cameras, iPods, Alpha Smarts, SMART Boards, projectors, etc.) Hardware
• Software inventory, number of licenses and used at which grade levels
• Backup system
• Security (Anti-virus) (cable lock downs, earthquake proofing)
• Number of licenses for server and client workstations in the school
 
• TECHNICAL SUPPORT
• Who is responsible for the purchasing of equipment?
• Who is responsible for maintaining all the equipment?
• What plan or procedure does the school follow when something breaks?
• How long does it take to get it fixed or repaired to correct functional use?
• Do the teachers have a process for reporting technical problems?
• Does an outside company support your network?  How much does it cost the school every year?
• FUNDING AND BUDGET
• Current budget to support technology
• Does the current budget sustain the technology use in the school?
• How much money is spent on toner and ink every year?
• How much do the copy machines cost the school every year?  Cost per copy, how many copies per year?  Leased or owned machines?  How much copy overages is there a year?
• Identify established and potential funding sources for the present and in the future.
 Is the school recycling tech items for fundraising “Cartridges for Kids” or other
 Is the school using the Scholastic “Click software club” orders to earn free software for the school?
 Applying for grants
 Fundraising
 Donors
• MONITORING AND EVALUATION
• Conduct an annual evaluation of the technology in the school.
 Are updates needed on hardware and software?
 When are warranties going to end on tech items?
 Renewals and subscriptions
 Who is responsible for monitoring all hardware and software needs in the school?
 Cost analysis on current operations with technology in classrooms as well as other areas of the school.
 Who evaluates new software for school office functions?
 Who evaluates new educational software?
 Who is the Webmaster of the school Website?  Employee or parent?
 What type of Website is the school using?  Free or subscription site?

 Last posted by Genny Kahlweiss 4/12/2009