OHS

OHS's goal focused on efficiently using technology. All staff completed a survey outlining where they felt they could improve their technological literacy. Common items that arose after the survey included were using Smartboards and Collaborative tools in the classroom (Google Docs/Drive, Cloud accounts, etc)

The first focus was improving Smartboard use in the classroom: We hosted a live face to face session with our staff and soon realized that picking a date and a time would not be able to address all staff that had concerns. We then started uploading screencasts to of how to use some Smart tools for teachers to view and go through at their own pace. This was great because staff would then experiment and bring more detailed questions to the LEAD teacher. It was also useful because staff would then start experimenting, and trying things on their own. Once they learned something new, they would show someone else!

With the use of some strong "tech" people in our school, many surveys and assessments were created using Google drive. This was a great collaborative tool that our school embraced for academic and non-academic purposes. For instance, we have a Homework Support Center that teachers can log into 24 hours a day from any internet device. This allows admin and supervisors to help students complete their outstanding work during lunch hour, and to see if a particular student was falling behind in all class or just certain subjects. It also worked at a quantitative data collection for tracking student progress from semester to semester. On the non-academic side, it worked for PLT’s. and LEAD teachers to complete survey’s and analyze the results.

At the start of the year, we noticed we had information scattered everywhere when it came to bookings and upcoming events. As in there were three different calendars people would have to fill out in order for all staff to know of upcoming dates and computer lab bookings was often misplaced. With the use of Wikispaces, our staff improved their technological literacy and started using this site and the main hub of OHS information. Everything from policy discussions to videos of how to use your Smartboard were posted here. It was fantastic tool that made our school run much more efficiently.

The staff of OHS have one last survey to fill out to complete our plan. We hope to see an improvement in the area's of Smartboard use and online collaboration. We would also love to see a rise in comfort level when it comes to using new technology (fingers crossed).