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Directing Technology/Plan

Introduction
It is hard to start working as a Technology Director without a clear view of what is intended to be achieved by the organization. For this reason, planning is a critical phase in the adoption of technology initiatives that affect not just the students and the teachers but also an entire community (wikibook Technology Planning: the educator's guide - Implementation plan and timeline, 2008). November, Staudt, Costello, and Lynne (1996) contended that an effective technology plan is based on the shared vision of educators, parents, community members, and business leaders who have technological expertise. They also suggested that in order for a technology plan to be successful, it must promote meaningful learning and collaboration, provide for the needed professional development and support, and respond flexibly to change. According to Whitehead, Jensen, and Boschee (2003), most school administrators know that computers and advanced-information technologies are touching the lives of students at school and at home. They suggested the following important factors that must be addressed in a technology plan.

Leadership and Planning
According to the OECD (2000) it is necessary to have coherent and comprehensive policies for planning and evaluation. They suggested to include the definition of clear objectives, the identification of priorities and strategies, the ability to envisage future scenarios, the design, implementation and evaluation of pilot projects. In addition, they recommended that planning must be rigorous but not inflexible, allowing refinement in the light of experience.

According to November, Staudt, Costello, and Lynne (1996), the first step in developing a technology plan is convening a 'planning committee' or team to review the school improvement plan already in place and research the district needs. They also suggested that an effective team enlists educators but also takes advantage of the expertise of community members and the input of parents and students. They proposed that the planning team becomes responsible for the development of an overall technology plan. Further, they concluded that the team members are responsible for developing a vision for the plan, determine the goals that must be met to reach it, and create steps to implement those goals.

Whitehead, Jensen, and Boschee (2003) stated that planning addresses the who, what, when, where, why, and how aspects of the project. In addition, they assured that quality leadership must prevail at all times. Furthermore, they recommended technology coordinators to envision what the completed project will look like and what it will do for teaching and learning. This underlying mental picture is necessary to provide focus for the entire enterprise. Furthermore, they also advise administrators to consider the possibility of having to modify school practices or even upgrade regulations. This may even result in an adjustment of the school's philosophy and mission statements (wikibook Technology Planning: the educator's guide - Vision, 2008) to align with the technology initiative being proposed. If necessary, the use of surveys allows administrators to probe stakeholder viewpoints. In addition, they emphasized that every person involved must know both sides of the issue. They suggested the use of research that both supports and counters the major assumptions on which the technology project is based. Furthermore, they advised administrators to consider how students and staff members would be affected by the technology changes and develop appropriate support structures like training, changes in classroom layout, inclusion into curricula, and revision of school programs.

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2004), for public education to benefit from the rapidly evolving development of information and communication technology, leaders at every level - school, district and state - must not only supervise, but provide informed, creative and ultimately transformative leadership for systemic change. They recommend districts to invest in leadership development programs to develop a new generation of tech-savvy leaders at every level. Further, they suggested to retool administrator education programs to provide training in technology decision making and organizational change. They also recommended districts to develop partnerships between schools and higher education institutions, in addition to encouraging creative technology partnerships with the business community.

Community Awareness and Support
According to Whitehead, Jensen, & Boschee (2003), community support is necessary during the planning stages of a technology initiative. They contended that neither parents nor community members are likely to be idle bystanders when costly reforms are about to change the way significant portions of children's education are delivered. For this reason, they suggested the schools and districts to evaluate community willingness to fund such initiatives in schools. Further, they proposed to show community members how teachers will adopt technology in the classroom and how it would enhance student learning and achievement. They also advised the institutions to develop guidelines for presenting information to the public under the supervision of a public relations director.

According to the OECD (2000), social participation is essential for the successful development of ICT initiatives in education, the active involvement of the private sector and the local communities being critical. They also stated that much effort has to be expended in strategies that enable communities to take advantage of the new technologies, so that local populations become fully acquainted with their potential.

Student Needs
November, Staudt, Costello, and Lynne (1996) suggested team members to generate a collective vision which supports meaningful engaged learning for all students.

Whitehead, Jensen, and Boschee (2003) suggested that in any technology initiative, the needs of the students must be placed above any other factor being considered. It is very common to see cases in which administrators and committee members make decisions about technology that really don't acknowledge the needs of the people who will use it.

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2004), there has been significant growth in organized online instruction (e-learning) and "virtual" schools, making it possible for students at all levels to receive high quality supplemental or full courses of instruction personalized to their needs. They also stated that traditional schools are turning to these services to expand opportunities and choices for students and professional development for teachers.

Teaching and Learning
According to Whitehead, Jensen, and Boschee (2003), teaching and learning must be considered simultaneously when deciding how technology will be brought into the classroom. They suggested to have a 'purpose' that reflects teaching and learning when bringing technologies into the school. In addition, they recommended to evaluate hardware purchases and coordinate them to student needs. Hence, features like user-friendliness, dependability and speed need to be taken into account. With respect to software, they advise technology coordinators to carefully determine which programs will best complement, support, and expand classroom teaching and learning. It is important to flatten the learning curve by using user-friendly applications to help ensure that programs will be used by teachers and students. With respect to the teachers, they recommended that dialogues need to be established to evaluate classroom space and decide on computer locations. In addition, they requested technology coordinators to determine the amount of use teachers make of the new technology.

November, Staudt, Costello, and Lynne (1996) recommended the technology planning team to encourage teachers to seek opportunities to work in teams in order to design technology-supported projects. They also suggested the team to develop objectives that describe appropriate technology goals for students at each grade level. They contended that instead of emphasizing higher order thinking skills, complex problem solving, and cognitive research, sometimes the technology may be used to teach merely the same old curriculum. They believe that using technology effectively in education requires shifting the focus from teaching to active learning. Further, they suggested teachers to develop proficiency in technology through not only in-service professional development activities but also through collegial support.

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2004), a perennial problem for schools, teachers and students is that textbooks are increasingly expensive, quickly outdated and physically cumbersome. They suggested that a move from reliance on textbooks to the use of multimedia or online information (digital content) offers many advantages, including cost savings, increased efficiency, improved accessibility, and enhancing learning opportunities in a format that engages today's web-savvy students. For this reason, they encouraged ubiquitous access to computers and connectivity for school children. They also requested to consider the cost and benefits of online content, aligned with rigorous state academic standards, as part of a systemic approach to creating resources for students to customize learning to their individual needs.

Staff Development
Whitehead, Jensen, & Boschee (2003) considered staff development to be one of the most important aspects of the initiative. In order to succeed in staff development efforts, they also suggested administrators to formulate detailed plans for staff development and implementation which should be developed well in advance of the actual implementation of technology in the classrooms. They recommended the appointment of the person in charge of leading staff development programs as well as evaluating each stage of the implementation based on a detailed working schedule. They emphasized the importance of pertinent staff development activities as well as in-house technical consultants who would help teachers promptly.

November, Staudt, Costello, and Lynne (1996) suggested that staff development activities should help teachers become comfortable and proficient with the technology and give them the opportunity to devise ways to use it in their classrooms. They also contended that the uniqueness of each teacher and class must be acknowledged and used to build specific teaching strategies to meet the goals outlined in the technology plan.

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2004), every teacher should have the opportunity to take online learning courses. In addition, they suggested that institutions ought to ensure that every teacher knows how to use data to personalize instruction. This is marked by the ability to interpret data to understand student progress and challenges, drive daily decisions and design instructional interventions to customize instruction for every student's unique needs.

Financial Management
It is important to understand that most determinations about finance are generally dealt by the people in top management positions. Nonetheless, the impact of these decisions are critical to the success of the project. Whitehead, Jensen, & Boschee (2003) contended that it was important to determine the financial resources for in-house projects and equipment. They also suggested to itemize equipment resources owned by the school or district with the idea of reducing unnecessary duplication in new purchases. Further, they recommended the institution to appoint someone who will be responsible for handling the recommended purchases locally or from a national distribution company. They suggested that a thorough review of all costs needs to be made to ensure the technology project is affordable in all of its phases. Finally, they suggested the canvassing of civic organizations for financial or equipment support.

According to November, Staudt, Costello, and Lynne (1996), technology is changing so quickly that it is impossible to know what advances will be available in five years. They proposed that plans ought to be reviewed each year during the budget process to make sure the district is purchasing the most current equipment or to take advantage of new and lower cost technology. They also proposed the development of strategies to meet the funding challenge which also included the investigation of federal, state, and other grant opportunities and funding sources for educational technology.

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2004), educational institutions ought to consider a systemic restructuring of budgets to realize efficiencies, cost savings and reallocation. This can include reallocations in expenditures on textbooks, instructional supplies, space and computer labs. In addition, they recommended to consider leasing with 3-5 year refresh cycles. Finally, they proposed the creation of a technology innovation fund to carry funds over yearly budget cycles.

Infrastructure
Whitehead, Jensen, & Boschee (2003) related infrastructure to the basic facilities and the mechanical and electrical installations found in a school. They contended that it is important to decide how existing equipment and infrastructure can be integrated into the project. They suggested that network wiring needs to accommodate the instructional configuration required by teachers. Further, they recommend getting assistance from professionals to handle remodeling or other infrastructure necessities. People with greater experience can provide a better insight on the space and remodeling required to ready the infrastructure for implementation. Finally, they suggested technology coordinators to visit other schools to evaluate successful programs for structural adaptations that could be taken into account using unique ideas to solve local problems.

According to OECD (2000), it is essential to have a sound and adequate telecommunication and computer network infrastructure that can support and deliver diverse educational models.

Evaluation and Assessment
Whitehead, Jensen, & Boschee (2003) concluded that the work of leaders is not done when computers or other learning technologies are networked in schools and classrooms. Contrary to what is a common belief, they contended that a very important part of the work remains in the form of program evaluation and assessment. For this reason, they recommended the appointment of someone who would evaluate the overall project following a plan with dates. In addition, they suggested that an outline be presented of how changes or revisions will be handled. In order to succeed, they advised reviewers to use the most appropriate evaluation and assessment methods available for sharing information with the community. According to November, Staudt, Costello, and Lynne (1996), educators, parents, and community members are more likely to support technology if they are able to see proof of its value in helping students learn. They also contended that it is important to review and update the technology plan at least once a year to provide evaluation of its usefulness.

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2004), integrated, interoperable data systems are the key to better allocation of resources, greater management efficiency, and online and technology-based assessments of student performance that empower educators to transform teaching and personalize instruction. They also recommended the use of data from both administrative and instructional systems to understand relationships between decisions, allocation of resources and student achievement. Finally, they suggested to use assessment results to inform and differentiate instruction for every child.

title: Directing Technology/Plan


text:
Directing Technology/Fund

Funding
Funding allows schools to meet the challenges of providing up to date equipments and technological training by looking for available financing resources. It is very important for school districts to have a funding plan as the part of technology plan. There are numerical outside sources of funding which support technology education with the help of cash, hardware, software, and staff professional training, as well as funding of E-rate. A technology director should know about grant and E-rate application process to find and get additional funding for technology projects.

Grants
Even though it is not a routine part of the regular technology budget, grant has become a useful additional funding resource for educational technology. Grants can support school district with new technologies, innovative curriculum projects and professional development opportunities. A successful grant application often requires a technology director to plan in advance and involve a variety of people in the planning process. The technology director should help locate needed funds and construct an effective grant application for schools’ innovative projects.

Basically, there are two types of grant for schools: entitlement grants and competitive grants.

1. Entitlement Grants

Entitlement grants provide funds to school districts on the basis of a formula, given in legislation or regulation, rather than on the basis of an innovative project evaluation. The formula is usually based on student population, per capita income, or other financial needs. Title I |6402|&k12Nav=|1141|3137|, Title VI and Eisenhower funds  are all entitlement grants. To get entitlement funding, school districts should report a variety of data such as student enrollment and participation in the free and reduced-fee lunch program, and so forth.

2. Competitive Grants

Competitive grants are given by means of a review of the applicant’s project proposals. The grant agency selects proposals and decides grant amounts. The grant proposals designing projects with greater impact and more certain outcomes are given priority over proposals where projects will have less impact and less certain outcomes. Typically, most competitive grant applications will be evaluated based on the applicant’s educational goals such as potential benefit to the students and how well the project deals with an educational need. In general, the source of competitive grant funds fall into four main categories: federal, state, corporate, and foundation. For details on the requirements of these types of grants, the applicant should check out the specific grant program’s website or contact the grant agency.

 * Grants opportunities:

http://www.grants.gov  This website lists all U.S. Government grant opportunities and provides electronic grant submission. Grants are usually posted about two months before the applications are due. It is very important to learn when grants are likely to be posted so that you are prepared to successfully compete with other applicants. Many of grants listed here are highly competitive.

http://www.edutopia.org/grantinfo This website lists all kinds of educational grants including government grants, corporate and foundation grants.

http://lnp.fdncenter.org/finder.html This is a free grants finding service run by the Foundation Center. You can search for foundations that may be interested in supporting your projects.

Grants Proposal
Most successful grant applicants give the same advice: have a project in mind and make sure you have the commitment from administration to carry out the project. Generally, developing successful grant application is a time-consuming process. It is important to develop a project plan that meets the criteria of the grant and is based on a need of the organization. Once a project plan has been selected and support for the project assured, the actual writing of the proposal can begin.

While each grant has different requirement, most grants tend to include the same basic narrative sections: a project overview, a statement of needs, the project’s goals and objectives, a project narrative, a budget for the project, your organization information and a conclusion.

Project overview
The project overview provides a clear summary of the project in a concise format. Be sure to include a brief statement of the problem, a short description of the project and an explanation of the amount of grant money required for the project. In order to demonstrate your capability to carry out this proposal, it is helpful to provide a brief statement of the history, purpose and activities of your school district.

A statement of needs
The statement of need provides the facts and evidence that support the need for the project and it helps the reader understand the problems you address. While the statement of need must provide background and tie the project to the solution, it does not have to be long. The writing should be concise and persuasive.

The project’s goals and objectives
A goal is the concrete results you want to achieve in the long run. Objectives are the measurable outcomes of the project. Your objectives should be specific, realistic and measurable in a specified time period.

Project narrative
The project narrative should include an explanation of how the project’s goals and objectives will be met and what activities will be involved. In addition, you will need to talk about this project’s personnel issues: the number of staff, their qualifications, and which stuff will work full time and which will work part time etc. Finally, an assessment plan would indicate that you have a well-prepared project in mind and seriously want to know how well your project will meet the initiative objectives.

helpful hint To prepare project narrative, ask yourself the following questions: • What do you want? • What problem will be addressed and why it is important? • Who will benefit and how? • What objectives can be accomplished and how? • How will achievements be measured? • Who are you and how do you qualify to meet this need?

Budget for the project
The budget can help the funders to understand how the money will be spent. Sometimes, funders provide mandatory budget forms that must be submitted with the proposal. You should be flexible about your budget in case the funder negotiates costs.

For most projects, costs should be divided into subcategories. You might group the expense into two sections: personnel and non-personnel costs. Also, in the following sample table, costs are divided into two columns: "requested" and "match." The "requested" column is for items we are asking the funding source to pay for. The "match" column represents those items that are to be paid from some other source of funds.

helpful hint Be sure to check your budget with the following questions: • Can the job be accomplished with this budget? • Are costs reasonable for the market? • Is the budget consistent with proposed activities? • Is there sufficient budget detail and explanation? • Are there any other available revenue sources?

Organization information
You need give a brief introduction of the project’s management plan. Tell the funding reviewer your school district‘s structure, programs and leadership. It is wise to state your school district’s mission to demonstrate how the subject of the proposal matches within or extends that mission. Probably, the funding source will want evidence that key personnel have the qualifications for their roles in the project. You'd better to provide summaries of their backgrounds or resume included in an appendix.

Conclusion
Every proposal should have a concluding statement. This section allows you to provide information for demonstrating why the project is important to your school district and that you’re excited about the funding possibilities.

 * Sample Grant Proposals

It is always a helpful way to learn proposal writing by looking at other people’s successful proposals.

http://www.k12grants.org/samples/samples_index.htm This site lists various successful proposals. These samples can help you to know what a good needs statement contains, how the activities relate to their goals objectives, and how an evaluation plan is used.

http://www.ed.gov/about/inits/list/fbci/grants2.html Here are a few sample proposals from the U.S. Department of Education.

Tips for grantwriting
Here are 10 tips for prospective grant writers:

1. Follow guidelines. Read the funder’s guideline carefully. You should remember that the basic requirements, application forms, information, deadlines and procedures will vary for each grant maker. 2. Shorter is better. There’s no perfect length for a proposal, but you just need to explain your idea clear and your plan reasonable. Keep the proposal short.

3. State needs not problem. Focus on opportunities that result from the challenges your school district faces.

4. Well structured. Think of the basic proposal components and write it accordingly. A proposal should have summary, detailed statement, and conclusion.

5. Avoid spelling and grammatical problems. A proposal with spelling errors is unacceptable. Have someone else read it.

6. Do not make your grant tech heavy. Everyone wants equipment, but it should not be the main emphasis of your proposal. Student achievement should be the focus of your proposal.

7. Don't work alone. Ask your supervisor and colleagues to help with the application process.

8. Start the application early. If you need the funding now, you have started too late. It may take months or one year to receive your funds.

9. Write a thank you notes. Thank the grant funder for giving you a grant opportunity.

10. Don't give up because you’re rejected. It takes time to get proposals funded. If you are rejected, submit the same project to different funding sources. Remember to make change to meet the new criteria.

The Grant Application Process
A grant application usually consists of three parts: filling out the application form, submitting the grant proposal, and following up to track your application status.

1. Application form: Read the questions carefully, write down your answers completely, and then proofread your answers.

2. Proposal: Before submitting your proposal, make sure your narrative clear, concise, and interesting to read. If the funding sources require a variety of supporting documents as part of the application, you’d better to provide related information including endorsements, resumes, additional project information and so on.

3. Follow up: Contact the grant funder about the status, evaluation, and outcome of your proposal.

 * Additional Grant Resources

http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/grantapps/index.html The U.S. Government offers this list of application packages for currently open Department of Education grant competitions.

http://www.neafoundation.org/grants.htm The National Education Association Foundation offers information, guidelines, and other resources related to educational grants.

http://www.acape.org/garrigans/wkshp/grantwriting/links.html The CAPE (Center for Advancing Partnerships in Education) offers some excellent grant writing tutorials and resources.

E-rate
Locating adequate funding to support technology programs is always a challenge for schools and school districts. Technology coordinators can help bridge funding gaps by participating in the Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund, more commonly known as the E-rate program. As a result of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted an order creating the E-rate program. The goal of the program is to ensure schools and libraries have access to affordable advanced telecommunications services. Under the program, discounts ranging from 20% to 90% on Telecommunications Services, Internet Access, and Internal Connections are provided to eligible schools and libraries. The award amount granted each year to schools and libraries is subject to a $2.25 billion annual cap.

EXAMPLES OF ELIGIBLE AND INELIGIBLE SERVICES UNDER E-RATE INCLUDE

All public schools, school districts, charter schools, private schools and libraries are eligible to apply for discounts each year of the E-rate program. In order to successfully apply for E-rate discounts, all schools and other eligible organizations must following the guidelines set forth by the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD)of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) SLD Website. All schools can participate in E-rate by developing a technology plan, determining the services they currently use or wish to acquire, soliciting any necessary bits for those services, and awarding contracts based on the bids. Bids must be solicited to determine the actual cost of the services and for any improvements. The amount of discount awarded is dependent on the economic need and location (urban or rural) of the school or school district. The level of economic need is determined by the percentage of students eligible for participation in the National School Lunch Program or by other federally approved alternative mechanisms. Districts serving students with the greatest level of need receive the highest discounts, as indicated by the discount matrix below.

E-RATE DISCOUNT MATRIX

E-rate Funding Process
In most cases the coordination of the E-rate funding process is the responsibility of the technology director. The technology director is responsible for overseeing the E-rate process step-by-step, including the filing of appropriate forms, adhering to due dates and time lines, as well as directing the bidding and overall planning process. The technology director begins the formal E-rate funding process by filing Form 470, which provides the SLD with a description of services and improvements requested. The discount matrix (provided above) determines the overall discount the school or district is eligible to receive. Bids must be submitted to determine the actual cost of these services and improvements. After bids have been solicited from approved E-rate service providers, final negotiations completed, and agreements made, the technology director takes the second formal step in the process. The technology coordinator will file Form 471, Services Ordered Confirmation Form. This form descries the actual costs of the services selected and determines the level of discount available to the district. Form 471 must be submitted before the deadline date, determined by the SLD.

Once the E-rate filing deadline has passed, the SLD processes all Form 471 applications to determines the amount of funds requested across the nation. The SLD then verifies applications, and decides the E-rate awards for each applicant. All schools that apply within the eligibility window qualify for discounts on eligible telecommunications services, such as basic telephone, long-distance, and internet access. Discounts for these services alone can save school districts thousands of dollars, providing for the reallocation of funds to other technology projects. Once all applicants have been provided with discounts on telecommunications services, any remaining E-rate funds will be distributed to schools for requested network infrastructure (internal connections), beginning with those in greatest need. Once the SLD makes the final decisions on the discounts available to the school district, an official Funding Commitment Decision letter will be issued. The letter identifies the level of discounts and the amount of funding available from each service provider identified on Form 471. Following the receipt of the funding letter, the district must file Form 486, acknowledging the receipt of services from vendors. Therefor allowing the district to officially begin receiving discounts or rebates on services. The technology director should work with the administration, business officials, and service providers to determine the most effective method of discount receipt.

Ten E-rate Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs
October 5, 2005—During an E-rate training session in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 30, Universal Service Administrative Service Company (USAC) Catriona Ayer listed the 10 primary reasons E-rate applications are :

1. Applications request ineligible products and services. If 30 percent or more of the services requested in an E-rate funding application are deemed ineligible, the application is automatically denied. This is known as the "30 Percent Rule," Ayer said; the best way to avoid an automatic denial because of this rule is to "break out," or separate, funding requests as much as possible. When in doubt, she said, do the math. If your calculations for ineligible services come in over 30 percent, revise your application before submitting it to USAC.

2. Contracts are not signed or aren't in the right place. When asked to supply contract information, make sure the documents are signed and are included in the right place throughout your funding application. If there is no signature, or if the reviewer cannot find the appropriate documentation within the application, Ayer said, USAC has no choice but to deny the request.

3. Applications include unauthorized consortium members. If you're applying with an education service agency or consortium, Ayer said, make sure you have the proper Letters of Agency—and that you meet the requirements posted on the SLD web site. If not, your application will be denied.

4. Insufficient documentation. USAC requires applicants to be prepared to respond to a Program Integrity Assurance Review with copies of their service contacts and other relevant document information. If the documentation is lost or cannot be located in time, Ayer cautioned, the application could be denied. Applicants must keep all documentation for five years after their initial application is submitted. Failure to do so could lead to penalties, including potential program disbarment and funding recovery.

5. Insufficient support resources. Program applicants also must prove that they have the appropriate support resources to complete their intended projects. While the E-rate pays for a portion of the technology necessary to make infrastructure upgrades, no amount of program money is intended to fully finance any one project, explained Ayer. To avoid having your application denied, you must secure access to the equipment and resources necessary to complete the upgrade. This includes sufficient funds to pay your share, minus the E-rate discount, as well as additional hardware, software, electrical capacity, and support.

6. A Form 470 is not filed. Applicants are not allowed to extend contracts to service providers until their Form 470 application is posted and approved by USAC.

7. Competitive-bidding violations. One of the most common—and certainly the most controversial—reasons for denial is a violation of the competitive-bidding process. Throughout the day, USAC officials stressed the need for applicants to engage in a "fair and open" competitive-bidding process, where eligible service providers are given ample opportunity to compete for technology contracts. During this phase, officials warned, no service provider should have contact with the applicant, except with regard to the bid itself. That means no helping with official E-rate forms—and absolutely no assistance with creating the technology plan. Remember, bidding is the applicant's responsibility, "not the service provider's," Ayer said.

8. Failing to wait the required 28 days before signing contracts. Once a Form 470 is posted to the SLD web site, applicants must wait 28 days before contracts are signed. Jumping the gun could result in a denial of funds.

9. Requesting services from an ineligible telecommunications provider. Under E-rate rules, telecommunications services must be provided by an eligible provider. These providers, which pay into the Universal Service Fund that supports the E-rate, can be found through a search on the SLD web site, officials said.

10. Failing to certify required forms on time. Submitting and certifying forms are two different things, USAC officials warn. To avoid having your request for funds denied, certify your forms online before the filing window closes.

Budgeting
In order to support a technology program, an adequate budget is necessary. State and Federal Laws clearly define some of the processes that must be followed for a school district budget. These processes are clearly defined by the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB). As the Technology Director, it is your responsibility to understand and conform to these regulations. The following section will help a new Technology Director understand some best practices when it comes to preparing and presenting the organization's technology budget.

GASB - 12 Principles
1.	Accounting and Reporting Capabilities
 * Governmental organizations must be able to disclose the financial status of the organization in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

2.	Fund Accounting System
 * Government accounting systems must be separated into various funds.

3.	Types of Funds
 * Explains the three categories of funds used in governmental accounting: Governmental Funds, Proprietary Funds and Fiduciary Funds.

4.	Number of Funds
 * Organizations should maintain all funds required by law.

5.	Accounting for Capital Assets and Long-Term Liabilities
 * Capital Assets must be accounted for and reported.

6.	Valuation of Capital Assets
 * Capital Assets must be accounted for at cost or a fair estimate if cost is not available.

7.	Depreciation of Capital Assets
 * Organizations should follow IRS guidelines for depreciation.

8.	Accrual Basis in Government Accounting
 * Accrual should be used in measuring financial position.

9.	Budgeting, Budgetary Control & Budgetary Reporting
 * Organizations must prepare an annual budget.

10.	Revenue, Expenditure, Transfer & Expense Account Classification
 * A Chart of Accounts should be used to classify all budgetary items.

11.	Common Terminology & Classification
 * Common terminology and classification should be used consistently throughout the budget.

12.	Interim and Annual Financial Reports
 * A comprehensive annual financial report should be prepared and published.

Additional Information on the GASB Principles can be found at: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/pubs/arm/arm2.htm#Principle1

Process of Budgeting
The Technology Director is responsible for budgeting for all technology needs for the District. Budgeting is a time-consuming process that takes months to complete properly. An experienced Technology Director will rely heavily on the previous year’s budget during planning for the new year. There are many items that will help the director during planning. Let’s look at some of these items in detail.

Long Range Planning
The budgeting process is made easier by how well the district long range technology plan was developed. The long range technology plan governs the overall direction of technology in the district. They often project years into the future so the director must always be aware of what is coming down the road. The plan must provide a clear vision of where the district wants to be all throughout the plan. A well developed plan will be as useful in its last year as it was in its first. The importance of a plan is clearly visible. The administration and the School Board rely on you to tell them where the district will need to be in future years. This will give the board an understanding of future budgetary needs long before they are needed.

EXAMPLE

Let’s look at adding wireless to your high school. First adopters started installing wireless into schools as early as 2002. You are writing a long range plan in 2002 that lasts until 2007. You know the technology is there but aren’t sure if you will need it. Costs in 2002 show it would take at least $500,000 to complete the project. You estimate that there is a better chance than not that you will need to address this down the road. You decide to include it in your long range plan for the last year, 2007. As a result, the school board is aware of the plan. They know there will be a substantial cost to complete the project and they can plan for it. The end result is that you install wireless around the time the state releases its one to one plan. Had you not planned for it, it would have been much harder to secure funding for such a large project.

The more time you spend on the long range plan, the easier you make your budget process each year.

Documentation
A technology department relies on proper documentation to run. It isn’t the most glorious job but it is essential to many different areas such as disaster recovery and of course, budgeting. A district will have countless systems that carry annual maintenance contracts, have fixed terms, or need frequent replacement. Knowing these items will help you to know what is needed each year. Unfortunatley, as a new director, you need to rely on the documentation the previous director left. Hopefully, it is complete and accurate. If not, begin creating a new document immediately.

EXAMPLE

This document helps you plan the costs year to year. By looking at this, you can tell that you don’t need to worry about Anti-virus this year.

Replacement Schedule
In addition to the long range plan, a district should have well documented replacement schedule. A director should be able to tell what equipment is scheduled to be replaced this year in a matter of moments. A replacement schedule documents how long equipment will last before it needs to be replaced. This schedule will serve as a guide since technology is not always replaced on a one to one basis. Some equipment may not get replaced or will be replaced with something new when the useful lifespan has retired. An added bonus of replacement schedules it that staff will also know when their equipment is due for replacement, thus eliminating the constant questions of “when will my computer will be replaced.” Many organizations have classically used three to five replacement schedules. With the addition of Act 1, many districts have opted to move toward plans that span five or more years. Here is an example of a fairly simple replacement schedule..

EXAMPLE

Take note that the 300 Desktops purchased in 2006 may be replace with laptops once 2011 arrives.

All of these items help the technology director prepare to draft a budget. They serve as a point to start. There is still much work to be done towards presenting a complete budget. Inevitably, items will appear that are not in use and were not planned on in the long range plan. The tech director needs to evaluate them and determine if they should be included.

Needs assessment
How, as the technology director, do you decide what the district needs? Hopefully, you do not need to do this alone. The direction of the technology in a school district should be governed by a committee with representatives from the various groups of stake holders. This group should perform a needs assessment to help aide this process.

Draft and revision
During the budgeting process, the technical director will find the budget going through numerous revisions. The budget starts as a draft and will certainly look much different once completed and approved.

First Draft
The first draft acts much like a wish list. It should include everything that you would like to fund for the upcoming school year. At this time, exact prices are not necessary. Instead, gross estimates should be made. When estimating, always be certain to estimate high. You certainly do not want to be in the position of underfunding a project as the budget gets revised. The document does not need to adhere to budgeting codes at this time, however, if the code is already defined, it should be included.

The draft should be separated into at least three sections. The first section should list your all recurring costs such as support contracts or licensing agreements. This is where your documentation becomes necessary. With proper documentation, you will ensure that all your recurring costs are covered and none are forgotten. If the district is experiencing growth in any of these contracted areas, be certain to account for this when estimating the new costs. Most, if not all of these items are required and therefore cannot be cut as the budget goes through revision.

The next section of the draft should list new projects or objectives the district may fund that are included in the long range technology plan. These items are not technically required, however, they have been taken from the long range plan. The technology director should strive to obtain funding for each item in this section, even if it means nothing from the last section makes the final budget. Once this section is complete,it is often helpful to compare the draft with the previous years final approved budget.

The last section should list the projects that the district would like to fund but have not been accounted for already. This section will usually see the most cutting. Rarely will you be able to fund all three sections completely. This is where the process of revising becomes critical.

Revisions
Once the "draft" budget has been completed,it should be reviewed and compared to the current year's budget. You should be able to speak with your Chief Financial Officer or your Superintendent to determine how much,if any, growth will be allowed in the technology budget. Once you have this information, you will be able to begin the revision process.

Once the initial comparison is complete, the technology director should begin the process of obtaining official quotations on each item. If using PEPPM pricing, there is no reason to shop around for better pricing, however if PEPPM is not used, it is a best practice to obtain multiple quotes. At this point, the lowest price should be inserted into the budget.

Once the technology director has real numbers, a more accurate picture of the budget begins to form. The director can compare his draft to the allowable budget. Now, items need to be prioritized to determine which projects or objectives will fit under the budget cap. From this point, the budget begins to get revised. The revisions mostly come by the way of cuts. Items that are low on the priority list are the first to be sacrificed. Eventually, a final proposed budget will be produced. This proposed budget needs to be aligned to the proper budget codes (reviewed later in this chapter) and then gets presented to the CFO and Superintendent.

The final revisions to the budget will be completed once the proposed budget has been reviewed by the district administration. The best possible outcome would be that the budget is approved with no cuts or modifications. Most likely, this will not happen. Instead, the technology director will be told either to cut projects or a certain dollar amount. Once the director makes the final revisions, the final budget is forwarded to the business office to be inserted into the district's operating budget to be approved by the school board.

Budget Coding Structure
A school district budget must adhere to a strict coding structure. This structure is comprised of the following dimensions.

Fund

The Fund section classifies where the money will come from to pay for the expense. The vast majority of Technology Budget items will come from fund 10, the General Fund.

Function

The Function section allows budgetary items to be separated into five broad areas. The areas include Instruction, Support Services, Operation of Non-Instructional Services, Facilities Acquisition, and Construction and Improvement Services.

Object

The Object section allows budgetary items to be separated into very specific types of expenses. This section is highly detailed and will be the most important section for segmenting technology expenses. Items such as salaries, Equipment repairs, hardware leasing, and technology infrastructure all have their own object codes.

Funding Source

The Funding Source section allows for the budget to be separated to meet State and Federal Reporting Requirements. The Technology Budget will mainly be concerned with code 000, Non-Categorical, and code 340, which includes grants such as Classrooms for the Future.

Instructional Organization

The Instructional Organization section allows budgetary items to be separated by the instructional level, such as elementary schools. It can also be used to break down to the level of a specific grade level such as 3rd grade.

Operational Unit

The Operational Unit section allows budgetary items to be separated by schools, such as Senior High School Buildings, or Middle High School Buildings.

Subject Matter

The Subject Matter section allows budgetary items to be separated by separate content areas, such as software for Social Studies.

Budget Account Samples
The following examples will show how a Budget Code is arranged.

There is both a long code, and a short code. Both are shown below.

The example below is for new math text books for the high school math department.

The following example shows how the code would be written in a proposed budget.

Technology Budget Examples

1. New computers for high school World Language lab

2. Replacement printers for elementary school classrooms

3. Internet Content Filter District wide

4. Technology Director Salary

For more information on Budget Codes, please reference the Public Schools Chart of Accounts.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Directing Technology/Fund


text:
Directing Technology/Staff

Introduction
A highly competitive and global workplace would require of students not only 21st century skills such as collaboration and problem solving, but also the ability to use technology imaginatively, practically, and efficiently. Technology Directors (TD) should be committed to creating an academic learning environment infused with technology that promotes learning and is able to change readily to meet and accept the students' need while preparing them for careers and college. In order for TD to create technologically sound academic learning spaces, the TD must have experienced and capable technology staff on board since one tree does not make a forest.

Skilled individuals are needed to design, oversee, set up, run and support technology. Advertisement for suitably qualified individuals with specialized skills is bound to attract several candidates that may meet or even surpass the criteria. However, not all applicants will be a good match for the position. It means that someone has to sort through several resume and quickly filter out non-matching applicants.It is no doubt an expensive process in terms of cost and time. A director of technology will have to plan carefully, allocate a budget, set a time frame, and liaise with administration. Creating job description, providing office space, determining salary and benefits are critical parts of the process that cannot be overlooked.

Whether you are starting out with a small staff that assists with prioritized technology problems or with a highly (trained) developed staff trained to tackle the most complex situations, the TD will eventually be required to hire technical people.

Overview
School districts, private schools, colleges and universities are using technology in promoting teaching and learning. Technology is the application of science, it deals with the tools and techniques for carrying out the plans, and is the application of knowledge to the practical aims of human life or to changing and manipulating the human environment. Technology includes the use of materials, tools, techniques, and sources of power to make life easier or more pleasant and work more productive (Britannica Concise Encyclopedia). A tool is a device used to perform a task. When used regularly, most tools may require repair, maintenance, or may need to be replaced. Technology Directors in school districts, private schools, colleges and universities are responsible for providing, adopting, maintaining, purchasing, and suggesting technology tools used for teaching and learning. These responsibilities are enormous and cannot be fully accomplished by one individual. The director of technology has to attract and retain qualified hands for some or all of the works. There are several factors to consider when determining the amount of capable hands required for day to day running and support of technology equipments in schools. For a small or mid-size school district with few amount of technology resources, technology director may need one or more capable hands to fully support technology needs in their school district, college or university. The support need usually span from desktop support, network operations, administrative computing, to teaching and learning. A careful analysis of each of these areas would help to establish the tech support needs of the school. Budgeting and planning is another critical aspect of the director of technology's job.

Desktop Computing
Selecting the most appropriate equipment for classroom, laboratory, faculty, administration, and students is part of using technology successfully. When the equipment does not meet needs of end user it is most likely to cause frustration and disuse. It becomes very important that technology director should have a very good understanding of how equipments will be used before making a purchase and when assigning equipments. Computer purchase and assignment does not conform to "one hat fits all" since a faculty's use and need may vastly vary from the needs of students, business office personnel, or that of an administrator. Therefore, technology directors should learn how to allocate the schools's technology resources most effectively and equitably. Working with the end users to develop equipment specifications before a purchase will be very helpful. Users, desktop computers and other peripherals usually requires support from technology personnel to function properly. Providing adequate and quality support requires a strong technology department.

Network Operations
A network is required for commecting classrooms, offices, buildings, printers, and other resources together. The size of a network can vary widely from school to school or from district to district. Designing and installing a reliable network is part of the many infrastructures that the director of technology should be attentive to. Network disruptions or failure can put a lot of wedges in the effective running of a school learning and teaching and may generate a lot of questions that the director of technology will have to provide answers for. Therefore, just as a good and reliable network can make the job easy for technology director, it may also bring amany sorrows and agony. The network has been used for creating a shared storage for faculty, staff, students and administrators while also providing a means for automatic backup of files and data thereby alleviating the fear of data loss. Networks also makes possible the accessing and managing information from different locations. It has also been used to provide the Internet, an almost indispensable resource in schools. Depending on the size of a network and the services provided, there may be a need for a dedicated network and systems administrator who will report to the director of technology.

Administrative Computing
This the use of technology to manage and streamline business operation of a school district, an organization primarily concerned with teaching and learning. Administrative computing includes those systems and software programs that provide information-management and data-processing capabilities (Frazier, M., Bailey, G. 2004). Schools and districts have been using administrative computing in a number of ways: creating and managing student records, developing course schedules and managing students enrolment in the courses, personnel and business records management. There are other varieties of information processing, management, and purchasing that the district may require such as: food services, students textbooks, and employee benefits. The director of technology should understand and assist with the administrative computing needs. Working with administrators, curriculum designers, office staff, and business office to develop a solution for their technology needs and consulting with vendors about their products are some of many responsibilities that the director of technology's job. Putting in place a well planned information system in schools will significantly improve stakeholders access to information they need for making decisions. Administrative computing need may be wholly supported by the technology director or he may assign the needs to one of technology staff.

Teaching and Learning
In an educational organization, director of technology plays a very important role especially in the areas of teaching and learning. Inspiring teachers to use technology effectively in classroom will ensure that director of technology are having the greatest impact on student education and motivation. Teaching and learning calls for useful and quality educational software, curriculum integration, instructional technology research, staff development, and creating web-based resources and instruction. The selection and purchase of educational software is very important and demands for a careful selection. Scheduling and providing regular technology sessions to help update and improve teachers technology skills that can be adopted in classrooms is a must. Considerable time is required for training and working with teachers to help them integrate technology into new and existing curriculum. Director of technology will be expected to frequently conduct research and collect data relating to the effective use of technology in school districts. Successful staff development program allows a school district to prepare teachers and students in turn to use technology naturally as part of the school's curriculum. All of these require capable hands and careful planning which cannot be accomplished by just one individual. However, the technology director will have to champion the course and put in place working model.

Highlights of some of the major areas of a school's technology need indicates that people are required to do the work. Depending on the work needs, the director of technology would have to fashion out what the needs are for the district or a school. While it may be decided that all technology need should be supported in house, it is always a good rule of thumb to consider outsourcing of some of the work. Cost analysis will be very handy in detremining what choices should be made between total in house support versus outsourcing. A challenging task technology director may face is in providing technical support to all users in the school or district. Faculty, staff, and students often need on-site and on-demand technical assistance with equipment, software, and technology implementation in classroom. In order to avoid downtime, effective procedures and standards should be in place for providing assistance to users and resolving software problems in a timely manner. This will help to avoid a situation whereby teachers and users consider technology support and advise as a barrier to their use of technology. This may require establishing a dedicated help desk to provide immediate technical assistance to users by phone or e-mail. Worthy of consideration is the technology budget when making this important decision.

Budgetary situations in many states is beginning to improve after several years in which tax collections were down significantly. However, as the financial situation of the state may improving schools are not getting enough money to fund all of their technology needs. To reduce hardware costs and increase purchasing power of their hardware dollars, schools may consider factory refurbished equipments which usually includes demonstration items, cosmetically damaged units, and factory-defective systems which have been repaired, tested, and recertified to meet the original equipment specifications. Some of these are often sold with warranty and can be purchased at considerable savings.

Searching For a Qualified Staff
As District Technology Director, when determining how to staff your district, you must take a hard look at how many people you will need to adequately support the amount of users and resources you are responsible for. Too few people will put a stress on the department and on the district causing poor feedback and performance. Too many people will be a waste of district funding.

An excellent calculation tool to assist a technology director during the staffing process:

A study by MIT and IBM called “Project Athena” helps determine the human resource skills necessary to support a total technology environment and established the following variables and staffing ratios to come up with an equation:

Resource estimate: W/500, where W is the number of workstations.

Resource estimate: U/1000, where U is the number of users.

Resource estimate: C/15, where C is the number of Clusters (physical workgroups sharing servers, printers and other peripheral equipment).

Resource estimate: A/50, where A is the number of supported applications.

Resource estimate: V/1, where V is the number of distinct vendor operating systems and platforms.

Resource estimate: L/25, where L is the number of licenses.

An example of this formula for determining appropriate staffing levels would be a school district with:
 * 1,000 workstations
 * 2,000 users
 * 30 clusters (e.g. school offices)
 * 25 applications supported
 * 3 operating systems (Linux, Windows XP and Mac)
 * 25 licenses required for different software packages.

The staffing would be determined as follows:

Found at: - (Arfman & Roden,1992)

Where to find qualified people to fill the positions

 * Internet job search sites such as Dice.com, Monster.com or Careerbuilder.com
 * The people you are outsourcing to may be interested in a full time position
 * Post job openings on your district website (may generate internal and external interest).
 * Local technical schools have a pool of fresh talent to choose from (this is better for finding entry level technicians)
 * Make sure to be VERY specific when listing requirements in your job posting to eliminate wasted time spent on weeding through unqualified candidates.

Interviewing To Find the Right Candidates
Sometimes organizations interview candidates themselves however, others use staffing companies also known as "headhunters" to locate candidates for technology positions. These candidates are thoroughly pre-screened by the staffing company to ensure that he or she is a good match for the available position. This can help save time during the interview process filtering out candidates who are unqualified.

What to look for while interviewing:

Personal Skills
 * Personable and pleasant
 * Good communication
 * Check references to determine the impression left on previous employers

Professional Skills
 * Technical abilities
 * Professional development
 * Product knowledge (hardware/software)

Education
 * Degrees
 * Certifications
 * Future goals

Typical Technology Staff Positions, Requirements and Salary
Director of Technology
 * Duties: Overseer of all financial decisions related to technology within the district, staffing and grant writing.
 * Requirements: Masters Degree in educational leadership/instructional technology
 * Salary Range: $65,000-$125,000

Technology Integration Specialist
 * Duties: Plan, test and integrate hardware and software into the district
 * Requirements: MCSE, CISCO and other technical certs, technology background
 * Salary Range: $40,000-$75,000

Network Administrator
 * Duties: Administer servers, users, storage, antivirus, software licensing
 * Requirements: Technical background, MCSE, CISCO, technical certs etc.
 * Salary Range: $40,000-$100,000

Network Technician
 * Duties: Network design and structure, architecture and repair
 * Requirements: A+, N+ certs, specific computer certs (ex: dell laptop etc.)
 * Salary Range: $40,000-$85,000

Desktop Technician
 * Duties: Maintain computers and peripherals, support computer users
 * Requirements: MCSE, CISCO and other technical certs
 * Salary Range: $30,000-$50,000

Helpdesk Operator
 * Duties: 1st level of contact, helps users with computer issues, elevates to next level if unsolved.
 * Requirements: A+ certification, MCP certification, pleasant demeanor, well spoken
 * Salary Range: $20,000-$40,000

Trainer
 * Duties: Supply necessary training to all district staff, software and hardware
 * Requirements: Technical and teaching background, personable, well spoken, patient
 * SalaryRange: $30,000-$65,000

Outsourcing
A major consideration when determining the profile of your technical department's hierarchy will be whether or not you will bring certain responsibilities in-house or outsource these responsibilities to another firm. Cost, necessity and convenience are main factors which will aid in the decision to outsource certain functions or not. Something to consider is that full time, in house employees may cost less per hour when compared with outsourcing tasks to a technical firm however, full time employees also typically receive benefits such as medical, vacation, sick leave, and pensions which can be very expensive.

Larger organizations:
 * Typically have larger budgets which allow for more full time onsite technical staff.
 * Sometimes have multiple people in the same position (such as desktop technicians) to distribute the workload.
 * More of the organizations technical needs can be addressed in-house making time less of a factor. Most technical needs can be attended to faster than if they were outsourced.

Smaller organizations:
 * Usually retain 2 to 4 technical staff
 * The smaller staff are generally well versed in many of the technical needs of the organization.
 * Technical needs that are not covered by the onsite staff can be outsourced to companies that generally specialize in that particular need.
 * Outsourcing may mean waiting extra time for projects to be completed

Support and Retention of the Best Technology Staff
Once the best people are hired and in place, the next biggest challenge for any TD rests in the support and retention of the technology staff. Retaining good employees is an important process in any type of employment, whether the setting is academia or industry. Retaining employees takes a balance of benefits and compensation. Human Resources (HR) is responsible for the earliest negotiation of the employment package, but the TD is responsible for the day-to-day efforts that give employees reasons for staying.

Develop a Plan for Retention of Technology Staff
The TD must develop a plan for retention of technology staff that includes preventive measures to ensure employee satisfaction.

A few recommendations for keeping tech staff happy are:

 * Give staff challenging work assignments

Staff should be encouraged to be creative by implementing new and more efficient ways of performing their duties. Instructional technology staff can experiment with emerging technology in order to createfresh ideas for curriculum. Hardware specialists can implement cutting edge technology to keep the school district perform optimally.

In addition to their usual duties, staff should be involved with the internal processes of the department such as developing procedures, contributing objectives, goal setting, and decision making.
 * Give staff a connection with the department’s mission

Reskilling ensures that the staff’s skills remain current. Since technology professionals know they will need ongoing training to keep up with the fast changing tech field, offering potential employees the opportunity to update skills through professional development is a good incentive for staying. Retraining also leads to advancement opportunities and increases in pay, both good motivators for new and existing employees.
 * Give staff the opportunity to learn new skills

Have annual reviews that include effective appraisal, evaluation, and goal setting. Allow forrestructuring within the department to offer incremental steps towards advancement. Because the tech field is an evolving profession, restructuring has become an important concept for the TD to understand and implement. Restructuring is the process of addressing new responsibilities that the tech staff will encounter due to emerging technology. Job structures should be reviewed on a regular basis to determine relevancy and classifications should reflect changes.
 * Give staff opportunities for career advancement within the school district

Take initiatives from the high tech industry and offer innovative compensation and benefit packages that are inline with the current marketplace wages.
 * Give staff a competitive salary

(See Work Environment below).
 * Give staff professional-looking working conditions

By keeping regular meetings both individual and departmental, the TD can stay ahead of potential problems. Create opportunities to recognize staff with a formal employee recognition programs. Identify resources that promote employee recognition and reward.
 * Track employees’ morale and the department’s mood

Offer an work place that adds fun in the work life. A positive work environment provides the opportunity for team building.
 * Give staff an organizational culture

Offer perks such as attending conferences and tradeshows, and annual memberships in professional organizations.
 * Give staff the opportunity to network and learn from others in their field

As schools turn to more highly developed technology environments such as Managed Learning Environments (MLE) and Virtual Learning Environments (VLE), the bar will be raised for the basic level of competency required of technology staff. For example, web design and programming skills, will be a required skill set. Retaining uniquely skilled professional staff will become increasingly important because of the high demand for these individuals. Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in the UK has a few suggestions for retention. JISC proposes a move from a traditional pay structure by identifying levels of competence and competencies and rewarding talented staff accordingly. JISC also says that awareness of motivation and its effects on employee morale is the key to staff retention. JISC is comprised of experts in the education and technology sector that provide funding for research and development for innovative uses of technology in learning environments.

The benefits of working in the academic environment, as opposed to the high-tech industry, are points to be exploited by the TD in retention of good employees:
 * Fewer work hours – employees can enjoy a normal working day.
 * Less pressure than meeting the demands of high-tech jobs in the corporate world. Staff can achieve a better balance between work-life and home-life.
 * A more casual work environment - the dress code is more relaxed
 * A job stability that is not as volatile as the high-tech industry.
 * A more accommodating work environment - in addition to vacations, other forms of compensation that the academic environment is able to provide are benefit packages that include special arrangements for time-off and flexible time schedules.

Supporting the Technology Staff
In addition to retaining staff, the TD will also be responsible for the support of staff. This support will be in the form of personal, emotional, and physical support. Personal support is addressed in the above retention section. The focus of this section is the physical support of employees.

The Work Environment

The TD must provide an adequate work environment for her/his employees. Although the actual renovation and construction work will be directed through the Facilities Department, the TD will certainly be involved in the space planning process of the technology department. The typical school district is traditionally comprised of buildings spread out over a designated area that serve the academic needs of the children who live within its boundaries. Administration buildings, high schools, and numerous middle and elementary schools are the usual assembly of buildings. Technology departments can be found in all these buildings and the TD needs to assess the needs of each school to determine how many technology staff to provide. After the TD establishes the number of personnel she/he will manage, the space requirements for each person must be determined. If the TD is taking over an existing department, an assessment of space usage should still be done. The TD should conduct interviews to determine the staffs space requirements. While some jobs such as secretarial and administration positions require a standard work area, a computer workshop demands special considerations. If a staff person’s computer is down, the TD must provide a service for repairs. Whether this is done in house or outsourced, space must be provided for the storage area for the disabled equipment or additional workspace for repairs.

Interviewing each technology support (TS) staff will provide the answers to questions such as:
 * How much work surface does each TS staff person need to work on hardware that is brought into the shop?
 * How much storage space is needed for the hardware awaiting repairs and awaiting pickup or delivery?
 * Will the TS staff need office space as well as shop space?
 * What kind of equipment does the TS staff need to perform their duties?

The answers to these questions should provide the TD with enough information to begin planning the space requirements for the technology department’s computer workshop. In addition to space requirements, the TD must also know what kind of work surface is appropriate for the efficient functioning of each job. The computer workshop will need workbenches for the TS staff to perform the repairs. A typical workbench should have all the essential equipment that the technology support staff will need each day, plenty of storage space for tools and work surface space for making repairs. The workbench will need a power supply with grounded electrical outlets and multiple LAN connections for testing equipment. It will also need an antistatic mat covering the top of the work surface. When considering the needs of the staff, their comfort and health should be a primary concern. Ergonomics is the study of the interaction of humans with their environment. It‘s design methods can improve the wellbeing of the worker and optimize productivity. Principles of ergonomics, put into practice can alleviate headaches, eyestrain, back problems, posture, carpel tunnel, and a host of other ailments.

Other important areas to be explored are:
 * Administrative computing is the technology system involved in information-management and data-processing. Will the tech department provide support for these systems?
 * Instructional technology integrates the use of technology into the curriculum. Should the tech department be responsible for integrating technology into the curriculum or will the need be filled by a separate department? If the TD is also responsible for instructional technology, then the space requirements to accommodate these functions and activities will change the size and type of the tech office.
 * Will the technology department provide help desk support services to staff? Will the technology department also provide training to staff and faculty or will another department be responsible for technology training? Collaborative work spaces for two will be necessary in order to provide one-on-one training and small seminar spaces will be necessary for group training.

title: Directing Technology/Staff


text:
Directing Technology/Maintain

Overview
In this section we tried to answer the following key questions.
 * How can technology director ensure resources and process are in place to maintain school technology?
 * What must the technology director do to ensure proper technical support for end users?
 * How can the technology director provide support for technology skills development?

Maintaining Technology
When schools invest on expensive technology solutions, as a technology director, you will be responsible for ensuring that all those systems and the software’s are kept up-to-date and running as intended. This process is known as maintaining technology and is usually an on-going process throughout the systems or software life cycle.

According to wikipedia maintenance includes all those actions that are carried in order to fix any sort of mechanical or electrical devices that have are broken or out of order by performing the routine actions which keep the devices in working order or prevent troubles from arising. This usually requires technical staff and special system known as Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) to ensure updates and upgrades to software and hardware is provided in a timely manner. Additionally, maintenance also includes on-going technical support to resolve all of those issues that are not solved by the routine preventive maintenance.

In this section, we will look at some of the ways schools can provide preventive maintenance through backup and disaster recovery procedures, network maintenance, software and hardware update/upgrades as well as corrective maintenance including repair, back-up and restoring techniques. Finally, we will look at the life of a system and when and how it can be replaced.

Click Here to read more on Maintaining Technology

Supporting Technology
Technological problems and concerns can be very frustrating for the students and also teachers. These problems usually derive from different sources. For instance, these sources might be unreliability of the school technology system, not having enough on-going support or the quickly changing nature of the information technologies. As people who are directing the technology at schools, we can avoid these types of problems by having technical support. Technical support is critical for influencing the amount of technological problems and developing an appropriate and immediate response to the problems. Usually technical support has three different sources. First, there is basic hardware support—the familiar maintenance contract on your computer or printer. Second, comes systems support—most typically support for network server and operating systems and cabling. Finally there is application support—providing help with application software like Microsoft Office or a specialist application like an accounts package or database.

Click Here to read more on Supporting Technology

Training and Expectations
Almost all research on technology and learning concludes that it is imperative for an educational institution to have a technology plan in place and approved before anything else. Two major parts of this technology plan must include setting expectations and effective, complete training of all staff, teachers, and students.

Setting and Maintaining Expectations
The best expectations should be thought of as learning goals. Learning about technology and how to use it properly and effectively must be thought of as a learning goal, not an extra activity or reward as is unfortunately the typical thought process in the past. Setting expectations for staff, teachers, and students is necessary in order to communicate what is expected of everyone, and ensure that each person is performing as desired. Once clear expectations are set, then they must be enforced in order to ensure that each person continues to perform as desired and is given additional training and support as necessary.

According to a study done at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusettes, 99% of incoming students reported having access to computers at home and 96% reported having access at school. But what the study also assessed is how students handled technical problems while using computers. 96% reported that they ask a family member or a friend for assistance. Immediately the issue becomes what happens when students encounter technical problems on their own or at school that should be able to be remedied by the teacher. Who do they ask for help? What if the teachers are not well-trained enough to handle these problems?

In the same study students were given a problem asking them to decide which web site was the more credible of the two shown. One site was from the National Science Foundation while the other was a "hoax" site. According to the study, 76% of incoming students were not able to distinguish which of the two sites was the most credible. This shows that institutions must ensure that teachers are able to distinguish credible sites from bogus sites and be able to teach students how to detect the same.

Furthermore, 33% of incoming students did not know that computer viruses can be transmitted through files, disks, compact discs, or via email.

Educators' top priority must be to equip the students with the knowledge and skills needed to be successful. Proper use of technology must be included in today's curricula. Teachers need to train students to be successful technical problem solvers and effective and efficient users of technology. But, in order to help students gain all this knowledge of technology and computers, teachers need to be given enough effective training to bring their proficiency levels to a very solid standard. Teachers should work with the technology department. For example, if a teacher were to assign a project where students have to create a video, the teacher should work with the technology department to determine if video equipment and editing tools are even available. Staff and administration need to be proficient as well both for administrative purposes and being a part of the social support structure in an institution. In terms of setting expectations, it can be thought of as a domino effect and include some expectations similar to the following examples.

Student Expectations
Institutions should expect students to be able to:
 * effectively operate technology
 * effectively solve basic and some intermediate technical problems
 * distinguish between credible and bogus information and sources on the Internet
 * be creative and explore technology both in class and independently
 * understand the gains as well as the risks involved with different technology
 * graduate with the proficiency level required to be successful in future endeavors

Teacher Expectations
Institutions should expect teachers to:
 * attend all training, and make up any training missed within a certain time period
 * acquire a solid level of proficiency enabling them to effectively teach what students are expected to learn
 * supervise students at all times, especially when on the Internet
 * know, understand, and communicate the law and regulations students must abide by and be aware of
 * design learning environments where technology is used as an integral part of learning
 * work with the technology department when designing learning experiences
 * effectively use formative and summative assessment to gauge students' level of proficiency

Staff and Administration Expectations
Institutions should expect staff and administrators to:
 * attend trainings as necessary to achieve same level of proficiency as teachers
 * use well-designed assessments to ensure quality of learning environments and integrated technology
 * use formative and summative assessments to evaluate, support, and develop teachers' proficiency
 * effectively use institutional software (student records, report cards, etc.)

Training
Training should be based on the expectations that were set. Effective and complete training should be given to all parties in order to meet expectations. Continue to Training for detailed training discussion.

Click here to read more on Training for Technology

title: Directing Technology/Maintain


text: User:SpecialWindler~enwikibooks

title: User:SpecialWindler~enwikibooks


text:
User talk:SpecialWindler~enwikibooks

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called SpecialWindler. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name SpecialWindler~enwikibooks that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:43, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 05:31, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:SpecialWindler~enwikibooks


text:
Wikijunior:World War II/Blitzkrieg

In German, blitzkrieg means “lightning war”. It was a new way of fighting a war. In World War I every attack started with a heavy bombardment by large guns that went on for hours. This smashed up the ground, turning it into mud, and often didn't hurt the defenders much as they hid in bunkers. Then infantry (soldiers fighting on foot) would attack at walking pace.

With blitzkrieg, if there was an opening bombardment it was very short. Instead the Germans attacked with surprise at high speed using tanks and armoured lorries and halftracks carrying soldiers. The idea was to break the enemy line then circle behind them, cutting them off from support. Once cut off, they could be rounded up and captured easily. Or in other words, the Germans cared all about the speed.

Lightning attack on Poland
The war began in Europe when Germany attacked Poland on 1 September 1939. The United Kingdom told Germany that it would fight if they did not let Poland go. Germany did not reply, so Britain, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany two days later. Later that day, France also declared war. Soon, South Africa, Canada and Nepal had also joined the war on Germany.

France and the UK did not want to launch a full invasion of Germany. Neither country sent enough troops to stop the German offensive before Warsaw fell. Then the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the east. Poland was overwhelmed and the last Polish units surrendered after a month of fighting. The surviving soldiers integrated into the other Allied countries’ armies, and fought Germany until the end of the war.

Germany attacks North and West
After Poland fell, Germany waited during the winter while the British and French prepared to defend their countries. In April Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. Denmark fell after a few hours, but Norway held off into June. Public outrage over the fall of Norway caused Britain’s Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain to resign. He was replaced by Winston Churchill.

Then, the Germans invaded France, the Netherlands and Belgium May 10, 1940. The British Forces and the French Army took up position behind the Maginot line. The Maginot line was a fortified series of concrete walls, trenches, and gun positions along the German border to the south. In the north they were prepared to fight a mobile war. They did not expect the Germans to come through the dense Ardennes forest. But that is what Germany did. This split the Allied forces in two. On May 15 the Dutch surrendered, The Belgians followed on May 28. The forces in the North were encircled and cut off from supplies. They had to be evacuated. The British forces were evacuated from a small city on the coast of France called Dunkerque, or Dunkirk. They had to leave most of their heavy weapons and vehicles behind.

Italy also invaded France. France was completely overwhelmed by the blitzkrieg or “lightning war. It was forced to sign an armistice with Germany. The Germans took over Paris and two-thirds of France. They also made a new government of France that would do whatever Germany told it to do, in other words, a puppet/satellite state. It was called Vichy France, after the town of Vichy in Southern France where it was based. Italy received some territory in south-eastern France. But the real French government continued on in Africa, but called themselves “Free France” in the meantime.

title: Wikijunior:World War II/Blitzkrieg


text:
Cookbook:Moin Moin (Nigerian Bean Pudding)

| Cuisine of Nigeria

Moin moin, also called moimoi or moyin moyin, is a traditional West African (particularly Nigerian) dish based on black-eyed peas or other beans. It is usually conical or cylindrical in shape, depending on the type of mould used. Some use small baking tins as the mould, while others use light transparent nylon bags. Traditionally, however, the moin-moin is wrapped in leaves of the Yoruba soft cane (Thaumatococcus daniellii). The leaves give the dish a sweetish aftertaste.

Ingredients

 * About 2 milk tins of black-eyed peas, or other beans
 * Water
 * Bell peppers, diced
 * Scotch bonnet chile peppers, diced
 * Onion, diced
 * About 2–3 tbsp palm or vegetable oil
 * Salt to taste
 * Seasoning cubes to taste
 * Hard-boiled eggs (optional), cut in quarters
 * Dried or fresh fish (optional)
 * Beef (optional), in chunks or minced
 * Liver (optional)

Equipment

 * Oven

 * Grinding machine

 * Pot

 * Spoon

 * Bowl

Procedure
Traditionally, moin moin is steamed rather than baked. Steaming is the most common method used to cook moin moin and is considered the traditional way of preparing the dish. However, some people have adapted the recipe and started baking moin moin instead of steaming it. Baking moin moin gives it a slightly different texture and flavour compared to steaming. Baking can make the moin moin denser and drier than the steamed version. Both methods are covered below.

Steamed

 * 1) Place the beans in a large container. Cover them with water, and soak for about 1 hour.
 * 2) Blend all the peppers with the onion to make a smooth paste.
 * 3) Prepare foil or empty cans as molds for cooking.
 * 4) * If using empty cans, make sure their interior is clean, and lightly greased.
 * 5) * If using foil:
 * 6) *#Tear off about 1 foot (30 cm) of the foil.
 * 7) *#Fold the foil in half.
 * 8) *#One of the edges is closed and fine. For two of the other edges, roll them a few times over to make sure they will take the weight of the mixture (at least an inch-worth of rolling).
 * 9) *#When you are done, the foil will look like rectangles with only one edge open.
 * 10) Rub the beans between your hands to peel the skin off. The skin should float to the top of the container. Keep doing this until you have most of the skin off the beans.
 * 11) Grind the beans into a smooth, finely-ground, mostly-liquid paste.
 * 12) Add blended mix of scotch bonnet peppers, bell peppers and onions, a few teaspoons of oil, a little salt, and the optional ingredients as desired.
 * 13) Transfer the mixture into the intended mould:
 * 14) * If using cans, simply pour some of the batter into the cans, making sure you leave enough room for the moin moin to expand.
 * 15) * If using foil, pour some of the batter into the foil, and then close up the last edge of the foil by rolling it securely.
 * 16) * If using the leaves, wrap the leaves into an open cone. Fold the bottom of the cone to prevent the mix from leaking out. Place some of the mixture to fill half the cone. Roll the top of the cone and fold it. Place the cone in such a way as to keep the folded portion flat against the cooking surface, which should also be lined with the leaves.
 * 17) Bring water to boil in a large pot. The water should at least cover the bottom of the pot. Less water is needed if you use the leaves. Add the filled moin moin molds.
 * 18) Leave the moin moin to steam for at least 30 minutes until it solidifies.
 * 19) Remove them from the cans or the foil before serving.
 * 20) Serve with rice, meat, custard, pap or other side dishes as desired.

Baking

 * 1) Grind the peeled beans alongside the pepper and onion to give a smooth paste.
 * 2) Add grounded Maggi, salt, and vegetable oil to the paste, and stir with a wooden spoon to make the ingredients uniform.
 * 3) Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F).
 * 4) Rub vegetable oil in the muffin cups and pour the moi moi mixture inside.
 * 5) Fold aluminum foil to the sides of the up to prevent the moi moi from drying up.
 * 6) Pour water in an oven tray and place the muffin cups in the tray
 * 7) Bake for 45 minutes, replenishing the water as necessary to prevent it from drying up.
 * 8) Leave to cool down and remove from oven when done.

Notes, tips, and variations

 * Some people recommend lightly grinding the beans before soaking them to make it easier to remove the skin.
 * Some variants of this dish call for minimal or no removal of the beans' skins. The resulting moin moin is thicker than usual, and somewhat harder to digest.


text:
Cookbook:Dog Biscuits

These dog biscuits have a bit of protein from peanut butter and some abrasiveness from bran flakes and oats. You can use a mostly-oat low-fat granola in place of just the oats and the kind of bran cereal with flax seeds in for some extra texture.

Ingredients

 * 1 beaten egg
 * ½ cup (120 ml / 4.1 oz) chicken or vegetable stock
 * ¼ cup (60 ml / 2 fl oz) vegetable oil
 * ¼ cup (75 g / 2.6 oz) peanut butter
 * about 1 cup (140 g / 4.9 oz) all-purpose flour
 * ¾ cup (60 g / 2.1 oz) bran cereal
 * ¼ cup (20 g / 0.71 oz) rolled oats

Procedure

 * 1) Preheat oven to 350 F.
 * 2) Mix the peanut butter, stock, and oil into the egg until smooth.
 * 3) Mix the flour, cereal and oats together.
 * 4) Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture until it forms a very stiff dough (you'll need to use your hands at the end). If not very stiff, add more flour gradually.
 * 5) Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured surface and roll to about 0.25 in thick. Cut out shapes (bone shapes work well).
 * 6) Bake biscuits on a lightly-greased cookie sheet in the middle oven rack for about 15 minutes.
 * 7) For best results, allow biscuits to harden overnight.

title: Cookbook:Dog Biscuits


text: User:LoneGunmen~enwikibooks/Battlefield 2 Guide


text:
Cookbook:Beer Cheese Risotto

This variation on a classic cheese-flavored risotto is hearty and delicious. The beer adds a Welsh Rarebit overtone. The best beer is malty, not hoppy. A good amber or Belgian ale works well.

Ingredients

 * ½ large onion, diced
 * 1 tablespoon olive oil
 * 1 cup uncooked arborio rice
 * 1½ cups hot vegetable stock (approximate)
 * ½ cup beer
 * ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
 * ¼ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (to taste)

Procedure

 * 1) Heat the stock to near boiling. Keep hot.
 * 2) Sweat the onion in a heavy, medium saucepan with the olive oil, adding a generous pinch of salt. When the onions are soft and transparent, add the rice, sautéeing until each grain is coated.
 * 3) Add the beer and heat to simmer, stirring constantly. When the beer is mostly absorbed, add around ⅓ to ½ cup of hot stock. Stir constantly while simmering. Repeat procedure for around twenty minutes—most of the stock should be consumed and the rice should be tender to the taste before proceeding. The rice will produce a thick, creamy sauce in the course of cooking (see risotto).
 * 4) Remove from heat, adding the Parmesan cheese and stirring to incorporate. Give the cheese a chance to dissolve and melt, then add the cheddar. Stir to melt and incorporate. If a cheesier rice is desired, add more.

title: Cookbook:Beer Cheese Risotto


text:
MediaWiki:Common.js/ExtraTools.js

(function(mw, $) {	window.add_toolbox_link = function(action, name, id) {		var $tools = $('#p-tb ul');		if ( !$tools.length ) return;		if (typeof action === "string") {			$tools.append('' + name + '');		} else if (typeof action === "function") {			$('' + name + '').appendTo($tools).click(action);		}	};	mw.hook('wikibooks.panels.tools').fire(mw, $); })(mediaWiki, jQuery);

title: MediaWiki:Common.js/ExtraTools.js


text:
User:LoneGunmen~enwikibooks/The Complete Guide to Battlefield 2

This is the start of a guide to the video game Battlefield 2. An outline is below - it's long, but it's a complete guide.

I. About Battlefield 2 The Complete Guide to Battlefield 2/About II. Gameplay The Complete Guide to Battlefield 2/Gameplay

A. Armies B. Awards C. Commanders 1. Artillery 2. Scans 3. Supply Drops 4. UAVs 5. Vehicle Drops D. Kits 1. Anti-Tank 2. Assault 3. Engineer 4. Medic 5. Spec Ops 6. Sniper
 7. Support
 E. Maps
 1. Official Maps
 2. Fan-Made Maps
 F. Modifications
 G. Squads
 H. Vehicles
 1. Armored
 a. APCs
 b. Tanks
 2. Aviation
 a. Helicopters
 i. Attack Helicopters
 ii. Transport Helicopters
 b. Planes
 3. Boats
 4. Transport
 a. ATVs and Jetskis
 b. Buggies and Jeeps
 c. Hummers and Trucks
 5. Weapons
 a. Artillery
 b. Explosives
 c. Kit-Specific Weapons
 d. Machine Guns
 e. Pistols and Knives
 f. RPGs
 g. Snipers
 h. Sub-Machine Guns


text:
User talk:220.244.220.119

You have been blocked from editing Wikibooks for a period of one month for vandalizing this page. --Jomegat 03:00, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:220.244.220.119