Internship Proposal

Spring 2019

Rebecca Falloni & Holly Gilmore

 Rationale

Holly and Rebecca both work at Fullerton Elementary school in Baltimore County.

Rebecca is a kindergarten teacher and has been teaching for 5 years. Holly teaches fourth grade

English Language Arts and has been teaching for 5 years. Fullerton is a school with 1:1 devices

for students in first grade through fifth grade. Kindergarten students utilize 4-6 devices in their

classroom, depending on availability. Fullerton has technology however, there has been a lack of

guidance and support when it comes to integration. This has lead to a wide range of confidence

and independence regarding technology use by staff and students.

Holly and Rebecca will collaborate in order to help aide the staff at Fullerton in

becoming more educated about their devices and how to incorporate them into their classrooms.

It has been determined that many teachers are using devices, but on a limited scale. In the

primary grades, teachers lacked knowledge of how to effectively incorporate the devices into

instruction and with their young learners. This is especially true of the pre-kindergarten and

kindergarten teachers. It is also evident across grade level and content areas that the strengths,

willingness and capability to integrate technology varies greatly.

Proposal

Holly and Rebecca decided that the best way to help bridge the technology gap at

Fullerton would be to build a technology pilot group. This group would be comprised of

volunteer teachers. There is a potential of 9-11 participants that would form the pilot group.

Ideally, each grade level and special area would be represented by at least one educator. In order

to assess interest and need, the whole staff will be asked to complete a survey. Based on the
results of this survey, Holly and Rebecca will identify a representative for each grade level and

special area. These pilot group will be comprised of these representatives.

Rebecca and Holly will lead an initial meeting with members of the pilot group. During

this meeting, each grade level representative will have an opportunity to share their team’s wants

and needs regarding technology. Holly and Rebecca will develop learning modules based on the

wants and needs of the pilot group. Throughout the semester, members of the pilot group will

complete learning modules that address these needs, apply this learning with their students,

provide feedback to module writers - Holly and Rebecca- and finally, share the learning and

resources with their teammates.

Holly and Rebecca know that adding to teachers workload is not something ideal and

often has a negative impact on participation. Keeping this in mind, much of the internship project

activities will be completed asynchronously and can be differentiated to each participant’s needs.

Holly and Rebecca will serve as technology leaders by providing technology support throughout

the semester. Additionally, they will help curate resources to help build a technology base that

could be accessed by all participants. Our plan is to provide our participants with a variety of

technology lessons that they can implement and modify to meet their curriculum. Holly will be

focusing on the intermediate grades, third grade-fifth grade and Rebecca will be focusing on the

primary grades, kindergarten-second grade. We plan to hold asynchronous and synchronous

sessions to help meet the various needs of our participants. These sessions would provide our

participants with new technology tools, how-tos and new ideas of how to incorporate technology

into the classroom.

 Objectives

There are a few objectives that will be reflected throughout our internship, but each session will

have its own set of objectives as well. The following objectives are the ones that will be reflected

throughout the internship:

● By February 11th, Holly and Rebecca will develop and distribute an interest

survey.

● By February 15th, all staff will have completed the interest survey.

● By February 18th, one representative from each grade level and special area will

be identified and invited to serve as a member of the technology pilot group.

● Between February 19th and February 21st, Holly and Rebecca will hold an

initial meeting with members of the technology pilot group.

● During initial meeting teachers will share their team’s wants and needs regarding

technology.

● During initial meeting teachers will be able to identify their current technology

use through the ACOT Model.

● By February 22nd, Holly and Rebecca will develop a tentative schedule of topics

to be addressed by the learning modules.

● Beginning February 25th, Holly and Rebecca will distribute a bi-weekly learning

module to be completed by members of the pilot group. The final module will be

released on April 8th.

● By April 15th, teachers will be able to demonstrate technology integration in their

classroom at least one level above their initial level according to ACOT.
ACOT Model & Making Change

Rebecca and Holly will be basing their internship on the staff current level of the ACOT

model. Many teachers are at the beginning stages with “Entry” and “Adoption”. We will survey

the participants to find their true level on the ACOT model. We will then provide the staff with

meaningful technology lessons in order to help move the staff to higher levels on the ACOT

model. We will be using the same survey that shows their beginning level at the end of the

internship as well to see our participants growth.

Our technology committee will be helpful in making beneficial changes at Fullerton. We

plan to push past those beginning levels of the ACOT model and advance our participants to

“Appropriation” and “Invention”. This change will be beneficial to the staff and students within

our school. We will be providing supports, new ideas and how-tos to help give our staff the tools

they need to be successful and independent with technology in their classrooms. There are often

many calls to technology support or many teachers using the devices the same way everyday. We

hope to build the teachers confidence and toolbox for ideas in how to use the devices to meet the

needs of their students.

Conditions of Change

Throughout our studies in the Educational Technology program, we have analyzed the

possible proponents and opposition to innovation and change. We have previously analyzed our

school in terms of Ely’s Eight Conditions of Change and determined that many of the conditions

have been met. ​ Given the teachers’ varying circumstances, their responses differed. However,

all identified that there is a need for change, not in ​what​ technology we are using but in ​how​ we

use technology. While the teachers represent varying attitudes on the necessity of technology,
they’ve all identified dissatisfaction with the status quo, Ely’s first condition of change. The

teachers have already been identified as effective or highly effective educators, therefore they do

“have the skills to implement the change.” However, some teachers have expressed a need to

develop their own technology skills before working with students to develop theirs. Our

internship project helps to meet this condition of change, by providing customized synchronous

and asynchronous learning opportunities.

The next conditions of change addressed by Ely are circumstances that seem to

consistently: availability of time and availability of resources. Teachers have a list of

responsibilities and tasks that is ongoing and rarely finished, we do not want to add to this list

with our internship related activities. By providing short, asynchronous learning activities we are

more likely to meet this condition of change. One condition of change that is more readily met

for most teachers in our building is availability of resources. Students in first through fifth grades

have access to their own device on a regular basis at school. Kindergarten students share a cart of

devices that they can access by taking turns or collaborating in small groups. Each classroom and

special area teacher has access to a device, projector, document camera and docking station. We

are afforded a plethora of technology resources at Fullerton Elementary, it’s all about using them

more effectively. As part of our internship we are planning to provide teachers with lesson plans

and materials, including digital tools therefore; will be no shortage of resources and suggestions

for implementation.

We were surprised to learn that the next condition of change, incentive, is generally met

in terms of our proposed internship plans. When asked how willing they would be to participate

in professional development sessions, all participants stated, “very willing.” The prospect of
students being more responsible, independent and caring with regards to technology is likely

highly intrinsically motivating. It is important to note that there are teachers that are more

extrinsically motivated. To support this and address this condition of change, we would provide

incentives to join and actively participate as a member of the technology committee.

The next condition of change addresses participation. “Ely (1990) describes a system

where individuals feel the need to input their comments on areas that will directly affect their

work. When individual participation is not possible, it is important that "implementers should

feel that their ideas are represented through a surrogate"(Ely, 1999, p. 6). It is unlikely that

individuals that are not involved in the process will implement the innovation with enthusiasm.”

(Williams, 2010) We are working to meet this condition of change by having at least one

representative from each grade level and content area on the technology committee.

The next condition of change is commitment. Each of the teachers interviewed expressed

a need for support and commitment by their peers and colleagues. We can encourage those who

may not be on board initially to commit throughout the implementation of this internship by

presenting data that shows the observable improvements regarding technology use in our school.

We will also be seeking commitment, support and endorsement by our administration. In recent

years our administration has supported the creation of pilot groups and committees in order to

implement new initiatives in areas such as literacy, math, green schools and culture. We

anticipate similar administrative support for the technology pilot group. This group of educators

will support each other to develop technology proficiency, in turn supporting our efforts to

consistently demonstrate highly effective instruction. ​We also anticipate a positive impact on
teacher collaboration, making teacher workload more manageable. Hopefully, leading to a

positive impact on the overall school climate which would be supported by our administration.

The final condition of change that facilitates adoption of an innovation is leadership.

Holly and Rebecca will serve as leaders by modeling and supporting their colleagues in the

learning and implementation. Establishing a technology committee also provides opportunities to

clearly identify leaders and for many participants to share their strengths and act as a leader.

Overview of Learning

In early February, staff will be asked to complete a simple interest survey. Based on these

results we will develop the technology pilot group. Once participants have committed, we will

have an initial committee meeting. Our goal is to have this meeting by February 21st. At the

initial meeting Holly and Rebecca will present their vision and what they intend the role of pilot

members to be. Members of the pilot group will have an opportunity at this meeting to share

their wants and needs with regard to technology. As we will be working both synchronously and

asynchronously, we will also have participants join and access the Fullerton Technology Pilot

group on Schoology. Then, committee members will complete another survey to assess their

current level according to the ACOT Model. At the conclusion of this meeting, Holly and

Rebecca will review the survey results. Based on this assessment, Holly and Rebecca will

develop and share a schedule of technology topics to be addressed. Our goal is to establish this

tentative schedule and outline by February 22nd. Beginning February 25, the committee will

meet synchronously or asynchronously twice per month. Instruction will be delivered via

screencast, video, lesson plan etc. which will be prepared by Holly and/or Rebecca and posted in

the Schoology group at the beginning of the week. Committee members will be asked to access
the lesson, apply the new learning and provide feedback or complete an assessment in Schoology

by the end of the week. By mid April, participants will have completed 4 learning modules on

various technology topics and tools. As committee members work through these modules, they

will be offered opportunities to observe and Holly and Rebecca will provide support as

requested. Upon completion of the learning modules, participants will be asked to participate in a

debrief and evaluation session. Committee members will revisit the goals and purpose of the

committee and evaluate how effectively these goals were met. Ideally, this wrap up meeting

would be held by mid April. The final step of this meeting will be a reflective survey. Committee

members will review the levels of ACOT and evaluate how joining the Technology Pilot Group

and participating in learning modules helped them become more independent or proficient in

technology and supported them in moving up the levels of the ACOT model.

Tech Tools and Online Learning

We know one of the challenges to effectively executing our internship will be teacher

availability and commitment. To address this concern, we will provide many online and

asynchronous learning opportunities. We will use screencasts and videos to provide instruction

and tips for using tech tools. We will also be using the online learning tools available in

Schoology. This includes tests and quizzes as well as a discussion board. Participants will also

be awarded digital badges upon successfully completing learning modules. Finally, Holly and

Rebecca will be available via e-mail and Zoom to support colleagues as needed.

TPACK

All areas of the TPACK will be addressed throughout the internship. Holly and Rebecca

will incorporate the technology aspect through asynchronous sessions, modules found in
Schoology and the usage of devices. The content portion will be addressed through the

participants curriculum needs and collaboration. The pedagogical aspect of the TPACK model

will be addressed by Holly and Rebecca’s teaching experiences and their time working through

the Instructional Technology program at Loyola.

Evaluations & Documentation

Holly and Rebecca will be storing and collecting data within Schoology. This will be

where the participants are finding the various modules and completing the different tasks within

the modules as well. Holly and Rebecca will use two surveys, one at the beginning and one at the

end to show the participants level and the growth they made after completing the modules. Holly

and Rebecca will evaluate throughout the modules using various assessment tools (surveys,

polls, quizzes, reflections, etc.) All of Holly and Rebecca’s module documents/lessons will be

stored within our Schoology group. This will allow for all technology committee participants to

have access to all the materials. A key piece of evaluation will be through surveys to determine

teachers’ progress through the levels of ACOT. We will be able to evaluate the overall

effectiveness of our internship through observation and data analysis. Holly and Rebecca will

keep a collaborative analysis of feedback in a shared google document. This will be a space were

both Holly and Rebecca can share and analyze the data/survey/observations from the pilot

members. Holly and Rebecca will also create a personal reflection journal. In the personal

reflection journal Holly and Rebecca will reflect on their individual contributions to the

internship and pilot group. Their individual contributions will also be tracked and recorded

through the use of the Schoology course.

 Conclusion

The overall goal of our internship project is to support the members of our pilot group in

developing their technology skills so that they can help teach and support their colleagues. This

pilot group will finish the modules and have a toolbox of resources to use and share with their

teammates who are not in the pilot group. Holly and Rebecca will be able to use the data and

information gained throughout the internship in order to further implement a technology

committee. Next school year, with further implementation we hope to see more consistent,

higher level and independent technology use by staff and students.

 References

Ely, D. P. (1990). Conditions that Facilitate the Implementation of Educational

Technology Innovations. ​Journal of Research on Computing in Education,​ ​23(​ 2),298-305.

doi:10.1080/08886504.1990.10781963

Williams, & Turek. (2010). Overview - Ely's Conditions of Change. Retrieved from

https://sites.google.com/site/elysconditionsofchange/history