INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY GRANT PROPOSAL

Name of Applicant: Rama Balachandran

District/School: Fulton/Riverwood High School

Date: 12/5/17

Total Cost of Project: $ 500

Title of Project: I-Team Tech Corner

To what organization will you submit this grant application in the future?: Home Depot/Riverwood
PTSA mini grants/Donors Choose.org

I. Why is this project important (In 2-3 paragraphs, describe the need for the project and
its relevance to the shared vision for instructional technology)?

Effective integration of technology is achieved when students are able to select technology tools to
help them obtain information in a timely manner, analyze and synthesize the information, and present
it professionally. The technology should become an integral part of how the classroom functions -- as
accessible as all other classroom tools." -- National Educational Technology Standards for Students,
International Society for Technology in Education.
An environment where technology integration is successful is one where students and
teachers embrace technology are not afraid to innovate and be creative, because they know
they have the support needed to be successful. Most technology initiatives fail in school
because of non-availability of timely support and trouble shooting. The number one issue that
teachers and students talk about in embracing technology is the availability of timely support
to troubleshoot issues so that they will not have unplanned disruptions in their work. Our
school has introduced 1:1 devices with surface tablets last semester. This is the first academic
year that we have been implementing these devices. Even though most classrooms have
picked up on the productive use of these devices, they still face issues with the tablets.
Students also have trouble navigating through One Note and finding ways and means to
improve their productivity. While there is a student I- team that has been trained in
technology on campus, their potential has not been utilized in solving problems.

Our shared vision for technology focuses on using technology in improving rigor in the
classroom and in personalizing and differentiating instruction for students. Teacher attitudes
towards technology has been favorable, but a big threat to technology implementation is the
absence of timely troubleshooting help particularly with the instructional use of technology.
There is still quite a population of students that do not fully understand and implement the
use of surface tablets, because of the problems they face and the lack of help . Teachers do

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 not have time to address these issues in classroom, nor do they have time to teach students to
use One Note or the other tools available in Microsoft. My proposal will encourage students
to make more productive use of technology by solving the main issue with technology
implementation.

II. What would you like to accomplish (In 2-3 paragraphs, describe the project and list
instructional objectives/project outcomes.)?

My proposal for this project is to establish a tech corner in the media center that will be
manned by our i- tech team kids throughout the school day. The purpose of this tech corner is
twofold – 1. To provide students access to timely help with troubleshooting issues with the
surface device and also help with using technological tools that include but are not limited to
Microsoft Office 365 tools. 2. Provide an opportunity for the i-team kids to use their
expertise to help their peers thereby furthering their interests. To start with, the tech corner
will be housed in the media center. The i- team students will have this class in their schedule
designated as an elective Peer mentoring class. This tech corner will have some of the most
required supplies like tablet charging stations, wireless printer, batteries for pens, loaner pens
and wireless adapters to start with. The supply station can later be expanded based on student
and teacher requirements. The i- team students will also be available to troubleshoot any
issues with tablet functioning and also with Microsoft tools. Teachers often complain about
students that are not ready for class because their tablets are not charged or the pen does not
work or they have issues with accessing the net. Students with such minor problems can
either go to the tech corner during their 3rd block lunch or can get a pass for 5 min during
class time from their teacher so that they can get a quick fix for their problem and can
continue the rest of the day without interruptions. Many students also need help with printing
of materials and a wireless printer that the tablets can connect to can solve that problem as
well.

The I tech team students will also organize a lunch and learn session on new technology tools
once every month. For example, the team can host a session on creating an Office Mix
presentation or using Excel to plot graphs or creating an animated film. Students can be
invited to attend these sessions. These session topics can be geared to meet student
requirements and both teacher and student input can be solicited in choosing the topic of
these sessions. This access to technology help is particularly crucial to student groups that do
not have outside expertise assisting them with the use of technology. So, this will address the
digital equity issues that are at the forefront of technology implementation. These sessions
will thus help students learn about new tools and will encourage them to explore the use of
these tools in their classroom projects and allow them to be creators. This will also help our
i-team students learn and grow on the job with having the opportunity to implement what
they learnt. These students will also be inspiring other students to take on such roles across
the gender and socio economic status divide.

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III. In what ways is this project an example of exemplary technology integration (In 2-3
paragraphs discuss your project regarding one or more of the following: LoTi, SAMR,
TPACK, TIM, etc
As teachers move their design of learning experiences into the higher levels of SAMR or
Bloom’s taxonomy, learning shifts from being teacher centered to student directed. This
would entail setting broad learning goals and offering choice from an array of technological
tools for student use. While half of the student population would teach themselves to use the
new tools, there is certainly the other half of the population that lacks the support at the home
front and would benefit from guidance and support in learning. The idea of tech corner would
provide that much needed support and guidance for those students and this coming from their
peers would make this even easier. As technology integration continues advancing to the
“Redefinition” level in SAMR, learning becomes totally student directed where student
interests drive the learning experience and they have greater flexibility and choice in the
selection of tools that they would like to use to express their creativity. For this to happen,
students must be driven to explore new tools and the i team can be an inspiration for that to
happen. It is the hope that this tech corner will provide a collaborative space for students with
similar interests to work on trying out new tools and help each other create new products.
This would certainly help improve the levels of technology implementation (LoTi) in the
classroom allowing students to be creators sharing their products with a wider audience.

IV. How will you complete the work? (Describe how the project will be completed.)

A. Describe how the instructional objectives/project outcomes will be met (2-3

paragraphs).

The i- team students will be given access to training tools and access to a technology Coach
so that they can first develop their expertise in the areas of immediate need.

The i-team students will work with the media specialist to set up the tech corner .
The i- team will work on publicizing the tech center through the use of morning
announcements, school website announcements, talking to classroom teachers and visiting
classrooms.
The i-team will keep a visitor’s log recording the arrival of students and their needs so as to
use this data to drive future activities.
Each month the i-team will host a lunch and learn session on one topic that can happen
every Thursday- calling it “Tech Thursday”. They will use online portals for student signup
Evaluation of the performance and effectiveness of the tech corner will happen through
student and teacher surveys and the feedback will be used to improve the performance of the
tech center.

B. Describe the time involved (project length including amount of time each day/week).

The training of the team will happen during the first month which will also be used to plan

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 and design the tech center. To start with we will have the tech team students available during the
third period ( 120 min) on all days of the week. This will allow for students to visit the tech
center without losing instructional time during their assigned lunch in third period. Based on
student needs, the program can be expanded to 4rth block as well or before school for half an
hour.

C. Describe the people involved (grade level/subject & # of students, teachers and/or staff,
other stakeholders).

The media specialist and the project coordinator will drive the project, monitor it for results
and provide feedback.
The I team students will be the peer mentors and a technology coach either at school or at the
county level will be their go to person for guidance and support.
Teachers will be involved by providing input to the team about the technology requirements for
their current classroom activities and will also direct students that need support to the tech center.
The administration will also conduct walkthroughs to evaluate the effectiveness of the tech
center and in also communicating the availability of the tech center to parents and students.
All students irrespective of grade and content area will benefit from the tech center.

D. Describe the materials needed for the project.

Wireless Printer
Surface Charging Stations
Chargers
Surface Pens
Office supplies like Paper
Wireless Adapters

IV. What is the timeline for assessing accomplishments and objectives/project outcomes (In 1-2
paragraphs, describe program evaluation procedure.)?

Setting up and publicizing the Tech Corner – January 2018

Running of Tech Center - semester long.

Program evaluation will happen through administrator conducted walkthroughs and through
parent and student surveys assessing the outcome of their visits and student satisfaction.

V. How will the students be impacted by the project (In 2-3 paragraphs, include details regarding
how the impact on students will be assessed and reported to students, parents, teachers, and
others.)?

All students will receive timely help and support in addressing the disruptions from the
technical issues that arise with the use of tablets.

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 All students will have access to support and guidance in the use of technological
tools and will also use the tech corner as a common collaborative space for exploring new
tools and ideas in technology. The impact will be assessed in terms of using LoTi surveys to
see if the levels of technology implementation has moved up in classrooms. Reports compiled
from visitors logs on the frequency of student use of the tech center and student satisfaction
surveys can be communicated to all stake holders.

VI. What is the proposed budget? Include information on the following:

A. Materials/supplies
Wireless Printer -- $150.00
Charger stations - $ 70.00
Tablet Loaner Pens - $150.00
Printer Paper/pens/markers/staples : $ 30.00
Batteries for pens - $20.00
Charging cords - $80.00
B. Equipment
Covered under A
C. Total Cost of Proposed Project
$500.00
D. Additional Funding Sources
Parent donations towards snacks for students arriving during lunch( incentives)

V. List your supporting references.

Kathy Schrock, Resources to support the SAMR model, retrieved from

http://www.schrockguide.net/samr.html

Suzie Boss, Overcoming technology barriers, retrieved from

https://www.edutopia.org/technology-how-to-implement-classroom

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 INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY GRANT PROPOSAL
EVALUATION FORM/SCORING RUBRIC

Total Points (out of 200): __________

1. Impacts a variety of skill levels and/or learning styles or impacts an important target population.

Possible number of points: 40 __________

2. Clearly identifies standards and learning objectives/project outcomes being addressed.

Possible number of points: 40 __________

3. Pedagogically sound, based on research and/or best practices.

Possible number of points: 40 __________

4. Clear plan for assessment of project and goals with examples of implementation methods.

Possible number of points: 40 __________

5. Impacts large number of students and/or can be recycled/reused.

Possible number of points: 40 __________

General Comments:

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Adapted from: The Education Foundation of Oconee County, Inc.

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