TECHS Narrative

Project Goal
The goal of Technology Education Challenge in High Schools (TECHS) project is to provide professional development for Career and Technical Education instructors that will improve and apply student technical skills for their personal and/or career goals.
The core indicator of performance addressed by the goal is the attainment of challenging academic and vocational skill proficiencies.

Measurement of Success
Impact on Core Indicator - The Technology Education Challenge in High Schools (TECHS) project provides students challenging opportunities as:

1. The curriculum is presented by technical professionals whose work focuses on a specific information technology areas. The series will provide students with current knowledge and hands-on applications needed to be successful in an entry-level information technology support field or preparation for an informational technology degree in higher education.
2. Students will be exposed to real-time applications as they work to support their school’s Local Area Network (LAN), troubleshoot hardware and software problems, and improve their interpersonal skills as they work with the TECHS mentor and teachers at their school.
3. Students will be collaborating with the TECHS instructional team, students from other schools, and outside professional resources through the distance education connection.


Evaluation
The following page includes the methods for evaluation for this project. During the summer of 2004, the TECHS instructional team will prepare the pre-assessment activities and lesson plans. The course management program Blackboard will host assessment and lesson plan information. The results of this project will be shared with interested organizations at local and regional meetings and conferences and in the final report.

Explanation of activities and strategies based on the objectives of the project:
The TECHS project will begin in July 2004 and go through June of 2005. The following activities will support the objectives of the project:
Objective 1 - To increase the TECHS team understanding of information technology and how it applies to personal and career goals.

Activity 1 (June - July 2004) - The TECHS instructional team which includes the grant director, ESU 10 and 11 technology trainers, and ESU 10 and 11 technology training team will:

  • plan the curriculum, instructional timeline, instructional materials and equipment, and the responsibilities of the instructional team for the course.
  • review the TECHS applications submitted by schools interested in participating in the program. Note - The grant proposal will be shared with principals at the April 2004 meeting of the Tri-Valley Distance Education Consortium (TVDEC). If this grant is approved, application materials will immediately be sent out to TVDEC member schools. ) Due to instructors time availability, this class can only be taught to four days each week. This limits the number of live remote connections to six schools. Course materials will be designed for a class of five students and one instructor.

Activity 2 (August 2004) - The TECHS instructional team will present an overview of the project to technology instructors from participating schools. The instructional team will

  • discuss the curriculum for the TECHS course
  • present the instructional timeline for the 2004-05 terms
  • distribute instructional materials and equipment
  • provide distance education technology training.

The distance education training module will be introduced through the Blackboard course management program. During the first weeks of the course, students will use this module as an introduction to distance education and Blackboard.

Activity 3 - (August 2004-May 2005) - The TECHS course will be presented to participating schools over the Tri-Valley Distance Education Network. Each school will receive a portable distance education system which will allow for mobility in location and flexibility in time for receiving the class. The TECHS instructional team will also use the portable lab concept as they will do their presentations from their work areas, thus providing a realistic setting.

The TECHS curriculum will be presented twice a week in a 50 minute period. Schools will be matched according to platform preference - ie Windows on Monday and Wednesday and Macintosh on Tuesday and Thursday. The instructional program will be supported by Blackboard - a course management software program. All lessons will be video taped and archived on a video streaming server. The streaming server will allow students to review lessons they may have missed. Lessons that are achieved may also be used by other TVDEC schools who were not selected to participate in the live session as well as support for future course offerings.

Objective 2 - To provide support for the school district’s local area network (LAN), the district TECHS team will demonstrate understanding of hardware/software and network systems through application on their LAN network.

  • On non-instructional days, the TECHS team mentor will serve as the district LAN supervisor. The TECHS mentor responsibilities will include:
    • determine LAN support needs
    • assign responsibilities to student TECHS
    • oversee student TECHS activities
    • serve as the instructor of record for course credit.
  • TECHS student responsibilities will be to:
    • check with TECHS mentor for daily assignments
    • check student ODIE troubleshooting report
    • complete ODIE tickets as part of their daily activity log
    • contact ESU 10 Hotline for additional support (must have approval from the TECHS mentor).

Objective 3 - To increase understanding of career opportunities in technology, partnerships will be created to provide infomercials and job shadowing experiences within a local and regional area.

  • The University of Nebraska - Kearney and Central Community College will be invited to share about information technology programs and opportunities.
  • TECHS mentors will identify area businesses that will welcome a student as part of a shadowing experience.
  • TECHS mentor and student team will attend two informational and educational conferences - Techxperts (November 2004) and NETA (April 2005). Both conferences will highlight technology tools and practices (objective 1) and career opportunities (objective 3).

Objective 4 - To provide local, regional and national information about the project, the grant director, instructional team, and TECHS team members will deliver presentations.

  • The ESU 10 TECHS instructional team and TECHS mentors will give update reports at quarterly LAN manager meetings.
  • The grant director will
    • give update reports to principals at quarterly distance education meetings.
    • give reports at ESU 10 and 11 CTE meetings
    • submit a proposal to present the project at
      • Techxperts
      • Nebraska Education Technology Association (NETA)
      • Nebraska Distance Learning Association (NDLA)
      • INVEST 2005