3.++Introduction

= __Introduction__: = **__ Vision __ : ** === Our vision is to ensure all educators and students receive a quality education enhanced by the use of technology. It is through technology that students will learn to expand their traditional education into a more successful start for life fulfilling success. Technology will help improve the educators and students writing, thinking, and offer more avenues to develop educational experiences. We will use technology to combine areas of education and offer unlimited opportunities for growth. Technology will be offered to all educators and students for the purpose of higher learning. ===

__ The need __ :
=== After reviewing the survey given to the teachers at Concord High School it is our belief the teachers would like to receive the necessary training to use a wikispace as their class home base. A majority of the teachers said they have received little to no training for wikispaces and they believe more would be necessary before they could comfortably use the tool. The teachers felt it was important to receive training for startup of the wikispace, implementation within the class, updates, student usage and all necessary policies. Other areas of concern that would require training were using the wikispace for parent communications, grade posting and group activities. The teachers seemed to like the idea of learning to use the site as an individual tool and at the same time having the ability to learn from other sites for growth and development. Almost everyone liked the idea of seeing what others had done to enhance their own work. ===

__ The technology solution __ :
== We went through all of the technology in our school. Obviously the actual computer classes have more offered to them, but in general the list was pretty small. Every teacher has their own computer with internet access. We share department printers and copiers. There is a limited amount of projectors for each department and some teachers still choose to use overhead projectors. Each department has a few televisions, DVD players and in some cases VCR’s. In order to embark on this process and introduce each English teacher to a wikispace, we will only need to take advantage of the teacher computers with internet access. Each teacher will need to create their own free wiki account. We have proposed for all English teachers use the wiki as a class home site and from there we want to grow until the entire school eventually joins in. Considering every English teacher has a computer available to them with the proper operating system we will not need to enhance their current technology. As previously stated, the wikispace is free. Even better is the fact the school completes system and software upgrades at their expense. The goal is to have a one day training for the entire English department. Over the course of the eight hours each aspect of the wikispace will be covered. The staff will learn to create, use, enhance and develop the site. The technology instructor will cover instruction, examples and tips for success. The training will be video taped and linked to each teachers site so they can use it at any time or show it to their classes. By going through the training and receiving the linked video each person can work at their own pace and determine the rate at which they move on. ==

__Rationale for adoption__:
== Concord High School is not a school with the most updated technology. While it is a growing and developing aspect of the school, it is clear certain steps need to be taken to increase the use of technology within the staff and student population. The reason we chose to use wikispaces is so teachers would be able to use their current technology to increase their own knowledge and the knowledge of their students. Furthermore, they will be able to access and gain knowledge of other teachers uses by searching the wiki sites. It is the training and development needed for our staff to increase student learning. Once the staff is trained and develops an understanding of the wikispace they will have the ability to use the technology for the set up of their entire curriculum for themselves and the advancement of their students. ==