Technology

Technology

ADMINISTRATORS: Office of Technological Services & Career Education

George "Skip" Paulson - Director
Terry Pucek - Director, Management Information Systems & Networking
Ray Rehberg - Director, Instructional Technology Back to Top

TECHNOLOGY VISION:

Just as the technologies of computing, multimedia, and telecommunications have transformed the world, they are transforming the schools. Technology will better prepare District 203 students for the future. Further, technology is a tool for achieving the District 203 Mission. Back to Top

K - 12 TECHNOLOGY OUTCOMES:

The following Technology Outcomes were developed in alignment with The Illinois State Board of Education's "Six Essential Learnings in a Technological Society" and are intended to be included as an instructional component of all Naperville Community Unit School District 203 curriculum.

Goal #1: Use technology to find, retrieve, and evaluate information.
As a result of their schooling students will be able to:

Outcomes	Grade 2	Grade 5	Grade 8	Grade 12
A. recognize, differentiate, and choose among electronic and non-electronic information sources.	recognize technology as a tool for finding information. differentiate between a selection of resources.	select resources appropriate to the task, with guidance.	select resources appropriate to the task, with limited guidance.	independently select primary and secondary resources appropriate to the task.
B. utilize search strategies to retrieve relevant information through a variety of media.	find information within a selected resource, with guidance.	find and retrieve appropriate information from electronic sources using a given search strategy.	plan and perform a search using more than one electronic source.	plan and perform complex searches using more that one electronic source.
C. evaluate relevancy, authenticity, accuracy, and currency of information to determine its usefulness.		evaluate the relevancy of information. recognize when currency of information is relevant to the task.	evaluate relevancy, authenticity, accuracy, and currency of information to determine its usefulness.	evaluate relevancy, authenticity, accuracy, and currency of information to determine its usefulness.

Goal #2: Use problem-solving techniques and technology tools to collect, organize, analyze, and synthesize information from a variety of sources.
As a result of their schooling students will be able to:

Outcomes	Grade 2	Grade 5	Grade 8	Grade 12
A. collect and store information.	collect information, with guidance.	collect and store information, with guidance.	collect and store information, independently.	collect and store information, independently.
B. organize and manage information from one or more sources.		organize and incorporate information within a text document. enter and manipulate data, by using tools such as a spreadsheet or database, for a specific purpose.	organize and incorporate information within a text document. design, create and modify organizational structures such as spreadsheets and databases for a specific purpose.	organize and incorporate information into a variety of structures suitable for manipulation and communication.
C. analyze information from one or more sources to draw inferences and make predictions.	analyze information from an electronic source.	analyze information from electronic sources.	use appropriate information management tools for analysis.	use appropriate information management tools to analyze information from multiple perspectives.
D. synthesize information to solve problems, construct new knowledge and create new products	create products, with new knowledge, that solve problems.	create products, with new knowledge, that solve problems.	create products, with new knowledge, that solve problems.	create products, with new knowledge, that solve problems.

Goal #3: Use technology to communicate knowledge and ideas through media for various purposes and audiences.
As a result of their schooling students will be able to:

Outcomes	Grade 2	Grade 5	Grade 8	Grade 12
A. recognize and select among the various communication tools.	recognize communication tools appropriate to the task and audience.	select communication tools appropriate to the task and audience.	select communication tools appropriate to the task and audience.	select communication tools appropriate to the task and audience.
B. communicate and collaborate without the constraints of time or distance.	use electronic mail , with guidance, to communicate.	use technology to collaborate within the global community.	use technology to collaborate within the global community.	use technology to collaborate within the global community.
C. compose documents and deliver presentations for various purposes and audiences.	use authoring/creativity/ presentation tools to develop products for presentation .	use authoring/creativity/ presentation tools to develop a products for presentation.	integrate a variety of media with authoring/ creativity/presentation tools to develop products for presentation.	integrate a variety of media with authoring/ creativity/presentation tools to develop products for presentation.

Goal #4: Use, manage, and adapt to changing technology in a learning environment, the workplace and daily life.
As a result of their schooling students will be able to:

Outcomes	Grade 2	Grade 5	Grade 8	Grade 12
A. use appropriate terminology when working with technology.	identify physical components and functions.	identify physical components and functions.	identify physical components and functions.	identify physical components and functions.
B. operate and manage a variety of technologies.	demonstrate proper operation of technologies common to their experience/environment.	demonstrate proper operation of technologies common to their experience/environment.	demonstrate proper operation of technologies common to their experience/environment.	demonstrate proper operation of technologies common to their experience/environment.
C. explore and use new technologies.	explore and demonstrate the use of technologies with direct instruction.	explore and demonstrate the use of technologies with assistance.	select and use technologies independently, cooperatively, and responsibly.	select and use technologies independently, cooperatively, and responsibly.

Goal #5: Use technology responsibly and demonstrate a recognition of and respect for the implications of its societal and environmental use.
As a result of their schooling students will be able to:

Outcomes	Grade 2	Grade 5	Grade 8	Grade 12
A. adhere to copyright laws and the District 203 Acceptable Use Policy.	adhere to copyright laws and the District 203 Acceptable Use Policy.	adhere to copyright laws and the District 203 Acceptable Use Policy.	adhere to copyright laws and the District 203 Acceptable Use Policy.	adhere to copyright laws and the District 203 Acceptable Use Policy.
B. demonstrate a recognition of and respect for the implications of technology’s societal and environmental use.	demonstrate a recognition of and respect for the implications of technology’s societal and environmental use.	demonstrate a recognition of and respect for the implications of technology’s societal and environmental use.	demonstrate a recognition of and respect for the implications of technology’s societal and environmental use.	demonstrate a recognition of and respect for the implications of technology’s societal and environmental use.

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GLOSSARY OF TERMS:

Authoring Tools - Program/software that involve text (i.e. KidWorks, Word)
Creativity Tools - Programs/software that involve the use of drawing, color, animation to represent the information being presented (i.e. various draw tools, CAD)
Currency - Timeliness of information
Data/Information/Knowledge - As used here the term "information" encompasses the term "data." "Knowledge" is defined as information that has been given meaning through its relationship to other information.
Goals - Something toward which effort or movement is directed; an end or objective
Hardware - Physical equipment, media and attached devices used in a technology system
Manage - To control or guide the performance or operation of
Outcomes - That which naturally flows; consequence or result
Presentation Tools - Programs/software that involve the use of multimedia that are representative of the objects being portrayed (i.e. Hyperstudio, PowerPoint)
Search Strategies - Methods used to locate, investigate, inquire, examine, and scrutinize information
Set Up - To connect hardware and software to become functional
Software - Programs/code that manipulate the hardware in a computer system
Synthesize - A combination of separate elements into a whole
Technologies - The application of science and technical advances in information processing
Troubleshoot - Locating and seeking difficulties to remove them in the operation of a technology
With Guidance - The act or process of leading or directing Back to Top

TECHNOLOGY UPDATES:

Writer's Workbench
District 203 has licensed the "Writer’s Workbench" software making it available to all high school and middle school students. This product will provide students with individualized analyses and interactive instructional support as they write and revise their assigned compositions. The analyses provided by "Writer’s Workbench" addresses many common writing problems such as clarity, vagueness, and grammar. One of the key features of this product is that only recommendations are made. It is still up to the students to make the changes they feel will enhance the quality of their work.

Technology Tools Enhance Learning
Access to laptop computers and some personal assistance helped propel the teaching staff forward into the information age. With the just-in-time assistance of the district's Technology Integration Specialists and the availability of a wide variety of courses offered by technologically savvy members of the faculty, most District 203 teachers are ready, willing, and able to enhance students' learning with technology tools.

Students' Projects Changed by Technology Tools
The nature of student work has changed greatly with the use of technology tools. With the vast resources now available for researching, composing, correcting and revising, students are more willing to do more complete and complex work throughout their school years.

Primary students learn how to log on, operate a mouse and use various programs to obtain desired results. By third grade, students are learning keyboarding skills and see nothing unusual about using one computer program to write what they have learned about frogs and another program to add a picture and/or draw and color an illustration.

Parents often volunteer to assist in the school computer labs both as a way to see what their children are doing with technology and as a way to learn more about using the tools, themselves. Open house evenings in school computer labs are popular for those same reasons.

By the time District 203 students enter high school, they are ready to learn how to use technology tools and computer programs in conjunction with such things as scientific experiments, accounting, business office applications, architectural and engineering drafting, electronics, math applications and digital art and photography.

Taking Learning Outside the Box
With the help of the Technology Integration Specialists assigned to their buildings, teachers and students have been taking learning and instruction "outside the box."

Fifth graders created a web page on their school's Internet site that their parents could visit to check on what they were doing on their outdoor education trip. The students used digital cameras and QuickPads to capture information and sights from their nature walks and other outdoor ed. activities and posted them immediately on the Web page. During breaks in the action at camp, the students began creating a presentation that would later be displayed on a monitor in the school lobby and in conjunction with their "memories" program at the end of the year.

Some fourth and fifth grade classes at did a novel study with North Central College education majors last year that bridged the gaps of distance and time. Using computers and the electronic discussion board on the college network, the elementary students answered questions and shared opinions about what they were reading with the college students. At the end of the three-week novel study, the college students visited the elementary school for a face-to-face wrap-up session.

Fourth grade classes at several schools use Web resources for problem-based learning related to a reading-writing-science unit on owls. The children read There's an Owl in the Shower and learn about the habits and diets of owls by dissecting "owl pellets," the sanitized undigested remains of owl meals. Then the fourth graders turn to the Internet to achieve immediate access to primary resource materials on current issues surrounding the logging industry and the habitat of the spotted owl. Their on-line research is used in persuasive writing papers designed to convince others to share the personal perspective each has gained during the study unit. Junior high students use Web resources for similar problem-based studies about deer kill policies.

When a seventh grade science class began searching the Internet for information about our solar system, what they found was hard to understand. As a result, they decided to develop a Web page of their own. It contains information each seventh grader discovered about his or her specific topic and can be built upon as future seventh grade classes investigate the solar system.

High school calculus students use technology tools as they apply their classroom lessons to the task of designing safe and exciting roller coaster rides and to the creation of multi-media presentations that describe their reasoning, conclusions, and results.

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