Technology Integration

• Principal Connections
• K-12 Total Cost of Ownership Web-Based Calculator

Online Professional Development

• Comprehensive Literacy Program
• Alabama Leadership Series
• eCoaching

Instructional Design

• Data-Based Decision Making: Resources for Educators
• Building Teachers: A Constructivist Approach to Introducing EducationCD-ROM

Research and Evaluation

• Toward an Effective Use of Technology in Education
• Action Research training for West Virginia Technology Integration Specialists

Facilitation

• Assessment Conference
• Webcast series for the Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center

Technology Integration: Principal Connections

Purpose: Principal Connections is a CD-ROM and companion Web site originally designed in 1999 to help school leaders recognize and evaluate effective technology use in their schools.

Audience: K-12 building-level principals and assistant principals

My Role: I served as the primary subject-matter expert for this project and was instrumental in helping the new project reach maturity. I helped to develop this project with funding from the U.S. Department of Education while employed by AEL (now Edvantia). The graphic design and multimedia programming was completed by Interactive Design & Development in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Challenges: Through 1999, the emphasis on technology integration in schools had focused primarily on teachers. Ample instructional materials, web resources, and professional development were available for teachers. Very few resources were available for principals. This product was intended to help principals deal with a wide range of topics and skills related to technology integration, from building basic skills and planning for technology to evaluating teacher use of technology and envisioning the use of new and emerging technologies. This product had to be simple enough for novice technology users but provide advice for those more familiar with technology integration.

Instructional Design Strategies: While some principals would have received ample advice on developing technology plans (as one principal said, "we've been planned to death") technology use and modeling by principals in 1999 was limited. Therefore, my goal was to help to design a product that:

• provided material at a wide range of skill levels, beginning with novice technology users. More advanced users could navigate to the later sections of the CD.
• had content tied together across sections. Skills and knowledge analyses and exploratory activites at the beginning of the CD were connected to new content that directly issues addressed in previous sections.
• was easy to use and respectful of the professional status of the target audience. Just because the technology skills of some of the users was low, this did not mean they were novice learners. To accomplish this, the script was written in second person to reflect a more conversational peer-to-peer relationship and ample examples from real schools were included.

Outcomes: This CD was one of the most popular products developed by AEL. (It is important to note that I was part of a team and cannot take all credit for this product's success. However, I was the primary subject matter expert and developed the majority of the script for the project which led to my being asked to develop additional content for the U.S. Department of Education's Knoweldge Loom web site and serve as the "expert" for that site's Ask an Expert feature.)

The CD has been used in more than 30 states and has been adopted for whole-state training by the state of Florida, New Jersey, and North Carolina through grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The CD went through three versions until it was replaced by an online training product called Principal Connections Online in 2004 that was developed with collaboration from state technology leaders from seven Southeastern states. The success of the CD undoubtedly led to cooperation by these state leaders for the follow-up products.