FRIT 7739 - Practicum

Helena Wallace
Spring 2018
Technology Program Administrator
Part A - Program Evaluation

I - Executive Summary
The Habersham 9th grade Academy Media Center provides literacy and technology
support to 510 students, 70 staff and support personnel, administration, parents, and members of
the community. The place is managed by the Media Specialist and the Media Clerk and its hour
of operations are between 7:30 to 3:30. Students are welcomed before the first block bell, during
lunch, after school, and during class with teacher permission. The Media Specialist shares the
responsibilities of a teacher, a technology coach, and a program administrator. As a teacher, she
provides reading across the curriculum while assisting students in becoming effective users of
printed resources. As a technology coach, she collaborates with teachers in integrating
technology in classes to help with selecting and locating printed, non-printed, and online
resources. As a program administrator, she demonstrates accurate knowledge of budget, records,
and day-to-day operating needs of the media center.

II - Organizational Chart
III - Methods

I used a variety of methods to gather all the information that I used in my assessment of
my Technology Program administrator. I spent several hours observing and working directly
with my media specialist/Technology administrator (appendix 2). I set up a face-to-face
interview where we discussed the responsibilities and rewards of her job (appendix 1), and I
looked online at our media center website and facebook page (appendix 3)

IV - Center Context and Goals

The Habersham 9th grade Academy media center is located in a relatively new location
that opened its doors in 2011/2012 school year. This building had previously housed the high
school which had become too small to accommodate the counties growing population, so when
the high school building was complete they moved on, and the old facilities became the current
9th grade Academy. Two full-time staff members run this media center; a Media Specialist who
is also our Technology Coordinator, Mrs. Shubert who has been in her current position for one
year and previously taught for 15 years Physical science, and a Media Clerk, Mrs. Segers who
has been in this position for about six years.

Mission Statement
The Mission Statement of the media center for the Habersham 9th grade Academy is:
● Build a foundation for lifelong learning through information literacy
● Develop and instill a love of literature and reading for information as well as for pleasure
● Provide technology support materials to enhance and reinforce the entire curriculum

Goals
The Media Specialist participates as a member of the instructional team, planning with
administrators and teachers to provide intellectual and physical access to materials in all formats
and to design learning strategies that meet the needs of individual students.
Stakeholders
The stakeholders include 510 students, 42 teachers, and 28 school support personnel,
administration, parents, and members of the community that are directly involved with student
programs.

Responsibilities
The Media Specialist and the Media Clerk are the only two people that work full time in
the media center. They both work as a team, have assigned responsibilities, and help students and
teachers when they are needed.

The Media Specialist/ Technology Coordinator spends the majority of her time dealing with
technology issues and online programs. She is responsible for maintaining:
● 90 Ipads on three mobile carts
● 270 Chromebooks on nine carts (house in different classrooms)
● 11 desktops inside the media center
● Five breakout boxes
● Computer lab with 28 Dell desktop computers
● Sign up calendars on the Google Drive (shared monthly with the school personnel)
● The school website and helping with teachers individual pages
● The school social media accounts: Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
● USA test prep
● Connexus/ Gradpoint online learning
● Google Drive accounts
● PowerSchool Logins
● Google classroom for Technology and Teaching tips
● Pictures from sports, clubs, and event which she sends to the high school yearbook club
● Accurate record of acquisitions of media resources, equipment inventory, and financial
records.

The Media Clerk spends the majority of her time dealing with the library duties. She is
responsible for :
 ● Laminating machine and keeping it supplied with laminating roll
● School store for daily school supplies
● Check-in and check-out of books, videos, and other material in the library
● Maintains an accurate catalog of resources and shelf lists
● Butcher paper and die cuts.

V - Center Activities

1 - Media center orientation.

This program is done by the Media Specialist at the beginning of every semester with every
1st block class. During a two week period, every class visits the media center, and the Media
Specialist goes over the check-in and check-out procedures as well as the rules that they must
follow while they are in the media center.
2 - Research skills, including note taking and resource citation
3 - MLA citations and Bibliographies
4 - Copyright laws and how they relate to plagiarism
5 - Critical Website Evaluation
Programs 2 through 5 are offered to classes by the Media Specialist and conducted in the
media center. According to the Media Specialist the only two departments that take
advantage of these resources in the English Department and the PE/Health classes
6 - Monthly Raider Pride celebration.
This is a monthly celebration done in the media center where five students and their parents
come to celebrate an academic achievement award given to them by their teachers.

Plans for the near future

Our technology department has received a technology grant this year, so our county has
made the Media Specialist in each school responsible for collecting, inventorying, and helping
teachers with the transitional plan for acquisition of new teacher laptops and new classroom
computers.
Another project that is also in progress is the implementation of a Makerspace club that
will allow students to use technology and explore activities that involve problem-solving,
creativity, ingenuity, and outside the box thinking. Time, club leader volunteers, and a budget are
some of the leading obstacles that need to be worked out before this program gets started
The purchase of a large flat screen TV that can be connected to computers, Ipads, and
Chromebooks is also being looked at. This will allow students to work in groups with a large
display of information, help students practice presentations, and serve as a communication
device with other classrooms in other systems and possibly in other countries with the use or
skype or other long distance apps.

Plans for the future

Save enough money in the budget to buy new DVDs to replace all the videos that
teachers use, and to buy online subscriptions to magazines that students have shown interest such
as cars, mechanics, computer science, anime, fashion, art, and cosmetology.

VI - Evaluation

In my opinion, I think our media center is only fulfilling half of its mission goals. Both
Media Specialist and Media Clerk are doing an excellent job at promoting literacy and reading
both as a part of the curriculum and for pleasure. That part is being covered and managed mostly
by the Media Clerk, but the budget, purchase, and inventory still fall on the Media Specialists
shoulders.
According to my interview with the Media Specialist, her schedule and plans are
constantly being changed because she is asked by management to do other projects that consume
her time, so much so, that she does not have time to focus on the technology portion of her job
description. She is aware of the technology needs of our school, and she even has a Google
Classroom where she puts information about technology apps or new programs, but she lacks the
time to make sure that teachers are implementing them in their classrooms and that they do not
have any technical issues.

Recommendations
I would recommend the hiring of a part-time staff member that would share some of the
Media specialist responsibilities. This would free up some time for our Media Specialist to focus
on the technology aspect of her position. Developing material, presenting them to teachers,
monitoring their application, and providing support to teacher and students, takes time and
physical interaction which are impossible if the Media Specialist is doing a special project for
our administration.
To make sure that all students are aware of technology rules, besides making sure that
every student brings the internet permission form sign by parents, the Media Specialist needs to
create a mandatory internet orientation. This program would be done in the media center, one
class at a time where students would be exposed to plagiarism, citation procedures, and internet
safety, before they were allowed to use the internet for school work. This will not only help
protect students from getting in trouble with improper internet sites, but it will also make them
accountable for all the plagiarism and inappropriate behavior displayed with technology.
Although we are dealing with 9th-grade students that have used the internet since their
kindergarten years, they tend to forget how to use the internet when is convenient for them.
To continuously keep teachers updated with technology, the Media Specialist should
create a mandatory training day, either after school or during a planning period where once a
month, on a regular schedule, teachers would attend a technology training. I understand that we
would be giving up our planning time once a month, but we would also be reaping the benefits of
the new apps and programs that could be extremely efficient in our classrooms.

VII - Support material

Appendix 1
This interview will be completed with the media specialist/technology coordinator during our
conversation about the media center.
1. What is the mission statement of te center?
2. What are the goals of the center?
3. Who works in the media center and their job titles?
4. What are their job descriptions and what does each person do on a regular basis?
5. Who are your stakeholders?
6. What programs does the center provide to teachers and students? (face-to-face or online
programs)
 7. What technology equipment is available for teachers and students?
8. Do you have any short term goal for your program? How about long term goals?
9. What changes have you implemented that have made you more appealing to your
stakeholders?
10. What are your greatest challenges in running the day to day operations of the media
center?
11. How do you keep yourself informed and educator in new technologies and new
procedures?
12. If you could change things what would that be?

Appendix 2
This checklist was used during my observations of the media center. As I observed the daily
routine of the media center I added more to the list of observable events.

Task Observed Not observed

Media Specialist and media Clerk are attentive to students needs

an at the same time maintain control of the place

Students respect the rules of the media center

Books are neatly displayed and organization in made clear with

labels

Students now the procedures for check-in and check-out of book

with minimum assistance

Teacher check out material form the media center

Books

Videos/CDs
Lockboxes

Chromebooks and/or Ipads

Teachers use the laminator

Students use the die cut machine

Teachers use the die cut machine

The students use the computers in the media center to do research

and to print material when needed

School store is stocked with useful material and it is open

everyday, anytime students need supplies

A variety of seating is available to students

The Media center is available during the class time for students
who need a quiet place to read, finish a project, or take a test.

Media center is used for administration meetings

Media center is used for student’s awards ceremonies that

celebrate academic excellence

The Media center host a Book Fair

The Media center hosts a “Café” every Friday, where students

can buy coffee, tea and doughnuts before school and during
change of classes until lunch.

Appendix 3
Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/habershamninthgradeacademy/
School website
http://habershamninth.ga.hca.schoolinsites.com/?PageName=%27AboutTheSchool%27
Media Specialist Google Classroom
https://classroom.google.com/c/NTI5ODcxNDYxN1pa