Adult learners are provided with technological tools that are relevant to the course of study, reliable, and compatible with the districts media equipment. Media equipment is selected based on format and price, technical quality, and ease of repair and maintenance. If adult learners have any concerns with the materials or equipment such as the type and size of bandwidth, who do the adult learners address these concerns with?
Adult learners may also want to implement new multimedia materials to enhance his or her learning experiences and to make it possible for him or her to accomplish the objectives or goals of the program. If adult learners did want additional material such as audio, video, or web 2.0 tools that are appropriate to the content, what procedures are put in place for selecting instructional resources for courses?
Any adult learner should address concerns to the instructional staff on duty. The instructional staff will take any concerns to the principal. The principal will select staff members who are directly involved in the program. The selected staff will review and make recommendations to the principal. The principal will then review the recommendations and submit them to the Instructional Office. The Instructional Office will then review the recommendations; either pass them back to the principal, or approve the requests.
ReplyDeleteIf any adult learner wanted to suggest additional materials, he or she will submit a written request and give it to the Instructional Office or principal. The Instructional Office or principal will notify the media specialist and media staff. The media specialist in correlation with the media staff will prepare a request including the amount of money available then submit it to the principal. The principal reviews the request prior to making the purchase.
Reference: Board of Education. (2001). Ferndale School District Administrative Guidelines. Retrieved from http://www.neola.com/ferndale-mi/
The IT (information technology) department of Ferndale Public Schools keeps a strict rein on what technology may and may not be implemented. Even free software is not allowed on school computers unless it somehow also comes with a site license (very rare).
ReplyDeleteSuggestions for technological materials go to the Program Director who is also the curriculum supervisor for the Adult & Alternative Education program. She will evaluate the materials for quality and effectiveness. If she deems them useful and practicable, she will send the request to the IT department.
At that point, the IT department will evaluate the technology on its own criteria. Some of those criteria are: cost (affordability), computer specifications (is it compatible with current technology), security (can it be hacked? Does it comply with FERPA? Can it be locked down to prevent unauthorized access?), does it come with a site license for each computer, and does it provide access to sites forbidden by the acceptable use policy?
The IT department may have other criteria it uses to evaluate technology requests, but they fluctuate and are not made clear to faculty in advance.
In practice, this means that suggestions are rarely acted upon before an adult participant graduates, because there is so much red tape to go through!
The school has actually just begun adding two NEW software programs to their cadre of computerized offerings! I am excited! :-D
ReplyDeleteI'll post a comparison of the current and new offerings in a separate post.
That is so very nice of the school to add two new software s to the program. This means the school has been monitoring the progress of each program and what impact these programs have on individual success. You "gotta' love the School Improvement Plan!!!
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