BY ANNA HERKAMP
DANVILLE — There are still two weeks left for locals to take a survey that determines in part technology funding for Danville District 118.
School officials ask community members and district parents to visit the district’s Web site and follow the link at the top of the page to the survey.
Karen Petersen, the district’s tech secretary, helped create the surveys.
The district would like to see many more people give their input, she said.
The survey takes only a few minutes to complete, but provides an essential component to the district’s triennial technology report: community input.
So far, only 17 community members and 56 parents have completed the questionnaire, which asks community respondents to give their race, gender, age range, general Internet usage and the types of technological tools they frequently use. Parent respondents are asked a few more questions about their children’s technology usage, where they attend school, their age and the parent’s opinion of how well computer tools and other aids are used in the schools.
“We really still need community members and parents. It’s short and should take less than 10 minutes to complete if they’re tech-minded,” Petersen said.
“Each year, District 118 reviews the (latest) plan and technological integration. We have to upgrade the plan to be eligible for grants for our school district,” she said.
Next week, parents can stop by their school library or computer lab when they go to their parent-teacher conferences to take the questionnaire. Someone will be on hand to answer any questions the parents have. The Danville Public Library also has computer stations available for those who’d like to take the survey.
The next technology plan will be for 2010-13. The plan will include demographic information collected from the survey respondents, another component often required for grant applications.
The district’s current plan began in 2007 and ends next year, but the administration tries to collect data through surveys once every three years, Petersen said.
“All parent and community input will help us put together a good technology plan,” she said.
All input and comments will help create an external point-of-view for what technological tools are needed for schools, she said.
“We want to know what the community and parents see as needs for helping the students become technology literate,” she added.
Associate Superintendent Mark Denman said federal stimulus money through Title I may fund additional technology in the schools. Building principals will determine what kinds of software or hardware they might want in the next couple of years.
Technology training coordinator Carolyn Grant said the biggest component of district technology is ensuring that all hardware and software tools are upgraded and in working order.
Having readily-available computer applications is important, but if they don’t work, it can be extremely frustrating for students and teachers, she said.
Professional development is another ongoing goal for her department, she said.
Eventually, technology will be another area in which students are assessed periodically, Grant said.
The technology aptitude of students will be another requirement schools will have to meet in coming years, she added.
D118 SURVEY
Danville District 118 officials are seeking respondents for its technology survey, located at the top of the Web site http://www.danville.k12.il.us. District 118 parents and communtiy members are asked to take the survey by the end of the month.
