Technology Policies

Does your school district have an Internet Acceptable Use Policy?  YES
Does your school district have an Internet Publishing Policy?  YES
Does your school district have a Distance Education Policy?  YES
What does your district need to do to get these policies up-to-date?  These policies have not been updated for a couple of years.  We have recently updated policy to conform to CIPA requirements in July.  We need to review our other policies and use the resources available to us to do so. 

Total Cost of Ownership

* Did you find the CoSN website useful?
Yes, I think it provides a number of useful tools for school districts in making strategic decisions in technology acquisitons.
* What information on the website was most useful to you?
I like the Broadband News and Current Resources.  Technology is changing so rapidly that it is a challenge to be informed with current information.  This information is current.
* How will information from this website help your Technology Committee?
I think it will serve us well as we conduct our technology audit annually and budget to our needs. 
* What implications does this information have for technology planning in your school?
I believe the CoSN website will provide us with information to make more educated decisions in developing our technology budget. 

Assignment 2 - Websites

• What are your reactions to the websites you looked at?

They are all very different.  Some of them have useful information.  Some them are more professionally constructed than others.
 
• Is a website like this useful to a school district?  Yes, depending on the community e.g. size, demographics and expectations.
• Is it worth the time and effort to establish and maintain such a website?  Having a website is important.  Depending who you are trying reach out to, will determine the content on your site.
• What is the condition of your school’s website?  It has a good look and feel.  The secured portion is not what we were hoping for.  We are actually tranisitioning sites.  http://wessingtonsprings.k12.sd.us/wessingtonsprings/site/default.asp We hope to launch our new site in the coming days.
• What information should be included in a school website?  I think it is dependent upon the community and goals for the site.  We think the calendar feature on our site is very important.  This is able to be synced to smartphones. This is something that is used heavily by our community.  The community likes the photo loop.  A large majority of information, is information which is static and not dynamic. 
• What role should the superintendent have with the school website?  Depending on the size of the district.  Obviously you want your school to well presented.  So having some say in the design e.g. look and feel in a large district.  Smaller district you would become more involved in content etc..
• Should each teacher be required to have a link on the school website that contains information about their classes (such as assignments, web resources, etc)?  We have transitioned  long ago to wikis, secured sites, edmodo etc... Yes they should have a communication tool.  I don't think this is necessary on the school site with all the other tools we have. 
• How can students be involved creating and maintaining a school website?  They can be involved.  The best way to do this is through a content management system, where they design and a administrator approves prior to the posting of information. 

 

Wessington Springs School District Accomplishments

A recently published article in the Prairie Tracks publication.  http://www.prairietracksonline.com/prairietracks.pdf Wessington Springs School District Accomplishments, page 19.