As promised, I gave my teachers a very informal technology survey, and the results are in. I simply sent an email asking them to respond with suggestions for after-school technology workshops that would meet their needs. I included a few examples of possible topics, and left it wide open for them to reply with whatever interested them. Out of 45 teachers, I received 12 responses, and some people made more than one suggestion.
Using Promethean Software (our brand of interactive whiteboard) – 5
eChalk (our web authoring software) – 4
PowerSchool (our state’s new school management software) – 4
Accelerated Reader – 1
Starting a Blog – 1
PhotoStory – 1
Excel – 1
Publisher – 1
School Set of Laptops – 1
So there you have it.
I wish I had heard from more teachers. Granted, there may be any number of good reasons why most of my teachers failed to respond, but it’s still a bit discouraging. Hmmm, I bet I wouldn’t be lacking for responses if I had polled the students on what they are interested in! That will be my next survey….
I wonder if you would have had more participation if you had sent a link to a Google Form to click through, and just listed much of the instructional technology you think you could offer after school workshops on, and then allowed teachers to use a scale to rate their interest 1st, then comfort level 2nd. At this time of year, I am not surprised at the low turn out. Maybe do the digital survey at the beginning of the year in the fall–you’ll probably have more of a turnout and results to analyze. Just my thoughts….