PART D: Findings and Implications

Wicked Problem Project:  
Google Calendar (& Weebly) Initiative


Formative:  Did the project get implemented as planned?

NO.  After emailing our district tech department to alert them to our plan and the sites (Weebly & Google) that we'd be using, we thought we had support.  However, within a few weeks, Weebly suddenly become BLOCKED by our district.  The reason being that it "violates district web policy".  This was a HUGE stumbling block for us.  Since we planned to train our colleagues in school, having the key site for their website creation COMPLETELY INACCESSIBLE made this impossible.  Thankfully, we already had helped a few colleagues begin their Weebly work, so they were able to modify it further from home, but this was not our goal.  Accessibility from home OR school was one of the key parts of our plan.  Having our district flatten that possibility was disheartening, to say the least.



Summative:  Evidence of Success in Addressing the Problem of Practice
The Problems of Practice were these:  lack of teacher time, hindered communication with those at home (parents/guardians/students) due to outdated "Homework Hotlink" system, and lack of user-friendliness of current system


Were these problems addressed with those teachers who have started our Weebly/Google Calendar shift?  Absolutely. Below is feedback provided by one teacher trained in our initiative:

"Pros about Google Calendar:
-easy to maneuver through the steps to create events/ lesson plans
-I like the fact that only a brief descriptions shows, but when you click on it, more info can be edited in
the option to view day/week/month is helpful
-long term viewing (month) works well when planning units
-the fact that we can share calendars is awesome! Essentially, we could have one calendar per subject -area per grade and then the individual teacher could adjust the description as needed. 

Cons:
-none at this time"

This same teacher has voiced that she has saved time not only in her own lesson planning and calendar updates, but also in her supervision of the school's Student Activity Council. She created another calendar specific to the SAC which has given her a great way to communicate with the students who are part of this council and parents who want to be more involved. Since the students on SAC are from all grade levels and have highly varied schedules, the Google Calendar has enabled their sponsor to centralize their updates and easily communicate with them about upcoming events.


How would you approach another project of this type differently given what you've learned here?
Pre-approval is huge. Making sure that not only your administrators, but also your District Technology Department are on board is essential to full and effective implementation. While I thought we already had all of these components when we started, next time I will be sure to check (and RE-CHECK) that we have the support of all stakeholders first. I also would like to create some web-based tutorials for any tech that I implement with staff so that they can easily access these from any computer and train at their own pace, on their own time, if needed.


What are the lessons learned that others might benefit from knowing about?

• Know your District's tech policy THOROUGHLY before you begin 
• Communicate VERY CLEARLY with your Technology Director/Department & Administrators about your implementation and its components 
• If necessary, have DATA READY to support your plan & show how it can positively impact your learning environment/community 

In what ways will you endeavor to do the same project again?

I will not let this filter issue keep me from helping make educator's lives more easy and communication improved with stakeholders at home. I plan to continue training those who are interested in Weebly and Google Calendar. My hope is that, once we are able to show how parents/guardians and students feel about the modified class sites, we will be able to get our district on board. This may require extensive data collection, presenting at board meetings, as well as volunteering to help make changes in district policies, but I believe that the overall goal of technological progression is worth the effort.