We’re looking for feedback on our school district technology customer satisfaction surveys.

Our district technology department has conducted a short customer satisfaction survey with staff for the last 10 years.  We’ve also surveyed parents and students over the last 2 years.  Each year, the surveys have been reviewed and the feedback has impacted our decisions and future projects. However, this year, we want to stop and ask ahead of time –  are we still asking the right questions? 

Staff Survey
The purpose is to measure customer satisfaction among all staff.    That’s why you won’t see brand names or any specific technologies listed in the survey.  Our view is that customer service is the ability to respond in a timely manner, the ability to communicate clearly, and other service oriented factors. The survey is sent to all 1,300 staff members annually.  It is then reviewed by the district and results are shared with our district technology planning team.

Questions: The following questions have been used consistently over the last ten years, giving us the ability to see trends and patterns in our level of service.

1. When members of the district technology department visit my building, they are courteous and treat the staff and students with respect.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

2. District technology employees communicate effectively with staff members.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

3. The district technology department updates me on the “big picture” of what the priorities are across the district.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

4. The district technology department responds to work order requests in a timely fashion.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

5. After requests are addressed, I feel that I am properly notified regarding the status of the request and whether it was resolved or not.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

6. The district technology department focuses on the needs of our students when making decisions.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

7. What technology services are we doing well? (open ended response)

8. What suggestions do you have for improving district technology services? (open ended response)

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Parent Survey
We’ve only been surveying parents for the past two years.  We’ve changed some of the questions each year, depending the responses and feedback received.   Again, we do mention brand names or any specific technologies, as our intention instead is to collect parent perceptions and their feedback on our overall view of services we provide for families.  Also, we do not ask about home internet/technology access, as this information is collected through other means.  The survey is sent annually to all parents who have email addresses in Infinite Campus. It is then reviewed by the district and results are shared with our district technology planning team.

1. I am satisfied with the amount of technology available to my child at school. For more info on what is available in classrooms, visit http://www.wdmcs.org/district/technology
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

2. My child is encouraged by teachers to use technology at school.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

3. I feel technology is important in my child(ren)’s classroom.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

4. I have a child in 6th thru 12th grade and I am satisfied with how often my child’s grades are updated in Infinite Campus.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t have 6^th-12^th grade child(ren).

5. I am satisfied with my schools usage of Campus Messenger to send emails to update me on relevant school and classroom information.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

6. I am  satisfied with the content/information/usability of our school web site.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

7. I am satisfied with the district’s notification system that is used to alert me via telephone of school early dismissals and cancellations.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

8. What technology services are we doing well? (open ended response)

9. What suggestions do you have for improving district technology services? (open ended response)

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Student Survey
We’ve only been surveying students for the past two years.  We’ve changed some of the questions each year, depending the responses and feedback received.   Again, we do mention brand names or any specific technologies, as our intention instead is to collect student perceptions and their feedback on our overall view of services we provide.  Also, we do not ask about home internet/technology access; as this information is collected through other means, but we do ask about bring devices to school, etc. The survey is sent annually to all students who have email addresses in Infinite Campus and is also posted for students to respond. It is then reviewed by the district and results are shared with our district technology planning team.

1.  I am satisfied with the amount of technology available to me in my school.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

2.  The technology that is available at my school is reliable.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

3. I am satisfied with how often my grades are updated in Infinite Campus.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

4. I wish more of my classes used Moodle.
Options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, I don’t know

5. How often do you bring your own device (laptops/itouch,etc) and connect to the schools wireless network? [note: we allow and encourage this, but do not require it]
Options: Almost every day, every week, I do, but not every week, never.  There’s also an open essay form for written comments.

6. How often do you connect to your H: Drive from home via the home.wmdcs.org web site?
Options: Almost every day, every week, I do, but not every week, never.  There’s also an open essay form for written comments.

7.  What technology services are we doing well? (open ended response)

 8. What suggestions do you have for improving district technology services? (open ended response)

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How do I provide feedback?
You’re welcome to use the comment boxes below or you can email to abelingb@wdmcs.org

A look back and a look ahead for WDM Technology

The start of a new calendar year is a great time to take a look back and take a look ahead regarding technology in West Des Moines Iowa Schools.

//Looking back on 2011

Teacher Laptops
Providing laptops to teachers by itself isn’t innovative, however,  we made some significant changes in how laptops are deployed by giving teachers full administrative rights to their own devices.  The intent was not to push the tech support on to teachers – but instead, to provide them with full rights to install and test any software they need and choose.  More info>> http://wp.me/p1JF02-2A

iPads
Like many other districts, its been the year of the iPad.  We’ve begun our exploration of iPads through an application process where teachers could apply for 3 iPads for their classroom.  Why only 3 iPads? Our goal is make sure that its more than just a teacher tool, but also a tool that will help promote small group differeniated instruction.  At this time, we’re exploring which content areas and grade levels are most effective with iPads.  More info>>http://wp.me/p1JF02-9S

Social Media Tools
2011 will be remembered as our starting point that the district started using social media with our community.  All 14 schools now have Facebook pages and the number of groups and individuals using Twitter is on the rise.  How Twitter is used in WDMCS>>http://wp.me/s1JF02-twitter

Edmodo
The most popular addition to the online classroom tools this year has been Edmodo.  You’ll commonly hear kids refer to it as a “Facebook” look alike and it’s true.  Judging from the usage stats, it appears that Edmodo won’t be a passing “fad”..  Using Edmodo for discussions>> http://wp.me/p1JF02-d4  and Edmodo at Crossroads Park: http://wp.me/s1JF02-edmodo

State Technology Presentations
This fall, we had 7 staff members involved in 6 presentations at the state technology conference – the most we’ve had in years!  It’s great to see staff members out sharing their best practices!  More info: http://wp.me/s1JF02-itec11

Oct 15th PD day
On Oct 15th, the district technology team organized a district wide professional development mini-conference for staff.  Multiple sessions were offered for various grade levels.  The two most frequent feedback/remarks from the training… 1) They loved that sessions were conducted by our own staff, sharing their own best practices and 2) The mini-conference structure allowed staff to choose the sessions that were best for themselves.  More info>>http://wp.me/s1JF02-oct10am

//Looking ahead to 2012

More iPads
During Janruary, we’ll deploy the next round of 250 iPads to various grade levels.  Each time we’ve offered iPads, we have had twice as many applications as we have iPads, so it appears we still have plent of interest.  One of our goals this coming year – to dig deeper into which apps are most beneficial and WHY.  Everyone is excited about the large number of apps available, but our attention needs to turn towards HOW to use WHICH apps for the most benefit.

Digital cameras
This winter, we’ll be deploying new digital cameras to our schools.  It’s been a while since we’ve replaced digital cameras/video cameras and we believe that at around $100 each, they are a highly underrated classroom tools.  We’re working out the details now,  but we are looking to abandone the “check out” model that was previously used.  The belief is that the cameras are better used when they are assigned to a classroom that receives training.  Individuals can still borrow or check out the devices from the classrooms with cameras. In December, we conducted a course for the digital camera trainers and we’ll be announcing the deployment plans/courses in the next few weeks.

Safari Montage
We know that our subscription for Discovery Education Streaming will end on June 30th and we’ve been looking for a suitable replacement.  We’re currently running a pilot test of Safari Montage.  The pilot will end on Jan 14th.  We will then collect our last round of feedback and determine if we are going to proceed with Safari Montage or continue to shop for other options. More info>> http://wp.me/s1JF02-montage

1:1 conversations
Each year there are continued conversations among neighboring districts about going 1:1 (providing some type of mobile device for each child at certain grade levels.)  Individuals who are interested in this topic are typically asking “When?”  However, I think the conversation that needs to begin is “Why?”   Asking “why” does not imply it won’t happen – but instead signifies that it’s more important to discuss why we want it, what we expect from it, and what changes will happen because of it.  Do we expect to see exactly what we are currently doing – just electronically?  Do we expect to see students doing different tasks?  Do we expect more creation and less consumption of knowledge?   These are the conversations that need to be started….