Project Background
How can technology be used more thoughtfully in the classroom? The National Writing Project's Technology Initiative is an ongoing program to find creative answers to that question. In early 2005, KMWP TC Bonnie Webb (Cooper Middle School) was instrumental in drafting a proposal for seed site funding to explore this area. The Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project is one of a handful of sites across the nation selected to participate in this progressive project and was awarded $15K to create a site-centered tech-focused initiative.

Year One
Members of our site--from elementary to college level--joined together in the summer of 2005 to begin sharing their use of technology and exploring ways to enhance their practices. This group of teachers--KMWP's "Technology Team"--includes Traci Blanchard, Scott Kent, Kelly Parker, Janice Ramsay, W. Scott Smoot,  and Bonnie Webb. Under the guidance of Dr. Sarah Robbins, the TCs began by discussing and settling upon essential questions that would guide their inquiry:

• What is necessary for sustained professional development for teachers as technology needs increase?
• How can classroom teachers be supported to sustain inquiry communities for developing instructional approaches to using emerging technologies?
• What specific technology-based professional development programs can the KMWP develop to meet the needs of teachers in our area?
• How can we make area school systems aware of our professional development workshops?

From these questions, the Tech Team derived four primary goals for the Technology Initiative:

1. To enact and assess a new framework for sustained professional development that focuses on technology and learning.
2. To identify and reflect on the key learning results.
3. To practice and refine effective technology in-service programs. 
4. To create a program to make local schools aware of our professional development opportunities.

TI TCs began collaborative work on several projects that addressed these goals : a re-visioning of the KMWP website, the creation of a series of professional development courses, and an active record-keeping of their group inquiry process documented on a TI website created by Scott Kent. By the summer/fall of 2006, the Tech Initiative TCs had designed and tested their workshops with the KMWP site community and with students in KSU's M.Ed. program in Adolescent Education.

Year Two
The KMWP Tech Initiative again received full funding to continue their work for a second year. While TI TCs continued honing their workshops, they worked as a group troubleshooting and reviewing a beta version of the new KMWP website, created by Scott Kent. The site community also participated in this review process through an online survey. Meanwhile, a second group of teacher-researchers--the Faciliated Research Group, consisting of Jamie Harrison, Dr. David Johnson, Kiran Narker, Re Thorn, and Julie Warner--met through the year to examine a specific use of technology in their practice. Narrative reports of their inquiry are available on the group's wiki site. Technology courses designed by TI TCs were offered in spring and summer of 2007, and the new KMWP interactive website debuted in June 2007.

Year Three
In July of 2007, Tech Initiative received additional funding for a third year. Keeping in mind our original questions and goals, the TI TCs are considering some of the challenges they've faced thus far, including how to more effectively market our work to the site community and area schools. Additionally, 2007-2008 will see continued, comprehensive development of this website so that it can serve as an online center for our community. We welcomed two new members to the TI this fall, Judith Robinson and Cindy Crews, both of whom are active in technology-integrated instruction in Cherokee County.

Brainstorming focused on demonstrating the KMWP’s ability to provide workshops—through real-world examples in the form of video clips and similar demonstrations—for different writing-centered purposes, for different grade levels, and at different costs. To do this, a “matrix” of different kinds of digital projects was envisioned to show the breadth of technology applications possible. As first imagined it, the matrix featured a variety of actual tech-infused English projects created by local area students as part of their coursework. A call for participants generated a fair amount of response from areas teachers who have done such work with their students, and these projects are now represented (with appropriate permissions) in our evolving Tech Matrix. Practical considerations have us also pulling examples from YouTube and similar sites as we continue this work in progress. Our hope is that the matrix will continue to grow into a project inviting many teachers to contribute, so that eventually we’ll have a one-of-a-kind showcase of local student work, thus yielding a marketing mechanism with an even sharper argument for the services we can provide.

Advanced Technology Institute (ATI)

In brainstorming ways we might continue building site capacity with technology while weaving such efforts in with our core mission, the third-year TI crew settled upon an “advanced technology institute” concept. Over the summer of 2008, a call-for-proposals invited area teachers to submit proposals to develop tech-related projects of their choosing during the institute with the goal of improving student learning while simultaneously serving as resources for fellow teachers.

During a month-long series of working weekend sessions in Fall 2008, these ATI invitees created practical, tech-enhanced projects for student and teachers:

Several important threads united ATI work, notably an emphasis on student-centered approaches, standards-based performance, and a vision for how participants might be able to assist other teachers in initiating similar projects. Furthermore, given the realities of budget issues, teacher-presenters specialized in using existing or free technology resources to enhance student learning.

Facilitated by Dr. Darren Crovitz (KSU English Education faculty) and Jessica Miller (McCleskey Middle School), the ATI culminated in the showcase for area VIPs intended to highlight this progressive technology work while also spreading word about the KMWP’s tech-centered professional development possibilities. Presenters and their projects included

• Janice Ramsey (E. T. Booth Middle School): “Teaching Middle School Writing in Real Time: Using Email in the Language Arts Classroom”
• Ana Hale (Centennial High School): “Using Online Modality Applications to Demonstrate Student Learning”
• Susan Henderson (Parkview High School): “The Next Frontier: Taking High School Publications Into Cyberspace”
• Carolyn Waters (Cobb County High School English Supervisor): “Book Trailers to Pique Student Interest”
• Jessica Miller: “Voices from the Middle: An Online Approach for Multimodal Memoir”
• Cindy Crews (Bascomb Elementary School): “Goin’ Global: Engaging Students in Our World Through Technology”
• Vickie Crockett (Lindley Middle School): “Learning, ESL, and Online Collaboration”
• Chuck Bohannon (Cass High School): “Visualizing Chemistry Concepts Through Podcasting”
• Darren Crovitz: “Low-Tech Digital Projects with High-Impact Effect”

The work of these pioneering teachers is emblematic of how the KMWP is increasingly seeking ways to integrate technology-enhanced learning into the fabric of our activities. We are excited to build on their work as we move forward with helping teachers create rich learning experiences for students.