Kidspiration Training Project
Kim Baker, Edpsy 490TER Summer 2002
Part 1
An evaluation of the Kidspiration program was conducted in the spring of 2002 to determine if the program met Wood Dale School District 7 writing and technology goals. The results of the evaluation showed that the program did indeed meet many writing and technology goals. Several recommendations were made following the evaluation project. Three of them involved staff training in Kidspiration, having a technology support staff member present to help in the lab when teachers first use Kidspiration with students, and structuring the lessons to meet District 7 writing and technology goals. Based on these recommendations, the next logical step is to offer staff training in the program. The research has shown that Kidspiration fits our needs, this proposal serves to implement a plan to ensure it gets used.
Kidspiration is a software program designed by Inspiration Software Inc. The program focuses on visual learning by utilizing many types of graphic organizers. Graphic organizers have 3 advantages as learning tools. Visual symbols are easily recognized and the small amount of text allows the writer to focus on the key idea. Also, concept mapping encourages linking existing ideas to new ones in order for the user to identify relationships between them (Plotnick, 1997). The greater a learner's schema is regarding a particular topic, the more likely the learner is to comprehend the new material. Graphic organizers are one strategy used to help activate schema (Alvarez, 1989). This encourages higher-level thinking skills, such as reasoning and comparing and contrasting. The goals of the program are to help students brainstorm, create, and expand their story ideas. Wood Dale School District 7 has made it a priority to improve all student writing scores. The program helps meet the following Illinois State Standards for Language Arts for Late Elementary Students:
 | Goal 3.B.2a
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| Goal 3.B.2b
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| Goal 3.C.2a
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| Goal 3.C.2b
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The District Technology Plan calls for alignment of technology benchmarks with Illinois Learning Standards, increased integration of technology into the curriculum, and offering on-going training in the area of improving technology instruction. Kidspiration helps to meet the following goals from the Wood Dale School District 7 Technology Plan:
| Students will use technology to support a majority of the eight engaged learning variables with an emphasis on vision for learning. |
| Students will function as critical thinkers; able to analyze and select information and technologies appropriate to the task. |
| Students will use technology to effectively communicate their ideas, stories, and thoughts. |
| Students will display confidence, competence, and technology skills requisite to the use of technology in their regular school day. |
Results of the Kidspiration Evaluation Project, conducted in May 2002, show that students are motivated to learn on the computer, Kidspiration helps students improve in their current areas of strength in writing, Kidspiration contributes to student growth in writing overall, and that Kidspiration increases student technology literacy (Baker, 2002). Staff surveys, conducted in the fall of 2001 reveal that the largest concerns staff members have regarding software is training and knowledge of what software is available. Kidspiration fits Illinois State Standards for Language Arts for late elementary school students, Wood Dale School District 7's Technology Plan. Kidspiration also encourages schema activation through the use of graphic organizers. The program has been at both elementary schools as a site license. Due to lack of training in the program, it has been unused with the exception of the evaluation project class. Offering training in Kidspiration is the next logical step towards successfully integrating technology into the curriculum and supporting staff members in this task.
Wood Dale School District 7 has set monies aside for technology implementation. Typically dispersing these funds has been based upon staff surveys taken in the fall, in addition to technology committee opinions regarding technological needs. This proposal intends to persuade the technology committee to specifically allocate funds for the Kidspiration implementation plan. This implementation plan will be run similarly to the technology staff development courses offered in the 2001-2002 school year. In this way, technology staff, teachers, students, parents, and administrators will have a specific focus for how to integrate technology into the curriculum as well as effectively and consistently use new technologies.
References:
Alvarez, Marino et al. Schema Activation, Construction, and Application. ERIC
Digest. Downloaded from: http://eric.indiana.edu/www/digbib/digprint.cgi?filename=d046.txt
June 24, 2002.
Baker, Kim. Kidspiration Evaluation Project. 2002.
Illinois State Learning Standards.
Plotnick, Eric. Concept Mapping: A Graphical System for Understanding the Relationship between Concepts. ERIC Clearinghouse of Information and Technology. Syracuse, NY: 1997.
WoodDale School District 7 Technology Plan & Survey Results. 2002.