BL@TS is the “Blueprint for Assessing Tech Skills,” an LPS created instrument to self-reflect on your digital literacy. In return for 10 minutes of your time, you will be provided direction for your future instructional technology development, as shown below. Your data will also (anonymously) assist your building leaders in directing future staff development options.
To learn more about BL@TS, see the “About BL@TS” tab presented below.
Computing Services occasionally offers training workshops supporting topics in this category and can even schedule customized workshops for individual schools. A list of topics can be found on this page.
These are OverDrive books, login with your LPS Credentials
Computing Services regularly offers training workshops supporting topics in this category and can even schedule customized workshops for individual schools. A list of topics can be found on this page.
The various pieces of Connected Classroom Equipment are all collected in this single LPS resource, including links to resources that support technology that allows students to better See, Hear, and Interact, working with video, and a number of tips for using the teacher laptop while presenting in a classroom environment.
To view studies representing over forty years of research into the benefits of sound enhancement systems in the classroom, see the “Research and Studies” section of this page.
Computing Services regularly offers training workshops supporting topics in this category and can even schedule customized workshops for individual schools. A list of topics can be found on this page.
The Curriculum and Instruction, Computing Services, and Library Media Services department collaborate to provide Staff development on the topics in this category. School Tech Leaders, Librarians, Instructional Coaches, or Administrators will have a good idea who to reach out to for scheduling building sessions on any of these topics. If not, contact Kristi Peters for further clarification.
Common Sense Media is a provider of digital citizenship curriculum to LPS teachers. It is also an incredible resource for parents looking for thoughtful education and talking points on the latest in digital and social media.
Creative Commons is an organization that supports a framework for legal sharing of works of knowledge and creativity. Teachers can take advantage of these generous content creators and use the provided search tools to surface materials that can be used in the classroom.
The Curriculum and Instruction, Computing Services, and Library Media Services department collaborate to provide Staff development on the topics in this category. School Tech Leaders, Librarians, Instructional Coaches, or Administrators will have a good idea who to reach out to for scheduling building sessions on any of these topics. If not, contact Kristi Peters for further clarification.
In 2009, LPS Computing Services worked with a group of technologically minded “leaders in practice” (teachers) to create the first BL@TS (Blueprint for Assessing Technology Skills) tool. The purpose at the time was to provide teachers with a self-reflection that offered a roadmap towards making purposeful choices in their personal professional development, while providing building administrators with a snapshot of the current skillset in their buildings so that they could do the same. In the subsequent years, the BL@TS tool is periodically revisited and refined, with descriptive indicators updated to reflect the realities of the technology landscape in LPS at that time.
The 2017-18 school brings the latest major update to the tool (v3.0). Thanks to the inroads of the LPS CLASS Plan, the baseline of Connected Classroom hardware, and the work of the Instructional Technology Tools Committee in streamlining the pool of ITTs in use across the district, for the first time BL@TS 3 assumes a common language and shared expectations, and seeks to gain more granular data for administrators to direct targeted staff development.
With the standardizations, BL@TS 3 has shifted from descriptive and varied indicators of technology adoption to a set of action statements applied to specific functional areas (including named tools). The new framework of questions aligns with a number of exemplars from across the country, yet continues to address issues relevant to LPS.
BL@TS 3.0 also changes tools. For the first time, BL@TS will not live in an environment hand coded by LPS developers. Instead, the tool with be delivered within Qualtrics, a tool with a robust structure for gathering user responses and reporting upon the data collected. We are excited about some of the new possibilities this tool change offers.
Despite the big changes, the basic tenets of the tool remain the same; anonymity of the user, brevity that respects teacher time, and the ability for Principals to wield this tool to work within existing building structures. Administrators will continue to receive building specific data without ties to user names, but the tool used will allow for a more streamlined process of acquiring the report.
If you are interested in learning more about BL@TS or using it with your staff, please feel free to reach out to the Educational Technology Team for LPS, led by Kristi Peters.
Kristi Peters
Director, Ed Tech & Training
kristi@lps.org
402-458-3139
Are you a school administrator, instructional coach, school librarian, or technology leader? Click here to see your school’s data.
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