Bhavika Patel FRIT 7739- Practicum Technology Program Administrator

Part A: Program Evaluation

Executive Summary Coffee Middle School, located in Douglas, Ga, is one of the largest middle schools in the state of Georgia and is home to 1800 students. The media center at CMS is constantly running with students, teachers, and staff all clamoring to have access. The CMS media center is run by Media Specialist, Sonya Malphus, and two assistants Mrs. Jackson and Mrs. Yogasundram. Together they have worked hard to create a space where students feel comfortable hanging out, doing research, accessing computers, and reading books, and they are working on add more, such as a caf area for students who meet the yearly 20 books requirement and tablets for students to read on. While the media center is an integral and busy part of CMS, a frequent and reoccurring evaluation of the media center by students, teachers, and staff would allow for the media specialist and staff to assess which library services are being used and which areas need more focus and attention. The media specialist and staff could easily do this by having students, teachers, and staff of CMS complete a short, quick survey through an online program and checking it once a month. This survey could be pulled up on one computer every day, and the staff could have all participants complete the survey as they leave the media center. They could also keep a log through excel or another spreadsheet type software to track which area of the media center is being used most often, i.e., books, computers, reference sections, ect. These simple modifications can make help make big changes in the CMS media center for students, teachers, and staff.

Organizational Chart

Methods CMS Media Center is very accessible for students, teachers, and staff, and because of the easy of accessibility I was able to conduct the majority of my observations hours during my weekly planning time. I was also able to four full days this semester in the library while my students used the library services during their class time. During my observation I was able to track the frequency of library use by students and staff. In a normal day approximately 14 students visited the library to check books in and out, while fewer students, around 5-6 visited to use the computers or laptops. Several teachers, about 9 per day visited to use the media center workroom (lamination, circuit, ect), and about 2-3 teachers spoke to Mrs. Malphus about concerns or

questions. I was able to document my observations in a table, Appendix A, which allowed me to track the number of students and staff that visited daily. I also conducted an interview of the media specialist, Sonya Malphus; these questions and answers can be found in Appendix B. Sonya Malphus has severed as the librarian at CMS for 8 years, and she also servers at the technology specialist at CMS. She has been a librarian for over thirteen areas.

Center Context and Goals The CMS Media Center mission is to support and enhance the curriculum by offering patrons resources and services that meet instruction and leisure needs. The media center has been designed to meet the needs of all stake holders including, community members, parents, teachers, students, and staff. Coffee Middle School was constructed eight years ago, and when the new facility was built, it was designed to house a massive library to be the center of technology for the school. The CMS Media Center has three full time employees, Sonya Malphus, the media specialist, and Mrs. Jackson and Mrs. Yogasundram who are the two media assistants. Mrs. Jackson and Mrs. Yogasundram are responsible for assisting students check out books, find research materials, and helping teachers with using the teacher resources, while Mrs. Malphus is in charge of ordering and logging all technology and books and maintaining the school website and yearbook committee. The library hosts a large computer area and plenty of seating for students who want to do research or read. The library has also made adaptations for the large size, such as ordering laptop carts for classroom use, laptops and tablets for teachers, and adding in a new caf area for student to relax in. Since students at CMS are now required to read 20 books per year, Mrs. Malphus and her staff and added several new novels to the media center and offer a request list where students can choose novels they would like to have available

in the media center. Mrs. Malphus and her staff are constantly revamping the media center to encourage students to read and stay active in.

The goals for Instructional Media at Coffee Middle School are as follows: The Coffee County School System will provide media that enrich and support the curriculum taking into consideration the varied students served. Media will be provided which stimulates growth in factual knowledge, literacy appreciation, aesthetic values and ethical standards. Also, media will relate to and support the basic educational goals adopted by the school system. Media will be provided that will give various sides of controversial issues so that young people may develop, under guidance, the practice of critical reading, viewing, listening, and thinking. Media will be provided that are representative of the many religious, ethnic, and cultural groups and their contributions to world heritage.

Center Activities The CMS media center offers many services outside of traditional library services, such as a center for various club and organization meetings, contests to promote reading, and offers a course for new students (6th graders) to get to know the library. The media specialist also maintains the school webpage and documents all clubs and organizations as well as upcoming news and information. She is also in charge of the yearbook committee, and the media center houses the equipment that is used for this purpose.

Evaluation The CMS media center is currently meeting the mission statement and goal set forth by the center and is operating very efficiently. The instructional needs of the students and staff are being met since the majority of the libraries use is for education purposes. However, the center could use an improvement on its leisure needs, and Mrs. Malphus and her staff are currently working on trying to improve these needs. I think that through the improvements planned: adding a caf, creating a reading area, bringing in tablets/ devices for students to read on, adding informational text such as magazines, ect. this can be easily improved on and made pleasurable for students. Since the CMS media center does not have an accurate method of measuring goals, it is difficult to say if the goals are being met or not. If the media center could set goal and design a system of checking them to see if they are being met. Staff could set goals to assess the number of students and staff that visit the center, how many students use school programs (Study Island, AR, USA Test Prep), effectiveness of teacher technology, and texts/ novels that students and teachers use. This could be easily done through documentation on a spreadsheet and surveying of students and staff.

Part B: Monthly Report The CMS Media Center has so much to offer for students and staff, as well as, members of the community. The link below will allow you to access to a brief video showcasing the amenities of the CMS library. http://vimeo.com/59948357

Appendix A Observation Table Student Checking books in/ out Desktops Laptops Game center Teacher Resources Teachers/ Staff

Appendix B Media Specialist Interview What are the job titles and duties of Media Center staff? There are three staff members for the CMS media center, me (Sonya Malphus, as the Media Specialist, and two media assistants (Mrs. Jackson and Mrs. Yogasundram.) Together we achieve all the goals set forth for the media center: Coordinate the building media and technology committee Implement media policies and procedures in line with system policies Participate in curriculum development and implementation by serving on textbook committees, developing learning materials, recommending media and technology. Etc Manage and ensure accessibility to media resources

Maintain awareness of new developments in technology and provide relevant information to teachers and staff

Seek professional development opportunities for self and school Coordinate activities facilitated in the media center Assist in selection of media center staff (media specialist only) Adhere to federal copyright laws and make sure school follows system policy as well

What is the mission of the center? There are many stakeholders in the Coffee County media center including parents, students, teachers, staff, board members, and community members all of which contribute to the overall success of the center.

What are the goals of the media center? The goals for Instructional Media at Coffee Middle School The Coffee County School System will provide media that enrich and support the curriculum taking into consideration the varied students served. Media will be provided which stimulates growth in factual knowledge, literacy appreciation, aesthetic values and ethical standards. Also, media will relate to and support the basic educational goals adopted by the school system. Media will be provided that will give various sides of controversial issues so that young people may develop, under guidance, the practice of critical reading, viewing, listening, and thinking.

Media will be provided that are representative of the many religious, ethnic, and cultural groups and their contributions to world heritage.

Who are the stakeholders? The stakeholders are community members, parents, students, teachers, staff, and board members. They all contribute to the overall achievement of the media center.

What activities are provided by the media center? 6th grade tours Club/ organization meetings Contents to promote reading Buddy pictures fundraiser to purchase new books/ technology

What is the history of the media center? Coffee Middle School opened in 2006 when East Coffee Middle School and West Coffee Middle School merged into a massive 1800 student body campus. When the school opened the media center was provided with a computer station of 30 computers (one class set). The library was staffed with one media specialist and one assistant. As the school has progressed and needs of students and staff were identified the media center has added more technology in the media center, such as mobile laptop carts that can be used in the media center or checked out for teacher use. The school also had Wi-Fi installed throughout the campus, which is being updated as often as possible for efficiency by the technology department. As the media specialist I am constantly working on emerging technology that exists and modifying/ fixing it to meet the needs of teachers. I have also seen a huge shift from books to technology and the focus is mostly

technology. I am also responsible for the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade computer lab and 4 classroom computer labs for technology classes. Each of these labs has almost 30 computers to accommodate an entire class at one time.