Quickly and Simply Take The 
Pulse of Your Educational Community

http://snapshotsurvey.org 

In schools and districts these days, many decisions revolve around technology. e.g., should the school purchase computers for a lab or for individual classrooms, should the district provide Internet filtering services, should curriculum be purchased that integrates technology or should it be written in-house, etc. etc. Gathering input on these issues from local teachers and administrators would lead to better decisions and more effective implementations. And, once an implementation is underway, surveying again to see what changes are taking place provides invaluable feedback for mid-course corrections.

Fortunately, the Internet can be leveraged to quickly and simply tap into the voices of the districts' educators. In particular, at http://snapshotsurvey.org schools and districts can develop a short survey that can be administered online via standard browsers; basic statistical analyses of the survey data is also provided. As well, survey takers will receive individualized feedback: each survey taker will be sent, via email, a URL that contains a comparison of the survey taker's responses with their group's responses.

For example, the results from a February 11-21, 2000 Snapshot Survey of Nebraska educators are, already, presented at http://snapshotsurvey.org/. Over 3100 teachers and administrators (about 15% of the stateís educators) went online for 10-15 minutes, and provided Nebraska decision makers with a clear picture of their attitudes, beliefs and needs with respect to technology use in the classroom.

Last but not least: the Snapshot Survey website is available at no cost for schools and districts. You create 5-10 questions that are specific to your school/district; add in the 10-15 questions that we have used around the country, and the survey is done! Contact Cathleen Norris, Professor, University of North Texas, at Cathleen-Norris@umich.edu for further information.