Office of Instruction
Instructional Technology
Requirements /
Definitions /
Responsibilities /
Reporting /
FAQs for the LoTi Survey /
Directions for the LoTi Survey
Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the LoTi Digital-Age Survey
General Information
Account/Login Issues
Taking the Survey
If after searching the FAQs your question has not been answered, please email LoTiSurvey at RIDE.RI.GOV.
General Information
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1. What is LoTi?
“LoTi” stands for “Levels of Teaching Innovation.”
The LoTi Digital-Age Survey is a tool that is aligned to the ISTE NETS*T (teachers’ version) and NETS*A
(administrators’ version) which measures the levels of Personal Computer Use (PCU), Level of Technology
Implementation (LoTI), and Current Instructional Practices (CIP) according to research-based and
ISTE NETS-based frameworks.
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2. Why are we taking the LoTi Digital-Age Survey?
The USDOE requires ALL states to report out on four areas relating to technology: Computers with
Internet Access, (Eighth Grade) Technology Literacy, Personnel Skilled in Technology, and Technology
Integration in the Classroom.
This survey will fulfill Rhode Island's reporting requirements for the Personnel Skilled in Technology and the Technology Integration in the Classroom reporting items.
Please note that the data we are collecting will be data to complement the baseline data collected in 2010. What our results are is not as important as having results which we, as a state and at the local level, can then use in our discussions relating to technology integration and technology use in our classrooms.
We are using the LoTi Digital-Age Survey for this year and the past year because
in 2010 it was the most applicable of the available options for collecting the kind of data we need for these two reporting requirements.
The Commissioner's Weekly Field Memo to Superintendents that was sent out on
March 18, 2011, included the following notice:
RIDE to collect information on personnel skilled in technology, status of technology integration
Please see the following notice from the Office of Instruction, Assessment, and Curriculum:
The U.S. Department of Education requires states to report out on four areas relating to
technology by June 2011. RIDE has already begun collecting data for this year on two areas:
“Computers with Internet Access” and “8th-Grade Technology Literacy.”
In order to collect and report out on the final two measures, “Personnel Skilled in Technology”
and “Technology Integration Status,” RIDE will again put into operation a statewide
implementation of the LoTi Digital Age Survey Tool.
This tool will allow the state to fulfill the federal reporting requirements as well as
provide insight into technology use within the individual districts.
The personnel required to take the LoTi Digital Age Survey includes all district/school
administrators, teachers, and library/media specialists. The survey takes
approximately twenty to thirty minutes to complete, and it is accessed through a secure,
online portal. The survey window will be open from March 28 to April 15, 2011.
Frequently Asked Questions and the directions for taking the survey are available on
the RIDE Web site: http://www.ride.ri.gov/Instruction/intech/personnel.aspx.
LoTi stands for “Levels of Technology Innovation.” The LoTi Tool is made up of two parts:
the Digital-Age Survey and the Profiler. The Digital-Age Survey is a multiple-choice,
online self-assessment that is aligned to the International Society for Technology Educators (ISTE)
National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS*T) and for Administrators (NETS*A).
The results from the Survey are aggregated within the “Profiler” tool to create reports at
the state, district, and/or individual-school level. The tool is accessible only by
administrators who have been given a specific login and password with appropriate hierarchy
of access and permissions. The tool also provides a suite of convenient management tools
to keep track of the district/school interaction with the LoTi Digital-Age Survey. The
results will also allow LEAs and RIDE to examine the transformation to digital-age teaching
characterized by the use of digital tools and resources to promote higher-order cognitive
processing, engaged student learning, and authentic, real-world problem solving.
For more information on the survey and the Profiler tool, please see the web sites below.
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Key Dates
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March 18, 2011
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Commissioner sends memo to Superintendents
Additional information is available on the RIDE web site.
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March 21, 2011
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RIDE forwards letter from memo to Principals and Technology Directors
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March 21-27, 2011
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Personnel encouraged to test login information
All personnel required to take the survey are strongly
recommended to visit the
Directions page and follow the
instructions for logging in to ensure that logging in will
be possible during the survey window.
LoTi will send a reminder email to all personnel in its
database (i.e., all personnel who participated in the 2010 survey).
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March 28, 2011
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Survey Window Opens
All personnel (administrators/teachers/library media specialists)
must complete the online survey. Administrators take the survey
for “Instructional Leaders”. Teachers and library
media specialists take the survey for “teachers”.
Each survey takes approximately twenty to thirty minutes to complete,
and is accessible at any time of the day or night through a secure
online portal.
For clarification on who has to take the survey, please see the
definition of skilled personnel
on the main Personnel Skilled in Technology page.
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April 15, 2011
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Survey Window Closes
After the window has closed, email reminders of
account information for each LEA for the Profiler tool
will be sent to each LEA's administrators.
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3. Do I have to take this survey?
The following personnel are required to take this survey: public
school teachers, library media specialists, content area (e.g., literacy, reading, math) coaches who interact with students for a significant portion of their time, principals, assistant principals, superintendents, assistant superintendents, and curriculum directors. A full description can be found here: http://www.ride.ri.gov/Instruction/intech/personnel.aspx#define.
Data from this survey will be used to fulfill RI's Federal Reporting Requirements for "Personnel Skilled in Technology" and "Technology Integration in the Classroom" so it is important that all who are required to take the survey please do. Though your login may be your certification number, this data does not link to your certification information - it is only for federal reporting purposes and to provide insight into technology use within school districts.
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4. Will we have to take this survey every year from now on?
The LoTi Digital-Age Survey is the tool that will allow us to start looking at this information
and fulfill two of our federal reporting requirements.
This is the second year of a two year contract RIDE has with LoTi to use this tool.
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5. What will the results mean?
The results from the first year provided a baseline for the second year.
The results from both years will provide required federal reporting data.
The results from both years will also provide districts and schools with a snapshot of how technology is used or not used.
It will indicate how comfortable teachers, administrators, and library media specialists are in using technology.
It will allow us all to ask if we are satisfied with the results and determine action plans if we are not.
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Account/Login Issues
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1. I never received my username and password through
the reminder email. What should I do?
Are you required to take this survey? Click here to check if your job description falls under the required personnel listed in the bulleted paragraphs, or under the "Note". If you are not required to take the survey (your job is in the "Note" paragraph), you're all set - you were not supposed to receive an email. If you are required to take the survey, please try the following.
1. Check your mailbox size - if your mailbox is full, the reminder email may have bounced.
2. Check your Junk Mail folder - it may have been filtered out. Search for "support@lotilounge.com" or "LotiSurvey@ride.ri.gov" as the "From" email address.
3. If you cannot find an email from either address, or realize that you deleted
it by mistake, you can try to log in by using your certification number as your username and password at http://www.lotilounge.com under "Member Login"
(see the Directions page for step by step login information).
4. If that does not work, please follow the directions under the FAQ below - "I can't access my account or login! What should I do?" Please note that you have until April 15 to complete this survey.
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2. I can't access my account or login! What should I do?
Click the "Need help signing in?" link below the "Member Login" boxes
on the LoTi Lounge page. Fill out the Password Request Form to
have your username and password sent to you.
1. If you receive the reminder email and your username and password still does not work, please email LoTiSurvey at RIDE.RI.GOV (to copy/paste address, please remove spaces and replace at with @) with your name, certification number, school, and district. We will try to fix it as quickly as we can, but please understand that it may not be fixed that day. Please note that you have until April 15 to complete this survey.
2. If you receive: "User not Found! The Email address you typed is not in our database" after filling out the Password Request Form, your email address may not have been correct when it was imported
or else your information has changed since last year's survey
implementation.
Please email LoTiSurvey at RIDE.RI.GOV (to copy/paste address, please remove spaces and replace at with @) with your name, certification number, school, and district, and a brief explanation for what you have tried (e.g., "I tried to login, it didn't work, so I followed FAQ 7 and it still didn't work."). We will try to fix it as quickly as we can, but please understand that it may not be fixed that day. You have until
April 15 to take this survey.
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3. How can I check or correct my LoTi account information (e.g., change email address or password)?
Once you are logged in, on the left-hand menu of your home screen, scroll down to "My Account", and click on "Edit User Profile." Make your corrections on the form provided, then click "Save Changes".
If you have not logged in for several months, the first page that appears after you login may be an information confirmation page (no left-hand menu) rather than the home screen. If you see this page, you can correct your information
on its form instead and then click "Submit." It will then bring you to your home screen.
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4. There are personnel who were sent emails but whose positions do not require them to take the survey.
Do they need to be removed from the roster so our school is not incomplete?
They do not need to be removed from the school roster - they will not affect your school's results. In the data/school personnel verification that took place in mid-April
of 2010, there were some districts where the exempt personnel were not removed from the list that was used to create the accounts.
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Taking the Survey
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1. How long do I have to take this survey?
The survey window is open from March 28 to April 15, 2011.
A full timeline can be found here. RIDE recommends that personnel required to take the survey try to login ahead of time so that any account issues can be resolved prior to the opening of the survey.
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2. I could not find the drop-down menu they refer to to pick the leadership survey.
The teacher one is not applicable to principals, so what happened and what should I do?
In this situation, you started taking the teachers version because you didn't select the "... for Instructional Leaders" version from the drop-down menu before you clicked on the "Take the Survey" graphic. The survey will default to the teacher version since this is the most used. Please email LoTiSurvey at RIDE.RI.GOV (to copy/paste address, please remove spaces and replace at with @) with your name, certification number, school, and district, and a brief explanation (e.g., "I started taking the teachers' version of the survey but I am an administrator and need to take the instructional leaders' version"), and we will reset your account so you can take the correct version.
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3. I only see my students once per week. I am not sure how to answer some of these questions?
The answer scale (0-7) is the same for every multiple choice question, and measures frequency.
Please Note: If you teach a class where you only see a group of students on a limited basis (e.g., once per
week), you can apply the scale within the context of when you see your students on a scale of least often to
most often.
For example, a teacher who teaches a semester elective that meets once or twice a week may think:
0 (Never); 1 (Once per course); 2 (Twice per course); 3 (Once a month);
4 (Every few class periods);
5 (Every other class period); 6 (Once every class period); 7 (Multiple times per class period)
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4. Some questions do not quite match the answer choices. I am not sure how to answer these questions?
Some questions do not quite match the answer choices at first glance.
Reread the question. Think about the question, and select the answer that makes the most sense.
Look to the FAQ above for an idea of how to choose an answer choice.
You can leave a question blank, however, leaving questions blank may affect your results.
Once you select a choice, you cannot unclick an answer to leave it blank.
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5. I was told that at the end of the survey, after I have submitted my answers,
a graph image should show up.
Why don't I see that graph?
If you are on a computer where images are blocked (such as a school computer), you may not be able to see it. You can sign off out of the survey and close your browser, then access your results from a computer that does not block images. Your results are stored online and are accessible from any computer.
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6. What does the high or low “priority” in the graph mean?
LoTi recommends a priority area when seeking professional development.
See “Digital Age PD Priorities” in the left-hand menu for more information
on the priority areas.
Please note: RIDE is not promoting the courses or professional development sessions listed at
the bottom of your Summary Page. RIDE is using the site for its survey tool in order to
gather data for federal reporting requirements only. It is at the discretion of local
LEAs whether to use, purchase, or promote the courses, professional development sessions,
or other resources on the LoTi page.
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7. Where can I find out more about the frameworks and results that I received?
See the frameworks links in the left-hand menu, or click on the link to the summary of your results (also in the left-hand menu) and scroll down the page.
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8. Is RIDE promoting the courses or PD sessions listed at the bottom of my Summary Page?
RIDE is not promoting the courses or professional development sessions listed at the bottom of your Summary Page.
RIDE is using the site for its survey tool in order to gather data for federal reporting requirements only.
It is at the discretion of local LEAs whether to use, purchase, or promote the courses, professional development sessions, or other resources on the LoTi page.
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