Technology Planning

Why Write One | The Procedure | Elements of a Plan | Assignments

Creating a plan for implementing technology in your school should be your first consideration as a technology leader. Your mission in this class will be to create a technology plan for the scenario that you chose or wrote last week. This week we will begin to talk about planning. By the end of this lesson you should have a good idea of what will be expected in your final project.

The Guidebook for Developing an Effective Instructional Technology Plan version 2.0. is a helpful resource. It can be downloaded if you have Adobe Acrobat Reader.

http://www.adobe.com/supportservice/custsupport/download.html

Once you have downloaded it you can print it. It is a helpful guide to technology planning.

National Center for Technology Planning

http://www.nctp.com/#top.

WHY SHOULD YOU WRITE A TECHNOLOGY PLAN?

Image of a Mountain Technology planning in a school will not be successful if the technology leader does not understand the reasons for writing a plan. A plan written because your district says you have to, or to get e-rate money only is a poor use of time and energy.
Here are some better reasons for putting all the effort you can into your technology plan:

Technology planning can give you a better idea of the current uses of technology. The planning process will open your eyes to what hardware and software is available.

In this process you should learn more about the needs and dreams of the staff (teachers, administrators, and support staff if appropriate).

The plan provides your school with direction for the implementation of technology. It is plan is your roadmap.

When done correctly a technology plan brings together all of the stakeholders in the technology of the school. It is an opportunity to increase collaboration and commitment to the improvement of your school.

A technology plan also allows (even encourages) you to dream. What would you like to see in your school in the future? Think about it!

THE PROCEDURE

Writing a technology plan is a long process. Be ready to take a year for writing the first plan. This time allows for plenty of research, discussion, revision and consensus before there is a final report.

Technology Plan Final:

The technology plan you write for the final can either be a real school technology plan that you are working on during this class for your school or a fictitious plan with fictional participants and school.

Although this class covers how to write a thorough plan, the one for the final will not be as thorough because we do not have a year and a committee of people working on it. You will write a modified plan. The goal of this plan is to give you a chance to work on some of the topics that we will cover in the course in a meaningful way.

The rubric for the plan covers all of the possible areas you could. Your plan for this class must have 10 of these items. Five of them are required and you can choose the other five.

Look at the Rubric

Step 1

Recruit and Organize Planning Team

A technology planning team should have representation from all of the groups involved in your school. You should recruit administrators, teachers, parents, students and other members of the community that will benefit or be involved in any way with the plan.

Be sure that there is a mechanism in place for communication to those who are unable to attend meetings. This will guarantee that they feel involved in the process.

Step 2

Research

Survey the technology already existing in your school. Be sure to note how it is being used as well as counting equipment.

Survey the teachers and staff of the school. Discover their fears and dreams about technology.

Explore what other schools similar to yours have done with technology.

Look to see what is coming in the next few years that your school should be prepared for.

Check what the research literature is saying about the applications of technology that your school is interested in. Benefit from others experience and study.

This is a good time to design some methods that you will use to evaluate technology in your school on a regular basis. If you design tools now that are helpful you can use them each year for updates.

Step 3

Construct the Technology Plan

Using the results of the research above, work as a group to define your vision and goals for technology in the school. Prioritize the different options and needs that have become evident. Do you need a lab or more classroom computers? What priority should be given to training? Should you upgrade older machines or replace them with new ones? All of these things (and more) can be discussed and clarified in this step.

Step 4

Final Writing of the Document

This can be a collaborative process where different people contribute parts of the plan or one person can write it. All parties should have a chance to read and react to different drafts as the plan is being made.

Remember that technology planning is a fluid, ongoing process. The document you create is not intended to be a hardbound book that gets stuck on the shelf. It is a working map and as your direction changes the plan will be revised.

Step 5

Implement, Evaluate, and Revise

When the plan is written it is not done. It is never done. A truly helpful technology plan is very flexible. Your technology committee will want to plan a cycle for revising the plan.

ELEMENTS OF A TECHNOLOGY PLAN

The following list of what goes into a technology plan is extensive. Your situation will dictate what you need in your plan. I have put an * next to the items that are absolutely essential. For our final Technology Plan 5 essential items must be included. The others items are important also, but not necessary for this assignment.

The technology plan that will be the final project for this course should have at least 10 of the sections listed below. It will be your choice which elements to put into your plan. You MUST include: Needs Assessment, Mission and Vision Statements, Goals and Objectives, Action Plan, and Staff Development. The other 5 areas will be up to you. If you are using a fictional scenario you will have to invent the needs and vision of your school. To get ideas use the Internet, talk to people in schools and look at other technology plans. Whether you are writing about an actual situation or a fictional one refer often to the rubric for guidance on what to research and write.

List of contributors | Equipment Inventory | Mission and Vision | Goals and Objectives | Action Plan

Program Integration | Curriculum Integration | Staff Development | Evaluation | Multiyear Planning

Equipment Standards | Funding Alternatives | Research and Development | Model Classroom Configuration

Facilities | Software Plan | Copyright, AUP | Maintenance and Support | Gifts and Disposal

*List of contributors
Remember to include representatives of all groups that will be effected by the plan in the actual planning. The list can be at the beginning, or included in the end. It is helpful to note how each person is involved in the school or community.

*Equipment Inventory and Needs assessment
Take a look at Ted Wesleys Technology Based Needs Assessment for a view into one way to do a needs assessment. It is on the National Center for Technology. Planning web site.
http://www.nctp.com/#top
Then look at a minimum of two other sites from this collection of needs assessments.
http://camalott.com/~living/needs.htm
Russell Smiths Needs Assessment Site.
A thorough listing of what equipment is available including the age of the equipment is important. It is also helpful to mention the infrastructure (electricity setup, phone lines, network drops, etc...)
The assessment should include staff development and attitudes as well as equipment. A thorough plan will also give detailed information about the school context as well as the district involvement with technology.

*Mission and Vision Statements
These statements are the basis for everything you do. A vision statement is broader than a mission statement and expresses an ideal for classrooms in the future. The mission statement describes your specific purpose and plans for fulfilling this vision.
This is an extremely important part of your plan, because it defines where you want to move with technology. If this is not clear you will not get anywhere. It is like going on vacation without a destination in mind.

*Goals and Objectives
Goals should be broad as well as attainable and measurable. The objectives should clearly relate to the goals and show clearly how these goals will be met.

*Action Plan
This is a timeline showing how these objectives will be met. A good action plan will specify when things will be done, who is responsible, how it will be funded, and how you will decide if it worked or not (evaluation) It should be clearly tied to objectives.

Program Integration
This area would address how the schools goals in technology relate to other programs in the school or district for example, reform efforts, outreach to the community, drug awareness, reading or writing workshop.
It only makes sense to coordinate efforts rather than having so many different programs going on that a teacher or student can't keep track of them.

book and glasses

Curriculum Integration
This is the buzzword of education today. Integration of technology should be central to your goals and objectives. This section could more clearly spell out how technology can enhance learning. It can also be a place to explore integration of other aspects of the curriculum (art and math, physical education and computer, music and history, etc...)

*Staff Development
This is a major consideration. A recent article stated that without adequate staff development computers will remain expensive toys. The needs assessment that you completed above will guide you in planning for types of staff development. It should also give you an idea of what types of training are preferred by the staff and what time is best for them. In the plan be as specific as you can about who will do what when. Make sure that there are enough resources budgeted for this. (both numbers of computers and money to pay trainers and teachers for their extra time).

Girl working at Desk

*Evaluation
This evaluation may be the one you used in the beginning to assess and make decisions about the plan.
In this section you should specify when and how the plan will be reviewed and revised. The evaluation should be tied to the goals and objectives.

Multiyear planning
Although technology changes rapidly, a one-year plan would not be adequate to implement changes and test a vision. A technology plan will be regularly revised to keep up with the advances in technology and the results of evaluations. Your plan should cover from 3-5 years with a time table (which can be revised) showing what you hope will happen each year.

Standards for equipment
Clarifying from the beginning what operating system, networking software, and other software you will be using will make things smoother down the road. This is the time to decide what to do with donated equipment, rather than when a parent is standing there with a printer asking if you want it. Does equipment have to be of a certain type? (Mac or PC) or age? for you to take it or will you take anything and find something to do with it.

*Funding Alternatives
It is good to have vision, but practicality forces us to plan where the funds will come from. Some of these may be assured like school budget or promised PTA donations. Others may be based on the success of a fundraiser or getting a particular grant. It will be helpful to you if you list here grants that you may want to apply to and when they are due.
Increasingly schools are realizing that technology should be a regular budget item. If your school is open to this you may want to explore what parts of the current budget are old technologies that can be replaced by new ones. (ex: overhead projectors, chalkboards, chalk, certain textbooks, etc. all depending on your technology plan and your school situation)

Research and Development
Basing your plan on published educational research makes your plan more solid. This is where you can record the results of your research in step 2. It should have had an effect on what you are describing. This is good documentation for those who will take over this plan further in the future.

Model Classroom Configuration
This is the vision area. Not many of us have the luxury of planning a model classroom configuration. Often all a classroom has is one electrical plug and that defines what can be done with technology. This area could include placement of computers in the school. Will they be in a lab, or classrooms? How many computers will there be in each classroom? Will the computers be networked? Where will wire run? etc...

school Facilities (electricity, security, etc...)
This is an important consideration. There are schools that have gotten thousands of dollars of equipment only to find that their electric system could not handle the load. Security can also be a problem. You may need to plan a system for locking the computers or use some funds to put bars on the windows of the rooms they will be in. Air conditioning is another consideration. The heat and humidity of Missouri summers can be damaging to a hard drive, especially of a server left on all of the time.

Software Plan
Clear statement of policies concerning software should be mentioned. This would include guidelines for purchasing, dealing with warranties, and budgets. You may also want to include what policy you will have for students bringing software from home, or borrowing software from the school. The issue of virus protection may fall in here.

computer Copyright, AUP
A statement clearly outlining the schools stand on copyright is important. It has become SO easy to take someone elses work and use it. It is also easy to take one piece of software and use it throughout the whole school. Schools should be places where all students learn what is correct. Having a clear statement explaining fair use and setting expectations for teachers and students will keep the school from getting in trouble over copyright infringement.
An AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) delineates for students and parents what will be done to keep students from using technology in a destructive or illegal way. This includes explanation of how students will be kept out of sexually explicit and other inappropriate web sites, expectations about respectful use of e-mail, and consequences for hacking and other destructive use of the technology.

Maintenance and Support
Planning for maintenance and support in the beginning can save a lot of pain. Some of this is regular maintenance, like cleaning and conditioning, but it also includes major repair of hardware. Support includes troubleshooting when there are problems and training. Writing a procedure to deal with these things and deciding who will take care of them is necessary.

Gifts and disposal
How will you deal with donations of computers? Who will maintain the donated equipment? How can you make sure that donated equipment is compatible with what you have purchased? Finally what will you do with the hardware that becomes unusable or too slow for the schools purposes?

GETTING STARTED

Now that we have gone over all of these details you can begin working on your technology plan. Look over the syllabus to see what we will be covering in future lessons before you organize your writing. Right now you can begin to do step one and step two:

Recruit and Organize Your Planning Team and research.

There are many resources available to help you with technology planning. One of the best ways to prepare yourself for writing a successful technology plan is to see what others have done.

National Institute for Technology Planning along with other sponsors chooses the best technology plan each year. Look at the reviews here to get some ideas for your plan:

http://www2.msstate.edu/~lsa1/sip/

This site is often mentioned as having an exemplary plan.

http://www.bham.wednet.edu/tech/techplan.htm

If you go to the course website and look into the area called external links you can view the technology plans for the last class. They all have different strengths and weaknesses, but are all terrific.

Your technology plans will be posted on a website for all of the class to see by July 16th. You can post it yourself in your own web space (through your school, your ISP or your student web space) and just give me a URL OR you can send it to me as an attachment in .rtf format and I will post it. Links to each of the plans will be posted for the class to view in the External Links section during the last week of class. The point of the assignment is to create good content for a technology plan, not something beautiful. The rubric says nothing about how it looks, so do not worry about this.

Begin now working on your technology plan. For now you should be collecting data that you want included in your plan. Look at the process above and follow it in your imaginary school or your real one. Begin to dream about what you can do.

HINT

The lesson for week five covers how to create a web page and gives places that will allow you to post a web page for free as well as many other resources. If you choose to create your own website for your technology plan you may want to look at that lesson ahead of time.

Join the discussion group as often as possible this week:

Why do you think that I included the Tom Snyder article in the Technology Planning section?

What do you think of Tom Snyder's view of Jean Piaget?

If you were to name the three most important things that should be done with technology in education what would they be?

Snyder, Tom. (March 1994). "Blinded by Science". The Executive Educator.

McLaughlin, Kevin L. and Kenney, Jerry. (Dec 96/Jan97). "The Future Begins Today: Technology Education". The High School Magazine. 18-21.

Until Friday you can take the quiz as often as you want to and it will give you feedback. On Friday morning I will change the quiz set up so that it reports a grade to me. You will no longer be able to take the quiz multiple times.

Back to Contents

	*List of contributors Remember to include representatives of all groups that will be effected by the plan in the actual planning. The list can be at the beginning, or included in the end. It is helpful to note how each person is involved in the school or community.
	*Equipment Inventory and Needs assessment Take a look at Ted Wesleys Technology Based Needs Assessment for a view into one way to do a needs assessment. It is on the National Center for Technology. Planning web site. http://www.nctp.com/#top Then look at a minimum of two other sites from this collection of needs assessments. http://camalott.com/~living/needs.htm Russell Smiths Needs Assessment Site. A thorough listing of what equipment is available including the age of the equipment is important. It is also helpful to mention the infrastructure (electricity setup, phone lines, network drops, etc...) The assessment should include staff development and attitudes as well as equipment. A thorough plan will also give detailed information about the school context as well as the district involvement with technology.
	*Mission and Vision Statements These statements are the basis for everything you do. A vision statement is broader than a mission statement and expresses an ideal for classrooms in the future. The mission statement describes your specific purpose and plans for fulfilling this vision. This is an extremely important part of your plan, because it defines where you want to move with technology. If this is not clear you will not get anywhere. It is like going on vacation without a destination in mind.
	*Goals and Objectives Goals should be broad as well as attainable and measurable. The objectives should clearly relate to the goals and show clearly how these goals will be met.
	*Action Plan This is a timeline showing how these objectives will be met. A good action plan will specify when things will be done, who is responsible, how it will be funded, and how you will decide if it worked or not (evaluation) It should be clearly tied to objectives.
	Program Integration This area would address how the schools goals in technology relate to other programs in the school or district for example, reform efforts, outreach to the community, drug awareness, reading or writing workshop. It only makes sense to coordinate efforts rather than having so many different programs going on that a teacher or student can't keep track of them.
	Curriculum Integration This is the buzzword of education today. Integration of technology should be central to your goals and objectives. This section could more clearly spell out how technology can enhance learning. It can also be a place to explore integration of other aspects of the curriculum (art and math, physical education and computer, music and history, etc...)
	*Staff Development This is a major consideration. A recent article stated that without adequate staff development computers will remain expensive toys. The needs assessment that you completed above will guide you in planning for types of staff development. It should also give you an idea of what types of training are preferred by the staff and what time is best for them. In the plan be as specific as you can about who will do what when. Make sure that there are enough resources budgeted for this. (both numbers of computers and money to pay trainers and teachers for their extra time).
	*Evaluation This evaluation may be the one you used in the beginning to assess and make decisions about the plan. In this section you should specify when and how the plan will be reviewed and revised. The evaluation should be tied to the goals and objectives.
	Multiyear planning Although technology changes rapidly, a one-year plan would not be adequate to implement changes and test a vision. A technology plan will be regularly revised to keep up with the advances in technology and the results of evaluations. Your plan should cover from 3-5 years with a time table (which can be revised) showing what you hope will happen each year.
	Standards for equipment Clarifying from the beginning what operating system, networking software, and other software you will be using will make things smoother down the road. This is the time to decide what to do with donated equipment, rather than when a parent is standing there with a printer asking if you want it. Does equipment have to be of a certain type? (Mac or PC) or age? for you to take it or will you take anything and find something to do with it.
	*Funding Alternatives It is good to have vision, but practicality forces us to plan where the funds will come from. Some of these may be assured like school budget or promised PTA donations. Others may be based on the success of a fundraiser or getting a particular grant. It will be helpful to you if you list here grants that you may want to apply to and when they are due. Increasingly schools are realizing that technology should be a regular budget item. If your school is open to this you may want to explore what parts of the current budget are old technologies that can be replaced by new ones. (ex: overhead projectors, chalkboards, chalk, certain textbooks, etc. all depending on your technology plan and your school situation)
	Research and Development Basing your plan on published educational research makes your plan more solid. This is where you can record the results of your research in step 2. It should have had an effect on what you are describing. This is good documentation for those who will take over this plan further in the future.
	Model Classroom Configuration This is the vision area. Not many of us have the luxury of planning a model classroom configuration. Often all a classroom has is one electrical plug and that defines what can be done with technology. This area could include placement of computers in the school. Will they be in a lab, or classrooms? How many computers will there be in each classroom? Will the computers be networked? Where will wire run? etc...
	Facilities (electricity, security, etc...) This is an important consideration. There are schools that have gotten thousands of dollars of equipment only to find that their electric system could not handle the load. Security can also be a problem. You may need to plan a system for locking the computers or use some funds to put bars on the windows of the rooms they will be in. Air conditioning is another consideration. The heat and humidity of Missouri summers can be damaging to a hard drive, especially of a server left on all of the time.
	Software Plan Clear statement of policies concerning software should be mentioned. This would include guidelines for purchasing, dealing with warranties, and budgets. You may also want to include what policy you will have for students bringing software from home, or borrowing software from the school. The issue of virus protection may fall in here.
	Copyright, AUP A statement clearly outlining the schools stand on copyright is important. It has become SO easy to take someone elses work and use it. It is also easy to take one piece of software and use it throughout the whole school. Schools should be places where all students learn what is correct. Having a clear statement explaining fair use and setting expectations for teachers and students will keep the school from getting in trouble over copyright infringement. An AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) delineates for students and parents what will be done to keep students from using technology in a destructive or illegal way. This includes explanation of how students will be kept out of sexually explicit and other inappropriate web sites, expectations about respectful use of e-mail, and consequences for hacking and other destructive use of the technology.
	Maintenance and Support Planning for maintenance and support in the beginning can save a lot of pain. Some of this is regular maintenance, like cleaning and conditioning, but it also includes major repair of hardware. Support includes troubleshooting when there are problems and training. Writing a procedure to deal with these things and deciding who will take care of them is necessary.
	Gifts and disposal How will you deal with donations of computers? Who will maintain the donated equipment? How can you make sure that donated equipment is compatible with what you have purchased? Finally what will you do with the hardware that becomes unusable or too slow for the schools purposes?