1. Classify technology goals in a proper domain (technology, management, funding).
Goals are targets, which schools or districts attempt to reach. The goals must be:
1. realistic
2. achievable
3. adaptable to timelines and action plans
After the goals have been developed, objectives have been created for each goal. Objectives are measurements of the accomplishments that support the goals and address each of technology focus area. Objectives should:
1. clear
2. concise and to the point
3. measurable
4. adaptable to timelines and action plans
5. observable (Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 2011)
The following goals are broad statements that connect technology and learning in the areas of management, technology and funding.
Management
Goal 1: Train campus staff to expand technology focus at school level.
1.1 Promote and support effective instructional models and resources for using technology to teach core curriculum concepts through staff development and mentoring.
Evidence: Log for Staff development and mentoring sessions conducted by Instructional Technology Specialist, certificate of attendance with CPE hours provided.
Cost: Print costs
1.2 Improve teacher technology skills that meet ISTE proficiency standards by modeling the use of technology.
Evidence: Records of one-on-one collaboration with teachers.
1.3 Support teachers to utilize allowed software/ websites to help students in the areas of math, language arts and science.
Evidence: Web 2.0 tools training, reports provided by software and websites.
Cost: Purchase of any new software
1.4 Develop and implement opportunities for technology training for the school community (administrators, teachers, students and parents) to increase productivity, efficiency and communication.
Evidence: Learning communities showing documentation of active collaboration and discussion among members, technology training for parents and records of participation.
Cost: Usage of building facilities (afterhours)
Technology
Goal 2: Use technology effectively to improve teaching and learning.
2.1 Utilize available technology for teaching and learning, to build awareness and understanding, and differentiate instruction to meet the needs of individual learners
Evidence: Lesson plan documentation including technology resources, observation by administrators, staff portfolios created, reviewed, and evaluated using technology portfolio rubric.
Cost: None
2.2 Assist classroom teachers in the development of online resources that integrate technology, research, communication, and collaboration.
Evidence: Creation/ maintenance of teacher webpages, training for edmodo, blogger, Moodle; staff technology portfolio evaluation.
Cost: Usage of building facilities
Goal 3: Provide new hardware to support students and staff in the teaching and learning process.
3.1 Provide the budget needed to acquire new equipment and resources for the technology program grants
Evidence: Form a technology grant committee (Teachers and administrators), Grants received
Cost: None
3.2 Purchase and provide new computer systems for primary level to assist students in the classrooms.
Evidence: Updated hardware/software inventory list, devices purchased and made available.
Cost: $31,500
3.3 Acquire document cameras and Smart boards as a technology resource to improve instruction.
Evidence: Updated software inventory list, devices purchased and made available.
Cost: $44,800
Funding
Goal 4: District provide budget to have the personnel needed to implement a technology program on each campus.
4.1 Hire a full time technology specialist for each campus to train staff, and ensure proper integration
of technology into the classrooms.
Evidence: Full time technology specialist reports to campus administrator.
Cost: Salary $45,000+
Goal 5: School will provide the opportunities to seek budget to meet technology needs.
5.1 Form a technology grant committee to find financial resources for the purchase of new technology equipment.
Evidence: Committee meeting log, Grant writing documentation.
Cost: None
2. Identify the major steps required to accomplish technological goals.
Goal 1: Train campus staff to expand technology focus at school level.
Major steps to accomplish this goal are to complete the sTar chart annually to find technology needs and monitor improvement; teachers will be required to create a digital portfolio to assess their technology performance.
Goal 2: Use technology effectively to improve teaching and learning.
Major steps to accomplish this goal are to supervise the use of technology in the classroom by a school administrator, teachers will include the technology resource and how it will be implemented in their lesson plans, which will be submitted every Friday to be evaluated by the school administrator, use student records to monitor improvement after technology has been used.
Goal 3: Provide new hardware to support students and staff in the teaching and learning process.
Major steps to accomplish this goal are to evaluate the budget currently allowed to be used for technology and obtain additional budget to get new equipment; this equipment should be available for all faculty members and students, teachers will attend to technology trainings throughout the year and obtain staff development hours.
Goal 4: District provides budget to have the personnel needed to implement a technology program on each campus.
Major steps to accomplish this goal are to request the district the need of a person able to meet the technology needs at school, hire an instructional technology specialist who can train teachers and create a technology team for mentoring other teachers during and after classroom instruction.
Goal 5: School will provide the opportunities to request additional budget to meet technology needs.
Major steps to accomplish this goal are to train staff on writing grants, creating a Grant writing committee (teachers and administrators) who will be researching and applying for grants throughout the year, create a list of technology needs by priority and focus Grants to meet these needs.
3. Develop assessment instruments to test the objectives for the technology plan. Describe the desired instrument/s under each objective.
After researching and developing the technology plan, it is essential to assess its function and workability. In this critical step, it will be evaluated the effectiveness and efficiency of the design and the impact the plan will have at school. It is important to conduct periodic evaluations of the progress in bringing technology to the school and revise the plan as implementation progresses to make sure that it is still current (National School Boards Foundation, n.d.)
Goal 1: Train campus staff to expand technology focus at school level.
1.1 Promote and support effective instructional models and resources for using technology to teach core curriculum concepts through staff development and mentoring.
Evidence: Log for Staff development and mentoring sessions conducted by Instructional Technology Specialist, certificate of attendance with CPE hours provided.
Cost: Print costs
Assessment instruments: Surveys will be provided during staff development and after mentoring.
1.2 Improve teacher technology skills that meet ISTE proficiency standards by modeling the use of technology.
Evidence: Records of one-on-one collaboration with teachers.
Cost: None
Assessment instruments: A checklist will be provided with the NETS for teachers (2008) for recording the standard met during each training and the NETS for students (2007) to record the standard met during the use of technology in the classroom.
1.3 Support teachers to utilize allowed software/ websites to help students in the areas of math, language arts and science.
Evidence: Web 2.0 tools training, reports provided by software and websites.
Cost: Purchase of any new software
Assessment instruments: Surveys after each training session will be provided to identify training and support needed on each subject area, reports provided by software and websites used, use student data to monitor learning on each area.
1.4 Develop and implement opportunities for technology training for the school community (administrators, teachers, students and parents) to increase productivity, efficiency and communication.
Evidence: Learning communities showing documentation of active collaboration and discussion among members, technology training for parents and records of participation.
Cost: Usage of building facilities (afterhours)
Assessment instruments: Surveys after each training session will be provided to staff to identify training and support needed, survey parents to assess skill levels and areas of expertise, report on parent enrollment to trainings.
Goal 2: Use technology to improve effectively teaching and learning.
2.1 Utilize available technology for teaching and learning, to build awareness and understanding, and differentiate instruction to meet the needs of individual learners
Evidence: Lesson plan documentation including technology resources, observation by administrators, staff portfolios created, reviewed, and evaluated using technology portfolio rubric.
Cost: None
Assessment instruments: Administrators and IS will be observing teachers during technology implementation, use student data to monitor learning after technology implementation, teachers will create a digital portfolio that will be evaluated by the instructional specialist and administrator to ensure proper technology implementation.
2.2 Assist classroom teachers in the development of online resources that integrate technology, research, communication, and collaboration.
Evidence: Creation/ maintenance of teacher webpages, training for edmodo, blogger, Moodle; staff technology portfolio evaluation.
Cost: Usage of building facilities
Assessment instruments: Teachers will add their developed resources in their digital portfolios to be evaluated by administrator and IS.
Goal 3: Provide new hardware to support students and staff in the teaching and learning process.
3.1 Provide the budget needed to acquire new equipment and resources for the technology program grants
Evidence: Form a technology grant writing committee (Teachers and administrators), Grants received
Cost: None
Assessment instruments: Active participation of members will be monitored and recorded during committee meetings by an administrator, Grant documentation (reports) will be required.
3.2 Purchase and provide new computer systems for primary level to assist students in the classrooms.
Evidence: Updated hardware/software inventory list, devices purchased and made available.
Cost: $31,500
Assessment instruments: A checklist will be provided to update the hardware/software available and the equipment needed on each classroom.
3.3 Acquire document cameras and Smart boards as a technology resource to improve instruction.
Evidence: Updated software inventory list, devices purchased and made available.
Cost: $44,800
Assessment instruments: A checklist will be provided to update the hardware/software available and the equipment needed on each classroom.
Goal 4: District provide budget to have the personnel needed to implement a technology program on each campus.
4.1 Hire a full time technology specialist for each campus to train staff, and ensure proper integration
of technology into the classrooms.
Evidence: Full time technology specialist reports to campus administrator.
Cost: Full time salary $45,000+
Assessment instruments: Reports will be submitted to campus principal and subsequently to the district, with the objectives accomplished by the technology specialist at school.
Goal 5: School will provide the opportunities to request additional budget to meet technology needs.
5.1 Form a technology grant committee to find financial resources for the purchase of new technology equipment.
Evidence: Committee meeting log, Grant writing documentation.
Cost: None
Assessment instruments: Active participation of committee members will be monitored and recorded during committee meetings by an administrator, Grant documentation (reports) will be required.
References
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (2011) Six-step process in creating a technology plan. Retrieved March 02, 2012 from http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/instrtech/techplan/gettingstarted.htm
National Educational Technology Standards: NETs for Students (2007). Retrieved March 01, 2012 from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007.htm
National Educational Technology Standards: NETs for Teachers (2008). Retrieved March 01, 2012 from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers/nets-for-teachers-2008.aspx
National School Boards Foundation (n.d.) Planning for change and technology. Retrieved March 02, 2012 from http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/index.html
Angela,
ReplyDeleteGood job; you have clearly laid out your goals. I have an observation about Management Goal 1, “Train campus staff to expand technology focus at school level.” Within this goal is Objective 1.2 “Improve teacher technology skills that meet ISTE proficiency standards by modeling the use of technology.” I would suggest a more explicit stating of expectations, perhaps as objective 1: To set technology proficiency standards and adopt a campus technology mission statement so that teachers and administrators (and parents) all “are on the same page” when it comes to technology integration.
I would encourage you to watch Simon Sinek’s TED Talk about how great leaders inspire action (Sinek, 2010). In it, he talks about forming a foundation of WHY a group should take some action before discussing the WHAT (should be done) or HOW (to implement). One memorable line, which I am paraphrasing here, “Martin Luther King, Jr. said ‘I have a dream’ not ‘I have a plan.’ “
I admit I am struggling with setting a technology vision on my campus. While the administration supports technology integration, they say we don’t have time to talk about a mission now. As a result, we have technology in the hands of teachers, but a real scatter-shot array of “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” (and The Non-Existent) in technology usage.
Sinek, S. (2010) How great leaders inspire action [video]. Retrieved March 4, 2012, from http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html
Thanks for your suggestion Susan and I really liked the video. It is very inspiring. The Golden Circle is an excellent perspective to discover how to turn an idea into something bigger and be successful. We need to have the WHY clear in everything we do. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAngela,
ReplyDeleteGoal 1: Train campus staff to expand technology focus at school level. In many districts the Technology person is too busy to do any additional trainings, especially one-on-one teacher training. We very seldom see our technology specialist. There is an article in Educationworld where a Kentucky school district implemented a program where they hired and assigned each school a Technology Resource Teachers (TRT) to provide one-on-one training with teachers during their planning time. The program has been successful because teachers did not had to go to after-school training sessions or figure out technology activities on their own. The TRT's find the teachers, ask what they are working on in their classroom, and work with them to integrate technology into existing lessons.
Starr, L. (2009). Encouraging Teacher Technology Use: Making It Easy. Retrieved March 4, 2012, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech159.shtml
Goal 1: Train campus staff to expand technology focus at school level. I really like that you support teachers maintaining a professional development portfolio. I think it is a great way for educators to document experiences for future use. Great idea!!
ReplyDelete