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By Glenn Meeks
It will also answer questions concerning obsolescence. If you purchase technology to enable a specific instructional task, when does the technology become obsolete? When the technology can no longer enable the student to accomplish that instructional task, not when the technology is three years old. It forces you to use your instructional goals as the driver for hardware and software purchases.
Once you start answering the instructional program questions you can move on to other aspects of a successful plan.
Professional development - if the students are going to obtain their knowledge or skill set using technology for instructional activities "x, y, z," what user proficiencies does the teacher need in order to facilitate those activities? How will the teacher obtain those skill sets? Another disconnect we see are Technology Master Plans that suggest the purchase of quite a bit of technology from a capital budget but lacks the matching operating budget to train the staff on how to use those new purchases. If you do not train your staff, do not buy the hardware. (Please forgive me; I will step on a few toes with the next few statements.) A successful professional development program is not measured by how many classes your professional development center or group offers. It should be measured by the amount of consistent use of technology in the classroom by your normal staff. Our experience is that the annual assessment and evaluation process for that classroom teacher must have a technology component to it. Otherwise, what is the motivation for a classroom teacher to learn these new skills?
In addition to the assessment and evaluation issues above, policies and processes represent how you manage people and the systems that are involved in the technology program. What are your "appropriate use policies?" How would you change your job descriptions if all employees used technology? How do you handle staff and student information and log-ins? What are your limits of access versus security? What are your policies regarding technology purchases? How does the local school staff provide input to the District technology functions, etc., etc., etc.
Tech support - It is our opinion that technical support has two very distinct groups that provide different functions in support of technology. There are the "people" people who provide assistance to a teacher in their classroom when the teacher wants to learn how to apply a new technology to their instructional program. Then there are the "things" people who talk to the fileservers and understand what the fileserver is saying when it talks back. That fileserver geek does not have the skill set to assist the teacher with learning how to use technology in support of their instructional program.
What about your facilities? Do you have room in the instructional spaces to implement technology? If you want a computer workstation available for three students to work in a group, you have just burned 33 sq. ft. of space. What about specialized spaces for teachers to create multimedia content for use in the classroom? What about spaces for students to create their multimedia homework? Is that space available for use before and after school hours? Do you have sufficient space in your headend room and do you have wiring closets throughout the building?
The infrastructure of those facilities must be capable of supporting the technology with regards to the AC power, cable pathways and the cooling/heating systems. Last, but not least, are the actual systems and components. Voice, video, data, paging, sound reinforcement, teleconferencing and security systems, along with the computers, printers, servers and video displays.
A good technology master plan will address all seven areas of interest based on the "What Kids Learn" concept. It should provide an accurate estimate of the capital budget requirements and operating budget impact. Those budgets would represent an "Ideal" implementation that is then reconciled to the actual revenue sources available for use by the plan. We suggest a five-year plan that is revisited/revised on an annual basis, providing a "building block by building block" approach that build\s on each year's implementation. A coherent and balanced technology master plan as outlined provides a reasonable opportunity for a successful implementation, regardless of the budget and personnel restrictions your district may be facing.
A COHERENT AND BALANCED TECHNOLOGY MASTER PLAN AS OUTLINED PROVIDES A REASONABLE OPPORTUNITY FOR A SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION, REGARDLESS OF THE BUDGET AND PERSONNEL RESTRICTIONS YOUR DISTRICT MAYBE FACING.
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