"Many of these technology resources and tools already are being used within our public education system. We are now, however, at an inflection point for a much bolder transformation of education powered by technology. This revolutionary opportunity for change is driven by the continuing push of emerging technology and the pull of the critical national need to radically improve our education system. - The National Educational Technology Plan " - The National Educational Technology Plan
Photo by Allison Shelley for American Education: Images of Teachers and Students in Action
Taking Action to Achieve Your Digital Learning Goals
The heart of the plan is in how you will meet your goals. Digital Learning Plans should outline the specific action steps that your district will take in order to meet each of your goals. These steps should be specific to your intended outcome of achieving your goals. Each goal you set in your plan requires certain actions be taken in order to meet them. Specific timelines and benchmarks, along with the person or group responsible for each action should be included in your plan for clarity.
Considerations for Planning Actions
Developing Action Steps
As you develop action steps to accomplish your goal, you will have to consider and answer specific details that fully define the actions your goal requires in order to be met. Those details are addressed by answering these questions:
What will be done?
How much, or to what extent, these actions will occur?
Who will carry out these actions?
When these actions will take place, and for how long?
What resources (such as money and staff) are needed to carry out the proposed actions?
One of the largest problems of creating technology plans is that the plan is not implemented. Creating achievable and measureable goals will make devleoping your action steps easier, but will not make the pathway to achievment, or the action steps needed, very obvious. Not having specific actions that are identifyable and easy to accomplish may leave confusion over what to do. As a result, nothing may get done. Make your actions obvious, easy to accomplish, with a reasonable timeline for achievement. There is nothing like completing a task to move a project ahead and send a positive message to your school community.
Planning for Transformative Digital Learning
Digital learning is no longer a specialty area as education leaders across state have shifted towards the use of technology as a primary tool for teaching and learning. Consequently, districts are moving away from technology planning as a stand-alone activity in favor of more comprehensive planning efforts that include technology tools and resources as one overarching component of achieving school-wide goals. In this integrated approach, districts carefully analyze all applications of technology across the entire school before making investments in devices, infrastructure, digital learning resources or professional development.
Comprehensive planning requires a collaborative leadership approach that starts with developing a shared vision on how digital learning tools and resources support learning; seeking input from a variety of internal and external stakeholders; communicating with all stakeholders to encourage buy-in; and using and understanding research and data to support plan goals and objectives. The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) has developed a toolkit that considers these key areas in the planning process: operational considerations, including budget, procurement, interoperability; student data privacy; infrastructure needs, including devices and connectivity; as well as professional development.
Is Online Learning for You?
Online learning may not be for everyone. It depends on your circumstances, your degree of motivation, and your academic needs and preferences for learning.
Take the short quiz, Is Online Learning Right for Me? from the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges to see how ready you are for online learning.
Watch the video, Is Online Learning Right for You? on You Tube from the Online University in Maryland.
