"All learners will have engaging and empowering learning experiences both in and out of school that prepare them to be active, creative, knowledgeable, and ethical participants in our globally networked society."
- The National Educational Technology Plan
Your district digital learning plan should provide specific goal statements that relate back to aspects of your mission and vision. The goals should be focused on specific areas of teaching and learning that your committee has determined should be changed or improved in order to foster increased student achievement and success. Above all the goals should be reasonable and measurable. Results from the improvement cycle of your previous plan should be used to set new goals for your current plan.
Specific District Goals
Goals should be clear and concise, should support the district's vision for technology, and align with district's mission. The goals shuld support the district's Professional Development Master Plan and any local educational improvement or strategic plans. Goals which merely provide an itemized "shopping list" of desired services, devices, or technologies are strongly discouraged as they fail to address the essence of the planning process, or focus energies on desired outcomes. Keep in mind that you will need to create action plans related to implementing the goals, along with budgeting for supporting funding, and developing a means of gathering data for assessment and evaluation of your plan's effectiveness. Consider the desired outcomes and develop goals which can be measured, are specific to a purpose, and allow for the development of action plan, budget, and evaluation. Keep your goals limited to a manageabel number and center them of specific areas for improvement, rather than broad and sweeping.
Alignment with State School Approval Standards
The Minimum Standards for School Approval (Ed 306), currently used in New Hampshire to approve schools, outline several areas in which technology and digital tools and resources should be used in order to develop rigorous, engaging, and competency based academic programs. Consider the following sections of the Minimum Standards when developing goals for your digital learning plans:
Ed 306.04 Policy Development
Ed 306.08 Instructional Resources
Ed 306.14 Basic Instructional Standards
Ed 306.16 Professional Development
Ed 306.22 Distance Education
Ed 306.27 High School Curriculum, Credits, Graduation Requirements, and Cocurricular Program
Ed 306.42 Information and Communication Technologies Programs
Alignment with National Educational Technology Plan
The National Educational Technology Plan outlines a broad vision for how technology should be used and integrated into our schools in order to leverage technology to enable and drive innovation that produces future ready teaching and learning. Consider these broad goals for learning enabled by technology when developing your own goals for your technology planning.
Learning: Engaging and Empowering Learning Through Technology - All learners will have engaging and empowering learning experiences in both formal and informal settings that prepare them to be active, creative, knowledgeable, and ethical participants in our globally connected society.
Teaching: Teaching with Technology - Educators will be supported by technology that connects them to people, data, content, resources, expertise, and learning experiences that can empower and inspire them to provide more effective teaching for all learners.
Leadership: Creating a Culture and Conditions for Innovation and Change - Embed an understanding of technology-enabled education within the roles and responsibilities of education leaders at all levels and set state, regional, and local visions for technology in learning.
Assessment: Measuring for Learning - At all levels, our education system will leverage the power of technology to measure what matters and use assessment data to improve learning.
Infrastructure: Enabling Access and Effective Use - All students and educators will have access to a robust and comprehensive infrastructure when and where they need it for learning.
Alignment with International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards
The International Society for Technology in Education provides educational technology standards for students, teachers, administrators, coaches, and computer science educators. The family of ISTE Standards works in concert to support students, educators and leaders with clear guidelines for the skills, knowledge and approaches they need to succeed in the digital age. Together, we can innovate education. The New Hampshire Information and Communication Technologies Program Standards (Ed 306.42), part of the Minimum Standards for School Approval, are aligned with the ISTE Standards for students, and require students meet these proficiencies in order to be considered technology literate:
Empowered Learner - Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving, and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.
Digital Citizen - Students recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical.
Knowledge Constructor - Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others.
Innovative Designer - Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.
Computational Thinker - Students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions.
Creative Communicator - Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.
Global Collaborator - Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally.
Defining Quality in Online Programs
The National Standards for Quality Online Learning (NSQOL) maintains three sets of standards. There are standards for Online Courses, Online Teaching, and Online Programs. These standards provide essential frameworks for K-12 districts to use in order to develop quality digital learning plans. Quality plans are essential for creating an inviting digital learning culture and when dealing with crises that may require long-term remote learning situations. These standard sets, updated in 2019, have been the benchmark for online and digital learning programs since 2007.
National Standards for Quality Online Learning (NSQOL))
Public School Approval Office (New Hampshire Department of Education)
Setting – and Achieving – Meaningful Goals (Western Governors University)
National Educational Technology Plan (Office of Educational Technology, US Department of Education)
ISTE Standards for Students (International Society for Technology in Education)
ISTE Standards (International Society for Technology in Education)
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