Formerly known as District Technology Plans, Digital Learning Plans broaden the Tech Plan to include the digital tools and resources students and teachers will use, with district support, to enable exciting and engaging teaching and learning. This toolkit offers a recommended outline for district technology, or digital learning, committees to use as they create, implement, and update their school or district technology/digital learning plans. New Hampshire Educational Technology at the New Hampshire Department of Education strongly encourages the development of district digital learning plans that focus and prioritize the digital tools, resources, and infrastructure necessary to promote teaching, learning, assessing and creating powered with technology.

This toolkit represents a work-in-progress that is meant as a resource to provide guidance, information, and support for schools and districts as they develop and improve their K-12 learning programs. Digital Learning continues to be a living and evolving process in our schools, but remains extremely important to ensure that our students have the digital skills necessary for students to be ready for future college or career.

The information within this toolkit was gathered over the past few years from national, regional, and local sources. Use the menu to browse through the sections and get acquainted with what this toolkit has to offer.

Mission and Vision

Digital Learning Plans should be living documents that are subject to annual or cyclic review and updating. The most important part of your plan is its vision for your district. The vision drives the mission, so these two powerful focal points of the plan should align to important local, state, and federal standards, initatives, and best practices. Introductory information also includes district demographics, members of your digital learning plan committee, and your process for review and updating.
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Setting Goals for Success

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.
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Implementing Through Action

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.
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Planning Professional Development

Digital Leaning plans should detail specific professional development that your educators need in order to be able to take the actions needed to meet the goals of your plan. Specific professional development opportunities, along with a proposed schedule for when these opportunities will be provided, are part of the necessary action steps. Indicate clear connections between professional development support and your Master Professional Development Plan.
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Involving the School Community

In order to ensure success of your digital learning plan, and the budget needed for it, community support and involvement is essential. The needs of all students -- both traditional and nontraditional -- must be addressed. Your digital learning plan committee should include representatives from adult literacy and education programs, and local public library personnel, along with students, parents, and community members. Also consider possible opportunities for collaborative work within the community.
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Preparing Realistic Budgets

The budget is one of the most important parts of your plan and it is imperative that you get it right. Budgets should include safety and security along with provisions for interoperability. Identify specific titles or at least categories of supporting resources needed, such as devices, software, and subscription services. Itemize expenses according to each year of the plan to ensure that future planned purchases are likely to be realized. Include all professional development needed to achieve your goals.
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Evaluating for Improvement

Digital Learning Plans are dynamic yet implemented over a specific time period. A process for revision and updating is critical as actions can produce outcomes different that originally planned and new tools and resources become available. In order for successful results to occur, a plan must be driven by the examination and analysis of data relative to all areas. The process is cyclical, at times involving the gathering of initial data and at other times focused on recurring collection and analysis of data.
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Policies and Programs

Local, state, and federal laws and policy requirements should also be considered and addressed within the plan as they relate to your overall goals. These include, for example, the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), copyright use, acceptable or responsible use policies, and the need for digital citizenship. The Minimum Standards for Public School Approval outline the state required policies and K-12 programs that schools need to establish and maintain to be a state approved school.
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