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Technology Planning Toolkit Home |
Welcome to the Technology Planning Toolkit
From the Office of Educational Technology at the New Hampshire Department of Education, this toolkit offers guidance and strategies to help schools and districts with technology planning for next generation digital teaching and learning.
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This Online School Technology Planning Guide provides resources and a recommended outline for district technology committees as they create, implement and update their school or district technology plans. The Office of Educational Technology at the New Hampshire Department of Education strongly encourages the development of district technology plans that focus technology priorites towards the infrastructure necessary to promote teaching, learning, assessing and producing 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 ICT Literacy program. In July 2015, a new set of ICT Literacy standards will be in effect in New Hampshire. These new standards will replace the ICT Literacy Standards developed in 2005. The new standards represent only slight changes from the original. The 2005 standards were modeled on the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (ISTE NETS-S). Those standards were subsequently refreshed and our new ICT Literacy program standards are based on those updated ISTE STandards for Students. This process continues to be a change process in our schools in order to ensure that our students have the digital skills necessary for college and career in the 21st century.
The information within this toolkit was gathered over the past few years from national, regional, and local sources. Use the menu on the left to browse through the pages and get acquainted with what's available in this toolkit.
As always, should you have an awesome idea or resource that you want to share, please use the Suggestion Box on the left to contact us and let us know what you would like to see in this toolkit.
Outline of an Effective Technology Plan
Mission and Vision
The introductory pages of your plan should include a cover page, followed by information about the planning committee, district demographics and your mission, and a statement indicating the technology vision for which the plan is intended to address. The mission and vision are the guiding statements of the plan and should align to challenging local, state, and federal standards, initatives, and best practices. Everything else in the plan should focus back on the mission and vision your school has for teaching and learning that is powered by technology.
Setting Goals for Success
Your district technology 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 technology 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 evaluation of your previous plan should be used to set new goals for your current plan.
Implementing through Meaningful Actions
Once you have set your goals, the plan should describe the specific action steps that your district will take in order to meet each of your goals. These steps should be measureable and actionable and lead to meeting the goals you set in your plan. Measurable indicators and a specific timeline to acheive each goal should be included in your plan.
Planning Professional Development that Supports your Goals
Your plan should detail specific professional development that your educators need in order to be able to meet the goals of your plan. The plan should include the professional development opportunities and a schedule for when the professional development will be provided. Develop specific goals for your educators and describe how you your committee will assess the achievement of these goals, including training models, and possible sources of training. Training should be provided for administrators, educators, and support staff. The connection between technology training/support and your Master Professional Development Plan should be clear.
Involving the School Community
In order to ensure success with a school district technology plan, and a budget which fully supports the plan, community support and involvement is essential. The needs of all students -- both traditional and nontraditional -- must be addressed. Your plan should include such groups as adult literacy providers, adult education program coordinators, and local public library personnel. You should establish their needs and connect them to the plan as much as possible, as well as consider possible opportunities for collaborative work. Consider whether your local community is invited and welcomed into your schools, as well as whether your district facilities are used to their fullest extent.
Preparing a Realistic Budget that Supports your Vision
The budget is one of the most important parts of your plan and it is imperative that you get it right. Budgets should include a description of the type and costs of all technologies to be acquired with your technology funds. They should include provisions for interoperability of components. Identify specific titles or at least categories of supporting resources needed, such as software and subscription services, and project their costs. Itemize expenses according to each year of the plan to ensure that future planned purchases are likely to be realized. Be sure to include all the professinal development your educators will need to use any hardware or software you need to achieve the goals of the plan.
Evaluating your Plan for Improvement
Your plan should be a dynamic document that is implemented over a specific time period. It can and should be revised as progress is made and actions that produce outcomes different that originally planned should be revised and replaced with new actions as opportunities arise. 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.
The plan should describe the data you will use, how it will be collected and monitored, and accountability measures that will be used to evaluate the extent to which activities are effective in meeting the goals of the plan.
Paying Attention to Policy and Program Requirements
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 use policies, and the needs 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.
Resources
Technology Planning - The Educator's Guide (Wikibooks)
Resources for Technology Planning and Evaluation (Sun Associates)
Integrating Technology (4Teachers.org)
National Center for Technology Planning
Technology Planning (Thirteen Ed Online)
Modernizing the E-rate Program for Schools and Libraries (FCC 14-90)
Summary of the E-rate Modernization Order (FCC 14-90)
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