Phase Four: Plan Implementation

Plan implementation is the next phase of a district wide technology plan.  The plan that I have put together has five goals that will direct our division in a way that is positive and constructive for our students, teachers and parents.  The goals that I have listed below are central to the development of the idea of the quality learning environment.  Technology implementation is an integral piece of this puzzle.  The article that I found to be most interesting Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as a Lever, supports the concepts through the following excerpt -

"Institutional policies concerning learning resources and technology support
need to give high priority to user-friendly hardware, software, and
communication vehicles that help faculty and students use technologies
efficiently and effectively. Investments in professional development for faculty
members, plus training and computer lab assistance for students, will be
necessary if learning potentials are to be realized." (page 6)

It is my belief that efficiency and effective technology implementation is the key to success for students and staff.  In our group discussions, we have discussed the need for professional development support for our teachers.  Our profession is changing and if teachers are not given the time and pedagogical knowledge to deal with these changes it is a crime against our students.

The goals that I've outlined below were taken from discussions with other administrators in my school division.  As each schools environment is different, it was not an easy task to assemble these goals. The questions that are asked are meant to create a baseline of need for our schools in our division.

Resources:
IMPLEMENTING THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES: Technology
as Lever
by Arthur W. Chickering and Stephen C. Ehrmann
http://www.fmtsystems.com/04-news/Impl-7-prin.pdf

Plan Implementation

PWSD Inspiring Education Technology Goals and Strategies

The Peace Wapiti School Division educational technology plan should be aligned to match the digital citizenship of Inspiring Education. 

Goal 1:  Engaging and Empowering Learning Experiences

Goal 2:  Assessment

Goal 3:  Connected Teaching and Learning

Goal 4:  Infrastructure for Teaching and Learning

Goal 5:  Productivity and Efficiency

Goal 1:  Engaging and Empowering Learning Experiences

Alberta Education Tech Plan	PWSD Inspiring Education Tech Plan
1.0 Learning:  Engage and Empower 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.	Goal 1:  Engaging and Empowering Learning Experiences All learners will have engaging and empowering learning experiences both inside and outside of school that prepare them to be active, creative, knowledgeable and ethical participants in our globally networked society.
What will your district do over the life of this local Educational Tech Plan to ensure that learning experiences are empowering, engaging and supported by digital tools?

Action Plan for Goal Area 1

What Steps Will You Take?	Who Will Be Responsible?	When (be specific, e.g., by 10/1/16)?	How will you measure?

Phase Three: Needs Assessment

Phase three of my technology plan is assessing and describing the current educational development status of schools within my school division.  It is important to bear in mind that a needs assessment allows you to narrow your focus while maintaining a big picture vision.

After consultation with the head of our district IT department and assistant superintendent on technology, I have put together a needs assessment with the following criteria. The five categories that require a needs assessment are:

1) Curriculum Integration
2) Professional Development
3) Equitable use of educational technology
4) Infrastructure and telecommunications services
5) Administrative Needs

These areas of need are vast to say the least. It is my hope that schools and teachers will be able to build personalized assessment needs for individual schools using this framework.

Needs Assessment

In this section, you are to assess and describe your PWSD current educational technology status in five categories:  curriculum integration, professional development, equitable use of educational technology, infrastructure and telecommunications services and administrative needs. 

Curriculum Integration

   When evaluating your needs, consider:

§  current curriculum strengths and weaknesses and the process used to determine these strengths and weaknesses;

§  how curriculum strategies are aligned to state standards;

§  current procedures for using technology to address any perceived curriculum weaknesses;

§  how teachers integrate technology into their lessons - including ways technology is presently used for entire classroom and for small group instruction; and

§  how students use technology - including ways students presently use technology for purposes beyond practice of skills.

Professional Development

   When evaluating your needs, consider: 

§  the process PWSD uses for assessing the technology PD needs of teachers, administrators and noncertified staff;

§  the technology PD activities that have been offered to teachers; and

§  how the effectiveness of the PD activities will be assessed.

Equitable Use of Educational Technology

      When evaluating your needs, consider: 

§  the availability of technology to students and staff in the district – all students should have equal access to the technology;

§  the amount of time available for the use of technology by students and staff; and 

§  a description of the types of assistive technology tools that are provided for students with disabilities, where necessary/applicable. 

The following matrix may be used to determine the extent technology is available to staff.

	Please include information about the type and availability of staff access both on and off campus.
Administrators
Teachers (preschool)
Teachers
Noncertified staff

The following matrix may be used to determine the extent technology is available to students.

	Please include information about availability in classrooms, the library-media center and all other areas where students have access.  Mention the extent of supervised access before and after school.
Students (preschool)
Students (elementary)
Students (middle school)
Students (high school)
Students (with disabilities)

Infrastructure and Telecommunications

·         When evaluating your needs, consider: 

·         the current technology infrastructure of each school in your district - explaining the type of data and video networking and Internet access that is available;

·         the effectiveness of the present infrastructure and telecommunication services that have been provided by the district; and

Administrative Needs

·         When evaluating your needs, consider: 

·         how do administrative (certified and noncertified) staff use technology, including accessing data for decision-making, student information system reporting, communication tools, information gathering, and recordkeeping; and

·         the professional development opportunities that are available to administrative staff.

Phase Two: Vision Statement

When creating vision statements, this is one of the hardest components to developing a plan but it provides a end goal for the group.  My school division is attempting to create and foster a quality learning environment (QLE) for students and teachers.  I have used components of our QLE district model to form the framework of my plan moving forward.

The research behind vision statements is vast but when constructing a vision statement it must have a framework that builds towards future goals but it is also a statement that is continued long after the initial project is started.  When doing research, the article, Vision Revisited: Telling the Story of the Future; Ira M. Levin, Ernst & Young LLP, 2000, is article that contained an interesting viewpoint on how vision statements should be created. Irvin describes how the mission and vision are intertwined and that in order to create a functional and purposeful vision that you must include steps towards a developing story.

The vision statement that I've created is part of our district wide QLE model as we are looking at building an environment in each of our schools that offers a technology-rich educational environment.

Vision Statement

A vision statement expresses thoughts about what the PWSD’s future technology-rich educational environment will look like.  It should be written in broad terms and guide the development of the educational technology plan.

Critical Element: Dynamic Learning Environment

Knowledge, Skills and Aptitudes (KSAs) from Teaching Quality Standard:

a. (4) Teachers know there are many approaches to teaching and learning.

b. (6) Teachers create and maintain environments that are conducive to student learning.

c. (7) Teachers translate curriculum content and objectives into meaningful learning activities.

d. (8) Teachers apply a variety of technologies to meet students’ learning needs.

Professional Focus:

·         Teachers will create relevant and outcome based learning experiences which promote student engagement.

• Teachers ensure instructional spaces are organized to maximize student learning.
• The use of a variety of technology and resources is promoted.

Descriptive Statements:

• Where possible, learning activities are related to real world situations.
• Student interest is taken into account in instructional design and assessment.
• Students are engaged in the development of desired classroom climate.
• Teacher encourages students to explore and embrace their individuality and personality in a mutually respectful way.
• Age appropriate use of social media is expected.
• Ethical digital citizenship is demonstrated and expected.
• Teachers will facilitate learning in a variety of settings.
• Students are encouraged to use appropriate technology to construct knowledge.
• Teachers employ a variety of technologies to facilitate inclusion.
• As required, teachers will assign students to groups based on changing student needs and interests.

A dynamic learning environment is characterized by change, activity and progress. It is intentionally designed to meet the needs of all students while challenging them to enhance existing skills, interests and understandings, as well as meaningfully building new ones. 

Such an environment incorporates inclusion, learning styles, technology and real world applications. It encompasses the classroom, school and broader community under an umbrella of mutual respect and collaboration.

References:
Vision Revisited: Telling the Story of the Future; Ira M. Levin, Ernst & Young LLP, 2000.
http://fagbokforlaget.no/boker/downloadpsykorg/KAP7/artikler/Betydningen%20av%20visjoner%20i%20strategiske%20beslutninger.pdf

Phase One: Beginning and Engaging Stakeholders

The development of a district technology plan has to start somewhere.  The components of creating a planning committee is an integral component of engaging stakeholders.  The benefits of the investment in technology must be done and has to engage the people involved.  The committee must build and create meaningful purpose that has a defined end goal.

After reading components of the following book, Successful Diversity Management Initiatives: A Blueprint for Planning and Implementation; By Patricia Arredondo, 1996, Sage Publications, I found that it was imperative to find information that would help to construct a purpose to developing a planning committee for a district wide technology policy.

The following statement is a great place to start when beginning the process of planning a document that I'm building.  "To promote the concept and practice of diversity management is to support a new paradigm for present and future change based on cultural relativity, open-mindedness, reciprocity and continuous learning."  (Arrendondo, 1996). The construction of district technology plan has all of these characteristics of diversity management and each piece builds on one another like a lego building block activity.

The components below will form the initial phase one of engaging stakeholders in my plan.

Planning Committee

The Technology and Digital Pedagogy Action Plan Committee should represent all stakeholders.  Development of the educational technology plan and implementation of the plan should enable parents, educators, students and community members to benefit from the investment in technology and all should have representation on the committee.

Member	Title	School Represented
Bob Stewart	CO Rep	Central Office
Ken Pon	Chair	Beaverlodge Regional High School
Memorese Walter	Education Technologist	Peace Wapiti School Division

    

    The committee must:
 * Write a description of the educational technology committee’s role in developing, implementing and evaluating the technology plan.  This description should include how committee members were selected and the role each is expected to play.  Tentative plans for scheduling meetings for the next school year should also be included.

o   Describe the evaluation strategies (e.g., interviews, questionnaires, classroom observations, teacher-driven action research projects, analysis of student products or scores) that will be used to provide the data needed to address your evaluation questions.

o   Create the Peace Wapiti School Division’s Inspiring Education vision statement.

o   Develop an educational technology needs assessment.

References:

Successful Diversity Management Initiatives: A Blueprint for Planning and Implementation; 

 By Patricia Arredondo, 1996, Sage Publications

http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Qvsq1kOWTHMC&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=building+successful+planning+committees&ots=2U0Qrk4MdE&sig=fzijO1CWiHCxFEzugLi_MN5KMsA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Phase One: Who are your stakeholders?

When constructing a plan of this size one must begin with the stakeholders that are involved.  As such, we must include all school stakeholders, including teachers, central office personnel, school administration.  My school division has started on the journey using the graphic below which focuses on creating a quality learning environment.  It is important to understand the components of creating a successful learner who is empowered, ethical, resilient and a life long learner.  So, when asked the question of who are your stakeholders?: it brings to mind a focus on student, then teacher and then parent.

                             

Purpose Of This Blog

The purpose of this blog is to house my individual project for EDUC 5603 via Acadia University. My first blog post will contain my project proposal.

Individual Project Proposal

Ken Pon – Student ID# 106606p

1.      Introduction and background:

Description of Project:

My individual project will revolve around following topic:

·         Technology Plan Implementation from a District Level

The focus of my project will be to develop a technology plan for my school district.  I am currently working on a technology plan as I am the chair for our inspiring education digital technology and pedagogy committee.  I am beginning to put the pieces together on how to role out our district technology using a BYOD focus. 

It is my goal that I will be able to construct a blog with access to my final word document technology plan.  I would like to also highlight components of the blog and pieces of the technology plan in a few short blog pieces.

2. Evaluation of my work:

As with most project proposals we must look at the evaluation of work in two stages:

(1)   How they will we know when my work is completed:

§  Final blog is completed with authoring of each web page link is completed and published for assessment and usage as a resource.

(2)   I am going to use the focus of these questions to help me stay focused on creating a blog site that is meaningful and purposeful. The items below were taken directly from our group project guideline page and will be used for my individual project as guidelines.

·         What technology is the focus of this project website and how well does the website inform the visitor about this technology?

·         How well does the website relate this technology to education and learning?

·         Did the project group members do a deep analysis of the learning potential of this technology?

·         Was the quality of the website design – look, feel, navigation, graphics – high and appropriate for the content?

·         Was the website design effective to allow the visitor to easily navigate the site and find the expected information?

·         Overall impression of the project product.

3. Deliverables:

The deliverables that will be left behind will be listed as follows:

1)      Website:  http://pwsdtechplaneduc5603.blogspot.ca/

2)      Implementation plan – Word Document that will be used as template for my school district plan moving forward.

These items will be submitted for marking to Professor Fred Crouse. 

4. Expected timetable:

Over the course of the next several weeks, I will be constructing a blog site to access the technology plan and break down the sections of technology plan. 

The following site is where our project content will be housed:

http://pwsdtechplaneduc5603.blogspot.ca/

This project will be completed by the prescribed deadline of December 4^th, 2014. 

5. Project Proposal Summary:

I hope to be able to use this blog site and incorporate it at the school district level with central office approval.  I have a passion for using technology and would like our school division to have competency levels that are effective and meaningful in the school environment and the classroom.  Please accept this as my individual project