Technology Planning: Leadership, Vision and Implementation, Essay Example

Technology in Education

The Greenville Public School District’s vision for technology integration is one that supports technology use in the classroom. The district provides training sessions led by seven technology experts to ensure that school staff is adequately aware of how to properly use technology in the classroom. The goal of the district is to provide technology use in the classroom in a manner that supports student learning. To do so, the internet should be used as a valuable resource to plan lessons as a basis of information and also as a tool to discover activities and videos that would work to supplement the lesson. For the schools that have the necessary funding to acquire SMART Board technology, these will be used in the classroom as well.

It is important to have effective implementation of technology in today’s K-12 schools, because we live in a modern world and it is therefore essential to provide students with a means of learning that they are accustomed to. Furthermore, technology provides students with access to a broad range of knowledge, and tools such as the internet are therefore becoming increasingly valuable. Our understanding of the world is constantly changing, and print textbooks are unable to keep up with this pace. It is therefore helpful to teach children how to access the internet so that they are able to conduct their own research and discover new information as it is published.

Technology can improve teaching and learning in many ways. Of utmost importance, it can be used to reinforce information learned in the classroom in an interactive manner. Specifically, many teachers refer their students to online programs for homework completion, as this will help close their knowledge gap and provide them with additional extensions to what was learned. These tools have helped teachers manage the classroom environment because they help maintain student interest and provide teachers with a useful tool to assess student understanding of topics.

Support for Technology in Education

There should be a broad range of individuals that are included in the development of a district technology plan. These include information technology experts, teachers, and principals, in addition to individuals that have a combination of technology and education experience. It is important to include a wide range of people in this endeavor because it is essential to combine the expertise of individuals with various levels of technology and education experience to ensure that the recommended technology use supports the education in the classroom. If information technology professionals were to work on this project alone, it is likely that they will be unable to completely understand the technology application aspect of technology use in the classroom. On the other hand, individuals that only have experience as educators may not be aware of all of the practical applications that technology use has to offer.

It is important to consider that many obstacles can be reached when working with such a diverse group of professionals. For example, there may be a lack of ability to communicate among the team members due to differential experience and knowledge. In addition, there may be disagreements as to the use of technology that would suffice in the classroom. As a consequence, it is necessary to ensure that the leadership of such a team is strong in order to prevent these anticipated problems. Ideally, the leader of this group would have experience with both education and technology so that he or she could create an understanding between two teams with diverse professional backgrounds. In addition, the leader should facilitate collaboration and feedback among team members so that the unique experiences of both teams could contribute effectively to a shared common goal. To get the team members to become actively involved in planning, it is necessary to implement participative leadership so that the leader with more experience in both fields has the ultimate say in decision making, but there is a significant contribution from other members of the team. This will ensure that all decisions are made in a manner that provides the most positive influence for the work environment and allow the team to make the best decisions for the students of the district. Furthermore, the team will be inspired to participate if they are informed of the progress that they would be able to help the children of the district make in terms of their academic grades and life paths.

District Technology Plan Review

Background

The Greenville Public School District Technology Guide consists of seven full-time staff members. Two members, Jamie Bradley and Ezandra Washington, have the role of software support specialist. One member, Pamela Dillard, is the software specialist. Scottie Saulter is the technology specialist, while his support staff include three technology installers, including Gregory Johnson, Matthew Martyn, and Michael Vannoy. Any one of these members may be present at my school to monitor the implementation of the technology program depending on what is needed. This plan can be found at the following URL: http://www.gvillepublicschooldistrict.com/administrativeDepartment.aspx?aid=2

Process

The technology plan was developed by incorporating ideas from all members of the technology team under the leadership of Pamela Dillard. Each individual splits their responsibilities between each school in the district. However, support capabilities are provided through the internet if an instant fix is needed. The plan as a whole was developed in response to the needs of the school district as a whole, which was determined based on an analysis of student performance across the district. The technology plan was meant to determine how to help students based on both individual school needs and district wide needs. The plan utilizesstrategic planning principles for the acquisition, implementation, and maintenance of technology resources. The organization chose to purchase software licenses for programs based on their efficacy in other school districts. Furthermore, price was a consideration in these acquisitions. Future acquisitions will be made based on research, including local school research in addition to district, state, and federal research. It is important to consider that the technology that is being implemented serves as an intervention to increase the quality of education in the school’s it serves. Therefore, it is imperative to determine how the use of the particular software that is purchased is impacting student scores, which will provide the organization with a means of understanding whether the technology that is currently being used should have continuous use, while ineffective technology should be discontinued and replaced. The technology plan is disseminated by providing the school administration with a technology packet and by facilitating in it person through the members of the technology team.

Appropriate Use

The technology plan addresses policies and procedures for legal and ethical use by ensuring that inappropriate technological applications are block on school computers. In this manner, students that are required to be using technology to complete assignments in school will be unable to access social media and game websites, allowing them to become more focused on their work. In addition to the physical block, students and teachers are provided a list of rules that must be followed when technology is being used to ensure that the use of the technology remains safe and effective. Students and teachers are required to sign a handbook listing the rules and return a signed copy to the technology office. To ensure equitable access to technology resources for students and teachers, teachers are able to sign their students up for the computer lab on a weekly basis. In addition, all teachers are provided with one computer that can be utilized to access multimedia for lessons. These strategies are based on current research and best practices for ensuring equitable access for all, because it ensures that all students and teachers will be able to use technology for the same amount of time if it is needed for the lesson.

Standards

Broadly, the technology plan is based on national, state, and local standards. The technology plan was developed to support the requirements of the Common Core in addition to local educational requirements. While schools are not required to align technology use to national, state, and local standards, technology is a valuable resource that can be used to help achieve these educational goals. This can be done by incorporating technology into the aims of core subjects to increase an understanding of the topics and to increase the likelihood that information will be reinforced.

Review and Recommendations

Specific curriculum activities or performances for meeting standards are not recommended. Rather, this is a broad plan that was meant to allow teachers the freedom to implement technology in the classroom in a manner that supports the lesson plans of each teacher. To develop these activities in a manner that will meet national, state, and local technology standards, it would be essential for the committee to list each standard for each subject and define how technology can be utilized as either primary or supplementary material, for schools with varying levels of technology availability. The specific technology resources recommended are SMART Board technology, and strategies are included to help support this system are provided online by the organization for quick and easy access. A technology audit is not included. It appears that schools are not currently held accountable for these audits, but this information is tracked by the technology organization.

Implementation

After discussing the implementation with the technology personnel at my school, the organization stated that the technology plan is flexible and evolves with the needs of the individual school and the district as a whole. A major component of plan implementation revolves around sharing information through the internet, and the technology staff is therefore concerned with ensuring that all students have a school email address and basic computer literary that can be utilized to check information regarding assignments online and send teachers questions about school work. This includes running programs to ensure that parents are able to help their children access these tools.

Comparison

My district’s technology plan is similar to the district technology plan in New York City. Ultimately, the main goal of the technology plan is to ensure that teachers are aware of how to use technology appropriately in their classrooms and to provide them with a means to transfer this knowledge to their students. New York City also managers the acquisition, management, and maintenance of these resources through an establishment of a technology leadership team. This plan can be strengthened by determining the specifics of how technology can be used in a manner that supports curriculum goals.