Writing a School Technology Plan
Tech Helps Teachers Connect to Learning Standards
To support its mission, hardware and software can come together to help a school align its technology with its teaching.
The committee members sat quietly as each looked around at the others. The school board president had just thrown down the gauntlet challenging his technology team to figure out just what went wrong. Everyone thought that they had done it the right way. They had the costs of the computers all added up; they knew where the computers would be placed; they had looked at the latest software; they had even bought the best ergonomically designed chairs for the students. And yet the computers just sat there week after week and nobody used them.
There had been plenty of chatter as the team began its work. Concerns ranged from technology being a waste of money, to taking time away from the important things in the curriculum, to feeling that technology was just a fad and that it would go away soon. The truth was that the team in this example built the plans for the machines without asking the humans.
Focus on First Things First
With the sudden increase of new technologies and the deluge of expectations placed on teachers and principals from the new federal acts, there hasn’t been as much talk about technology plans these days. However, if done properly, a well-written technology plan can become a vital living document for helping schools achieve at the highest levels possible. Even if your school already has a technology plan, it is a good professional exercise to update it!
When schools decide to write a technology plan, the accent should always be on how the hardware and software support what is being taught at the school, and not on what equipment is on sale. In other words, begin with the end results in mind. Many schools have made the mistake of exploring what’s available on the market without first considering how the technology will ever be used. When this happens, the computers usually wind up in somebody’s closet. Even though technology has permeated every facet of modern life, it is important to remember that the emphasis for a technology plan is not on how to teach children to use computers; rather, it is on how technology helps teachers teach!
The key to making a technology plan that works is aligning the plan with the school’s goals and mission, and with the learning standards. Like everything else that happens in a school, the technology plan should always be about the improvement of instruction to boost student achievement. In this way, the technology plan is not a stand-alone policy, but rather it becomes an important plank in the school’s ongoing curriculum development. This means that before any decisions are made regarding purchasing technology, the school should have a good understanding of its standards and objectives, and what is needed to make them most likely to be achieved. For example, a discussion as simple as reviewing one grade level’s benchmarks and asking, ‘How could technology improve what students know or are able to do?’ can lead to some important conclusions about what technology is needed.
What is Needed to Make a Technology Plan?
By aligning the plan with the school’s goals, mission, and learning standards the plan becomes a part of the school’s pedagogical fabric. But, like any document, it is only as good as the people who wrote it. Therefore, it is critical that the school seeks a broad base of people to work on the tech team, including teachers, parents, curriculum leaders, administrators, community members, business leaders, and others. Try to make sure that the school’s business manager is on this team as well! The only requirement aside from being supportive of the school is that each member must have experience with technology - this is a team for making progress.
When the people are in place, a climate for change and improving instruction with technology needs to be cultivated. There are several ways to accomplish this goal including appropriate staff development classes, parents’ workshops, a need assessment, and others.
Once a school has reviewed its learning standards, has assembled a diverse technology team, and has created the environment for achievement, the table has been set for discussing the nuts ‘n bolts issues such as funding, hardware, software, review cycles, assessment plans and everything else it will take to effectively use technology to support the school’s mission.
