Blog #5 Technology Plan

The purpose of a Technology Plan is to define the direction a school or school district is taking to evaluate, assess and accommodate the current and expected technology needs of it's students, faculty and administration. Technology plans may differ from one district to the next, but they all include the same basic elements. Technology plans include a mission statement, a vision statement, a collection of collaborative data, analysis and conclusions in regard to technology needs and assets, a set of clearly defined goals, budgeting and evaluation of it's effectiveness.

The Mission of the Technology plan should support the overall Mission of the district or school. The mission should be to utilize technology to further and enhance the educational mission. The Vision statement of the plan should support the mission statement of the district, but should clearly define how information and instructional technology will support that mission in the district as it currently exists and should also support any foreseeable changes in technology needs, enrollments and budgeting, etc...
The collection of data is more a part of the process than the plan. Collecting data from students, parents, the community, teachers administrators and support staff about the current technology equipment, hardware, software and peripherals is essential. Other important data would include a survey of users' skills and training, professional development and qualifications and the technology needs as perceived and prioritized by all users.
The goals would be directly related to the analysis and conclusions drawn from the collected data. The goals should be"S.M.A.R.T." goals. They should be Specific with start and endadates; most Technology plans should be revised every 2 - 3 years, at most. The goals need to be Measurable, Attainable , Realistic and Tangible . Schools should look at their "school report card" and their state standards to identify the student learning standards they want to achieve and where they may have weaknesses or gaps in student achievement.
Budgeting is another consideration in creating a technology plan. the plan has to consider the budget constraints on the school or district and will need to prioritize it's needs to fit within the budgeting parameters. In looking ahead, the plan should define the district's future needs and propose budgeting changes to accommodate those needs. This is probably the most difficult part of the planning process.
The final part of the plan would be assessment ad evaluation. This should review how the goals and corresponding actions will support the mission and vision statements. This needs to be an ongoing process. Innovations in technology are occurring exponentially. Although the plan should address foreseeable changes, there is always the unforeseeable and it will have to be amended and revised, as necessary.
A technology plan is a very important tool within a school or district to ensure that all are working toward the same goals. Collecting and analyzing collaborative data from all technology users is a very important part of the process. Individuals in varying roles will have different perspectives on the strengths and challenges of the existing instructional and informational technology within the school and different perspectives on what is needed. A well developed plan lays the foundation for good outcome. It is, however, a plan and plans often need to be adjusted to account for change. A plan, though, has a structure and effective changes can be made within that structure.
Schools can use this plan for other things as well . they can use te plan to assess their professional development needs in instructiona technology, they can use it to forecast some of their budgeting needs, they can use it to keep everyone on the same page, so to speak. Many of the Technology Plan templates available on the internet are from State education departments, individual districts use this template and require that all of the schools within their district use it. This keeps everyone focused on the same mission.

Interactive website

Go to: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/social/index.htm

About: This is the Scholastic website. It is a great site for all subject areas. Students will need Flash to play the interactives and there is a quick and easy download available on the website. This is a link to the social studies area. The videos on current events and historic events are interactive, but there is also a really cool interactive about airport security. This gives students a close up experience with terrorism and homeland security in a real life application.

Directions: Click on the "Baggage Screener" activity. You will be an airport carry on baggage screener. You will screen baggage for guns, knives and explosives. You can change colors so that organic (possible explosive) materials turn orange. You can also stop the conveyor belt to study an item more closely, but you will have to listen to the complaints of travelers in line and you only have 2 minutes to complete the game.

Assignment 4 - Acceptable Use Policy

I work for an online learning company. Our shared drive is essential since our offices are located all over the US and many of us work from home offices. Our shared drive is where we store all of our forms, spreadsheets and databases. This allows all of those who need to, to be able to access those items at any time. If we have documents that we do not want others to edit, we password protect them.To get to the shared drive remotely we need to go through a VPN (Virtual Private Network) set up by our IT people. This makes sure that no one outside our organization can access these files.
I am familiar with acceptable use policies. i have agreed to several over the past few years, some very vague and others very specific. I think somewhere in the middle is best; too vague and the school or company is vulnerable. However, there is no way to cover every possibility when technology is constantly in flux. The company I work for does not have an AUP, that I am aware of, for its employees. Our customers are schools and school districts that contract us to teach courses to their students online. Each school or district has their own AUP and we require that all students be informed of this before they are enrolled in an online class. We do this because we want our customers to feel that their rules and regulations will be respected and we tailor our services to their district's needs.
My company uses Microsoft Outlook but in several different ways. Those employees who are located in a corporate office use Outlook. Employees who telecommute (work from their home offices) access MS Outlook through the VPN. These employees are also supplied with a Blackberry or similar device to access their email account. Teachers access their email through Outlook Web Access; this is a trimmed down version of Outlook and it has a lot of issues. The biggest problem is that it times out. Teachers will be in the middle of typing a message and then it times out and they have to sign in again. most times their message is lost and they have to start over. Another big issue is that there is no archiving capability with O.W.A. Teachers' mailboxes fill up quickly and they have to delete old messages or their mailbox becomes full and they can no longer receive or send messages until they clean it out.
Students use their personal emails or an email account set up for them by their sending school. Some schools/school districts do not allow their students to use email because of liability issues and filters. These students use the message center within the Blackboard learning management system to communicate with their teachers. This is a poor tool because the student and the teacher must go into the message center to send and retrieve messages and they can be viewed by all class participants.
The most important part of the lesson this week for me was the email account information. As I have described in the above paragraphs our current email system is not running efficiently for our purposes. I and my colleagues have been asked to evaluate it and research and recommend alternatives. This week's lesson gave me some insight as to what we need and what might be available.

Desk Top Support

Quite frankly, when I read over the list of topics for this chapter I didn't think I would have much to blog about. However, after reading the chapter (and re-reading parts of it) I found that there is a lot to consider. I actually felt that the chapter was too brief and I found myself searching the web for more information. The most important thing I learned from this chapter about desk top support is that I have a lot more to learn!
I have had some experience in bid writing. Many years ago I helped write bids for vehicles (buses) and other equipment for the Head Start program in my county. The process seems basically unchanged but the amount of detailed data required to write up the specifications for the bid certainly has. As technology becomes increasingly more sophisticated I am sure that the specification detail will increase, as well. I am a little bit intimidated by this, but I am confident that, with research, I will be able to write an appropriate bid request.
I don't believe I have ever given thought to the ergonomic aspect of purchasing equipment for technology. After reading the chapter, this now seems like a very important factor in choosing equipment. I think that I will have to develop a survey to determine where the equipment is being used, by whom and in what capacity and that would just be for starters. As I am writing this, I am very uncomfortable in a wonderful, ergonomic chair that does not fit well with my very uncomfortable, non-ergonomic desk! I find that my discomfort causes me to be quickly and easily distracted, which has driven home the need to examine the topic of ergonomics and furniture more closely. I was also very surprised to learn that CRT monitors emit more radiation than LCD monitors. This is really important information and yet it is only a quick comment in the text. I will be searching the web for more information on this, also.
The information on software licensing was also very helpful. In my current position, the majority of teachers under my supervision work from their home computers. Their students work from their homes and/or schools. We run into issues, on a daily basis, with file conversions, software application conflicts, browser glitches, etc. I never realized how software licensing could be such a huge problem for the schools and districts we work with. I now have a much broader concept of the issue. This will help me when presenting to schools and districts so that I can better prepare them for what they might expect in purchasing software, as far as cost and compatibility.
I actually use Intuit's Track-it on a daily basis for ticketing issues in my current position. I thought that this was the only purpose that it served. I was surprised to see that there are other uses for this program and I intend to explore those, such as technology assets management.
Security issues are a huge problem in online education. We advise all of our students and teachers who work from home to download and install a virus protection program. I personally advise them to try Grisoft's AVG (there is a free version). The security issue I deal with most often occurs when students submit files through email and they cannot be opened due to a virus being detected. The student is often very frustrated when this happens because he or she can not progress through the course without first addressing the virus problem. I have also had two incidents lately of students (presumably) posing as teachers and phishing for personal information from other students. We are currently exploring software to track this kind of activity.
I think I have learned more in this chapter than I have thus far. I have listed some specific ways that I will apply some of this knowledge to my work as an educator, such as; presenting possible software issues to new schools and districts in my trainings and having teachers and students employ virus protection programs. My colleagues have also written a proposal to administration that our teachers be provided with laptops and I definitely will revise that proposal to include certain specifications, operating systems and pre-loaded software. I will also store this knowledge in my mind and will likely refer back to this chapter as necessary, in the near future.

Software Selection Forms

I currently work for an online education company as an instructional supervisor. The software we use is decided upon in our curriculum department. However, I and the other members of the instructional management team are working to change this. A software selection form is a great concept and I have spoken to my colleagues about it, already. In the traditional model of education the teacher prepares the curriculum and delivers instruction. In my situation, these are two separate departments. We, instruction, are often burdened with the software decisions curriculum has made. Our students are accessing their courses from their schools and their homes and are working with a variety of hardware. This causes a multitude of problems. Teachers know what they need to instruct, curriculum knows what software will enhance the content and management knows what the budget can afford. A software selection form and a prescribed procedure would prevent a lot of frustration for students. Hopefully, the new technology that is emerging promises to end compatibility issues with different software, hardware, applications, browsers, etc.

reflections on the Digital Disconnect

I have reviewed the findings of the Pew report in previous graduate courses and in my current position. This is a piece which I haven't looked at closely, before. I love that this report provides quotes from student participants. The report doesn't describe what students think the students, literally, speak for themselves. It would be difficult to review in one or two paragraphs the entire article but, a couple items really struck me as thought provoking.
The first item is the students attitude toward what the internet is and what experienced educators' perception of the internet is. Educators seem to think of the internet as a repository for information like a library. Young learners see the internet as a dynamic tool to research knowledge, socialize with peers, collaborate with classmates, communicate with teachers, expand on ideas that interest them.. The internet is much more of a medium than a place.
The second thing that sparked my interest was that students seem to know a lot more about how to maximize their use of the internet for educational purposes than their teachers and administrators do. Many Educators are still thinking of computers and technology as a subject to be mastered, but students make it clear in this article that they want to use technology in every area of their education and in their daily lives.
The biggest issue is ensuring that all students have equitable access to technology. As with almost all innovations in education, some students have disadvantages that prevent them from accessing the quality of education that their peers enjoy. Socio/economically disadvantaged students may not have access to technology, such as high speed internet in their homes. Schools in those students' communities may mirror those disadvantages and may not be adequate providers of currrent and reliable technological equipment and services.