Technology Plan Evaluation

FRIT 7232 - Year 1 - Fall 2013

Laurie Bennett, Christopher Brist, Lisa Witteman

September 22, 2013

Module 3 Annotated Resources

1) Title: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Technology in our Schools

Reference:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0C

C4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.act.org%2Fresearch%2Fpolicymakers%2Fpdf%2F

school_tech.pdf&ei=0FszUp7_BYPuqQGblYCYDQ&usg=AFQjCNEDSiPHWyR4wDG5g6eg

GfcWDX1UjQ&sig2=iVqaxNqxFRMMvxSK7SSfug&bvm=bv.52164340,d.aWM

Relevance: This article covers the importance of technology in education. It explains

that a school system cannot just throw money or technology into it and expect results.

It lays out the advantages of technology in education and spells out ways to use it to

enhance the learning experience. It gives great advice on how to evaluate the

technology being used and how to implement it to the best advantages. Technology is

not a replacement for education, but rather a way to enhance the educational methods

already in place. It also goes over ways that technology can help increase academic

achievement and also close the academic gaps between different socioeconomic levels

of the population.

2) Title: An Educator’s Guide to Evaluating the use of Technology in Schools and

Classrooms

Reference:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCkQFjA

A&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.au.af.mil%2Fau%2Fawc%2Fawcgate%2Fed-techguide%2

Fhandbook2.pdf&ei=uVwzUo-YBIK2qQHci4HQAQ&usg=AFQjCNFPdhLPlQ583B8-TeygE

PpRxwNIEA&sig2=kFhkud_Ma-QMOInSiimMAA&bvm=bv.52164340,d.aWM

Relevance: This article gives guidelines on how to evaluate a school’s technology plan.

I contains suggestions of items that should be included in order to be considered an

effective plan.

3) Title: District/School Technology Plan Template: Your Blueprint for Success

Reference:http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ve

d=0CCkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scilearn.com%2Falldocs%2Fcp%2Fschool-di

strict-technology-plan.pdf&ei=DV4zUo-XC8f3qQGzmIAo&usg=AFQjCNGhl68LTwk26IK

OLXo_gpojVkdUhA&sig2=g2CW5Cqnv1YRTau74sKsRQ&bvm=bv.52164340,d.aWM

Relevance: This article is actually a fill-in-the-blank template that a school system

could use to begin creating their district’s technology plan. I lists all of the relevant

basic components and even has a checklist at the end that allows the user to evaluate

how complete the plan is after all the blanks are filled in. It contains suggestions on

how to make it better or more complete, depending on where the shortcomings fall.

4) Title: Evaluation of the Enhancing Education Through Technology Program: Final

Report

Reference: www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/netts/finalreport.pdf

Relevance: This report spells out the requirements of school systems to include in

their technology plans in order to adhere to the No Child Left Behind Act of the US

Dept of Ed in order for them to receive their federal funding for the program.

5) Title: Investigating the quality of the school technology needs assessment (STNA)

3.0: A validity and reliability study

Reference:

Educational Technology Research and Development. August 2010, Vol. 58, Issue 4,

p353-376, 24p.

http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=73fd20a8-d5d1-4d14-b227-

3199b224ca24%40sessionmgr11&vid=4&hid=17

Relevance: This paper discusses the importance of schools and districts conducting a

well planned needs assessment before designing or implementing technology plans.

The School Technology Needs Assessment (STNA) is a free online tool that was

developed by the Department of Education in North Carolina to help schools

positively impact the educational environment.

6) Title: A Technology Plan That Works

Reference:

Educational Leadership, v68 n5 p56-59 Feb 2011. 4 pp.

http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=391629d3-c097-4194-bc0c-7

d9c44dee686%40sessionmgr14&vid=5&hid=17

Relevance: This article focuses on five lessons that school administrators should

keep in mind whenever implementing new technologies. The article focus less on the

technology and more on the people that will utilize the resources. These lessons could

easily be expanded to the district level for technology planning, since one size does

not fit all..

7) Title: Making Technology Standards Work for You

Reference:http://www.iste.org/docs/excerpts/MATEC3-excerpt.pdf

Relevance: This ISTE paper was written for school leaders, on a variety of levels, as a

guide for implementing and integrating technology. Administrators are given the

resources to become effective technology leaders that inspire, facilitate, engage and

advocate for their schools.

8) Title: Being Smart About Technology.

Reference: Marcoux, E. (2010). Being Smart About Technology. Teacher Librarian,

37(4), 87-88

Relevance: In the reflective (2010) article, Marcoux discusses her eye-opening

experiences at a ” technology in schools” seminar. She attended to attain insight on

how school administrators and technology directors envisioned 21st century learning.

She was surprised at the high interest in hardware and software and not the

incorporation of technology for knowledge. They seemed clueless about their own

districts technological atmosphere as it pertained to the current standards. They

needed to understand the capacities of their technologies according to how they

contribute to the curriculum in each school. Their understanding needed to be

expanded beyond written goals and be mindful to include foresight in their plans.

This article’s relevance to writing a technology plan is to look for quality not popular

programs, listen to stakeholder opinions and be observant of the classroom needs and

achievements.

9) Title: TECHNOLOGY PLANNING: DESIGNING THE DIRECTION TO GET THERE.

Reference: Norton, S. (2013). Technology planning: Designing the direction to get

there. Knowledge Quest, 42(1), 64-69.

Relevance: In the 2013 article, Norton provides background information and

influential governmental funding for technology integration. She points out that

many technology plans either continue to exist with outdated funding information or

have been eliminated. She proceeds to break down the essential components of a

school technology plan, with a resounding theme that librarians become the live

pulsed between the community and school wide stakeholders and the district

technology departments. Her essential components of the school technology plan

provides clear operational definitions to sharpen rubric criteria to assess technology

plans.

10) Title: The Technology Facade.

Reference: Tomel, L. A. (2007). The technology facade. American School Board Journal,

194(9), 44-49.

Relevance:In the 2007 article, the author reports on the effectiveness of an author-

designed 20 item questionnaire for school board members to analyze the current

functioning of a district’s technology program. The questionnaire was very forward

thinking for 2007. It offers poignant queries on the implementation of the districts

costly programs. This survey could be a helpful resource for our group as we explore

the vision of the district’s proposed utilization and implementation of instructional

and informative technology

Introduction As a group, we collaborated and researched several Georgia school district’s

technology plans to evaluate for our paper. We selected the technology plan from

Liberty County School System. The Liberty County School System is located in

southeast Georgia. It is described as a small coastal school district, with 13 schools,

and one central office. Liberty County’s Technology Plan is attached to their district’s

public site. Its hyperlink was easily located on the Technology and Media Services

Homepage.

http://www.liberty.k12.ga.us/ourpages/auto/2013/4/9/50587699/LCSS%203yr%

20Tech%20Plan%2011-14.pdf

Also located on the Technology and Media Services Homepage,

is a public interactive sidebar. Each link is informative,

resourceful, and includes a survey for participants to fill out after

a technology in-service. These content links provide essential

evidence that the school system technology plan is vested in

providing accessible technology for all of their stakeholders.

The Plan’s Outline and Time Period Range

The Liberty County School System Technology Plan lists six headings; vision for

the utilization of technology, current reality (the heart of the plan), communication

and marketing, professional technology training, eighth grade technology literacy, and

appendices. The headings locations are found on the plan’s table of contents.

The plan covers a 3-year time period ranging from July 1, 2011-June 30, 2014

and was submitted on April 28, 2011.

Elements of Technology Plan Rubric

A description of each element and its corresponding criterion score are noted

in the following rubric.

Components 3 2 1 Score

Executive

Summary

Identifies clearly

and concisely for

the reader the

vision, mission,

goals and

Provides

adequate

And accurate

information

in Executive

Executive

summary is

absent or

incomplete.

(Missing 2 or

1

objectives,

findings, issues,

conclusions, and

recommendations

of the technology

plan

Summary. more

components of

information.)

Identifies

Contributors and

Stakeholder

groups

Membership list

has complete

description of

constituencies/

stakeholder

groups. All areas

are equally

represented.

Membership list

is

provided and

describes

constituencies

represented.

Membership is

not listed or is

inadequate

to determine

representation

of stakeholder

groups

3

Vision Vision is

comprehensive

and

deals with

learning

outcomes, not

just technology

outcomes.

Clearly and

concisely states

the district’s

vision for how

technology will

be used to

Vision provides

adequate

description of

how

technology will

improve

learning but

instructional

outcomes not

fully

addressed.

Vision is not

included or

does not

address learning

outcomes

3

enhance learning;

indicates the

benefits that will

result from the

use of technology

by students,

teachers,

administrators or

others.

Mission Mission is

focused on

instructional

outcomes and

indicates clearly

what the school

or district will do

to make its

technology vision

a reality; why the

school or district

wants to do this;

and for whom the

school or district

is doing this.

Mission

addresses

learning

outcomes but

provides limited

information

about

what, why, and

for

whom the school

or district is

doing the plan

Mission is

missing or does

not address

instructional

outcomes.

1

Goals The plan

establishes clear

goals and a

realistic strategy

Goals are mostly

equipment

based and

loosely linked to

Goals are absent

or

seem to be only

equipment

3

for using

technology to

improve

education or

library services.

Goals clearly

answer the

questions: Who?

What? By when?

By how much?

According to

which

instrument?

improvement

plans.

based; are not

measurable; are

incomplete or

difficult to

understand

Objectives Objectives are

measurable and

delineated from

goals; they clearly

define steps to be

taken to achieve

goals. They are

clear and

realistic.

Provides most

of the

objectives. Some

objectives may

not be

readily

attainable or

measurable.

Objectives are

absent or

incomplete.

They are

difficult to

understand,

unrealistic, or

appear

unmeasurable

3

Needs

Assessment

The plan includes

an assessment of

the hardware,

software, and

other services

that will be

Technology has

been assessed

and

analyzed, but

may not include

summaries of

Needs

assessment is

absent or

incomplete

3

needed to

improve

education or

library services.

Identifies use by

students and

staff, and training

received and

desired.

information

from all

elements in the

technology

surveys.

Conclusions and

Recommendation

s

Clearly identifies

the most

important needs

and challenges

confronting the

school or district

and recommends

the projects and

steps to be taken

to achieve the

vision.

Conclusions are

strong and

relevant.

Conclusions and

recommendatio

ns are

adequately

justified

although the

basis of some

conclusions not

entirely clear.

Conclusions and

recommendatio

ns are missing

or are not

adequately

justified

based on the

information

gathered

in planning

process

1

Acceptable Use

Policy

Describes policies

that are needed

to ensure proper

use of the

technology

Provides an

adequate

description of

the

most relevant

Policy issues are

absent,

incomplete, or

difficult to

understand;

3

resources.

Includes

well-written draft

of Acceptable Use

Policy.

policy issues.

Includes an

adequate draft

of Acceptable

Use

Policy.

lack of

Acceptable Use

Policy draft

Academic Goals Provides clear

description of

how

technology is

currently used in

the learning

environment and

ways it will be

used to achieve

instructional

outcomes;

describes how

technology will

enhance

curriculum and

teaching and

learning

strategies

Provides

overview of the

current and

future use of

technology in

enhancing the

teaching-learnin

g

process for

students. Little

detail on how

technology will

be integrated

into learning

and

curriculum

Technology and

Learning

statement

absent or

provides

incomplete

information on

the current use

or future role of

technology in

the school or

district and how

it will enhance

learning

2

Existing

Technology and

Requirements for

Implementing

Provides clear

and

comprehensive

description of the

Provides general

description of

hardware,

software

Technology

standards,

requirements

and models are

3

Technology

Upgrades

capabilities of

present

hardware and

learning

environments. It

identifies

minimum

standards and

requirements for

computer

hardware,

software, and

connectivity;

describes the

types of learning

environments

that currently

exist and those to

be created

by the plan

and connectivity

standards and

requirements.

missing,

incomplete, or

vague

Professional

Development

Clearly describes

current and

needed

technology

competencies The

plan has a

professional

development

strategy to

Provides a

general

overview of

current and

needed

technology

competencies.

Describes a few

strategies and

Staff

Development is

absent or

provides

only minimal

information on

current and

needed

technology

3

ensure that staff

knows how to use

the new

technologies to

improve

education or

library services.

recommendatio

ns for incentives

and

resources.

competencies

Technical

Support

Provides clear

and

comprehensive

requirements and

plans for services

needed to

support

technology use

Provides

adequate but

not

comprehensive

description of

technical

support

requirements

and

services

Technology

support is

absent or

provides

vague or little

information on

technical

support

requirements

3

Projects and

Timelines

Provides a

prioritized list of

major technology

plan projects,

tasks and

timelines.

Projects a

timeline for

completion of

projects, such as

the full

Provides most,

but not all, of

the project and

timelines

information.

Appears to be

generally

consistent with

plan goals.

Projects or

timelines

missing;

provides vague

or little

information on

projects or

timelines;

projects do not

appear relevant

to plan goals or

2

integration of

new technology

with existing

technology.

Timelines are

realistic and

consistent with

plan goals and

objectives.

unrealistic

Budget The plan

provides for a

sufficient budget

summary

estimate to

acquire and

maintain the

hardware,

software,

professional

development, and

how it will be

distributed

among schools

for equitable

access. Identifies

possible

alternative

funding

resources.

Provides most,

but not all, of

the budget

estimate

information.

Appears

to be generally

consistent with

plan goals.

Budgets missing

or estimates

appear

incongruent

with plan

or unrealistic

3

Methods of

Evaluation

The plan includes

an evaluation

process that

enables the

school or library

to monitor

progress toward

the specified

goals and make

mid-course

corrections in

response to new

developments

and

opportunities as

they arise.

Evaluation

process is broad

or does not

allow

mid-course

corrections as

needed.

There is no

evaluation

process

included or the

process does not

match the goals

and objectives

of the plan

3

Accessibility of

Technology

Resources

The plan will

address how to

make technology

accessible to all

students,

including those

with disabilities

or limited English

proficiency

The plan

addresses how

to make

technology

accessible to

some students

with disabilities

The plan does

not address

accessibility for

any students

with disabilities

or limited

English

proficiency

3

Timely

Submission

The plan was

submitted on

time

n/a The plan was

not submitted

on time.

3

Total Score 46/54

Recommendations to improve this plan

Some of the categories received less than the maximum score and should be

addressed to improve this technology plan. Here are suggestions for changes in each

category that need improvement:

Executive Summary - Score 1 out of 3

Liberty County’s Technology Plan omitted an Executive Summary. Much of the

pertinent “at a glance” information found in an Executive Summary was scattered

throughout the Plan (i.e., The Plan’s vision and mission statement were located in the

Vision Summary, goals and objectives were found in multiple places). The Executive

Summary is much like an abstract to an intense research paper. Some readers are not

technology savvy and look for reader friendly short statements. Omitting this crucial

piece of writing can have a negative effect on stakeholders and committee members.

Instead of focusing on the highlights of the Plan, everyone is focusing on going

through multiple pages seeking information that impacts them. Meanwhile,

important areas of the Plan that could be validated our discussed are being lost due

to the readers disengagement.

MISSION: Score 1 out of 3

The mission should focus on instructional outcomes and how the district will turn its

vision into a reality. It should also explain why and for whom the technology plan has

been created. This technology plan did not contain any of these elements and received

a score of 1 in the rubric.

Conclusions and Recommendations - Score 1 out of 3

While the plan illustrates how the district will implement new technologies, it is

lacking a definitive source that explains the reasoning behind their decisions. A needs

assessment would help to determine the short falls of the district and provide a guide

for recommendations.

Academic Goals – Score 2 out of 3

Through our research, we agreed that Technology Plans were lacking alignment with

the common core by not addressing specific and descriptive academic goals. We tested

our theory by incorporating Academic Goals in our rubric with the Plan. After we

reviewed the Plan, we collaborated and agreed that the Plan discussed how technology

is currently utilized in the learning environment and what training the educators

would receive, it lacked description and clarity on how the Plan would improve

student achievement, enhance strategies and utilize the common core curriculum.

Projects and Timelines - Score 2 out of 3

The district’s technology goals and objectives are well defined. However, many of the

goals lack sufficient timetables for execution. Implementing the technology plan

would be more effective for stakeholders if they were given specific expectations of

due dates.

Conclusion

The technology plan scored 46 out of a possible 54 points. This equates to 85%, which

is a good assessment with room for improvement. The major areas where the plan fell

short were in setting specific goals and timelines for meeting those goals. We did not

get a clear indication of where the plan would take the district and they did not set

specific benchmarks for helping them set a pace for the overall time frame of the plan.

A few more specific academic goals along with a proper timeline to follow those goals

would have increased the score (and in turn the effectiveness) of this technology plan.