Private School- Mike Morrow

Week 8 – Step 6

1. Develop strategies for funding.

2. Develop strategies for management plans.

3. Describe the required procedures for the proposed strategies. 

The development of the strategies and procedures for a technology plan seem to correspond to steps 6 & 7 of the Dick & Carey (2009) model of instructional design where instructional strategy gets decided and the instructional materials are developed.  In the case of designing a technology plan, the strategies describe the logical clustering of steps from the Objectives in order to answer the “Whys” and the” Whats” of the plan.  The Whys correspond to providing the motivating factors for an instructional strategy.  The Whats correspond to the instructional materials package- those items necessary to execute the strategy.  Procedures for the plan are the details of How to execute the strategies and may correspond closely to the steps. 

The management objectives of the technology plan for the John Cooper School are: 

Goal 1:  The school’s leaders will define and communicate expectations and objectives for the faculty’s incorporation of technology in their instruction to evolve teaching and learning. 

Management objective 1.1:

Adopt and initiate a plan for The John Cooper School to demonstrably transform the school to a digital-age model of teaching and learning where teachers embrace technologies that promote:

·         Project-based, student-centered learning;

·         The acquisition of problem-solving skills; and

·         The development of media and information literacy (NAIS, 2012). 

Goal 2:  The school’s leaders will commit to the faculty’s professional development in instructional technology skills and strategies. 

Management objective 2.1:

Designate a Teaching and Learning facilitator to work with the pilot group faculty to:

·         Provide as-needed training and mentoring in technology tools and instructional strategies;

·         Foster collaboration among the pilot faculty;

·         Identify available external resources (software, activities, digital media, and training) for pilot group use;

·         Collect program metrics and document lessons learned during the pilot. 

Management objective 2.2:

Utilize lessons learned from the pilot program to grow the evolution of digital-age teaching and learning both vertically and horizontally from the pilot group through targeted professional development activities. 

The funding objectives of the plan are: 

Funding objective 2.4:

Include a funding provision in the 2012-2013 budget for the Teaching and Learning facilitator (either half- or full-time) and a suitable budget for acquiring external professional development resources. 

Funding objective 3.2:

The Technology department with concurrence from the school Principals will adjust the acquisition and replacement of all school computers so as to allow for the purchase of a sufficient number of mobile computing devices to support the objectives of the pilot program. 

Based upon the above summary, this week’s discussion responses are: 

 Management strategies:

1.       Persuade school administrators to commit to a transition to technology infused methods of Teaching and Learning.

2.       Initiate such a transition with a pilot program in Fall 2012 for a select set of teachers in specific grades.

3.       Evolve the transition from the pilot to additional teachers and grades over subsequent years.

Together, these strategies form a “wedge” approach where the transition is initiated as a small effort that has a high probability of success without causing a large disruption in current staffing or funding. 

Procedures for these management strategies:

1.       Make administrators and faculty aware of developments in other schools

a.       Attend conferences on 21^st century learning (done)

b.      Observe classes where transition has successfully been implemented (done)

c.       Review NAIS Principles of Good Practice for Technology Use and Teaching and Learning

2.       Have the administrators describe the vision of a transformed classroom

3.     Prepare to initiate the change

d.      Obtain approval for a pilot program for Fall 2012

e.      Select the group of teachers and grades for the pilot and require that they demonstrate through a class-based project an improved familiarity and comfort with instructional technology tools and learner-centered instructional techniques

f.        Prepare a rubric to evaluate the demonstration projects

g.       Approve and staff a Teaching and Learning Facilitator position (at least half-time) who will work with the pilot group teachers and students

4.       Initiate the pilot program in Fall 2012 semester

a)      Form a “Digital-Age Instruction Steering Committee to meet monthly and review plans, assess progress, and discuss issues with the plan to evolve Teaching and Learning methods.

b)      Have the Facilitator provide as-needed training and mentoring to the pilot group

c)       Foster collaboration among the pilot faculty

d)      Identify available external resources for pilot group use

e)      Collect program metrics and document lessons learned during the pilot

5.       Evolve the transition to include more teachers and grade levels

a)      Evaluate the in-class demonstration projects and revise plans for the evolution

b)      Publicize the accomplishments

c)       Develop plans and requirements for expanding the program vertically (to cover current pilot students as they promote up), and horizontally (to cover more teachers and students at the current pilot grade levels)

d)      Seek approval to make the Teaching and Learning Facilitator a full-time position

6.       Continue to expand the “wedge” vertically (up and down in the grade levels) horizontally within the grade levels 

 Funding strategies:

The funding strategies follow along with the “wedge” approach for the management strategies.

1.       Provision a pilot program in Fall 2012 with iPads for a select set of teachers in specific grades with a reallocation of existing funds and staffing.

2.       Seek additional hardware funding (through donations or tuition increases) in order to evolve the transition from the pilot to additional teachers and grades over subsequent years.

3.       Consider participating in the formation of a Local Educational Foundation (Technology Grant & Resource News, 2012)which could provide additional funding for technology hardware. 

Procedures for these funding strategies:

1.       Provision a pilot program for Fall 2012

a.       Include a budget provision 2012-2013 school year for at least a half-time Teaching and Learning Facilitator (could be shared with half-time teaching assignment)

b.      Include a budget provision in 2012-2013 school year for acquiring external professional development resources for the pilot program

c.       Technology department will reallocate hardware replacement  purchases to allow for provisioning the pilot program

2.       Seek additional funding in subsequent years to expand the “wedge” vertically and horizontally

a.       Have the Technology department continue to reallocate funds from purchasing shared laptops/desktops to personalized internet appliances

b.      Recycle “old” iPads down to younger grades as newer devices are added to the wedge

c.       Seek one-time donations to offset the incremental cost of expanding number of computing devices to students  

d.      Seek an acceptable on-going increase in the tuition rate or fees to cover the on-going cost of providing a 1-to-1 computing device to student ratio.

References:

Dick, W., Carey, L. and Carey, J.  (2009).  The systematic design of instruction (7th edition).  Merrill:  Upper Saddle River, NJ. 

Wright, E. (2012). Securing technology funding: The expanding role of local education foundations (LEFs). Technology Grant & Resource News. Retrieved March 17, 2012 from http://technologygrantnews.com/grant-index-by-type/educational-technology-grants.html