Technology Planning: Plan for a Plan

Proper planning for technology is the key to moving your school forward with technology. That is why we have dedicated so much of the semester to discussing change and planning for change. In fact, by the time you start this paper, you already will have written large parts of it during our online discussions. You are encouraged to begin crafting parts of this paper as soon as we have completed the relevant parts of the online discussion. The paper consists of three parts:

An analysis of your current situation
A discussion of the stakeholders in your current situation
A plan of action for moving forward

You might think about this as a report to your principal with recommendations for how to proceed with the planning process.

Not Currently in a School?

If you are not currently in a school, please consult your instructor for how you can complete this assignment. The assignment, as written, will be difficult to complete outside of a school so accommodations will be made for your completion of this assignment.

Analysis of Your Current Situation

Analyze your school and its openness to change by thinking about 1 or 2 technological changes you would like to see in your school or that your school is attempting. You should use diffusion theory to look at the innovation, and Ely's Eight Conditions and the five stages in the ACOT model to analyze your school.

Describe the proposed innovation in terms of the various attributes described in Surry's paper.
Rate the school on its fulfillment of each of Ely's Eight Conditions for the chosen innovation(s).
Rate the school as a whole on where it stands within the five stages of the ACOT model.
Rate several individuals on where they stand within the five stages of the ACOT model.

In preparation for your plan of action (part 3 of this paper), be sure that you recognize and comment on change as a process by recognizing where your school and individuals in your school have been and where they can go in terms of the models.

Stakeholders

You are now going to enlist a group of allies to help you address what is missing in your school with respect to change.

Identify key people in your school that you can enlist to help you move your school forward with technology.
Identify the groups of stakeholders they represent (see the Guidebook for Developing an Effective Technology Plan) and the roles they can play.
Describe what you can do to get them involved and keep them involved in the planning process.
Describe how your list of representatives of stakeholder groups differs from the "ideal" listed in the Guidebook and why.
Be specific about how these people will help you address some of the Eight Conditions you discussed in part 1.

Plan of Action for Technology Planning

Now that you have identified some of the needs and identified the team, formulate a plan of action for creating a technolgy plan. This section is not a technology plan itself. Instead you are going to outline the planning process you would (and hopefully will in your future) take. Following the recommendations of the Guidebook for Developing an Effective Technology plan, you should:

think about vision and mission and how these will be written (you can suggest some ideas but you do not have to have a complete vision or mission at this stage)
think about important issues that the plan might help to resolve
think about timelines, action steps, and assessment of steps
reference one or two examples of good plans that are similar to what you hope your "finished" plan will look like, including a brief description of the postive features that you hope to emulate

As this section is to "plan for a plan," many students have had difficulty with it in the past. Try to remember that planning is more about the process than the final product. Start by thinking "If I needed to write a technology plan for my school, what would I do." Think about who you would get involved, how you would get them involved, and what types of issues you would have them explore.

Grading Criteria

Each section of this paper is likely to be approximately 5-7 pages long (although the first section will tend to be a little longer, and the second section will tend to be a little shorter). The entire paper should be no less than 15 pages and no more than 25 pages (optional title and reference pages do not count toward page totals). The paper should be double-spaced with 1-inch margins and written in a 12-point font. Be sure to double-check your margin settings before handing in the paper.

The exact nature of your paper will vary based on your own situation. Papers will tend toward an A if they are presented professionally with proper grammar, spelling, and usage; if they demonstrate an understanding of the change process and the planning process described in the textbooks and in class; and if they are specific to your situation, drawing material from your school's existing technology plan, curriculum guide, teacher needs, etc. Click here to view the rubric that will be used to grade this paper.

Return to ET680 Home Page.

This page was prepared by Dr. David M. Marcovitz.

Last Updated: August 17, 2012