The Institutional Technology Plan was certainly the culminating product of the entire course, Managing Educational Technology Services. Throughout the semester, I added sections to the plan that counted towards the weekly individual assignments. Overall, the plan took about 8 weeks to complete with weekly additions that pertained to each of the modules. Some of these additions included accomodations for technical support and professional development. The beginning of the plan included an Organizational Readiness Assessment. I created a rubric to determine the level of readiness which included strengths and areas for improvement of my organization for instructional reform projects. I organized my explanation for my organization's overall score by the ISTE standards and provided recommendations for improvement in each domain.
Overall, the final project was very eye-opening in regards to all of the considerations that a technology specialist must consider when adopting new forms of technology for their organization. At the beginning of any new project, the specialist must consider the needs of all shareholders. At the end, they must consider appropriate disposal practices that are fiscally responsible. Of course, budget is not the only concern. Along the way, specialists must also adhere to the parameters of CIPA and other forms of legislation that protect both children and the organization. The plan also considers hardware and software maintenance and appropriate procedures for implementing professional development. As I addressed each section of the plan, I made sure to include a strategy that assesses current practices in each domain. Since our school district has strategies already in place for all of the domains, it is important to assess what does and does not work currently before making any changes. If something is already successful, it may not be beneficial to make any changes. I wanted to make sure that my plan considers not only areas for improvement but also is built to keep what currently works well for the district. What was most challenging for me in creating the plan was that, even though each week's assignments included a lot of research related to each of the domains of the plan, I still did not feel that I really had a first-hand understanding of where my district stands in some of the areas. As a teacher, I see the end result of the plan with different types of technology I use with my students, however. I may not see what happens "behind the scenes" after hardware is replaced or new programs are adopted and sent to my classroom through updates to technology. Overall, I do feel that I have a better understanding of the "how and why" my district uses and implements technology at many different levels.
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