Running head: GRAVA: TECHNOLOGY PLANNING PROJECT 1

Technology Planning Project

Alison C. Grava

ET 680 Role of the Technology Leader

Loyola University Maryland

Dr. David M. Marcovitz, Professor

GRAVA: TECHNOLOGY PLANNING PROJECT 2

ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT SITUATION

Proposed Innovation

At South River High School, we have access to the whole package of Smart

Technologies, including Smart Notebook, Smart Boards, Smart Response, and Smart Ink. All of

these Smart Technologies integrate with Edmodo. By training the teachers at South River in the

Smart Technologies, it will increase student engagement and allow them to innovate their use of

technology and data in order to help the students on their educational path. Creating dynamic

uses of the Smart Technologies will stir excitement for both teacher and student.

I would like to see and hear that students are excited about going into my colleagues

classrooms because they are being challenged through the possibilities of the Smart

Technologies. In this world of immediate feedback and hands on learning, I feel that the Smart

Technologies offer this opportunity for all teachers and students. Through more opportunities

within the school to learn the capabilities of Smart Technologies, the administrators, teachers and

students would see an increase in both student engagement and achievement. Smart

Technologies allows for so much more than a presentation, but an opportunity to interact within

a lesson through manipulatives, audio and visual presentations, formative assessments with

immediate feedback, and interaction with the lessons.

Surry Attributes

Trialability:

Smart Technologies are far easier to manipulate and use in the classroom than the typical Power

Point and Google slides; there is no template that can cause restraints on the creativity that can

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be infused in the lesson building. Likewise, the embedding capabilities within the programs

allow the teacher to create more interaction between the lesson and the students. Teachers can

import already made selected response questions from Word in order to integrate the Smart

Response feature in order to work with immediate feedback data through graphs, which can

automatically be embedded after an assessment is given. This data will also transfer to an Excel

spreadsheet, allow the teacher to instantly go over the results with the class, alter the course of

the lesson based on the data results.

2. Observability (observable results)

Students can receive immediate feedback when the teacher uses the Smart Response on their

clickers as well as a print out of their results. Furthermore, when the anonymous graph displays

are embedded into the Smart Notebook, the teacher and students can discuss the results and

determine their next course of action within the lesson, thus providing real time opportunities for

remediation. Furthermore, with the Smart Notebook, students can get up and manipulate the

items that are present in the Smart Notebook through the Smart Board, which just about every

classroom at South River High School has. This opportunity to work hands-on will help the

kinesthetic and visual learners in the classroom. Student and teachers have the opportunity to

work with Smart Ink in word documents. For example, when a writing prompt is provided to the

students, the students or the teacher can annotate the prompt directly on a word document, which

can be saved and shared through the Edmodo platform that South River uses in order to provide

another outlet for communication between the students, parents and teachers.

3. Relative advantage (better than other innovations or the status quo)

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The major advantage with the Smart Technologies is the ability to create manipulatives and

formative assessments throughout a lesson, as well as, the ability to save the classes work within

the lesson and share it through the Edmodo platform. If a student is absent for whatever reason,

they will be able to see how the lesson was conducted. While some of these things can be

accomplished with Power Point or Google Slides, the opportunity for interactive games and

assessments in a more intuitive fashion and the lack of templates to constrain the creation makes

the Smart Notebook an easier technology to work with. Likewise, through Smart Exchange, there

are thousands of ready-made lessons that can be altered in order to fit the teachers outcomes and

focus for a lesson.

4. Complexity

The complexity with the Smart Technologies comes from knowing what tool would work best at

what time in a given lesson. Likewise, when designing a lesson with the Smart Notebook, the

teacher/creator must recognize what tool they are working with. There are times when the

teacher may want to move an item in the Notebook, but have the text tool in use. However, once

the teacher learns to pay attention to the tool that they want to work with, it is easily overcome.

Overall, the programs are very intuitive and items can be manipulated within a given slide or

across slides at will.

5. Compatibility

Smart Technologies are compatible with Microsoft Office, Windows 7/10, podcasting, YouTube,

PDF, iPad, iPhone, iPod, and Android. This allows the teacher to use any number of actions

within the Smart Technologies. The use of Smart Response clickers or the hand held devices that

the students have allows for the integration of the assessments and data collection since teachers

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can import the selected response items that they already have created directly into the Smart

Notebook. There is a ready-made feature that the teacher can use to create a podcast or

screencast to walk students through a given assignment. The opportunity to embed You Tube

videos at will throughout a lesson allows for the integration of Open Ed resources. Finally, each

slide can be saved individually or as a whole Smart Notebook to be saved or printed for the

students to have the days notes, which allows the students to focus on the discussion throughout

the lesson without missing any of the recorded information from the Smart Ink or interactive

pens.

Elys Eight Conditions

In Anne Arundel County, change is slow. There is a concern that those who oversee the

systemic change toward the technological innovations have to be concerned with the speed with

which the change occurs and because our county services a very wide and diverse

population. As suggested by Levinson (2010), the parents and adults are fearful of what they do

not understand or are not proficient. This has caused a backup with regard to implementation. I

chose to interview three colleagues who represent three different levels within the county: a

English Resource teacher who spent 10 years working with the STEM program in the classroom,

but has since spent a year at the Board of Education, thus working with those who control the

flow of innovation throughout the county, a teacher who worked at the high school level for 7

years and has spent the last year at the middle school level in English, and a math teacher at the

high school level who works with both general population and the STEM program.

Dissatisfaction with the Status Quo: While the teachers and resource teachers that I spoke to

really want to implement technology such as the Smart Technologies in the classroom and are

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working on their own time to shake things up in their classrooms, they cite that they have very

limited access to the technology to utilize it on a consistent basis which creates inconsistency

within the classroom. The most curious situation occurs with the resource teacher. She stated

that those who are at the Board of Education (BOE) do not even have access to the technology,

Smart Technologies, Smart Notebook, Smart Response, etc., that they want the teachers to utilize

in their classrooms to enhance the interaction of the 72,000 students within lesson. This prevents

this innovation from being consistently placed or created for the teachers to use in their

classrooms. The principal in my school wants to see the Smart Technologies used in the

classroom, but there is an extreme disconnect with the teachers and those who are pushing out

the curriculum from the BOE level. The middle school teacher states that there are not enough

technology people in the county to help facilitate the integration of this technology in order to

make it consistent. The math teacher brought up the notion that the Smart Technologies make it

easier for her to look at and alter according to the data pulled from the technology, but she meets

with resistance from the teachers that have been in the system for a long time.

Sufficient Knowledge and Skills: There are many opportunities for the teachers in AACPS to

gain the knowledge and skills with regard to Smart Technologies, but the drawback that the

middle school teacher addressed that there are not enough technology people in the county to

effectively train and sustain the technology innovation. These trainings are too rare and are often

only offered to the beginner. For those teachers who are beyond the beginner level, they must

play around with the technology in order to expand their personal usage of it in the

classroom. The resource teacher explained that the training happens and then she never sees it

show up in the classroom because there are so many other demands placed on the teachers that

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they do not have the time to implement what they have learned. At the BOE level, those who

want this technology used in the classroom are not beyond the beginner level, if at all.

Availability of Resources: Through these interviews, many of the teachers have access to the

Smart Technologies in both their classroom, as well as, the opportunity and ability to download

these programs at home. The resources are available to the BOE people, but they must request it

to be uploaded onto their machines in their cubical. The individuals at the BOE are stretched so

thin that this particular technology is not high on their priority list, yet they are the ones who

want to see it used in the classroom when they do their walk-throughs. The math teacher states

that if the use of the Smart Technologies were truly a priority that came the top, it would be

implemented more often, but she felt that the true focus of the authorities is the data from

standardized testing and not on the technology.

Availability of Time: Time is that commodity that is fleeting in the eyes of a teacher. There

never seems to be enough. The BOE offers the opportunity to be trained, but it must take place

during the teachers personal time. In AACPS, we do have five days when the schools have a

half day and there is professional development that the BOE has deemed important to the county

moving from good to great. Often in the school that I am in, the principal does not want to

force us to do the topics that he does not feel our school is deficient in; however; he does not

change it to push us to improve in areas of weakness. Many of the teacher appreciate that he

values our time and give us the opportunity to go plane and grade. This would be a great time to

help the beginners with the Smart Technology get to the intermediate level. The math teacher

cites that she often uses this time to play with the technology to improve her classroom use of

it, but this is not a priority coming from the top down.

Rewards or Incentives: The Smart Technologies are a great way to engage the students in the

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lesson, which provide rewards to the teacher in that they are able to immediately see where their

students are meeting or faltering with the standards. It also allows the students to gain

immediate feedback and the teacher can go over the results to clarify questions that the students

have on a given concept. During the summer time, according to the resource teacher, there are

many professional trainings that the teachers can be paid to be trained, but as the math teacher

pointed out, this often interferes with the course work that the teachers must complete in order to

maintain their certification. The middle school English teacher that I spoke with stated that she

learned more from a 20 minute personal training that I did with her then she ever had from the 3

hour training that she attended. She felt that the opportunity to ask one-on-one questions allowed

her to feel more comfortable with the technology. She uses the Smart Notebook to engage her

middle school students with manipulating language and she sees the improvement in their

writing. All three of the people that I interviewed have the intrinsic motivation to engage their

respective students; therefore, they share their enthusiasm with those who are a part of their

teams.

Participation: While participation with technology really helps the students who are not

necessarily engaged with it at home because of socioeconomic issues. This helps them gain

more confidence when faced with the 21st Century skills that they are assumed to know and work

with upon graduation. While the students will not be using the Smart Technology outside of the

classroom, they are more willing to take chances when working with the technology. The

resource teacher feels that if the leadership in the county became more confident with the

resource then it would translate more for the teachers in the county. Likewise, the math teacher

that I spoke with explained that some of the members of her department resist participating in the

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technology because they have a hard time finding the time required to build the lessons to

involve the Smart Technology, which goes back to Elys fourth condition.

Commitment: All three of the people that I interviewed are very committed to implementing the

technology in their personal arenas. I consistently implement the Smart Technologies in my

classroom and have the data to back up my claim of its effectiveness in engaging the students in

their own learning. We all agreed that the push back really comes from conditions two, three,

four, and eight. Without the support and priority from the leadership, there is an attitude from the

teachers that they do not really need to commit themselves to working with the technology. From

my interview with the resource teacher, she is really working to push the technology to the

forefront in order to help with the knowledge and skill acquisition and the participation

encouragement. She made strides in this area by ensuring that team leader meetings and

department meetings always has a component of technology education in the hope that the

information will be disseminated to the schools.

Leadership: The most fascinating comment that I received with regard to leadership involved the

leaders disconnect with the realities of the classroom. The resource teacher, who has only been

out of the classroom for this year, notes that those who are making the decisions about what is

and is not important in the classroom make those decision based on theory that is not grounded

in the reality of the classroom or based on firsthand experience. Our leadership is being pulled in

so many different directions that it is hard for them to prioritize what is really going to effect

change in the system. Foundationally speaking, the technology will make the impact of the

various goals handed down from the BOE, but it requires time (harkening back to Elys fourth

condition). Fear of the immediate data impedes many at the leadership level to focus in on giving

time to allow innovation to make the long-term impact on the data.

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ACOT Model

At South River High School, as with all of Anne Arundel County Public Schools, we are

at the entry level of ACOT. The technology, Smart Technologies, is there for all teachers to use

if they choose to, but not all are ready to make that leap toward adoption. After completing a

walk-through around the school over the past several weeks, I can see that around 40% of the

school have transitioned to the adoption stage of the ACOT model. They are using the Smart

Notebook, which allows them to create a presentation, not unlike Power Point, but only at the

basic level of the SAMR model, substitution. This is a big step for many of my colleagues since

they have not been willing or given the time to really explore and play with the possibilities that

Smart Technologies offer them in the classroom.

Specifically, I was able to observe or discuss with a few of my colleagues how they are

taking their use of the Smart Technologies beyond the adoption stage. One of the Spanish

teachers in m building has begun the adaptation stage of ACOT. He has been using the Smart

Board to present his lessons in his class and started to provide the opportunity for the students to

manipulate sentence structure in Spanish in order to transform their understanding of the

language, and its similarities and differences to the English language. He is able to have the

students draw pictures and collaborate on learning vocabulary in Spanish with the writing and

drawing tools provided by the Smart Notebook program. They have even been able to find

through the program-animated images to enhance their own understanding. His adaptation of his

lessons allow for the higher level of student engagement, but he admits that he still has more to

learn about the programs in order to make it.

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When moving toward the appropriation aspect of the ACOT model, one of my colleagues

in the math department infuse videos that the students make as part of their homework to show

concept attainment in the Smart Notebook. By adding these videos as an embedded aspect of her

lessons, she is taking the engagement beyond the drawing level that the Spanish teacher was

using and allowing another medium to engage the students as well as the manipulative that are a

part of the adaptation stage. In the appropriation stage, she is translating the concepts and using

the students to teach the lessons or remediate the lessons, which allow the students to take on

more responsibility of their learning. After every lesson, she is adding it to the Edmodo site that

we use in the school so that they can review the lessons again for help when they are at home, or

for those who may have missed the class.

At the final stage, transformational, there are a finite number of teachers in the building

doing or getting close to being able to involve the technology seamlessly in order to create new

pathways for learning or innovate what they have already learned. We are lucky at South River

High School because we have the STEM program, so a few of the teachers in the school have

been able to take the Smart Technologies to that transformational stage. They began their

lessons integrating the Smart Notebook with manipulatives, embedded videos both self-made by

students and ones procured from the internet, drawings of models to build technology and adding

the Smart Response aspect of the program to ensure that all stakeholders in the classroom

understood the project. One teacher in particular, who teaches the PBL program, had the kids

work through all of the steps with the Smart Technologies and formulate a design to build a Sea

Perch. Once they were able to conceptualize all aspects of underwater maneuvering, they built

Sea Perch machines with PVC piping, propellers, and motors. We were even able to take them

to the river and have them actually use them and record data. They even redesigned them on the

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spot in order to see what effect an alteration would have on the functionality of the machine.

Finally, they attached a GoPro to the Sea Perch in order to gain footage of what they had created.

The students collaboratively created a presentation using the Smart Technologies in order to

present their machine, data, and video to share their findings to a panel.

While South River as a whole has not gone much beyond the entry or adoption stage of

ACOT, I believe that through further training they will be able to become more comfortable and

confident to work with the Smart Technologies in order to increase student engagement. All of

this can only increase the overarching goal of Anne Arundel County Public School in moving

from good to great. When implementing new technologies such as Smart Technologies, I feel

that the more opportunities to meet teachers where they are with it and providing them the time

and support to learn it will only enhance the rigor and engagement of all stakeholders in the

school from the student on up to the administration.

STAKEHOLDERS

I think in order to gather in appropriate Stakeholders, you have to begin with the

teachers. At the high school level, it is important to get representatives from all areas of the

school. The most reluctant groups are usually the languages, both English and World and

Classical Languages, because they have been "doing it this way for years." Nothing in a school

can be successful if you do not get the teachers to "buy in" because they are the ones on the front

lines daily with the students who we are there to service and guide on the educational path. I

think that finding out how each department views and implements technology may open the

doors for other departments to find new ways to utilize technology that is collecting dust in the

classrooms or still packed away in boxes. This also requires a lot of support and push from the

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administrative arena, as many teachers will not involve themselves unless the administration has

place value in it.

I think that the reason that previous committees have not been effective is that they are

not communicative enough with the faculty and administration. In the past, they have just

operated in order to check the box for the BOE that we have a committee rather than seeing it as

an avenue to engage students in their learning. I think that if the stakeholders begin small on

what the focus should be and work to raise every department level of comfort with one piece of

technology, it will be easier to add layers to their knowledge, but it must respect and meet the

stakeholders where they are comfortable and not push them into the realm of the unknown

without providing supports that involve more 1:1 attention and meeting them on their timeline.

There should also be a way to recognize when small accomplishments are made in the

departments in the willingness to use the technology. Even a shout out in a faculty meeting can

move mountains in confidence.

I think what Anderson suggests in Guidebook for Developing an Effective Instructional

Technology Plan Version 2.0 (1996) with bringing parents and business people into the

committee is a fantastic idea. If we are to prepare our students for Career and College readiness,

then the stakeholders must come from outside the educational bubble. I believe that our

committee in the past has ignored the resource of the layperson, which could shed light on where

South River may be faltering in their preparations for the students. In order to maintain these

members on the committee, it is vitally important that we meet them where they are just as we do

for our students by making sure, they are acknowledged and that there is a show of evidence that

their voice is heard.

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According to Elys Eight Conditions, the area of weakness that I believe really needs to

be addressed is the Leadership. I feel that if the committee consisted of an administrator who is

committed to the learning and use of the Smart Technologies then there will be more buy-in from

the faculty. In the past, our committee was designed to check a box in order to meet the

demands of the BOE. This is where we are creating a disservice to the integrity of the

committee. By asking an administrator who is genuinely interested in the use of technology

rather than having the principal assign a designee, that administrator can help the committee

voice the concerns of the committee in a more efficient and effective manner. Thus, the

committee guide the faculty toward the integration of the Smart Technologies.

PLAN OF ACTION FOR TECHNOLOGY PLANNING

Broad Vision for South River High School

Currently at South River High School, almost every class has Smart Boards. Many of the

teachers use the boards as a screen to project power points or images from the document camera,

but they have not begun to use the Smart Technologies that correspond with the board. My

vision for the next two to three years would be to have the teachers utilizing the Smart

Technologies in order to engage their students and implement the manipulation aspects of the

resource. There are a handful of teachers throughout the various subject areas that are using the

Smart Technologies and allowing the students to interact with the concepts through the board.

While it is not necessary for there to be manipulatives in every lesson, there are other elements

within the programs that can streamline the delivery of a given lesson, like embedded videos,

assessments, and access to ready-made lessons that could increase the students engagement with

the given concepts.

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I believe that if the teachers are provided with the training and supported more often in

smaller settings they will be more confident to ask questions, play around more with the

technology, and become more willing to implement the technology consistently. My hope in the

next three to five years would be to see these teachers streamlining their lesson delivery and

using the Smart Technologies involving video, podcasts, assessment, and manipulation every

day. By increasing the engagement of the students, the teachers would increase the students

concept attainment, which would translate into increased achievement in the standardized tests

that the state requires.

Specific Vision for South River High School

Once there is a wide "buy in" regarding the Smart Technologies, I would like to see the

teachers developing their lessons using the Smart Notebook, which is similar to a power point

but without the constraints of the template. This is augmentation according to SAMR. By using

the Notebook, teachers can move and manipulate the order and flow of their lessons by shifting

the order pulling in engaging videos in order to enhance the students understanding of the given

concepts. Teachers can allow student to manipulate what is on the board with the writing tools,

embed images and interactive images, and move everything around on the board or between

"slides". Likewise, as formative assessments are a great way to check in as to how effective a

lesson is going, the Smart Response is also an embedded aspect of the Smart Technologies. The

students can receive immediate feedback, and the teacher can pull the class results for

remediation and discussion. Since the Smart Response results are tied specifically to the

individual students and they export to an excel spreadsheet, the teacher can create individual

interventions to help the students move forward. I believe this is where the Smart Technologies

can take the a teacher's lesson to the modification level of the SAMR model because of the

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translation of the assessment results immediately that provide the class results in a graph format.

While some of these things can be done through the power point technology, the students can

engage in scholarly conversations quickly and alter the direction of the lesson by changing the

order of the lesson delivery. These lessons can be saved and posted in a class that they have set

up in Edmodo, where the students and parents can access the information from the day's lesson

for review. Moreover, when a student is absent, they can see what they have missed, which is not

necessarily something that teachers have done in the past.

I feel that these specific aspects of the Smart Technologies would increase student

engagement, which would increase student achievement, and therefore, it would decrease student

disruption that interfere with learning for all stakeholders in the classroom. The Smart

Technologies are available to the students for free download as well, which means that students

can create their own presentations. They can embed video, podcasts, manipulatives, and

assessments for the times when they can act as the expert when completing research assignments

that require presentations. They can make their "lesson" interactive as well. My hope is that

through more time in training, through both group and individual opportunities, the teachers

would implement the wide variety of opportunities the Smart Technologies have to offer.

Person/Group Date to be
Action Assessment
Responsible Completed By

Meet with the leadership Me, Members July 2016 Plan and time line for the
team to determine what the of the professional developments
administration feels is the Leadership from the county and the
most important technology team, eCoach, tech time afterschool
initiatives Technology
Specialist
Look at the SIT Plan
Initiatives from the
BOE

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Dates for day PDs

Create a needs inventory Me, eCoach, July 2016 Completed Survey

survey for the staff to Technology
include: Specialist, tech
team
Smart Notebook
Smart Response
Smart Board
Edmodo
Open Ed Resources
Office 365/One Drive
Performance Matters

Complete the inventory Faculty and August 2016 Results from survey
survey Staff

Review the results from the Me, eCoach, August 2016 Calendar
survey and create a plan of Technology
attack for the day PDs Specialist,
(five of them) and bi-monthly Tech Team
afterschool PD

Recruit Faculty Trainers Me, eCoach, August 2016 Faculty Sign up

Technology
Volunteers to help Specialist,
provide breakout Tech Team,
sessions Department
Invite known experts Chairs

Faculty Meeting Presentation Me September Faculty Meeting Sign in

2016
Outline the results of
the survey
Share the
opportunities
Share calendar of
afterschool PD

Five day PD in specified Me, eCoach, September Professional Development

areas of need: Technology 2016, October Sign in specific to the
Specialist, 2016, breakout session Sign-Up
Smart Notebook Tech Team, December Genius for the teachers
Smart Response Faculty 2016,
Smart Board Trainers
Edmodo February 2017,

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Open Ed Resources May 2017 Survey Reflections for each

Office 365/One Drive session
Performance Matters

Sixteen afterschool PD in Me, eCoach, September Sign-Up Genius for the

specified areas of need: Technology 2016 May teachers
Specialist, 2017 (only one
Smart Notebook Tech Team, in November
Smart Response Faculty 2016 & one in
Smart Board Trainers May 2017) Feedback Google Form for
Edmodo each person that attends
Open Ed Resources Two times a
Office 365/One Drive month
Performance Matters

Monthly Meeting of the Tech Me, eCoach, September Meeting Minutes

Team Technology 2016 May
Specialist, 2017
Tech Team

In order to review the positives and negative of my own Action Plan, I reviewed two

others that I found on the internet. It is obvious that I need to refine my plan further. The first

one that I reviewed was Buchanan Elementary Schools Technology Plan. The plan consists of

the history and description of the school, as well as, the Technology Plan Mission Statement and

Vision Statement, which aligns with the lifelong learning that the Common Core State Standards

are striving to accomplish. My plan has neither of these in the plan, but I do address them in the

prior paragraphs leading up to the chart. I will need to refine these statements in order to be

more mission and vision driven as I work to refine the technology plan in the future. Buchanans

plan provides a description of the resources that are available at the time of the plans creation

that is specific to each grade level. I would need to become more specific as to what each

department in South River has in order to fashion a stronger plan for the teachers in each area of

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the school. Buchanan appears to be reducing its class size and in doing so, they are working

toward the ultimate goal of 1:1 Student: Device ratio, which I believe should be the goal of all

school systems at this point in society (Buchanan's Technology Plan, 2014). Their plan provides

for staff training, student training, and specific introduction of a variety of technology resources.

It goes beyond the one year of the plan and suggests how the plan should be reviewed yearly and

modified to represent the increase in resources, except that it is a redundant statement for the

years of 2014 through 2017. I feel that I would need to be more specific in the long-term plan.

Buchanan illustrates a plan for assessing the technology use through assignments, presentations,

and skills acquired by the students (Buchanan's Technology Plan, 2014). I really like the idea

that the assessment includes the products that the teachers create, but I feel that there would need

to be a more specific way to show the acquisition of the computer-based skills from the students.

This would be a great evidence-based product that may invigorate other teachers to collaborate to

create lessons with the Smart Technologies. The addition that Buchanans Technology Plan has

that I would like to add is the vertical teaming, although I would have to add in the piece of

cross-curricular creations as well since I work with a wide range of subjects at the high school

level. Overall, I feel like Buchanans Technology Plan is solid; however, I would like to have

seen more specifics as to dates for checking in like a formative assessment whether they are

reaching their goals.

The second technology plan that I reviewed was Calvert County Public Schools. Again,

like Buchanan Elementary, Calvert provided a clear vision for their implementation, but they

took it further by providing the basic tenets for their plan. These tenets addressed the speed with

which technology changes and the concern over maintaining the technology as it becomes

obsolete so fast (Calvert County Public Schools Technology Plan: Vision/Goals/Objectives,

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2009). These tenets also acknowledged the support that would be required to maintain the

hardware and infrastructure, as well as, the varied capabilities of the faculty and staff (Calvert

County Public Schools Technology Plan: Vision/Goals/Objectives, 2009). The plan is very

detailed and thought through, as it is designed for the whole county rather than just one school.

While I love the detail and the concerns over all the aspects of technology, I do not need to be as

specific to a lot of this with my action plan. Calvert County Public Schools also provides

overarching goals for the county, breaking it down into specific objectives. I would say that the

objectives are more focused, and I would like my plan to reflect the specificity of these

objectives. Keeping in mind that this plan is for a whole system, I know that mine will not need

to tackle as much. Since Calvert County Public Schools is a Maryland school system, I would

like to take their goals and objectives and fold them into my action plan. Each of the objectives

contain three to six specific targets (Calvert County Public Schools Technology Plan:

Vision/Goals/Objectives, 2009). I like how broken down the targets are because it makes it easier

to monitor and assess. Once more, I am reluctant to make my action plan as detailed because it

would be overwhelming for the internship, but it is a model to consider when addressing a

technology plan on a larger scale. Another critique that I have of the Calvert County Public

Schools Technology Plan involves the data collection. There are multiple references to feedback,

but I feel like it would be helpful to be specific to Likert Scale (Boone and Boone, 2012) or some

other data collection in order to envision the progress through specific data points to share

successes and failures in implementing the technology plan. I did not specifically state that my

surveys would have a Likert Scale, but that is the plan in order to be able to provide the

Technology Committee with tangible numbers for them to review at the monthly meetings.

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Technology integration does not have to be something scary. I feel that through strategic

planning and meeting the faculty where they are in their personal integration of technology will

greatly benefit all stakeholders in our community. Smart Technologies encompasses so many

opportunities and possibilities for teachers and students to explore their educational roles and

through this, the engagement and achievement will increase.

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RESOURCES

Anderson, L. (1996). Guidebook for Developing and Effective Instructional Technology Plan

Version 2.0. [PDF File]. Retrieved from http://www.nctp.com/downloads/guidebook.pdf

Boone, H. N., Jr., & Boone, D. A. (2012, April). Analyzing Likert Data. Journal of

Extension, 50(2). [PDF File]. Retrieved June 12, 2016, from

http://www.joe.org/joe/2012april/pdf/JOE_v50_2tt2.pdf

Buchanan's Technology Plan. (2014). Retrieved June 12, 2016, from

http://www.murrieta.k12.ca.us/domain/3244

Calvert County Public Schools Technology Plan: Vision/Goals/Objectives. (2009). [PDF File].

Retrieved June 13, 2016, from

http://www.calvertnet.k12.md.us/departments/diit/documents/FullTechPlan.pdf

Levinson, M. (2010). From fear to Facebook: One school's journey. [Kindle version]. Retrieved

from Amazon.com

13 June 2016